[riffparker]

got shot down on price adjustment at target

so tivo 40 hr now 138 rebate is 150 = free tivo

also go rip all the peelies off the copies of "fun with dick and jane" dvd $3 off rayovac and use them on the 8pk rayovac aa's on clearance $3.38

also thanks to ma in the pursuit of light bulb peelies i broke 20+ light bulbs they told me not to touch them and not to worry about it

then shopz had a hassle with a cashier the usual item is 99c coupon is 1 dollar register "says yellow screen" so i stepped in and ended up cursing out 2 "managers" i dont believe they were and telling them to kiss me where the doctor had checked me out this morning..

i look so dangerous on paper.. LOL

[Shopz2Much]

I think " Monica and Vivian" will be out of work tomorrow morning.

[skyesmom]

Originally Posted by Shopz2Much

I think " Monica and Vivian" will be out of work tomorrow morning.

Is that Sam's current project?

[matt111]

Irv cleanup aisle 6

[ticker]

Forget Monica and Vivian or whoever......FREE tivo??????

[riffparker]

what movie was that from MA? where the cashier keeps calling irv over the microphone

[riffparker]

MR MOM i just remembered another one of my favorites

[riffparker]

it had been a LONG time since i told a cashier to go f themselves and to kiss my a and then she says 'have a good night' i told her 'i hope you have a terrible night, i hope you have the worst night ever you piece of s'..

i couldnt believe they both claimed to be managers and their nametags said "trainer" on them WTF is that? i am going to have a field day with this one. i was so mad, and it wasn't even my stuff, for my stuff i wanted my $50 "price adjustment" which they denied just the same but with the same "cheerful" attitude.

did someone at corportate actually think that as long as all the employees keep a smile on their face they could try to abuse the customers financially? good luck to them.

[riffparker]

5/18/06

Target Stores


To Whom It May Concern:

Last night I had the displeasure of visiting your Target store located at 8801 Queens Blvd in Elmhurst, NY. I’m sure you’re familiar with the location, since you must get complaints about it all day long.

I had bought a 40-Hour Tivo there recently (paid with my Target Red Card), and last night I noticed the price was $50 less then what I had paid for it. Customer Service told me I could not get a “price adjustment” without a receipt.

Naively thinking that a department called “Customer Service” might actually service a customer, they seem only to be employed with the skill of requesting other people in the store come to do work for them over a walkie-talkie. Not that this helps them much, it took them ten minutes of requesting other people come and do their jobs for them until they realized the walkie-talkie was actually turned off.

A “store manager”, and I feel this term is thrown around way too loosely at Target, a Manager should have a notation that says “MANAGER” on their nametag, so that the customer knows they are really speaking to a manager.

Regardless, the person who identified themselves as a manager had an interesting thought process.

I explained that in the past I had returned merchandise without a receipt, that the CSR had just looked up the purchase using my Target Red Card. The “manager” confirmed that this was possible, but it was not possible to do a “price adjustment”. Since the store is a good distance from my house, and since they charge $2.25 parking, I was eager to find a way to get my $50 refund without having to travel back to the store. I asked if I could fax her the receipt when I got home. “We don’t have a fax machine. And even if we did, I’m not sure we could scan the receipt off of a fax.”

My grandparents who are like the walking dead have a fax machine and know how to use it. You’re telling me a TARGET store is not equipped with a fax machine? You should go buy some over at Staples, they do them on special all the time for like $19. Next, you’re telling me a store manager who is responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of your inventory is so stupid they don’t know a bar code is a bar code no matter how it is transmitted? What do they think? Fax paper is kryptonite that will melt the registers? Well either they do think these ridiculous things or they simply did not want to help me.

Then she asks me what the item was, how much I paid, etc. She tells me that since the item is on clearance I can not get a “price adjustment”, but I could return the item for the price I paid and then re-purchase it at the current price. This is an even bigger hassle then just coming back with the receipt, especially since I had already paid for activation on the unit and would incur fees from Tivo for exchanging the unit.

I asked her, “If you can look up a return without a receipt, why don’t you just return it and exchange it without me having to drag the actual unit back here?” WHOA! That was a little too far out for Sally Ride (no, that’s not really her name, but I am concerned about the lack of common sense at your company, so I figured I would explain that).
Anyway, her walkie-talkie miraculously went off at just the right time to run away from me without actually finishing the conversation. So here I am with this problem unresolved. Had I bought the unit with my American Express instead of my Target Red Card, I could file a BVG claim and be done with it in two minutes. So you tell me, why did I use my Target Red Card? Why do I have to drag the unit back to the store? Why is your “store manager” so far down on the IQ chart? Why did nobody in a department called “Customer Service” want to help a customer? Why will someone at the store be “surprised” to hear such questions? Why should I ever spend another penny at Target?

Next, there were the cashiers upstairs. Vivian and Monica C. Both had nametags that said “Trainer”. I did not see any lions or elephants present, so I have no idea what the nametags meant. Hopefully they were not there to train cashiers, because they were even worse then the CSRs. I can not honestly believe any company would hire people so fundamentally stupid, with such a basic lack of common sense to handle their money in any way shape or form.

My fiancé was trying to purchase some things, some of which included shaving cream you sold for 99c a can. She had manufacturers coupons good for $1 off of each. I don’t need to tell you that Target corporate coupon policy dictates..

“Coupons can be used towards trial size items unless the coupon states otherwise. However, we can't give cash back if the face value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item; in that case, we'll adjust the value of the coupon to equal the price of the item.”

This is the same coupon policy as every other major retailer in the United States who accepts manufacturers’ coupons.

You should have seen these two reading the coupons like it was their first home pregnancy test. “No, you can’t get the item for free, it would have to say free on the coupon.” “It says the yellow screen. What do I do?” “But if it says $1 the item has to be at least $1 before you can use the coupon.” And on and on and on. They simply REFUSED to get a store manager, and both INSISTED they WERE store managers.

Not for nothing, but I know what Target store managers look like, they all have a similar look, they are generally good hard-working people, and I am sure the store manager knows the corporate coupon policy.

We took our coupons back and left the store without purchasing anything.

Now what am I asking from you?

1) I want a full reimbursement of our parking fees of $2.25. A receipt is attatched.
2) I want a refund on my Target Red Card in the amount of $50. My receipt is attatched. I’m sure you can verify from the store that the current selling price is $138.
3) I want to know that Vivian and Monica C. are no longer working at the Queens Place Target, or any other Target before I ever shop there again. I know that sounds harsh, and I don’t want you to think that I am a “mean” person who does not care if people have jobs or not, but you have to understand that I simply can not financially support any store that would hire such incredibly ignorant people with no real interest in their jobs to of all things handle their money. That is something I just can not support with my hard earned cash. It’s disrespectful to all customers of Target, and I’m not going to financially support any company that engages in that practice.



Sam

[riffparker]

made 1 change before sending i added that i wanted a check for 39c to cover the stamp since i should not have had to send the letter in the first place

[matt111]

rant on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and to think monica and vivian were so close to the K1(or F1) key

[Kmchamplin]

You both would scare me going shopping if something didn't go right...MA and Riff. I guess I use kindness and I know most everyone at the stores I shop. If I don't like something or something doesn't go right, then I name drop and things get done correct.

I have only had to get angry twice and the person was fired because of too many complaints (I also think they were both mental cases).

[pcj]

Sam,
A question: do you find that your sarcasm and comments are more effective in gaining a response than a letter that simply outlines the problems you encountered without those remarks? In the past when I've written to complain I've provided a timeline/outline of the problems I encountered and how they failed to meet my expectations and that has been fairly successful for me in obtaining a response and some action, but it hasn't 100% worked... so I'm wondering if a more harder edge gains 100% satisfaction?
~P

[Shopz2Much]

We were very nice to them in the begining, till Vivian suggested that using a coupon for an item was shoplifting. I had even told her how to use her F1 key.

Take into consideration how the store is "managed":
The cashier 4 lanes down was lying on her conveyer belt reading a magazine. A very sweet Japanese man walked over to her and said "Excuse me?" and she ignored him, he said again "Excuse me?" and still there was no response. He said (still sweetly!) "Excuse me, can you hear me" at which point she screamed "I CAN HEAR YOU - I AM JUST IGNORING YOU, I AM ON BREAK".

I meet with DMM's of most major chains 3-4 times a year and I end up telling them about my adventures in customer service, it's nothing new to them. As I said to Monica & Vivian last night "this story is going to go over well at my next meeting in Minneapolis".

[riffparker]

km - actually i am over the top nice and friendly.. for the FIRST FIVE MINUTES. seriously im like dr jeckyl & mr bear after that.. i give a lot of leeway and forgiveness, and think about how i would like to be treated, for a very very very reasonable amount of time. i dont get nasty or angry until they just refuse to take my coupons. that's because they are now wasting my time and money, which i find inexcusable. that's the same as theft, if someone put their hand in your purse and took money out you wouldn't be so polite! thats the way i feel. i have to pay for parking there, and since i basically shop for a living, my time is worth money. that's an hour i spent there i could have been on the phone with someone who just joined afc teaching them about coupons or helping them do a deal at staples or something otherwise productive. why should it be wasted by an ignorant person who is too lazy to get a store manager, who would have showed them where the f1 key was?

it sounds in the letter like i am an evil jerk but it is the END RESULT of these things, it's not the way i started out when i walked in the store.

paul -

i have found that it doesn't really matter if you are very dry or very entertaining when you write these letters if your only goal is to get your money back / problem solved. however i want to share these letters with other people so that they may learn from them, and the best way i think to teach people is through entertainment. this is why i make the letters so graphic, and so "sarcastic" because they give people who were not there or not involved a reason to read them. if i just posted a dry complaint

"at 9 am i handed over the coupon"
"at 901 vivian read the coupon - did not comprehend"

etc it would be so boring to read that nobody would have any interest.

if you go back to my best buy letter on afc over 3000 people have read it. out of those if just 3 or 4 people read it and did not buy a sirius radio at best buy, or perhaps had bought one and had the antenna installed wrong but did not even know it, then i feel like i did a good job. in this case i hope that

1) people who bought tivos recently will go get their price adjustments

2) target cashiers will become better trained / educated about the use of coupons

3) people who try couponing for the first time and get shot down by a cashier will not give up so easily. they will feel encouraged to try again.

4) that consumers in general may read this and realise they have a voice to complain - so many just put up with whatever they are told and that is a big part of my show, my goal, and these letters.

5) that if target continues paying low wages and not training their employees, that other consumers over time will also boycott target until they begin to pay decent wages and hire people who really want to work at target, not people who feel "forced" to do so and take it out on the customers. That's no kind of company to support. Remember when you use coupons, they are like spending real money, just its the manufacturer's money and not your own. So spend it like you would your own!

Again i will say i get the BEST responses when i complain on BBB.org and so paul i suggest you try that if you have not already. I also find in Target complaints forwarding a copy to the manufacturer is a great idea!

[matt111]

sorry karen
i sure dont want to scare you
but...
it is the employees job to know how to do their job
in the corporate world if an employee did not know their job they would be at the least reprimanded
someone dropped the ball in vivian & monica's training
that has to be dealt with
I am sure the DM is very interested in how some of his or her cashiers are acting
nice goes both ways and as far as i am concerned it is the employee's job to be nice to me the customer they can complain about me all they want when i am gone
i do have the attitude of the store empolyee works for me, the customer
some people in the customer service business do not know how to act and are probably better suited for another line of work
i very rarely have problems as i am nice overall if i do run into problems i do cancel my order and walk away
if i am treated rudely i will call a DM or corporate and complain

[MyKidsMom]

Riff,

Hope you changed the date on your letter to 4/18/06 instead of 5/18/06 as well

[riffparker]

LOL nope missed that one!

[Valentinemommy]

I'm sorry that you had such a bad experince but I am soooo cracking up at the letter! You really should write a book!!!

[Kmchamplin]

"It is the employees job to know how to do their job.
In the corporate world, if an employee did not know their job they would be at the least reprimanded. "

Very true, but we all make mistakes. You make a very good point. I will not go into a Kmart unless it is a very good deal, since they are so slow and their coupon understaning is unreal.

"Take into consideration how the store is "managed":
The cashier 4 lanes down was lying on her conveyer belt reading a magazine. A very sweet Japanese man walked over to her and said "Excuse me?" and she ignored him, he said again "Excuse me?" and still there was no response. He said (still sweetly!) "Excuse me, can you hear me" at which point she screamed "I CAN HEAR YOU - I AM JUST IGNORING YOU, I AM ON BREAK". "

OMG! I guess I would not even want to shop at this Target unless it was the only Target I had, but then would dread it. One of the employees that I "helped" get rid of was always watching TV when she was near the electronics. She would also have on a really short shirt so her "excess weight" would hang out.

When are you heading my way?

[Trish]

Wowsers, let us know the outcome...keep us updated.

[ticker]

I know who to ask if I ever need help writing a complaint letter!

[Shopz2Much]

I called Best Buy yesterday (same Mall as the Target...) to schedule yet another appointment to have the Sirius radio fixed. The Customer Service rep actually said "I ain't got time for this sh*t" and hung up on me.

Sent an email to Best Buy corporate last night, they offered me a $50 gift card via email today, which I appreciate (don't get me wrong) but I wish they would better train/pay/staff their stores. I am more than happy to PAY hard cash for real customer service. Sigh.

[ticker]

Shopz it sounds to me like you are stressed to the max and I can see why!!!! I would pull my hair out at this type of service!!!

It sounds to me like you have a CRAPPY Target and Best Buy!!!

Bless you and Sam for being as patient as you have been, if it were me I would have gone postal on both stores!!!!

[ticker]

Oh by the way I am PMS'ing so I can!!!!! hehehehe