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  • Retail Hell

    Isweartogawd, this happens to me every couple of weeks, or something similar. Today, it was in Sears:

    Me: I'd like to buy one of your products, that one over there.

    Clerk: I'll check to see if it's in stock.

    (A very long time later)

    We no longer carry that item.

    But you have it on display right there.

    That's the display model.

    But you don't carry it?

    Not any more. Kept selling out.

    Shouldn't you get more in?

    Hassle. People kept buying them and we'd run out.

    Do your other stores have it?

    Doubt it. But you can go check.

    Can I order it?

    Told you, we don't carry it.

    Can I buy the one you have on display?

    No! That's the display model!

    But you don't carry this item any more.

    (Exasperated) That's the display model!

    Right. A display of something you don't have in stock, don't carry any more and won't order. Isn't it misleading to have it on display? With a price tag on it? Gives the impression it's for sale.

    It's not for sale. That's the display model!

    And so I went to Home Depot.
    Burl Burlingame
    "Art is never finished, only abandoned." -- Leonardo Da Vinci
    honoluluagonizer.com

  • #2
    Re: Retail Hell

    Hmmmmmm sounds like you were in their home improvement section being that YOU got nowhere and ended up goin to Home Depot....

    My take on what you experienced.....
    The sales clerk was not on the same page with you here.
    The responses on whoever you talked to seemed broad.
    I work in retail hell also and I try to zero in on who I am communicating with while on duty.
    If there is a will there is a way in solving problems and this person seemed close minded in assisting customers.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Retail Hell

      In retail there's a thing called a planogram. Basically a photo or illustrated layout of how that particular display of items should be laid out. It's a national formula that all stores nationwide must follow whether the product is sold out or not.

      Until the item is made "Inactive" by those who set up the UPC stock/price coding on their SKU's, the sales associate on the floor is in a tough situation to work with. Yes the product is "Active" or else it wouldn't be on the sales floor for sale. No, they cannot sell the display model because it's not a clearance item, meaning more product will come in later so the display model isn't sold.

      If the display model is sold and it is still an active SKU then when new product arrives, one item has to replace the display that was sold (if ever).

      Another reason why display models are typically not sold is because of the wear and tear plus abuse put upon them by customers. But one of the biggest reasons against selling display models is that all accessories, warranty registration, operating booklets and carrying cases are not left inside the "Display Model box" hidden somewhere magically behind the registers. In most cases the peripheral stuff is disposed of including the rechargable batteries and saw blades that make up the unit.

      In some rare instances the display model is sold and is done so with an As-Is condition meaning no warranty or return policy on this item. So when it breaks (as it will because it is an abused display model) you have no recourse for warranty or return with the store or the manufacturer.

      Buzz at that point I would have asked for a manager on duty. If it were me I'd have just pulled the damned thing off the wall and sold it to you "As-Is" and when you rant about it's poor performance when you attempt to return it, I'll just say I told you so, but hey...the customer is always right and I'm not gonna spark a war with you on the sales floor. You want it, here ya go but buyer beware.

      You get what you want, we get rid of a piece of junk hanging on the wall. Everybody's happy right? Well at least until you plug it in and burn your house down because it sparked an inferno. But hey the store isn't liable because you bought it with no implied warranty or return policy knowing full on that the product is more likely defective when you bought it.

      Next time call a manager, they get paid more to deal with issues such as yours. The sales associate must work within their policy guidelines or else they'll get dinged on their next performance eval.

      Your next question should have been, "When will the next order arrive?" That is something that sales associate should have been able to answer definatively.

      BTW what did you eventually end up going to Home Depot to purchase? And how were you treated? The way you are treated at Home Depot is a very serious thing for store managers and assistant managers working there. If they hear of bad treatment, they are encouraged to talk to the associate and in some cases repremand them. It's your right as a customer to demand excellent customer service (even if the customer is a jerk).
      Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Retail Hell

        You know what's even worse, is when they go get an item for you and then don't come back. One time at Compusa I had three different reps just completely disappear on me, as I stood around and waited for almost 45 minutes until finally I went and found the manager and she told me they had no more in stock. When I asked what happened to the three different people I had asked to check on the item for me. She replied that they had a really big store room and that they must have gotten lost..WTF!
        808blogs.com- Start your own blog now, for free!
        kazaru.808blogs.com - my blog!
        http://kazaru.com - personal site DOWN ATM

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Retail Hell

          Good points from Craig. The point I was making, though, is that everything could have been avoided by an out-of-stock note on the display item.

          It also seems to be a peculiarly Hawaii "problem" to treat items that sell out as annoyances. I used to run into that attitude a lot at Arakawa's!

          I haven't done that much retail shopping on the mainland, but it seems to be quite a different experience.
          Last edited by buzz1941; April 13, 2007, 06:51 PM.
          Burl Burlingame
          "Art is never finished, only abandoned." -- Leonardo Da Vinci
          honoluluagonizer.com

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Retail Hell

            Originally posted by Cameron View Post
            You know what's even worse, is when they go get an item for you and then don't come back. One time at Compusa I had three different reps just completely disappear on me, as I stood around and waited for almost 45 minutes until finally I went and found the manager and she told me they had no more in stock. When I asked what happened to the three different people I had asked to check on the item for me. She replied that they had a really big store room and that they must have gotten lost..WTF!
            Or those sales reps were in a car on (a mystical) break and got towed to Waipahu.
            sigpic The Tasty Island

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Retail Hell

              The problem at Arakawa's was that most of their, what do they call them now......associates couldn't speak enough english to be proficient at communicating. It's a problem at many retail stores that hire ESL people. Heck, I have a hard time at McD's. They get frustrated then get defensive. Das wen I get mad.

              Oh, it's not only the retail side. It's also in health care. Wife and I lost twins at KWCH. That afternoon, an ESL nurse came in to prep my wife for "stereeelizacion". I asked, "What?"...and she repeated the statement. I told her that we just lost our twins and we made no such request. Instead of going out to check with her supervisor, she started getting beligerent and kept telling us she had to start prepping my wife for the procedure. I showed her to the door and showed her the little picture they put on the jamb denoting a "lost" baby, in our case there were 2. I then told her in a quiet voice, "Get the f--k out of here and don't come back or I'll drop kick your ass all the way into Manoa."

              As for "associates" that do speak english, most are young and don't give a darn what you want or if they have it in stock. I've seen one too many grudgingly ask if they can help me. You can see it in their faces and how they swear under their breath if things don't work out to their benefit. You know, the ssshhhhh.... for the ffffff.....accompanied by a shaking head. Now, I'm sure there are more "good" associates out there, but there're just too many of the dumb ones for the others to really get a chance to shine.

              The wife asked me the other day, after an altercation at a fast food place. "Did you complain to the manager?" I said, "Aw, no." She says, "You get into an argument with the low man and leave. You should at least tell the manager why we're going somewhere else." Duh.... My wife, she's so smart.

              It's getting so bad, these days, that may be a good tip to keep in mind and to excercise more often. Same for praising a really helpful associate. Time for us consumers to put our foot down and say, "We ain't gonna take this BS any more!"

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Retail Hell

                Originally posted by Pomai View Post
                Or those sales reps were in a car on (a mystical) break and got towed to Waipahu.
                Bwa<snort>ha<hiccup>ha<fut>

                Back on topic...kinda...today I was at the Waianae post office. The clerk saw my cell phone and asked who the provider was. I told him then we compared notes on what turned out to be his current and my previous provider. He volunteered that that provider's customer service in Hawaii sucks while on the mainland they were very accommodating. He said he was going to call my current provider because he's tired of the runaround he's getting. It shouldn't be that way.

                Customer service should be #1 priority. It certainly is in my micro-business.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Retail Hell

                  Originally posted by buzz1941 View Post
                  It's not for sale. That's the display model!
                  And so I went to Home Depot.
                  The exact same thing happened to me at Sears a couple of months ago and, like you, Buzz, I went to Home Depot for satisfaction.
                  In my case it was a power washer, and the Sears staff didn't even explain as much as they told you.
                  Craig makes some very good points, and I only wish the Sears staff had been as thoughtful and as helpful as Craig.
                  Side note: at Home Depot I found the last one of the old model of power washer, next to at least a dozen of the newer model. I bought the old model for a really good price, but not a good deal. Unpacked it at home and found it highly corroded and missing parts, so went back to Home Depot and traded it in for a newer model at a slightly higher price. My fault for trying to save a few shekels.

                  .
                  .

                  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Retail Hell

                    Originally posted by Da Rolling Eye View Post
                    [...]Wife and I lost twins at KWCH.[...]
                    Same for praising a really helpful associate.[...]
                    Ooooh maaaan, DRE...my heart goes out to your double loss...and your treatment at KWCH.

                    While nowhere close to what you've been thru, I'm currently experiencing exceptionally poor treatment, harrassment and stupidity exhibited by an employee of my condo building. While not "retail" it still boils down to customer service. I'm a huge believer in standing up for what you know is right; for fairness; for equity. A friend said to me..."Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?". HUH? Backing down from my morals and beliefs and not honoring the truth will never make me happy. Besides, I've video'd the whole fiasco! I have evidence!!!!!!!! THAT makes me happy! That idiot's karma is already coming back to haunt him. I really don't have to do a thing but be honest and true to myself.

                    And, yes...we all need to praise the good people in our lives.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Retail Hell

                      In defense of sales associates (some of them anyway), at Home Depot I can be researching to see if a product is on order or what the on-hand quantities are from the computer. Here's how a typical day as a sales associate goes:

                      8:00 am Walk out onto the sales floor and am hammered by five customers at once in the Building and Materials department because it's the closest to the break room. Mind you I work five aisles down in Hardware.

                      8:30 am Finally make it out of Building and Materials only to get attacked by five more customers in the Lumber Department two aisles from the break room.

                      9:15 am Finally make it to Hardware but am pulled away into Millworks (where we sell doors and windows). After pulling a solid door slab from the overheads for a customer then helping another with her screen window issues I make it to Hardware. At that point my boss is already pissed that I haven't reported to my department for over one hour after clocking in. Hey I tell him, we work in all departments right?

                      9:20 am A customer wants me to pull down a Ridgid 10-inch cast iron table saw from the overheads. I tell him it'll take about 20-30 minutes to locate barracades, a Reach lift vehicle another sales associates to act as a safety spotter and the time to actually drop the item down.

                      9:30 am getting the Barracades in place when three more customers and another on the phone wants excellent customer service all at the same time.

                      Because we are in a task mode (pulling product down) we must stop to help the new line of customers breathing down my neck.

                      10:00 am it's back to pulling down the table saw for the first customer who is reinacting Pele doing Halemaumau.

                      10:15 am saw is down but customer has LEFT THE BUILDING already!

                      10:20 am Put the saw back top side because we cannot leave large product on the sales floor.

                      11:00 am One hour late for my first much needed break and I haven't done JACK in my department in sales yet.

                      11:15 am. I'm looking for another Hardware associate to hand the phone over to so I can take my overdue and much needed break. I can't find him because he's on his 11:00 break already!

                      11:25 am. The sales associate who was supposed to return to the department finally takes the phone from me. He apologizes because he was attacked by five more customers in Building and Materials and barely made it out of Lumber and Millworks.

                      11:30 am. We Triage the sales floor determining what aisles needed to be maintained first as I take off for my overdue break.

                      12:20 pm. After several unsuccessful attempts to dodge customers thru the Millworks/Lumber/Buillding and Materials gauntlet I finally make it to the break room. I get dinged for not clocking out for lunch at my scheduled time.

                      1:20 pm. Damn that lunch hour was too damned short as I make it out the door, associates wishing me luck as I have to walk thru three departments to get back to my own.

                      2:30 pm I make it back to Hardware after loading up a pallet of Hawaiian cement for this old lady because her son made her come to Home Depot to pick it up.

                      We are coming out of Power Hour, the four hour window where retail sales reaches critical levels (10am to 2pm). I'm exhausted after unloading several bags of 90-lb cement, 20 pieces of 4 x 12 Headers each running 10-feet long and I just get back into my own department. I dare not go back to the break room for a sip of water lest I get accosted by five more customers in three departments so I head deeper into Hardware where I can find sanctuary with my fellow associates who are licking their wounds from the wolves out there demanding excellent customer service.

                      We huddle in groups (strength in numbers) but we are picked off one by one by the creatures of the deep, "excuse me may we get some help please" is their bark as they tear us away from our herd.

                      Suddenly it's 2:45 pm and I'm alone and surrounded by six hungry customers and they are coming in for the kill. I recognize one of them, "Where's my table saw" Crap that's the one from this morning. And after realizing we put it back he goes into a feeding frenzy and devours a young sales associate trainee. Poor lass that "I'm in training" button couldn't stop the madman from tearing him apart.

                      Weary and thirsty, I relent with a smile, "Right away sir" and we quickly blow off any attempts from other customers to get our attention. In record time the saw is pulled down and the customer get's his trophy. But in our efforts to satisfy this one customer, two others have filed a complaint to our manager for being rude.

                      It's 3:15 pm. 15-minutes late for my 3pm break. I drag myself back to the break room and I see a mob of customers heading my way. I'm ready to roll over and die already but my boss sees me and pulls me to safety just in time.

                      He jumps out and takes on the customers giving me a chance to escape to the breakroom. In a fatalistic effort to save me he is overwhelmed by several customers. He yells at me to save myself and I rush off.

                      Oh the pain of seeing another assistant sales manager sacrifice his body for the cause. Oh well I guess another management position is open now

                      3:30 pm rolls around and there's a quiet calm in the aisles. This wave of customers have ebbed and we tend to our wounded and clear the battlefield, readying our troops for the 5pm afterwork crowd. Carts are brought back to the corrals. Cashiers are replaced with fresh faces and the evening manager has arrived ready for battle. A few evening part timer sales associates arrive to reinforce the embattled day crew. Evening falls as the Coqui Frogs echo outside. The associates get their final instructions and ready their aprons for battle.

                      The weary day crew stick around for another hour but must leave or else they will get docked for overtime. Saddened we depart wishing the lone sales associate in each department well and good luck knowing the 7pm rush will devour them entirely as they come in for the kill.

                      It is 9pm and the store is now closed. A few stragglers try to buy an item but the battle weary evening crew drags them to register 2, the only till left open.

                      10pm and the last sales associate leaves the building allowing the overnight stock crews to regroom the battle ground and gets the store "Grand Opening" ready for tomorrow.

                      And the carnage continues another day.

                      But I love retail and I face this challenge every day.
                      Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Retail Hell

                        Perhaps Home Depot needs to simply make each dept wear a different vest or apron to indicate which dept? I bet half the time customers will try to flag down any associate because we have no clue you belong to this dept or that dept.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Retail Hell

                          That wouldn't work because then you'd really get pissed off customers. We do help in all departments. It's our responsibility to get to know the entire lay of the store. We have over 60,000 items sold in any given Home Depot store worldwide and I think I know where 90% of it all goes. It comes down to staffing.

                          Home Depot uses a formula which translates prior sales amounts to number of associates on the floor.

                          So if we have a bang em up sale like our Ultimate Power Tool Sale that just ended on Thursday, staffing will increase because of those numbers the following week. Problem is that the following week is a slow one because everyone bought their tools from our massive sale the previous week.

                          Now we got a lot of associates but little customers. Sales go down and is reflected in the following week's staffing which is then reduced because of the weak sales numbers.

                          But what's this in Thursday's newspaper? It's a HD flyer for another big Spring cleaning sales event 12 months no interest no payments! Yeah so the customers come in throngs but OH NO staffing was dictated on the week of the BIG SALE from the previous week that had crap sales.

                          So we now have a big sale with too little associates to handle it. Get the picture?

                          What we need are dedicated stock clerks to handle the downstocking of merchandise during retail hours, so the sales associates can focus on being...um...sales associates instead of stock clerks.

                          If a customer wants me to bring down a table saw for him, it'll take two of us approximately 30-minutes to help that one customer out. In that time the two of us could have helped 20-customers with their demands.

                          One mad customer vs 20 mad customers? Because we can't focus on customer service due to being stock clerks, we get one happy customer but 20 pissed off ones. Do the math...something's wrong here.
                          Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Retail Hell

                            No offense but it sounds like HD management isn't on top of their game then. You would think if there's an upcoming sale, you anticipate and staff appropriately instead of merely looking at last week's sale volume. I can understand that thought if it was normal week to normal week, not a sale week.

                            Maybe HD simply just needs two groups with different vest/apron, sales associate and stock clerk? A customer may flag a stock clerk down and the clerk can reference the cust to a sales associate to assist with questions but I don't think a cust will be upset if a sales associate is there immediately available. The stock clerks can then be called upon when you need to pull something off a shelf for a cust, the sale associate moves on to the next cust.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Retail Hell

                              The problem with that is that it makes too much sense to be enacted.

                              Yeah we thought the same but (heavy sigh) we don't sign the paychecks, we just spend them.

                              To me having a dedicated stock team during retail hours would definately help us sales associates to our job of selling better.

                              A customer wants an item that requires team lifting or downstocking. The sales associate dealing with that customer radios for a stock team to pull the merchandise down. The Sales associate then moves onto the next customer...the way it should be.

                              A stock clerk is readying some barracades for a team lift when a customer taps him on the shoulder for help. He immediately radios a sales associate for assistance and we're on it because we're not pulling merchandise for another customer.

                              A cashier needs a price check on a certain SKU that isn't showing up on the computer. An unaproned associate takes the call and radios back the pricing information from the sales floor without customer intervention.

                              Makes too much sense to work
                              Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                              Comment

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