I had the perfect illustration just this afternoon of why some businesses don’t deserve to be in business.
My family and I had just finished shopping in Milton Keynes, and decided to grab a delicious cookie before we headed back to the car. As usual, we went to Millies Cookies (the one just opposite Brunches, if you know Milton Keynes shopping centre at all).
As we ordered our cookies, I noticed a small metal sign fixed inside the display case that read:
If we don’t hand you a receipt with your purchase, your order is free
Not having noticed this before, I decided to wait and see what happened. The girl added up the order, I paid, and she gave me my change, but no receipt.
As she turned to serve the next customer I smiled and said “I guess that makes my order free then?”
She looked a little confused until I pointed to the sign. She looked sheepish, and turned to (what I presume was) the manager, and said “Erm, I forgot to give him his receipt”.
The managers response?
Grabbed the receipt from the till, put it on the counter and said, “There you are”.
FAIL.
I politely pointed out what the sign said, and she said “But it was only a 2 minutes, you’ve got your receipt now”. I pointed out what it said again, and she replied “But that’s if we can’t give you a receipt” and even tried to claim that’s what the sign said.
Now, having listened to her try to wriggle out of this, I read the wording again – and actually, the sign said one other thing, which makes her “it was only 2 minutes” excuse even more inexcusable:
If we don’t hand you a receipt with your purchase, your order is free
(as long as you tell us straight away that is!)
So…I ordered, paid, and was not given a receipt. I told them straight away. And this woman wants to argue about it?
Which bit of that customer promise sign is unclear? Where exactly does it say “if we can’t give you a receipt”…or “if we don’t give you a receipt inside a couple of minutes”…or “if we don’t give you a receipt after you’ve asked”??
The manager finally got really huffy and said “I suppose you want it free then?”. I smiled and said “Yes please”, and she finally gave me my money back.
BIG lesson here, Millies Cookies of Milton Keynes - if you’re going to make promises about your service, and especially if you’re going to put up a sign stating that promise, DON’T TRY AND WRIGGLE OUT OF IT!
You just end up upsetting customers, who then might go and write a blog entry about it and tell a few hundred people (or more) about it…<evil grin>
So, what bad experiences have you had with shops breaking customer service promises? Leave me some comments – I’d love to hear ‘em!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
hi there… im james.. and i was just browsing around the net and decided to have a lil look around at things related to my work . and omg lol id just like to say this would never happen in my shop
she’s a very bad person :p sorry this is what happened .. lol really , she shouldnt have dissagreed wiv ya pal
anyway take care please .
That is not the only fail for this business I am afraid. I went there this weekend and my wife bought a strawberry smoothie. Now, the sign said clearly made from real fruit. However, all we got in our smoothie was strawberry syrup and ice. Now, in my book that is a slushie, not a healthy smoothie. A real smoothie is made either from fresh or frozen fruit or from whole fruit pads with either a little water, ice or, in some cases milk added to thin it out. This was utter rubbish and when I pointed out the clear breach of advertising standards, they just shrugged as if to say so what. So cost of materials maybe 4 pence, cost of slushie 3.49. A real bad deal.
That's dreadful! I'd have a look at LoveJuice in Centre MK instead – their stuff looks really good!
Jesus christ, get over it. It was a receipt. You're the one who looks like an asshole in all of this. I just feel sorry for the poor girl serving you.
I was polite but persistent, and my issue was not with the girl who served me (she was lovely) but the shirty attitude of the manager when I asked them to make good on a written customer service promise.
If I'd been shouty, rude or aggressive, that would have been a different matter but I smiled and kept my voice down.
In business, if you're going to make policies and promises to your customers, you must be prepared to keep them.
Had exactly the same at a pumpkin cafe, when I mentioned the sign the chap who had served me printed one out and handed it over. Then told me it didn’t apply. I guess it’s there to stop staff pocketing the cash from transactions themselves, but pretty pointless if the staff in stores take no notice of it.
Absolutely – it’s there to keep the staff honest.
It’s the same (original) reason stuff was priced at £.99p rather than a whole pound (aside from the psychological “make it sound cheaper” aspect). It meant the staff member had to ring it through the till and give change.
Whatever the reason, if you have a policy or promise – keep it.