customer service

[washerboy]

xraytech's post made mention of a sour experience he had with Sears. Reminded me to post..I was at a dinner party last weekend; the topic of customer server came up..several people at the dinner table made comments that they had been to Home Depot, Lowes, Kroger, Big Lots and how staff seemed to be falling all over the customers...one person even said the snottie clerks at Dillards were instrested in helping. I've noticed the same..{however Dillards pissed me off one time too many and I refuse to shop there..five years and I'm still bitter..lol}..someone mentioned they felt it was a shame that it took the ecomony to crash to wake retailers up about the importace of the custmer. Has any one else had similar experieces?

 

[polkanut]

No,

the staff, and one cashier in particular at our local Wal-Mart are still b*tches and a##holes.

 

[panthera]

Funny, Dillards Cheyenne

has always gone out of their way to be nice.
Sears, however, could disappear down a deep hole (flushing sound) and nobody, absolutely nobody would mind

 

[rayjay]

There is no more Customer Service! Except for a few stores.

They want you to think that there is but there isn't any. Look at Home Depot and Lowes for instance. They have one cashier, and the rest are self checkouts.

 

[xraytech]

No, I have not seen improvement here either, at lowes I went to buy indoor/outdoor carpet and I stood wiating for 45 minutes looking for help and ringing their buzzer and asking every employee that passed me for help and no one ever came, I had just finished a horrible midnight shift and I left the store and mother f***ed them the whole way out , next try it took 15 minutes and then I went and made a supervisor assist me.
At our wal-mart no one will help you with anything and the cashiers are very nasty, last time I was there the cashier was in a bad mood and wouldn't say a thing to anyone, not even telling you your total, and she was slamming everything as she scanned and bagged it, I found it rude and I spoke up and kind of yelled at her for being so rude to the customers for no reason.

and Sears is by far the worst and I refuse to ever GO there ever again and I even cancelled both of my Sears accounts and mom and grandma did the same, our family has been very loyal customers buying alot of stuff from Sears for probably 60 years and we have been having problem after proble for 3 years ever since I went with grandma to get a new dryer and we had a drunk salesman who was totally incompetent, then they called offering a warranty on the microwave I bought like a week before christmas which my mother awnsered and it was her christmas present, the issue when I bought a new stove last year, and finally with our garden tractor last march and every occurence with them after we got a replacement for it because it was so much trouble and now they said they brought the wrong tractor and expect us to give it back. So after all of my lost time on hold trying to deal with these people and them even having the nerve to hang up on us that was it no more EVER.
Most places have lost customer service a few years ago but some places dont seem so bad and you would think that with the economic problems that companies would bend over backwrds for their customers and not piss them off so they will never return again.

 

[danemodsandy]

Self Checkouts...

...Are something I absolutely refuse to use; I will actually wait longer for a human checker if that's what it takes. Every time a self checkout goes in, several jobs disappear from my community. I have always felt that the jobs a company does or does not provide are part of what keep me coming back - or not coming back. I know that these checkout jobs are not the world's greatest ones, but they're very helpful to seniors looking to supplement retirement income, to students, and to people new in the workforce who are trying to get an entry-level job.

What is galling about automated service is that it is supposed to decrease costs for companies, but those decreased costs never seem to translate into lower prices for consumers. And many automated services are used to generate profitable fees, when the original intent of automation was to give service without incurring employee expense. We're all wearily familiar with ATM fees, which are charged for a machine that eliminates the expense of tellers. Online banking is often charged for, as is Touch-Tone banking, both of which eliminate the expense of human response.

I wish that someone would begin linking a company's stock price to the number of jobs it creates and retains. Call it the People's Index, or something.

 

[gizmo]

Self Serve checkouts

Self Serve checkouts are very new here, I saw my first one this year.
I will NOT use them, for the same reason. The supermarkets make plenty of profits and they can spend some of it on providing jobs.

A few weeks ago I was standing in a line for a human-powered checkout and the attendant at the self serve section called out that there was no waiting at the self serve counters. I called back quite loudly, "no thanks, I want to do my purchases with a real person with a real job." When I got to the the counter, the sales lady thanked me for speaking up.

Chris.

 

[j2400]

I use the self checkout in a local grocery store. From what I've been told locally there were no real job losses. Frankly, relatively few customers use them, and I think the system only runs during high volume times. Too many snobs shop at this store, and they wouldn't stoop to self checkout. One person commented that they should reduce prices for self checkout, since we are doing part of the store's work.

In a way, I like self checkouts better since it avoids that tiresome conversation about whether I found everything OK, how my day is going, etc, etc, etc.

Self checkout is now even used in one library system. I don't know the status, but when they first put it in, they were talking no job losses--at least at that time. Still, the system did have costs--my very favorite library decided to retire in large part because she hated the new system.

 

[jeffg]

Just one of these megastores like Walmart or Home Depot typically sends hundreds, sometimes thousands of local businesses into collapse. And then people turn around and complain about a lack of customer service.

 

[perc-o-prince]

I use the self check-outs at the supermarket so I can be assured my stuff is bagged correctly. My money is better spent than on squashed, spilled, or spoiled (I usually pack some frozen goods with meat/perishables) goods.

I use the self checkouts at the box stores if I'll get out faster. My time is spent in better ways than waiting in line.

I understand the points made re: keeping jobs, but there have been so many instances of checkers on the phone, kibbitzing, or just lolly-gagging, that, IMHO, companies were forced to find alternatives to paying inefficient workers. Yeah, like that's gonna happen!!!

I think the real issue is pride in ones job. A few of my co-workers and I were just discussing this the other day. If a company only hires people who have pride in their jobs, they won't have need for automated checkouts.

That said, Stop and Shop has also included more and more self checkouts. Probably in response to the increasing demands put on them by the union representing the generally lazy and lackadaisical checkout staff.

There are times I prefer to deal with real checkers, and times I don't.

Chuck

 

[sudsman]

I have seed no difference in this are at all.

In fact I think just the oppsite. They are all more hateful and nastier than ever. Esp. Dillards and Macy. But Wal Mart gets the Gold star award for assholes.

 

[xraytech]

Our Wal-Mart put in 3 Self Checkouts about 2 years ago and within 6 months they removed them and they were replaced with regular check stasnds again. Giant Eagle has the self check outs and I wont use them because I feel it is taking away someones job.

 

[maytagbear]

Oh, how I dislike

phone systems!!!

"Press 1 for English, 459 to pay your bill, 666 to talk with our head of consumer services........."

If they cared about customers, they'd have live agents here in the States!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[danemodsandy]

John (j2400):

The situation you describe with self-checkouts is not the same as it is here in the Atlanta area; self-checkout is being heavily promoted. Our nearby Kroger's management is pretty aggressive in "encouraging" customers to use the system, largely by understaffing other checkouts.

I too have spoken up when told I could use a self-checkout, saying loudly, "No thanks, I like your checkout people."

 

[xraytech]

I too hate automated phone systems, most of the time I will use a rotary phone(I prefer it to a touchtone)and it dosent recionize the numbers, but there are some lines that you can hold the line for an operator

 

[alr2903]

Walmart is horrible, this very dell computer was purchased from them in Nov 2007, summer of 2008 lightning ran in on the phone line.. to make a long story very short, The warranty was in effect and i could not use the service policy (which we had the register receipt). Dell warranty service would not work on it because it was "registered to another owner". It was purchased new and in a sealed box. In the end after much Waisted time on the phone it was repaired by the extended warranty folks. Dells warranty does not cover lightning and they charged a $20 part to my credit card (which i still have and the receipt) and some one in India talked me thru adding this part to the computer myself prior to much hell raising and the service policy people coming to our house. We have never had an odyssey like this ever. i will always think they sold me a returned item as new or how would it be registered to someone else? If it would of been a $30.00 dvd player or such I would of thrown it away and not even bothered. Lesson learned never buy expensive electronics from Walmart If you have a problem you are on your own. The kicker was the Mgr told me i know where you could take it to get it fixed! It was under warranty and still is on a multi year service policy.

 

[paulg]

Registered to someone else.

My understanding of limited product warranties goes like this:
If a product was purchased by an end-user previously and either the warranty card sent in OR the unit had a warranty repair - that unit is permanently tied to the original customer... forever. If that same customer ends up returning that same unit to the retailer, it can be repaired and resold as USED but not NEW. However, the original manufacturer's warranty is OVER. If the manufacturer tells you that your unit has no warranty because it is registered to someone else - get a copy of that statement and take it back to the retailer with your receipt. If that unit was sold to you as "new", the RETAILER must pay for repairs or give you your money back. Selling a USED product as NEW is a no-no. Bear in mind that the DOLTS at retailers often sell used product as new by "accident".
If a retailer NEVER SOLD something and it breaks, it can be repaired over and over and still sold as new. That is ok. The warranty claim is under store-stock and doesn't affect you.
Yes, the box may look sealed. Retailers are expert at repackaging. Look at the BOTTOM of the box. If they rebox a unit they often do it upside-down so the box looks new from the top.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Yes, the box may look sealed. Retailers are expert at repack

As are scummy consumers (LOTS more of them around!)!

Chuck

 

[alr2903]

I appreciate your comments Paul & Chuck Thanks. I have never had a consumer encounter like this in my entire 49 years of life.