PlanetFeedback's ShopperCast

Clean Up Your Act, Circuit City

It's Labor Day!  Lots of sales going on to entice shoppers to spend money.  But one Circuit City really dropped the ball.

Greg went shopping for a big screen television.  He wasn't comparison shopping, and had already done his research on the product he wanted.  He just had some questions.  He ran into a sale associate who couldn't have cared less.  Needless to say, he didn't make a purchase yesterday.  And consequently Circuit City lost a big sale.

We have the opposite problem at our Circuit City. We're in the market for a new digital camera but were only comparison shopping.  Our Circuit City had both we were looking at on sale and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to fiddle with both. Our sales associate was so heavy handed.  We told her that we were looking to compare and that since they didn't have one camera, we couldn't compare and weren't comfortable buying without it. She was ticked.

So much for service being state of the art'.

--Contributed by Deb

And You Thought The King Was Creepy

This particular gem leaves us a speechless ~ and just a little nauseous.

This guy is a Burger King employee - or should we say was - and he decided to celebrate his birthday by taking a bath in the BK utility sink.  You know... the sink where Burger King washes large pieces of equipment - the kind that cook the food we eat.  The ones that, if they if they are contaminated with (ugh) bacteria - and we're specifically thinking of this guy's human borne bacteria - can make any of us ill.

Is it any wonder that he calls himself Mr. Unstable?

In what lifetime does this sound like a good idea to either the guy in the tub or his friend operating the video camera?  The rumor mill has it that all the employees involved in this prank have either quit or been fired. 

Good.  Because we think we just threw up in our mouths a little.

--Contributed by Deb

No Wine-ing

Perhaps Debbie W. needed a glass of wine before her latest shopping experience at Wal-Mart.  She picked up three bottles of wine and at the check out, the cashier put them all in one bag.  One of Wal-Mart's very flimsy blue bags.

As she's loading her purchases into her car in the Wal-Mart parking lot, Debbie grabs the bag with the three bottles of wine, which promptly tears causing all three to smash on the ground.  Returning to the store, Debbie's shocked to learn that the store manager won't give her a refund for the three broken bottles of wine.  No wine for you, Debbie - unless you want to buy three more bottles.

There's some discussion on PlanetFeedback as to whether Debbie should have spoken up and asked the cashier to bag the bottles separately (probably brought on, at least in part, by the slightly hysterical tone in which this letter was written).  However, we're still perplexed that cashier didn't think of this herself.  It's fairly obvious when we lift a bag and the contents are too heavy for the bag itself.  Shouldn't it be equally obvious to the cashier? 

But instead of being proactive, the cashier just let Debbie go on her merry way.  All it would have taken is one more bag - to double bag the bag with the wine.  Problem solved. 

Are we really asking too much for businesses to require their employees to think?  Three bottles in one bag is just simply too much.  When faced with this issue, the manager should have promptly replaced the bottles of wine and sent someone out to clean up the mess in the parking lot - perhaps the cashier who stuck three bottles in one bag in the first place. 

Lesson learned.

--Contributed by Deb (who is not the Debbie in question)

A Bad Day At Best Buy

Carl M. was robbed the last time he went to Best Buy in Miami.  Literally.

According to his complaint on PlanetFeedback, he purchased a brand spanking new television, loaded it in his car, locked the doors, and returned the shopping cart to the store.  When he returned, there was a gaping hole in one of his windows and the t.v. was gone.

Supposition and innuendo as to whether any Best Buy employees were in cahoots with the thieves aside, Carl makes a really good point in his letter.  This particular Best Buy provides security in their parking lot to instill a sense of, well... security, in their customers (and probably employees as well).  Carl reports seeing only one security guard who paid him no attention in the 90 minutes he waited for police after his car was broken into.

There's an obvious disconnect here in expectations.  From the consumer's perspective, Best Buy is instilling in them an incentive to shop at that particular store ~ namely that they will be safe getting their products to their cars.  If a customer doesn't feel like he or she is going to be safe, chances are good they think twice about shopping there.  When the promised security is never seen, the customer feels betrayed on two levels.  First, and obviously, he was robbed and second, he feels lied to by Best Buy.

And that's a terrible combination.  Throw in there that he's still paying for the television that was stolen and had to get the glass in his car window replaced.  Carl's frustration is readily apparent in his letter and we can understand why. 

Businesses need to understand that a wronged AND discouraged customer is simply not acceptable.  The way they've handled this situation on the store level as well as the corporate level is very disappointing.  We were on Best Buy's side about compensating the woman in D.C. for the missing laptop, but they really dropped the ball this time.

Carl, we feel for ya, and we hope Best Buy does the right thing for you.

--Contributed by Deb

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year....Or Is It?

What is so wrong with Happy Holidays?  We have already seen a letter on Planetfeedback.com complaining about cashiers not being allowed or refusing to say Merry Christmas.  We have been listening to this debate for years and it still causes us to scratch our heads.  We fail to see what the big deal is!  We do not all walk around with bubbles above our heads that identify what faith we are our what holiday we may celebrate.  There are numerous holidays celebrated by many religions during the same basic time of the year.  How very entitled of some people to think their holiday is the ONLY one.

Too us Happy Holidays or even Seasons Greetings seem like appropriate phrases to use.  We cannot imagine the logistical nightmare it must be for the overworked and under appreciated retail worker to try and decipher (correctly) what faith everyone practices and deliver the proper greeting.  We at ShopperCast wonder why can't we agree to disagree and all just get along, after all it is a special time of year.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivius, etc etc etc......

--Contributed by Renee

Who's Next In Line?

O'Reilly Automotive recently received a complaint letter on PlanetFeedback from a woman who REALLY didn't like how she was treated in their store.  It seems that E.C. went into purchase a replacement signal light and waited in line with the rest of the customers.  When it came her turn, she was ignored in favor of the customer behind her.  Who happened to be male. 

When she made eye contact with the clerk and attempted to say something, she got a shrug of presumably his shoulders.  She left without purchasing what she needed because she felt slighted by this company because of her gender.

One of the more interesting comments to this letter was made by PFB commenter Bobosgirl who mentioned her husband was treated like a "dumb guy" at a fabric store, so apparently bias is not just directed at women.

Notice that it's certain types of stores where this happens?  Women in auto parts stores; men in fabric stores ~ stores that traditionally cater to one gender or another. 

How awfully 1960s to make a decision on who to help next based solely on the sexual organs of the person standing in front of the counter. 

Some of us (like yours truly) have no business in an auto parts store (trust us, it's not pretty).  However, a fabric store would be equally alien terrain.  It has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with what's important to the customer.  And if a customer is in that particular store, presumably, there's a reason for it. 

Maybe E.C.'s experience at O'Reilly's had nothing to do with her gender.  Perhaps the person behind the counter thought, for whatever reason, that she was with the person in front of her and it was a simple and honest mistake.  Whether it ws really doesn't matter because it's all about how E.C. felt at the time of the transaction.  We expect that she won't be returning to O'Reilly Automotive.

Rightly or wrongly - Perception by the customer is often much more important than the reality of the situation. 

--Contributed by Deb

Please and Thank You

PlanetFeedback has received a number of letters from people writing to companies about employee rudeness.  With the decentralized nature of business, it's not surprising that not every employee is skilled in the art of politeness.  Plus, people have bad days.  Would you remember to keep your manners if, say, your spouse just asked for you a divorce?  If the neighbor is suing you because your pit bull swallowed their chihuahua?  If your teenage daughter is brooding because (roll eyes) you ruined her favorite shirt by not seeing that red sock in the washing machine?

A certain breed of letter is becoming common: the "the employee wasn't really rude, but they also weren't friendly" letter.  These letters complain about how an employee didn't smile, didn't say "thank you," and neglected "have a nice day."

It's true: we're losing the pleasantries and courtesies of polite society.  Long gone are calling cards, white gloves, and hand-written party invites.

The problem, however, with letters of this sort is that they rarely show politeness, themselves.  How can one complain, with a straight face, about an employee that fails to say "thank you," when the letter, itself, does not contain a single "please" and ends with an exclamation mark-laden demand?

Our advice: if pleasantries are important to you, make sure to offer them first.  As you approach a cashier, for example, smile.  Say "please" and "thank you."  As you leave, wish the cashier "have a nice day" and compliment her ("I appreciate you taking the time to help me").  Although some people are just too cranky to respond in kind, most will appreciate your kindness and will return the favor.  Those that do not, are people who are either having a bad day (bad lifetime?) or simply lack good social skills.  Let it go, as enforced niceness, passed down via corporate memo, is fake and it's not worth your time to receive a plastic McSmile.  Now is it?

Hold It!

Have it your way.  Made to order.  Just the way you like it.

Are these mere slogans or do the fast food places really let you customize your meals?

Clearly, adding on extra meat is going to cost extra.  And if "your way" includes a half-pound lobster, Burger King isn't going to do it.

But what about leaving off an ingredient?  Is it reasonable to ask Subway to leave off the meat or Taco Bell to leave off the onions?

When it comes to ingredients that are explicitly added, we think they can be omitted.  Especially if the item is really "made to order."  We cannot expect McDonald's to pick off the seeds on their Big Mac bun, but we can expect them to omit the pickles.

Even when it comes to "meal deals."  Unless the "deal" is that the item is pre-made (that's what "special" meant at a certain Chinese place we used to visit), there's no reason for not omitting something.

Hold the meat.  Make little hats out of it, if you must.  But don't make us take it, if we don't want it.

People Will Be People

Michael recently had a bad experience at a restaurant.  A cool idea: take a sleigh up a snowy mountain to eat a gourmet meal.  Problem is, getting up a snowy mountain is sometimes easier said than done.

Some apologies were made and a $50 credit was offered by the restaurant.  While some may quibble with the amount, it seems a fair gesture.  Where things got hairy is when the wait staff refused to apply this credit to non-alcoholic beverages.  With restaurant economics being what they are, giving away $50 in free alcohol to a handful of people isn't exactly going to put a restaurant out of business.  Especially when the tab is $250.

Where things get interesting, however, is that Michael, upset by the experience, send an e-mail (which we do not had the privilege to see) to the restaurant management.  From the response (which we do get to see), it seems that the manager got very rude with the customer.  Most of us can agree that a restaurant manager, especially a high-class place, should never get this rude.  Shame on Joy Vik for this.

However, based on the content of the reply, we must assume that the customer also overstepped.  Joy Vik's response is clear: Michael, you were rude to me and I don't appreciate it.

The problem here is that people will be people.  While a business like The Viking Yurt should take the high-road in dealing with customer complaints, it's clear that anger has overtaken both Michael and Joy.

Problems rarely get resolved when people yell at each other.  Had Michael taken a more polite approach to the problem, we can assume that the $50 would have been deducted from the non-drink bill.  Had Joy taken a more polite approach, anyone reading Michael's letter or this blog post wouldn't be thinking twice about giving The Viking Yurt business.

A roomful of elementary school kids will tell you: two wrongs don't make a right.  They'll also say: do unto others as you'd have them do to you.  And yet, here we have two adults that don't seem to get that.  This hurts feelings, it hurts consumers, and it hurts businesses.  Maybe we should get the sandbox crew start taking care of letter writing?  Cooler heads prevail.