Today I had the second worse customer service in my life (worse was last Fall at the local EB Games). It took place at the Costco in my city. I don't feel like telling the whole story here because I juste wrote a looong e-mail to their online customer service and I still havn't calmed down. So I guess I'm just opening a topic to know if you've ever had bad experiences at Costco, or someplace else maybe. It's time to vent!

Just copy/paste the email you sent to Costco.

Best Buy, man. Their return policies are false, you're not going to get your money back no matter what. Solution: don't buy from them.

Tell us about your EB Games squabble. I had a bad experience with Gamestop, what with trying to return a price-of-crap called Kingdom Hearts. Didn't help that the girl working the counter was a friggin' Kingdom Hearts fangirl, and took personal offense at my wanting to return the damn thing.

Then there was this one time at Applebee's family restaurant, the waitress was less than cooperative about getting me another glass of water; she kept ignoring me, until the third time I asked as she ran by, and she responded shouting, "OKAY, I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" Why didn't you acknowledge my requests then, so I didn't feel like I was talking to the wind? Needless to say, the only tip she got was note saying, "You want a tip? Here's one: Don't shout at your customers!"

Then there was this one time, at a newstand: I was flipping through some magazines to decide which ones I actually wanted to pick up; the owner came right up to me, and pulled the magazine right out of my hands, and said, "This place isn't for window shoppers; get lost." I would've gone to Borders or Barnes & Noble...if there'd actually been one within walking distance.

Naturally, all of these incidences occurred in the same town. New Yorkers are so high-strung...high-strung like a cross-bow ready to fire an arrow!

Let's see:

Circuit City wouldn't sell me a CD back in 2000.  It was on the shelf, I picked it up, and wanted to buy it, but the cashier said that it shouldn't have been on the shelf because it "hadn't been released yet".  Knowing this to be false (it had been released two-and-a-half months before), I argued with him, but to no avail.  He seized the CD, and told me that if I wanted to come back in a week, I could buy it then.  I haven't bought anything at Circuit City since.

I had trouble returning a shirt to Macy's earlier this year.  I noticed that there was a rip by the collar, and wanted to exchange it.  The manager asked me if I had washed it, and when I replied in the affirmative, told me he couldn't accept it.  He said it had probably been caused by the washing machine, and that once a garment was washed, it was non-returnable.  He said that I should try to get it repaired, and when I asked him how I would go about doing that, he looked back at the shirt and said that there was no way to repair it.  He then asked me if I wanted to keep the shirt (I suppose the alternative would have been to just give him the shirt and leave with nothing).  I left, and went to a different Macy's, which cheerfully accepted the return, without grilling me on whether or not I had washed it.

Some people are just jerks.  You can try returning it to a different Costco if there's one nearby, and see if they respond differently.  It's worth a shot.

As an outsider, it's sometimes odd reading things like this. It's easy for me to judge and think that the US values the corporation more than the person and thank my lucky stars I live in one of many countries with good consumer protection but then I actually think back to my experiences in the US and it doesn't quite fit. The US, or certainly places I have been to (not many and mostly Boston and New York), seems to really want to please the customer. I love shopping in the US. I especially love eating in the US because it really seems like everyone is out to make sure I'm having a good time, enjoying whatever I'm doing, be it eating or shopping or whatever. It seems an extension of the positive attitude of so many of the people living there.

Over here, most people working with customers are grumpy and couldn't care what the hell you're doing. No such thing as free coffee refills either.

But then I read things like this and it doesn't seem to fit. Is it that everything changes once the money is handed over? What happened to pleasing the customer?

Am I the only one who thinks it's strange when people stop ever shopping at an entire chain because of an experience with one incompetent employee at one branch of it?

No. Not at all.

It sounds like the stories here stem from douchebags that are pissed off that they're working retail and take it out on the customers, or douchebags that have poor customer service (or just general people) skills, or douchebags that are misinformed, or douchebags that are just douchebags. I mean, I guess you could boycott a store because they hire douchebags in customer service positions, but what's the point? No matter where you go, whether it be a little mom and pop store that sells used CDs, or a fancy Italian restaraunt or a gas station convenience store, you run the risk of crossing paths with someone who is a total fuckwad and doesn't treat you right. They're called "people", and they are everywhere. Unfortunately, it seems that there are more douche-y ones than ones that actually treat others with respect, but that's just how things are.

Crash, that misinformed employee that didn't sell you the CD probably isn't still working at the counter at that specific Circuit City that you shopped at. That was seven years ago. What does your boycotting Circuit City do now that benefits you or hurts that employee or that specific store? If anything, I'll bet it has been more of a hassle to uphold that principle because you may have to go out of your way to avoid buying something there (which is a shame, because they have some great deals and sales).

Bernhardt, New Yorkers are not all high strung. It sounds to me like you are the high strung one, especially after seeing some of the stuff you posted toward Avatar in the past day and judging your reactions to other people's posts. I have been to New York on several occasions, right in the heart of Manhattan, and I found that the ratio of douchebags to non-douchebags was not too different than it is here. It's not "natural" that all that happened to you in the same town; it's natural that it happened in general. I was looking for a specific restaurant while I was there, and the person that gave me directions pointed me in the wrong way. He then came walking back over to me, apologized and gave me the correct directions. That happened to me in NYC, but you know, that shit can happen anywhere if you cross paths with the right people. I just lucked out with that one.

I dare say that every last New Yorker I've ever come into contact has been a difficult person to deal with, and definitely not about customer service. Maybe a wide generalization, but I'm not saying that all New Yorkers were difficult to deal with, just most.

I would make the wider generalization that most people are difficult to deal with.

I'm sure I've had bad experiences at places but I don't really remember them, or care too much.  I worked retail and retail pharmacy for 6 years and so I know both sides of it.  In general, if I have had a bad experience it could be anything.  They're people too, and they have good and bad days, so maybe they just had a bad day.  Also, from experience working retail, customers are f---ing assholes.  I believe it was on this forum that someone linked the American Airlines Customer isn't always right book thing, and it's so very very very true.  People in this country think that just because they're the customer and you're servicing them that they have the right to get whatever the want immediately. 

It's a lot more prevalent when you work in retail pharmacy, not only do you get the assholes you get the sick assholes.  So they come to the counter with a script and when you tell them it will be 30 minutes, and they say something like "you're just counting pills how hard  can it be", you pretty much just want to punch them in the face. 

I don't know what your experience was but I'm sure there was a reason for it.  If the guy was just plain a lazy douchebag you could probably get him written up.  The whole "boycott a store because one guy gave me a hard time" is a little hard for me to swallow too, as one guy doesn't represent everyone there.

Curious... Why does it take so long?  Paperwork?  Verification process?  Other customers ahead?

Well there's a multitude of reasons.

1) People drop off the most amount of scripts in the early parts of the week.  Doctors offices aren't open on weekends, so everyone who is sick goes on Monday and gets scripts on Monday.  Peak volume is Monday, drops off usually around Friday depending on the store.  So the majority of the time, yes there's people in front of you.

2) Input.  It takes a good pharmacist 5 minutes to put a script into the system, a bad one 10-15.  It depends on how well they type and how computer literate they are really. 

3.) Verification is the process that gives the most problems.  It can be tons of different things.  You have to make sure the script is written properly, if it's not you have to call the office and verify (10m), which means doctors with sloppy handwriting so it's illegible or just wrong information on the script. 

Insurance verification is the worst.  There's hundreds of thousands of insurance cards, and the cards you get in the mail generally don't have the right information for 'x' computer system to bill.  Even if you do get it put in to the system, if it comes back rejected you have to find out why.  Insurance companies do some verification on their end to make sure you're not scamming them, so you get rejections that say "incorrect dob for patient ID", and other silly things.  They will also reject it if it's not on their formulary, saying "use formulary xxx drug" instead of what the doctor wrote (like, your doctor wants you to use Flonase instead of Nasonex or something, but your insurance company won't pay for Flonase, so you have to call the doctor and ask if Nasonex is okay to use because your insurance won't pay for it).  Plus if your pharmacist actually has a heart they will rerun your script a couple times to save you money.  AKA, if your copay is 20$ for a generic drug 30 days supply, but the drug would be cheaper for you to buy a 90 day supply off your insurance.  Stuff like that.

afaik most pharmacys the pharamacist prints a label and the tech fills the script, which means the pharmacist has to check and verify everything the tech does, which means making sure they pulled the right drug, counted the right drug, put the right label on the bottle, put the right stickers on the bottle (no, the computers are'nt always setup to print the right info label things).

4.) and there's also consultation for meds that the pharmacist has to do with you for certain drugs if you request it or if it's your first time using it, etc.

So yeah it's not just "pull a bottle of the shelf and count some pills".  Factor in the fact that American's are sue-happy mother fuckers who will sue if you for the stupidest shit ever, liability is a huge problem in the health care industry, so it's a good idea not to rush.

but yeah that's not really what this thread is about, but that's a little insight into how pharmacies (at least retail ones that i've worked at) work.

A little?!  Hahah...Thanks for the backround, Insurance Companies....bah!!

I agree with everything Zane said. There are asses and idiots everywhere! Fortunately, they do happen to be the minority. I've been to NYC numerous times, and I've always had a wonderful time. My experience is that people there are quite friendly. Now it's true, New Yorkers are often loud, opinionated, perhaps a bit snobby, but nevertheless friendly and helpful for the most part (and it's such a wonderful city

To answer Jay's question, I've always felt that most American businesses definitely want to please the consumer. It seems to me that this is much more the case than in Europe. I've only had limited experience in Europe (England and France), but the service in Europe (especially in restaurants) was not nearly up to par with service here in the US. This was especially true in France (although of course it varies from place to place, and again I was only a tourist...although you would think they would want to be nice to tourists)!

Also, I agree with jb, costumers can be REALLY obnoxious. It's also true that many people want things "now" and have little patience (which just makes them more obnoxious)! As for the health-care industry, well there's a lot to be said about that of course -as evidenced by the newest MM film, "Sicko", which I haven't seen by the way so I can't comment on it. I do however personally know lots of MDs, and yeah liability is a huge issue! It's a tough call -on the one hand many Americans do sue others for the stupidest things (I blame lawyers), but on the other hand (especially when lives are at stake) the ability to sue companies and corporations (as well as individuals) is often the only recourse and protection that individuals have. I personally believe lawyers have really harmed the system, and tort reform is inevitable.  Anyway, as to the original post, yeah I agree with others don't boycott an entire chain just because of one jerk who works at the store...

cheers,

-avatar!

I've been back to Circuit City since then, but haven't found any deals that were good enough to make me want to buy anything.  I did go there when I was checking out laptops so I could see some models that weren't at Best Buy or CompUSA, but the deals were nothing special.  It's not that I am still consumed with hatred over this incident; I just rarely think about Circuit City when I think about electronics stores.  This might have something to do with the fact that I'm in Minneapolis, and there are Best Buys everywhere.  And to be fair, I don't think I've spent more than about $100 total at Best Buy in the last three years.  It's pretty much all online for me now.

Now, since people are discussing whether or not it's OK to boycott a company due to the actions of one individual, what about these scenarios (all of which have happened to me in the past):

1. A store or restaurant charges too much tax (in one case, 3% more, which was verified by a correspondence to the state department of revenue)?

2. The person who was the jerk was the owner of the company (or high up enough on the organizational ladder that it was clear this was an organizational philosophy)?

3. A cashier helps herself to an extra tip when you paid for your lunch with a credit card?

If I don't want to go through these experiences again, I will not spend my money there again, as I will never be sure that these situations won't repeat themselves.

Is illegal?

Not sure this is any different than anyone lower in the company.  I don't really think that in orientation someone would say "oh yeah f--- the customers just do ____".

This is also illegal, this happened to my mom at a gas station and she freaked out about it.  The girl charged her for more gas than she got and kept the extra money.

Well, I've pretty much confirmed it with every person I know; it's just that the stores in my tri-county are all suck.

Speaking of BAD customer service...here's a letter I wrote in frustration to Carl's Jr. some years ago...

TO WHOME IT MAY CONCERN: 

I recently visited my local Carl's Jr in Camarillo, CA off 
the Las Posas exit and was abhorred at the level of service 
they provided in overall customer satisfaction.  Despite 
over four previous, equally dissatisfactory visits to this 
location's drive-thru window, I opted to walk-in and order a
meal to-go.   The entire transaction was dissatisfactory.   
The food ordered was a large Super Star combo w/crisscut 
fries and a large Double Western combo w/crisscut fries.  I 
am most displeased that I drove all the way back from Carl's 
Jr on an in-store visit without my super-star, but a famous 
star.  I am not sure how different the words "Number 4 SUPER 
star combo" sound from "Number 'X' FAMOUS Star Combo" but to 
even the laziest educate of the English language there are 
about 9 letters and some odd or even numbers of uniqueness.   
WHY I can surmise this store insists on serving incorrect 
food orders is beyond my logic, but I surmise there is a 
massive shortage of patience that it takes to cook a 1/4 
pound piece of meat properly.  To top off my frustation 
while ordering my food and watching the cooks rapidly 
prepare food orders for about 3 customers total (a very 
light load for the 6:45 dinner rush) the cashier sheepishly 
neglected to give me the $10 cash back the atm terminal 
inquired about as he began helping the next customer.  Only 
after my look of pure frustration did he say he would give me my money
after he finished with the next soon-to-be dissatisfied customer.

While filling up my soda I noticed both coke spouts were 
running out of syrup.  I had to dispose of my two large 
disgustingly incomplete sodas and get alternate drinks. 

The place was dirty and it looked like the cooks were 
grabbing pieces of meat from places other than the grill while holding
on to a wet rag. 
Could this be the reason Carl's burger's have (on more than one
occasion) smelled like dirty wet mops?

I first went to Carl's Jr.  when I moved to Thousand Oaks, 
California back in 1983 - it was a religious experience 
because as a 6 year old I had never had a burger of that 
quality - made so fast.  Today's Carl's Jr. is much 
different.  Carl Karcher is rolling in his grave.

Please refine or at least take heed to one customer's request for better
quality at the store level.

Your commercials are great, but should not be at the price 
of the quality of what you're selling.  I wager if you paid your
employees and instituted managers and shift leaders like those you find
in every In & Out Burger you would enjoy a much broader profitable
popularity across America and outside of California

I will never visit the Las Posas location ever again and have opted to
avoid Carl's Jr. for some time.

In closing I'd like to say the "six dollar burger" is horrible. 
Your chains cannot afford or do not know how to cook a meat patty of
this size. 

Every time I have ordered the Six Dollar Burger it is burnt to a crisp
and the most dry burger I've ever had.  This is why I insist on the
"Harder to cook, but obviously better Super Star w/Cheese"

I'll see you at In and Out

Did you get a reply?

Yeah, I did.  I believe they indicated something to the effect that they took my feedback very seriously, and would be taking corrective action etc...I think they asked if there was anything they could do..I never followup up with it though.  I had heard from my roommates at the time, they started getting much better service everytime they went back.  I never did

This thread still rolling?

Let me tell you about Burger King; I actually LIKE the pseudo-grilled taste of their burgers, but the service is either incompotent or hostile at any of their locations.

Take the one nearest my place.

I go through the drive-thru around 9PM for dinner. I place my order at the speaker, then I pull around to the window.

When I get around to the window, I ask for ketchups before she hands me the bag.

And the fat angry lady says, "Ask for your ketchups when you're at the speaker!"

What does it matter whether I ask for them at the speaker or the window? I'm the only person there, while there's four people over at the McDonald's across the street; it's not like I'm delaying anyone after me! I'm the customer, I'm the one who's supposed to be giving orders, and the employee's the one supposed to be taking them! I shouldn't be walking (or driving) away from their restaurant feeling like an idiot, and like I just wasted $$$ whatever I just spent, because the drive-thru lady wants to bitch at me and lose me my appetite.

The same lady has bitched me out the past three times I've been there, and that third time was the last.

B'sides, every last time before I've asked for ketchups at the speaker, the person at the other end is always responds, "What? What was that? I didn't hear you!"

[/grumbling]

On NYC: I went travelling a lot last year (9 countries, mostly in Europe and the States).  As a Canadian, I have to say, I was impressed the most by the Swiss, the Austrians, and the people in NYC.  They're really loud but at least they're helpful and usually nice.  Sometimes I have trouble understanding the Brooklyn accent and when I ask them to repeat things, they just yell it louder (which really doesn't help) but at least they do help.  You want a rude city, you go to Paris.  I spoke French to them and they're still f---ing rude.  Not the people on the street, but anyone who works anywhere in Paris is really rude.

I've been to Paris, when I was 13 years old...They really were a@@holes...I could tell.  I remember my brother and I were going to this carnival, we were getting ganged up on at the bumper cars, by some punk kids...Of course that could've happened anywhere.. But even the chefs at the restaurants were pissed at everything and everyone...for no good reason!

I had a good time in New York, really fast paced though.

About NY city, I stayed there for a week circa Halloween 2005. I stayed at the Park Central Hotel (corner of 56th and that avenue that crosses Broadway a little further down... I think... I'm not from NY obviously ). Anyways, I really enjoyed my experience. Everyone was nice, from the people on the street, to the tour bus guy, to people working at the restaurants... well I did get sorta yelled at by the man working at the Museum of Modern Arts cause I took a picture where it wasn’t allowed, and some random people in Times Square sold us tickets for the Liberty Statue Ferry 30 minutes before the last departure of the day, so we missed it and ended up paying for nothing. It went smoothly at the LaGuardia airport too, unlike that time at LAX… The best day was on Halloween night, we went eating at Bubba Gump and the waitress was so nice and fun, she talked with us a bit and stuff, and the food was really good. And then my friend returned to that same restaurant a few months later, and she remembered his name and where we were from! On that same night we went out and we didn't know the hot places, but we met a small group of people that started talking to us and invited us to go out with them. I don't know where we ended up, but I ended up drinking too many long island iced tea and almost took the wrong subway cart on my way back to the hotel, or so I was told the next day. So yeah, I *heart* NY.

That was kinda off topics though

Anyone living in Manhattan here?

I recall a regular from the old boards being from there, but I neither remember his name nor if he still posts under different name. Edit: Darkheim was whom I was thinking of, I'll probably never get used to his new name (he even posted recently)...

I think Stephen lives in NYC somewhere, not sure.

i stopped eating at Yue Sun restaurant last month when they discontinued their $23.95 all-you-can-eat sushi bar... no way in hell am i paying $1.85 per plate when i was averaging about $.70 per plate on a good day...

Hey...do you know where I can get some .99 cent sushi in Phoenix?

</end sarcasm>

I heard it reported that the world's seafood supply will be gone in less than 40 years...

Enjoy the good sushi while you can!

I'm a bridge away from Manhattan, but in any case, I guess being a native New Yorker would make it hard for me to decipher where the line starts and ends as far as friendliness is concerned.   I will say that at least in a recent incident, where I needed to accompany one of my cousins to a school for a test (Friends H.S. on 375 Pearl St) in downtown Brooklyn, an area I honestly wasn't too familiar with, one person we asked directions for actually took the time to personally walk us the three blocks over to show us where it was.  What service!

I guess the reputation of fast-paced does at times make one feel that it's "every man and woman for themselves" in NYC.  How does the saying go? "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere."  At least we're quick on our feet, but I think you'll generally find us to be hospitable people..... when we're not so busy.  And in a relatively good mood. ;)   

As a New Yorker, I will say that the hospitality in the southern states is so much more palpable.  Every time I make a visit down south, I'm always delightfully taken aback at how kind and generous folks are.  They've at least inspired me to be more friendly and helpful to my fellow man.

That's really good to hear, Angela. People here always say that is the case, but I'm always glad to hear someone from up north confirm it.

That said, I've run in to my fair share of horrible retail store / fast food employees.  It's probably a universal thing, heh.

HLY SHT. My town must hate me, or something.

So, I go to return this CD I got from Borders last night.

Y'see, when I got it the night before, I was like, "Ehh, don't know if I REALLY want this; it's so ambiguous, I'll probably never see it again, so I'll just buy it, listen to samples online, and if I don't care for it, I'll return it for a cash refund without ever opening it, no fuss, no muss."

Now, when I get to Borders, it looks like it's closing up, but then this lady walks in before me, so I head on in, too.

The lady walks in front of me, and veers off to the left, and then the manager (young girl) walks up to me, and in an angry voice, says, "Sorry, but we're closed (I'm tired of working and I want to go home)."

I look over, and I still see people checking out. So I say, "You don't have enough time to process a return?" "Tsh, fine, get in line" she says.

When it's my turn, I slip the clerk the unopened album and receipt. At least, what was SUPPOSED to be the receipt.

Then the clerk points out that the "receipt" that had been given to me was only the bottom half of the receipt. The clerk who gave it to me last night FORGOT TO GIVE ME THE PROPER HALF OF THE RECEIPT. And then he slips me store credit.

And, of course I'm like, "I get stuck with store credit, because you people can tear off the receipt correctly for me?! You know I bought it here, because I wouldn't have a bottom half of a receipt if I didn't, and for that matter, it has one of your price lables on it! I want my cash back!"

*sigh*

It's getting to point, where I can't even return a factory-sealed item back to the store and get a cash refund. It makes me not want to buy anything!

As always, I only figure out what to really say until I've walked out of the store.

For example, "My good, fuzzy feelings about your store are all gone. What are you going to do to get them back? You can either give me $18.01 back, and continue to receive my patronage, or you can keep my $18.01, and I'm never going to patron this place again!"

Of course, to which he probably would've replied, "Good, 'cuz I don't want to see you in here again," or some such shit.

This's what happens when you leave high-schoolers in charge of a store.

...

It's like, I need to make sure that they slip me the proper damn receipt from now on?! I probably shouldn't visit a store just when it's about to close?!

I'd hate being a manager, and having to deal with everyone's personality dysfunctions. How DO you get people to do their jobs properly?! Since when aren't wages/salaries enough?! If you get paid to do a damn job, you do it! It ought to be as simple as that! Did I fall through a wormhole and into an alternate universe, in which this is supposed to be Soviet (e.g. backwards) America?!

I know if I'd pulled shit like this working there, I probably would've gotten myself fired; why, knowing my luck, I probably wouldn't even need to pull much of anything to get fired.

...

All I know is that, up until now, I've always gotten the proper receipts with my purchases, and always managed to return the item for a full cash refund when it return it unopened with the receipt.