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Well, a couple weeks ago my cell phone pissed me off for the last time. It's seven years old and I figured it was time to replace it. It had several annoying quirks and suffice to say I was happy to finally modernize my equipment.
Off to the local office supply store, where I had seen the phone I wanted several times before. Now, I prefer the prepaid phones, don't ask why it's a long story. Maybe another day. Anyway, I knew the price of the model I liked and noticed in their advertisement that it was ten dollars off.
In the store, standing at the cell phone display, I saw the price posted was indeed $10 off the regular price. I stopped a clerk and asked to see one of the phones.
"We're out" she said.
"Could you check?", I asked,"I think they keep them behind the counter to avoid theft".
With a deep sigh, she asked the other clerk (who was cashiering) if we had any cell phones behind the counter.
"Yeah, that's where they all are" he answered.
Well, that set the tone for the rest of our interraction. She obviously didn't like me knowing more than her (must be a gender thing).
From behind the counter she handed me a phone. It was the model I liked, but something was suspicious. "How much?" I asked.
She scanned the box and announced the price. The price she said was $10 HIGHER than it's regular price.
"I thought they were on sale" I asked.
"No, that was last week, we don't even have an ad this week" she explained with a slight smirk on her face.
"But that's 10 bucks higher than normal".
"I'm sorry sir, but that's the price".
She's sorry all right. Now, my twenty some years of retail and customer service tells me that right or wrong, the price posted is the price you give the customer. And normally I would have talked to the manager (who is probably younger than my experience) and demanded the posted price. But, I was on my lunch and wanted to get back. I left the store just shaking my head.
The next week I read their ad and there it was again, my cell phone. Again, down to the office supply store. It's only about four miles away, so I'm there in exactly four minutes, providing I hit all the lights. Just kidding! Four and a half minutes.
I asked the clerk (a different one) for the phone. He got me one.
"Just for shits and grins, could you check the price for me?"
"No problem Dude", and he told me the price. He quoted me the ad price. Good, I waited a week, but I'll save the 10 bucks I wanted.
"Thanks for your help, and by the way, I'm a DAD not a DUDE. You should never call a customer DUDE."
Just trying to train some of our budding young retailers of the future. Well, really I was just annoyed.
Finally, I take the phone to the cashier (the gal from last week), and she rings it up. She tells me the price and it's ten dollars less than the advertised price. I don't say a word, and hand her my payment. After all, she was clear the previous week, that's the price!
So now I have my new phone that works great and I got it for half the regular price. At first I felt guilty, but decided it was the price that store needed to pay for the lesson in customer service. Trouble is I don't think anyone learned anything.
But it did reinforce one of my old adages "patience is a virtue and virtues won't hurt you!"
Later.
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