I took a few minutes out of my busy blogging schedule today to do a brake job on my wife's van before she took the kids to the beach for a couple of days... I bought more than I needed to the other day, just to make sure that I didn't end up needing something I couldn't get my hands on after starting.
So, I finished the job and was taking back the items I didn't need.
Talk about disappointing!?!
There I stood with a bag of stuff that needed to be returned. There were five people at the counter all on the phone... it seemed like they were with customers, so I wasn't terribly annoyed. And then a couple of them finished up with the phone calls... and walked away from the counter. One started stocking shelves. The other was in the back. Now, at ten minutes, I was starting to be a bit annoyed...
I had yet to be acknowledged.
Not a nod, wave, greeting "give me a sec..." NOTHING.
The manager came out for a minute and handed the guy that was stocking shelves a couple more items. And looked at me. And went to the back again.
How long would this go on?
We were at fifteen minutes when another counter person finished up and motioned me to the counter. He asked if I had a return (duh!?!) and started processing it. And then the manager walked back out and handed him several items and told him they needed to be on the shelf ASAP.
Was there an invisible rush? I was the ONLY customer in the store!
The counter person excused himself to put up the items as ordered. Before the Manager could escape to the back again, I mentioned that I would like to get done and leave before my four year old got his license. That got a nasty look. But the Manager turned and kept walking.
Counter person got back and continued to process my return.
Manager comes back out with more merchandise to stock... has to be done immediately. Counter guy is actually pleading my case. And gets told that the merchandise is more important than the customer standing there waiting.
We were at twenty minutes when I decided that the manager needed customer service training...
This should have been a 3 minute stop... it was way over budget.
- Customer in store
- Customer on phone
- anything else (cleaning, stocking, etc.)
It is pretty simple. It took a total of 15 minutes to process my return, after waiting ten minutes. There was NO reason this should have been over a 5 minute stop.
The District Manager agreed that it wasn't handled appropriately... but didn't know how to correct the situation. What? And he admited it to me?
"Tell your manager that getting the cans of spray paint on the shelves isn't as important as keeping the customers from driving to one of the other 5 parts stores within 3 miles. And then tell the manager that if she can't handle that, she should think about a job elsewhere. Finish up by telling the manager that you will only get one more call about them treating a customer like this because after that call she will be unemployed."
It isn't rocket science. Treat people the way you want to be treated.
I'm not naming the store because the previous trip was fantastic. When I bought my supplies, the Assistant Manager was great. Helpful, courteous and knowledgable.
The District Manager knows that too...
I believe in always delivering the service I expect from others.
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