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Post by Halloween King on Jun 22, 2011 14:24:16 GMT -5
I got the idea for this thread from the company you despise thread. There are companys which I like but it is aggrevating for me because there customer service sucks.
Like for example I love Six Flags but the employees and the service they provide the customers usually suck. Just this past Saturday... I wanted a coke so I got in a line of 2 people ahead of me.... it took no less then 10 mins to help 2 people! And when I ordered I said, " 1 large coke please" they ring it up and then ask me what flavor.... "Coke" I say, and then they tell me sorry no coke. I wait 5 mins for a supervisor to give me a refund. I walk to the next stall and repeat.
Seriously... it made me think omg they're all intellectually- disabled. Wouldnt a customer saying 1 large coke imply they want a coke. Wouldnt common sense tell you... inform the customer we're out of coke before they pay?
Its not just that 1 incident, theres been many times when I think to myself wow what an idiot. It makes me feel like Six Flags has very LOW hiring standards. Still though I love Six Flags.
Toys R us is another where I love the store but feel the customer service is horrible. It is RARE to walkinto a TRU and find a fellow toy collector working there, someone who knows about the products being sold. Idk how many times I've asked for help from some kid working there only to be ignored or have a deer caught in headlights look given to me instead of a helpfull response.
I love Walmarts low prices but always feel like the employees just dont care about helping customers. The employees always have time to carry on with personal conversations but no time to call someone over to the sporting department to assist me.
So what companys do you feel have horrible customer service?
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Post by CM Poor on Jun 22, 2011 15:24:45 GMT -5
I know there's a mantra about doing the job, any job, to the best of your ability, but hear me out.
I dig that you're a trucker and all, but you gotta hold a level of perspective here - you're talking about the food service industry, in a high volume place of entertainment, no less. Yeah the hiring standards for a job of that skill level basically stand at "candidate has a pulse". Couple that with the fact that you get what you pay for, and yeah, you're going to get crap service.
Your complaint about Toys 'R Us is completely invalid. What you're asking for, via your complaint, is essentially a collector driven consultative sales associate. The profit margin of an action figure isn't going to be near enough what's required to pay the salary that type of individual is going to be looking for, which would be commission based.
Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm an unwilling member of the retail worker community - I feel the urge to defend.
EDIT: I don't know where your Six Flags experience was, but when I lived in Austin, Texas, when one ordered a "Coke", the proper response was always "What flavor?". Regional terminology, and all that.
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Post by Kliquid on Jun 22, 2011 15:35:45 GMT -5
Comcast is god awful, always.
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Post by Halloween King on Jun 23, 2011 1:17:10 GMT -5
Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm an unwilling member of the retail worker community - I feel the urge to defend. EDIT: I don't know where your Six Flags experience was, but when I lived in Austin, Texas, when one ordered a "Coke", the proper response was always "What flavor?". Regional terminology, and all that. Yeah I dont buy into the whole you get what you pay for thing. The way I see it is you know fully well what a job pays BEFORE you take it. Once you take that job you should always attempt to be the best at what you do. I worked retail for 9 years, at a grocery store. You could have asked me ANYTHING about any product in the store and I would have tried my best to help you. Then again im a person who always takes pride in everything I do.
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Post by Y3RP: LA MARAVILLA!!! on Jun 23, 2011 13:34:13 GMT -5
Comcast is god awful, always. say what!!! comcast is kissing my culo right now, been a customer since i was in 5th grade! just recently i lost my comcast remote, not sure how.....but i asked how much would it cost to send out a new one. fearing it maybe $10-$20.....get this only 0.50cents for us
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Razornuts
Mid-Carder
Joined on: May 12, 2003 0:04:53 GMT -5
Posts: 477
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Post by Razornuts on Jun 24, 2011 22:07:22 GMT -5
I know there's a mantra about doing the job, any job, to the best of your ability, but hear me out. I dig that you're a trucker and all, but you gotta hold a level of perspective here - you're talking about the food service industry, in a high volume place of entertainment, no less. Yeah the hiring standards for a job of that skill level basically stand at "candidate has a pulse". Couple that with the fact that you get what you pay for, and yeah, you're going to get crap service. Your complaint about Toys 'R Us is completely invalid. What you're asking for, via your complaint, is essentially a collector driven consultative sales associate. The profit margin of an action figure isn't going to be near enough what's required to pay the salary that type of individual is going to be looking for, which would be commission based. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm an unwilling member of the retail worker community - I feel the urge to defend. EDIT: I don't know where your Six Flags experience was, but when I lived in Austin, Texas, when one ordered a "Coke", the proper response was always "What flavor?". Regional terminology, and all that. His complaint on Toy's R Us is not "invalid". Your response is invalid, because according to your logic, all car salesman are experts on the cars they are selling. In reality, literally every single time I have gone to look at a car at a dealership I have known more about that particular vehicle than the salesman who is "helping" me. And I'm not kidding about the "every single time" statement. His complaint is completely valid. Employees SHOULD be required to know a fair deal about the product that they sell or the product that their employer sells.
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Post by CM Poor on Jun 24, 2011 22:20:57 GMT -5
I know there's a mantra about doing the job, any job, to the best of your ability, but hear me out. I dig that you're a trucker and all, but you gotta hold a level of perspective here - you're talking about the food service industry, in a high volume place of entertainment, no less. Yeah the hiring standards for a job of that skill level basically stand at "candidate has a pulse". Couple that with the fact that you get what you pay for, and yeah, you're going to get crap service. Your complaint about Toys 'R Us is completely invalid. What you're asking for, via your complaint, is essentially a collector driven consultative sales associate. The profit margin of an action figure isn't going to be near enough what's required to pay the salary that type of individual is going to be looking for, which would be commission based. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm an unwilling member of the retail worker community - I feel the urge to defend. EDIT: I don't know where your Six Flags experience was, but when I lived in Austin, Texas, when one ordered a "Coke", the proper response was always "What flavor?". Regional terminology, and all that. His complaint on Toy's R Us is not "invalid". Your response is invalid, because according to your logic, all car salesman are experts on the cars they are selling. In reality, literally every single time I have gone to look at a car at a dealership I have known more about that particular vehicle than the salesman who is "helping" me. And I'm not kidding about the "every single time" statement. His complaint is completely valid. Employees SHOULD be required to know a fair deal about the product that they sell or the product that their employer sells. Wrong. Not once did I talk about product expertise. I talked about sales expertise and the pay scale required for such a position. When I was a department manager, I had consultative salesmen who didn't know twiddly tat about lawnmowers, but could sell a cherry popsicle to a woman in white gloves on a hot summer day. Sure, you could staff the action figure department of TRU with collectors who know, live, and breathe that product - but someone who can sell hard for a living isn't going to take the minimum wage that TRU is going to offer - they're going to want a commission structure where they can determine their own payout. Usually, commissioned sales people are found in divisions with higher profit margin - automobiles, large appliances, home improvement, and so forth. With a low profit margin on something like a $14.99 action figure, the gross income isn't there to support that kind of salary, and so expectations upon hiring are generally lower. As such, you get what you pay for.
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Post by tupac4life on Jun 24, 2011 22:25:59 GMT -5
Dish network. i wanted to cancel my service and have them waive the fees. i was told that i was stupid for even suggesting that. what A-holes
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Post by CM Poor on Jun 24, 2011 22:27:36 GMT -5
Dish network. i wanted to cancel my service and have them waive the fees. i was told that i was stupid for even suggesting that. what A-holes Why should they have waived the fees? Sometimes I think that it's baseless, outlandish demands on behalf of the public that causes half of what is perceived as "bad customer service".
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Post by Yeezy's Mullet: Team X Blades on Jun 24, 2011 23:01:08 GMT -5
Gotta agree with SYE here. He's been pretty much correct on everything.
True terrible customer service comes in when the employee is all together failing to serve the customer in an effective manner, according to the standards that they've set.
For example, my local Walmart has about 5 different ladies that they hired as "greeters". Their job? To stand/sit at the entrance and exit, and say hello and goodbye. None of these ladies do either. 95% of the time, when I walk in, I find them either holding their own conversation with another employee who's probably needed elsewhere, or meeting me with a cold stare for no real reason.
Another instance. My local electric company came and turned off my electric for lack of payment. Only problem is that I don't owe them anything. They cut my power off mistakenly, and were supposed to cut off someone else's. No problem, mistakes happen. So I call them and make them aware, and after we've both deduced that it was a mistake, they still treat me like I'm the one who didn't pay his bill. Even though the guy on the truck JUST left my house, I still get put inside the 24 hour reconnection window. I'm sorry, but if you weren't supposed to cut it off to begin with, turning it back on should be a priority. Thanks to them, the wife and I were forced to camp at out in-laws for the night.
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Post by tupac4life on Jun 24, 2011 23:36:23 GMT -5
Dish network. i wanted to cancel my service and have them waive the fees. i was told that i was stupid for even suggesting that. what A-holes Why should they have waived the fees? Sometimes I think that it's baseless, outlandish demands on behalf of the public that causes half of what is perceived as "bad customer service". because, the guy on the phone said i have 30 days to get my money back. its only been 13, and they refuse to honor the money back guarentee.
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Post by Yeezy's Mullet: Team X Blades on Jun 25, 2011 0:01:16 GMT -5
Why should they have waived the fees? Sometimes I think that it's baseless, outlandish demands on behalf of the public that causes half of what is perceived as "bad customer service". because, the guy on the phone said i have 30 days to get my money back. its only been 13, and they refuse to honor the money back guarentee. They probably got you on some sort of fine print loophole. Cable/Satellite companies are notorious for that.
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Post by tupac4life on Jun 25, 2011 0:09:45 GMT -5
which is exactly why i hate them.
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Post by Cass on Jun 25, 2011 1:10:56 GMT -5
This reminds me of the other day when I was at work when I was asked which was better between corn and vegetable oil. When I told the woman honestly didn't know, she told me that I should know about the products the grocery store I work at sells. How am I suppose to know about every product in the store, that is not part of my job.
You can't expect some worker to know about every toy in toysrus. It's just impossible.
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Post by Neos on Jun 25, 2011 7:13:07 GMT -5
Toys R Us and some targets have awful customer service. When it comes to help, they ignore you, but when you don't need them, they pester and annoy you. Dammit, I don't need any batteries for a wrestling action figure! Walmart and K Mart on the other hand are very helpful, though soemtimes clueless.
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Post by Halloween King on Jun 26, 2011 0:46:11 GMT -5
His complaint on Toy's R Us is not "invalid". Your response is invalid, because according to your logic, all car salesman are experts on the cars they are selling. In reality, literally every single time I have gone to look at a car at a dealership I have known more about that particular vehicle than the salesman who is "helping" me. And I'm not kidding about the "every single time" statement. His complaint is completely valid. Employees SHOULD be required to know a fair deal about the product that they sell or the product that their employer sells. Wrong. Not once did I talk about product expertise. I talked about sales expertise and the pay scale required for such a position. When I was a department manager, I had consultative salesmen who didn't know twiddly tat about lawnmowers, but could sell a cherry popsicle to a woman in white gloves on a hot summer day. Sure, you could staff the action figure department of TRU with collectors who know, live, and breathe that product - but someone who can sell hard for a living isn't going to take the minimum wage that TRU is going to offer - they're going to want a commission structure where they can determine their own payout. Usually, commissioned sales people are found in divisions with higher profit margin - automobiles, large appliances, home improvement, and so forth. With a low profit margin on something like a $14.99 action figure, the gross income isn't there to support that kind of salary, and so expectations upon hiring are generally lower. As such, you get what you pay for. Again, you know dang well what tru will pay you BEFORE you take the job, so please dont make excuses for lazy people. The You get what you pay for line is really for major purchases, not toys. When you work at TRU your job is not to call up customers and try to sell them product.... I think thats what you want to assume they do? They are not sales reps... they are store clerks. They stock shelves and tend tills, they dont do sales. Now im not saying every employee should know Mattel's/Jakk's/Playmate's/whoever's business history. I would just like simple answers to simple questions, like for example.... When will your next shipment come in? Do you have anymore in backstock? Do you know if there is another store near by? Things any employee who takes there job seriously should know. I worked retail for years. I might not have known the ingredients in corn oil, but I knew where it was in the store, I knew when we would get more in, I knew if we had any in the backroom, I knew where other stores were, and I knew how to answer customers. I did not expect commision on a pack of gum (.25 cents) to help a customer find it. I was a clerk not a salesman. That whole "you get what you pay for" attitude really stinks. EVERYONE who breaths wishes they would get paid more for what they do. Dont want minimum wage? Then dont go work a minimum wage job!!! Until then though how about you do your job to the best of your ability and take some pride in your work? You might learn a thing or two. Who knows... you might even develope some skills to be able to find a better paying job. People will always hire the man who WORKS and trys to do a good job as opposed to Mr. "I dont want to help you, you get what you paid for"
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Post by Random Hero Est. 2003 on Jun 26, 2011 4:04:31 GMT -5
Bottom line, no matter what type of retail you work in you should always be trying to display the best customer service you possibly can. The end result of all of the giant wheels that have to turn to make business thrive happens at the check out lane and it's up to the associate to make sure the customer feels like they made the right choice in shopping there that day. Bad customer service is unacceptable in every sense of the word. I don't care if you don't plan on working for your local grocery store for 5-10 years or only get paid $7.25 an hour to have a customer hand you a bag of their own puke and demand a refund for the cheese curds they bought at your store and blaming you for food poisoning. As customer service agents they all have a hugely important role in the job that they're at. If the stress outweighs the pay then quit. Or be fired. I'm proud to work for a company that doesn't tolerate bullcrap service. As far as customers go, of course they ing suck. BUT I get paid for my hard work every Friday and once I clock out at the end of my day, I am not obligated to think about work anymore that day. I don't get wound up over miscommunications or verbal disagreements I may have with a random person I don't know. Probably because I'm getting paid to do it but whatever. It's not much but if the quality of your work is dependent on your pay, and you're not getting paid a whole lot, then there are other aspects of the workplace that can give you psychological and emotional payoff as well. People just need to stop being in a bad mood at work. Communicate better with bad customers.
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Post by CM Poor on Jun 26, 2011 7:19:53 GMT -5
Wrong. Not once did I talk about product expertise. I talked about sales expertise and the pay scale required for such a position. When I was a department manager, I had consultative salesmen who didn't know twiddly tat about lawnmowers, but could sell a cherry popsicle to a woman in white gloves on a hot summer day. Sure, you could staff the action figure department of TRU with collectors who know, live, and breathe that product - but someone who can sell hard for a living isn't going to take the minimum wage that TRU is going to offer - they're going to want a commission structure where they can determine their own payout. Usually, commissioned sales people are found in divisions with higher profit margin - automobiles, large appliances, home improvement, and so forth. With a low profit margin on something like a $14.99 action figure, the gross income isn't there to support that kind of salary, and so expectations upon hiring are generally lower. As such, you get what you pay for. Again, you know dang well what tru will pay you BEFORE you take the job, so please dont make excuses for lazy people. The You get what you pay for line is really for major purchases, not toys. When you work at TRU your job is not to call up customers and try to sell them product.... I think thats what you want to assume they do? They are not sales reps... they are store clerks. They stock shelves and tend tills, they dont do sales. Now im not saying every employee should know Mattel's/Jakk's/Playmate's/whoever's business history. I would just like simple answers to simple questions, like for example.... When will your next shipment come in? Do you have anymore in backstock? Do you know if there is another store near by? Things any employee who takes there job seriously should know. I worked retail for years. I might not have known the ingredients in corn oil, but I knew where it was in the store, I knew when we would get more in, I knew if we had any in the backroom, I knew where other stores were, and I knew how to answer customers. I did not expect commision on a pack of gum (.25 cents) to help a customer find it. I was a clerk not a salesman. That whole "you get what you pay for" attitude really stinks. EVERYONE who breaths wishes they would get paid more for what they do. Dont want minimum wage? Then dont go work a minimum wage job!!! Until then though how about you do your job to the best of your ability and take some pride in your work? You might learn a thing or two. Who knows... you might even develope some skills to be able to find a better paying job. People will always hire the man who WORKS and trys to do a good job as opposed to Mr. "I dont want to help you, you get what you paid for" That point grinds my gears more than almost anything in life, and you know damn well that it's a moot point. To me, when a customer says that, they say it with the complete assumption that I haven't spent the past 2.5 years that I've been stuck working this mediocre, soul sucking job looking for better work. As for your points on what the clerk should know, they negate your original complaint, which was that you can never find a fellow collector with actual product knowledge to help you. If you had said that you could never find a warm body with a pulse to perform the basic function of their job description, we'd have been having a different conversation. I don't defend laziness. What I do defend is the general public's piss poor image of the average retail worker. To that end, I'd like to share a thought on "is there any more out back". If someone says "no" without looking, don't just write it off as sheer laziness. There is a common misconception that all stores have a fully functioning stock room with a weeks worth of additional stock just hiding out back. Some of us know our stockrooms. As for your last point on who will get hired, I suggest you take up a job in management at a big box retail location anytime between October and December and get a look at your seasonal help.
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Post by Halloween King on Jun 26, 2011 13:29:17 GMT -5
Again, you know dang well what tru will pay you BEFORE you take the job, so please dont make excuses for lazy people. The You get what you pay for line is really for major purchases, not toys. When you work at TRU your job is not to call up customers and try to sell them product.... I think thats what you want to assume they do? They are not sales reps... they are store clerks. They stock shelves and tend tills, they dont do sales. Now im not saying every employee should know Mattel's/Jakk's/Playmate's/whoever's business history. I would just like simple answers to simple questions, like for example.... When will your next shipment come in? Do you have anymore in backstock? Do you know if there is another store near by? Things any employee who takes there job seriously should know. I worked retail for years. I might not have known the ingredients in corn oil, but I knew where it was in the store, I knew when we would get more in, I knew if we had any in the backroom, I knew where other stores were, and I knew how to answer customers. I did not expect commision on a pack of gum (.25 cents) to help a customer find it. I was a clerk not a salesman. That whole "you get what you pay for" attitude really stinks. EVERYONE who breaths wishes they would get paid more for what they do. Dont want minimum wage? Then dont go work a minimum wage job!!! Until then though how about you do your job to the best of your ability and take some pride in your work? You might learn a thing or two. Who knows... you might even develope some skills to be able to find a better paying job. People will always hire the man who WORKS and trys to do a good job as opposed to Mr. "I dont want to help you, you get what you paid for" That point grinds my gears more than almost anything in life, and you know damn well that it's a moot point. To me, when a customer says that, they say it with the complete assumption that I haven't spent the past 2.5 years that I've been stuck working this mediocre, soul sucking job looking for better work. As for your points on what the clerk should know, they negate your original complaint, which was that you can never find a fellow collector with actual product knowledge to help you. If you had said that you could never find a warm body with a pulse to perform the basic function of their job description, we'd have been having a different conversation. I don't defend laziness. What I do defend is the general public's piss poor image of the average retail worker. To that end, I'd like to share a thought on "is there any more out back". If someone says "no" without looking, don't just write it off as sheer laziness. There is a common misconception that all stores have a fully functioning stock room with a weeks worth of additional stock just hiding out back. Some of us know our stockrooms. As for your last point on who will get hired, I suggest you take up a job in management at a big box retail location anytime between October and December and get a look at your seasonal help. It would be awesome if a fellow collector worked retail and was able to help. A fellow collector would try his best to keep up with shipments/changes to product making him much better at his clerk duties. Just a clerk who actually cares would be nice but a collector would be better.
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Post by Yeezy's Mullet: Team X Blades on Jun 26, 2011 14:01:45 GMT -5
That point grinds my gears more than almost anything in life, and you know damn well that it's a moot point. To me, when a customer says that, they say it with the complete assumption that I haven't spent the past 2.5 years that I've been stuck working this mediocre, soul sucking job looking for better work. As for your points on what the clerk should know, they negate your original complaint, which was that you can never find a fellow collector with actual product knowledge to help you. If you had said that you could never find a warm body with a pulse to perform the basic function of their job description, we'd have been having a different conversation. I don't defend laziness. What I do defend is the general public's piss poor image of the average retail worker. To that end, I'd like to share a thought on "is there any more out back". If someone says "no" without looking, don't just write it off as sheer laziness. There is a common misconception that all stores have a fully functioning stock room with a weeks worth of additional stock just hiding out back. Some of us know our stockrooms. As for your last point on who will get hired, I suggest you take up a job in management at a big box retail location anytime between October and December and get a look at your seasonal help. It would be awesome if a fellow collector worked retail and was able to help. A fellow collector would try his best to keep up with shipments/changes to product making him much better at his clerk duties. Just a clerk who actually cares would be nice but a collector would be better. But he'd require a special pay the sale of action figures simply wouldn't allow.
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