Another Futureshop Annoyance Thread

[bluejays]

Today I went to Futureshop to exchange an MP3 player I bought on their site on Boxing Day. It's a really good MP3 player, but a particular bug along with a faulty headphone made me go for the exchange. So I go to customer service, and the girl there looks at me weird when I tell her what's wrong (like I'm lying). So she looks it over and sees the problem. Anyway, she asks if I want a refund or exchange, and I say exchange. She looks up the "system" and makes a call to the person in the department to bring down a player. She comes back saying there aren't any available (even though she looked up on the system) and said there weren't any available in any of the other locations except for one in Mississauga (and I'm in Markham). So I tell her, order the one from the Mississauga location to this location, and I'll pick it up when it comes in. She says she can't do that.

Anyway, I tell her to place an order from the warehouse, and she says she can't do that. So I say, "what are my options?" She says I can return it and wait for one to come in which I would have to buy at the full price again, or exchange it for another player while paying the difference at current prices to the Boxing Day price. I smelled a rotten fish at this point. I took my stuff and left.

Got home a few minutes later, called the same store, and a really nice girl tells me that there are 8, yes 8(!), players in stock. I told her to confirm it, and she said there absolutely were. She put one aside for me, and I came in a few minutes later to make the exchange. Lined up half and hour just to get to talk to the customer service person, and I tell her I came in about 45 minutes earlier and I spoke to the person beside her and she said none were in stock and I wanted an exchange as there were some in stock. The first thing this bitch tells me is, "so why didn't you return it when you were here earlier?!". I respond by telling her, "I already told you, because I want an exchange!" She says, "but why didn't you return it?" You have to understand that she was acting like it was an interrogation and was thinking I was pulling some Fing scam. I was about to blow at this point, so I told her, "because I bought it on Boxing Day for a good price, and I don't want to return it, wait for it to come in again to buy it at regular price...you bums working here should understand that!" She finally kept her fat yap shut. I did the exchange and left. I just can't stand the way their people interact with their customers. That was the first time I lost it on a store person. Who the hell was she to question why I did or didn't do the action I did? The first person had the same attitude. Are all FS sales people trained to make the customer feel bad? I may buy something from them down the road, but for now, that is the last item I will purchase from them. I'm still steaming.

[jolinar of malkshor]

I thought that only happened in Alberta.

[SpitFire40]

Futureshop customer service people are fricken a-holes about returns and stuff. I wanted to exchange an unopened set of Monster cables, I lost the reciept but still had the bag and it had a Futureshop price sticker still on the unopened package....

I wanted a different cable that was more expensive and would pay the difference... so instead of making the store more money they'd rather not do it?

wtf

[peter12]

Best Buy is just as bad. I've had trouble returning things with a reciept and one of their bull**** support plans.

[bluejays]

I can't tell you how ****ed off I was. I wanted to shove a donut down that fatty's throat. She was really a bitch, and it appeared other CSR's around there were the same.

[TurnedTheCorner]

1) They're overworked and underpaid in the days after Christmas, when everyone exchanges everything. It doesn't excuse the behaviour, but it might explain it.

2) The inventory system is flaky at the best of times, and with stuff flying in for exchanges and refunds, it's not going to be better than usual.

3) Stores like FS and BB have been plagued by people scamming them for returns. Walking in to the store, grabbing stuff off the shelf, and then standing in the CS line to "return" it for a refund. There's been stories on my local news about this since Christmas. Doesn't excuse treating honest customers as criminals, but some of their "customers" have been criminals.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your experience.

[Dion]

Sounds to me like that girl has zero customer service skills. And she's working there probably because there's a labour shortage in this province and retail places like FS are hiring just about anyone who's willing to work. Still her behaviour is unacceptable and it's sad we customers have to put up with that type of garbage.

Good for you for having the patince to stand up to that wench. Chances are I would have stuffed it down her throat and asked if you wanted fries with that

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Dion

Sounds to me like that girl has zero customer service skills. And she's working there probably because there's a labour shortage in this province and retail places like FS are hiring just about anyone who's willing to work. Still her behaviour is unacceptable and it's sad we customers have to put up with that type of garbage.

Good for you for having the patince to stand up to that wench. Chances are I would have stuffed it down her throat and asked if you wanted fries with that

Is there a labour shortage in Ontario to? Not being smart...just wondering.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Is there a labour shortage in Ontario to? Not being smart...just wondering.

I wasn't paying attention to his user information where it says he lives in Ontario.

[Jiggy_12]

I work in retail so I have a good level of tolerance for stupidity and poor customer service.

Futureshop however goes above and beyond the regular ignorance to make sure the customer is ****ed off and never wants to come back. Unfortunatley some people think that it'll be like that everywhere so they reluctantly return to futuresh*t and get fed up time after time.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

1) They're overworked and underpaid in the days after Christmas, when everyone exchanges everything. It doesn't excuse the behaviour, but it might explain it.

Bah, fatty was probably just bitter she didnt stuff her face with enough christmas ham. Lazy people like this are idiots on any given day, it has nothing to do with circumstances. I wish people could take a little more pride in their work, and do it right or not at all. If they hate their jobs so much, they need to get a new one or get their fat-ass back to school so they have the training to do something they actually like. But please, people like this need to stop whining and taking it out on customers.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

I work in retail so I have a good level of tolerance for stupidity and poor customer service.

Futureshop however goes above and beyond the regular ignorance to make sure the customer is ****ed off and never wants to come back. Unfortunatley some people think that it'll be like that everywhere so they reluctantly return to futuresh*t and get fed up time after time.

I spent many years in retail myself and would agree the FS is an isolated incident. It's just shocking that a place like that doesn't promote customer service to it's employees. Guess management feels customers will return regardless. I used to work for Safeway and we were constanly harped on about superior customer service.

I have heard of it's reputation in the past and will never shop FS or other places like that. I tend to stick to department stores when it comes to some electronics. At least they stand behind the stuff they sell.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Is there a labour shortage in Ontario to? Not being smart...just wondering.

lol...I don't think the labour shortage applies to joe jobs.

[CrusaderPi]

Future Shop's Customer Servie. Where we're not happy until YOUR not happy.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Dion

Sounds to me like that girl has zero customer service skills. And she's working there probably because there's a labour shortage in this province and retail places like FS are hiring just about anyone who's willing to work. Still her behaviour is unacceptable and it's sad we customers have to put up with that type of garbage.

Good for you for having the patince to stand up to that wench. Chances are I would have stuffed it down her throat and asked if you wanted fries with that

Naa...when I get ****ed, I can't really keep my composure. I get so flustered I start stuttering my f's and b's, and that's 10X more embarrassing. I work as a student as a server, so I know what people give. If anything, I just complain to myself if someone's being a dick, but in this instance, I was as polite as a customer as I could have been, and she was treating me like some criminal. I was so ****ed, I could've cut some bacon off that piggy's back.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

1) They're overworked and underpaid in the days after Christmas, when everyone exchanges everything. It doesn't excuse the behaviour, but it might explain it.

2) The inventory system is flaky at the best of times, and with stuff flying in for exchanges and refunds, it's not going to be better than usual.

3) Stores like FS and BB have been plagued by people scamming them for returns. Walking in to the store, grabbing stuff off the shelf, and then standing in the CS line to "return" it for a refund. There's been stories on my local news about this since Christmas. Doesn't excuse treating honest customers as criminals, but some of their "customers" have been criminals.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your experience.

I worked at Future Shop in the late 80's and early 90's. I remember this guy came in with a VCR box and demanded to see the manager which was me. He railed at me about how this VCR was a piece of crap, and he wanted his money back immediately or he was going to the BBB. I asked for a receipt and he gave it to me, then flipped out when I told him I needed to inspect the unit, telling me that I was wasting him time and his pregnant wife was in the car. I calmly told him that it was policy to make sure it wasn't damaged, and he started screaming obsenities at me, so I lost my temper and pulled open the box and found it filled with bricks. He started making his way to the door when I started opening the box, so I chased him and grabbed him and hauled him into my office and called the cops.

The moral of the story is that working in retail can be really difficult, especially when you have customers that basically treat you like crap because your beneath them because your in retail. People try to scam them, and lie to them and bluster and threaten them. combine that with the fact that due to the labour shortage and due to how retail works, they put in hugely long hours.

I've seen too many stories here and elsewhere that start or end with, I was so mad I kicked a display case open. Or I lost my temper and called her a stupid bitch, or whatever.

I've always found that I've had better results in dealing in an even manner, and if I feel I'm getting taken for a ride, I talk to the manager, and if the manager takes me for a ride, I nicely ask for the name of a regional manager, or VP or whatever.

In the case of the thread starter, I can see where he would be upset especially with the inventory discrepancy, but when he went back, it would probably have been better to go talk directly to the department manager, or store manager, instead of looking for a confrontation with the person that screwed them in the first place.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

In the case of the thread starter, I can see where he would be upset especially with the inventory discrepancy, but when he went back, it would probably have been better to go talk directly to the department manager, or store manager, instead of looking for a confrontation with the person that screwed them in the first place.

I was annoyed that they BSed me to begin with, but when I went back, all I wanted was my exchange. When I mentioned to CS rep #2 that the previous CSR said there was nothing in stock, it was a casual mention - not one bit confrontational at all (and yes, she was #2 ). When you talk to a manager, it gets into the area of trying to get the person into trouble (yeah yeah, you can say that you're trying to correct their mistakes blah, blah), but the reality is, it's trying to tell the manager that X person is not doing their job properly, so you should deal with them. I wasn't prepared to get somebody into trouble (the first time at least), but I was annoyed. The second person should have been fired, although, you are probably right about seeing the manager in this instance.

[Prototype]

I work for them currently, and I can't speak for EVERY Future Shop in Canada... but, I will say this...

I have encountered times where the computer has said that there were units in the store, only to come up empty. Usually the units were in the back, recieved, but not put out. At that point, I have to tell the customer where they are, and that until the merchandisers bring the product out, I can't sell them.

That may sound like a cop out, but it happens, especially at christmas time. I lost out on a few major sales, because the product was still wrapped on a gurney in the back.

What I'm trying to say is I've been on the other side, and I can relate to you as a customer as well. I wouldn't isolate the entire company based on your one experience. Right now, most retailers are doing pretty close to more returns than sales. It's not the funnest thing to handle as an employee.

I'm glad you followed up on the item. They didn't screw you around about the 'ordering'. I can't bring in stock from other stores. I can't bring in stock from the warehouse. It's just not done at Future Shop. I know it's done other places, but it's just not at FS.

I can't answer for other people, but as far as I'm concerned, you handled the situation correctly.

[Resolute 14]

Once I confirmed that they had a replacement player in stock, I would have gone back down, gone straight to the girl I talked to the first time and demanded she called down a manager. Then I would have asked why she lied to me, and why I should ever shop there again.

I've already boycotted the Future Shop in Northland Village for life because of their incompetent staff, including having a manager come over so I could simply dump $300 worth of stuff that I was intending to buy in his hands and walk out.

[jroc]

Hey Prottotype... what futureshop do you work at?