Target Tidbit

[michaelman2]

Recently I had a less than pleasant dealing with Target. I was trying to purchase a coat that I had seen in stock a few days before Christmas. Of course I should have purchased it at that time, but waited. Well as luck would have it they sold out of my size. I went to the service desk and asked if they could use the SKU and see if another store in the area had one in stock? You would have thought I had asked this person to go to the ends of the earth to locate this. She meandered and sighed and finally (of course) said “no there are none left". I asked if I went on line if the Target.com site might be a route to take “uh, I am not sure about that".

I got on the phone and started calling the Target stores in Georgia, along with surly behavior from most of the people answering the phone to always an immediate "no" to any request,..... I was giving up.

I called the toll free "customer care" line and that was even worse. Call me crazy, but I would imagine if someone is being nice and asking for help regarding Target merchandise, the common sense response should have been “sir, let me have the SKU number, I have several other people waiting but I will check into this for you and give you a call back". I think I am really old fashioned. I let the Target folks know and did get a call from the corp. office only to hear:

MY FAVORITE LINE “We are sorry for the inconvenience, but.......".....I rest my bitch..........

 

[sudsman]

What planet are your from??

there is NO such thing as customer service anymore!

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Michael -

I have two (yes TWO) Targets in walking distance of my house. I would be glad to check if they have the coat you're looking for if you like. Just e-mail me the SKU number or a description and I'm on it. If I find it, we're not that far apart.

Gordon

 

[danemodsandy]

Ick.

I've had very poor experiences with this company. I once had a sales associate become extremely rude with me, and when I asked for a manager, I was told he was busy. I then took my complaint to the Target website, which got no response other than putting me on their e-mailing list, which was the very last thing I wanted.

Only this week, I went to a nearby store for a comforter and an ice scraper (a tool that is used to scrape ice from a sidewalk; it looks something like a hoe, except the blade is mounted in line with the handle instead of at an angle to it). Comforters were seriously out of stock except in twin size, except for expensive "designer" ones and ones sold as part of a "bed-in-a-bag" set. Even better, there were no ice scrapers, and asking a manager elicited the information that "we ain't never carried them." This in Iowa. In the dead of winter. With two feet of snow and ice on the ground. From a chain based in Minneapolis.

I took my carcass and my business across the street to Wal-Mart, where I don't particularly like shopping, but where I had my hands on both items in less than five minutes.

 

[douglasdc6]

When you were having trouble did you ever request to speak to the store manager?

I refuse to tolerate mean hateful sales personnel

I get results when I get a manager involved.

 

[danemodsandy]

I Did:

"When you were having trouble did you ever request to speak to the store manager?"

I did, by asking at the courtesy desk, and was told that he was busy. Not the best way to insure happy campers, eh?

That was when I lived in Atlanta. Here, I snagged a passing manager to ask about the ice scraper - he wasn't rude, but it was a damned odd thing for them not to have.

My fault for wanting something useful instead of a Bratz doll or a Mariah Carey CD or a stainless steel tissue box cover or some of the other folderol they carry, I guess.

 

[westingman123]

Ain't ya got no hardware stores in Iowa?

Sandy, I've found Target sadly deficient of anything useful here in Missouri. However, the local Ace hardware either has what I want or gets it in within a day. I know that doesn't help with your comforter in the least. But WalMart? Ugh. I don't know if it's a local thing, but EVERY WalMart in these parts is AWFUL. Rude, stressed, mean clerks! I work in customer service for God's sake, and tend to cut a lot of slack! But I've sworn to never, ever, darken WalMart's door again.

 

[danemodsandy]

Keith:

Yes, we've got hardware stores, and Menards to boot. But I was at Tar-zhay for several things, and with so much snow and ice about, I wanted to minimise driving around. Since there was a big display of snow shovels, de-icing products and whatnot at Target, I thought there surely were scrapers in the store. Silly me.

 

[maytagbear]

Uh, today is December 29.

Perhaps everyone was on overload, from only having a day or so off?

Many retail people had to work until 10:30 pm or later Christmas Eve, and a lot of them had to be back on December 26th at 5:30 or 6:00 am.

Not trying to excuse downright nastiness, but if I had to face a schedule like that, I might not be all sweetness and light.

I am far from perfect, but I do try to walk a few steps in the other person's shoes.....

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[yogitunes]

You would also be suprised to hear from corporate down to mananger down to employees....

the rule is move people along, and get them thru checkout and exit the store without delay, don't spend/waste time with any one customer that would hold up production...

Lawrence is right, I used to work retail, and it works on many levels, from having a bad day, to rude employees as well as rude customers, and erratic schedules...it ain't always easy...and from Black Friday onto New Years, it is pure hell for ALL....

It's bad enough thruout the whole year with bad service, expecting great service during the holidays is asking a lot, sorry your having a hard time, but has anyone been given out of the way customer service from any place 24/7 during the holiday season?

Food for thought....I start shopping for Xmas 2 ways, thruout the year as I find gifts for people I buy them and store them in a locked gift closet....when September hits, I finish shopping for people I have not gotten gifts for, where everything is in stock, on sale, no lines, hard parking, etc., and I charge everything, when the bill comes in, I use my Xmas club to pay off the credit card bills....problem solved....less stress and I'm usually ready for Xmas with gifts and cards ready for the mail by Oct 31....this allows me plenty of time to start decorating without the last minute rushing to get it all done....

 

[circlew]

Had one too

A little over three years ago, I was in the Target near Dayton Mall, and bought some new towels and washcloths. I thought they were the same "Essence by Lady Peperell" that I had purchased several of a year or so earlier, and had been rather well pleased with. Evidently something had changed about these bath linens, and not for the better. They were similar colors so I washed them with some of my other towels. When I took them out of the washer, everything was covered with lint from the new ones shedding. It took numerous washings and dryings to de-lint my old towels. The new ones looked like crap; nothing like the previous ones. When I looked at the tags, they said "Essence", but no mention of Lady Peperell or Westpoint Stevens, the manufacturer of the first towels, so I must assume they found some other company to make them cheaper. I was very displeased, and took them back to the Target store. I didn't want any more of these same towels, so asked if I could have the next better line at the same price (I had bought two towels and two washcloths). The better ones were on sale for less than $.50 more for washcloth, and less than $1.00 more for the towel. You would have thought I asked them to exchange them for diamonds! The young guy in "customer service" rudely said they could either switch them for more of the "Essence" items or refund my money. I tried to get through to him that they would lose less by letting me have the more expensive ones, rather than refunding my money - about $14 - which I could (and did) spend elsewhere. Neither he - nor the young lady assistant manager who came to assist him - could seem to grasp that concept. This was done frequently when I worked at Shillito's (now Macy's) back in the early '80's, if a customer brought back something that was obviously defective. We did whatever we could to please the customer as long as it was reasonable. I quickly found out Target doesn't offer that level of service. They told me I would need to talk to the main manager, who would'nt be in until the next morning, so I stuck them back in the bag and left. I called and got her voice mail, left a message, but didn't hear back. This was shortly before the Christmas season, and needless to say, I didn't spend so much as a cent in Target that year. I still very rarely go in that store, but a newer one opened in more convenient location for me, so I go there some.

 

[sudsmaster]

I used to enjoy browsing/shopping at Target. It seemed like they had a superior small appliance collection, with the Michael Graves selections a cut above in combining good function with slightly whimsical fashion.

But about half a year ago I read a story that Target was changing its focus to try to compete better with Walmart. They would concentrate on the low end.

And it shows in their current products on the shelves. They are not quite as crappy as what Walmart offers, but it's pretty close. The Michael Graves products are few and far between, and often hidden behind flimsy junk.

Lowest common denominator, I guess.

 

[perc-o-prince]

...looking for the manager to complain...

"I did, by asking at the courtesy desk, and was told that he was busy."

Fortunately or unfortunately, those of us with retail backgrounds have been trained to overcome such objections (an objection, in retail, is anything that is negative or that which does not provide us with the desired outcome). The correct reply to that clerk would have been any variation of, "Since he or she isn't available, I'd like the number for the district manager."

Then, you sit back and watch the manager beat feet to get to wherever you are!!!

Chuck

 

[danemodsandy]

I'd Better Clarify:

Lawrence:

The incident of rudeness I mentioned where I was told no manager was available happened several years ago, in Atlanta, and was not during the holiday season.

The incident where no ice scrapers were to be had was this weekend, but no rudeness was involved, just a lack of seasonal merchandise that any buyer with common sense would have seen to it was in the store.

Also, I did my time in retail back in the '80s, and while it's certainly to be expected that everyone and everything will get a little frayed around the edges during December, outright rudeness was never acceptable. Of course, that was twenty years ago, and people are putting up with quality and service levels today that would have been unthinkable then.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I learned from my mother the most devastating way to get service. If she started running into trouble with a clerk, she opened her purse, took out a pen and a piece of paper, then looked up and either asked the clerk his or her name or read it off their badge. She then announced that she was going to the manager's office.

If I was at a Target and the manager was too busy to help me, I would make sure to ask for the store number before telling them I was going to corporate hq. I had to do that at Home Depot JUST ONCE when horrible lines were at each of the two open registers. When I had them page the manager on duty, the multiple pages were not answered, just like the staff had told me they would not be. I went home and contacted hq in Atlanta and suddenly things were better at that store. Now with the self checkout and the recession things don't get that bad at Home Depot.

Yesterday, I went to Kohls. When I walked in the door, I saw huge lines at the few open registers so I left.