Hey grackle, is there some reason that you are being such a condescending jerk? Believe it not, the fact that someone disagrees with you does not make them stupid. You have retail experience? Great. So do I. However, I seemed to have escaped without the obvious contempt for the customer that you hold.
I disagree. As a former retail manager AND a current fantasy football league commissioner, it makes perfect sense to me. The analogy is more than "remotely comparable", it's "spot on" if you ask me.
Of course you think it makes sense, or else you wouldn't have made the analogy. However, the fact that you wrote it doesn't make it true. I explained why I thought it was different. Rather than respond, you just reply, "Is too..." Not very productive.
Store managers DO have this discretion, but do you really think that they should brush aside company policy for a customer who has admitted that...
I don't think GM went in angry, though he obviously left that way. Anyway, I'm not referring to GM's case in particular as much as I am the necessity to use discretion in some cases.
PS - Sorry if you don't get this analogy either.
Again, why so condescending? I understood the analogy just fine. It just didn't hold water.
Yeah, I think I read somewhere that Best Buy was in danger of going under. Now I know why.
Oh no, the old rolleyes. You must really think I'm stupid. Anyway, nowhere did I say that my decision to take my business elsewhere was going to run Best Buy out of business. All I said was that their decision to blindly follow store policy and not allow me to exchange a Fullscreen Version for a Widescreen Version cost them thousands. I'm sure I'm not the only one this has happened to. If given the option, I'm sure someone at Best Buy HQ would certainly admit that following store policy was not wise in this particular circumstance. While it won't really hurt their bottom line, it certainly is just one more thing that engenders a feeling of disdain for the company.
You seem to think that companies simply don't care about the consumer. I know for a fact this isn't true. If it were, Walmart and BestBuy wouldn't have greeters wishing people a nice day. They wouldn't allow any returns at all. They wouldn't require salespeople to at least pretend to be helpful. They certainly wouldn't be sending me coupons asking me to come spend money in their store, or free gifts based on the amount of money I spent with them in the previous year.
To show you that big companies can still do great customer service, here's an anecdote: Two weeks before Christmas, my wife goes to Bloomingdales to buy me a leather jacket. She sees one she likes, but just to be sure, she goes to a different mall. She sees nothing she likes better, so she goes to the Bloomingdales there. They have the same jacket, but none in my size. They call the other Bloomingdales to get them to hold the jacket, are kept on hold forever, then told they don't have any of this jacket, they must have just sold them. Rather than drive the 30 minutes in the other direction to check for herself, she takes them at there word.
The next weekend I am at the first Bloomingdales and see they still have 3 of the same jackets in my size. Unfortunately, the 25% off coupons that worked the previous weekend were expired. I informed the store manager what happened (calmly), and told them I was a frequent customer and showed them my Bloomingdales card. They looked me up and saw that I was indeed a good customer. They apologized for the mishap, and gave me the original 25% off the jacket, and another 10% for being understanding. Would it have hurt them if they told me to screw off and I started shopping at another department store? No. But they value customer service and wanted to do the right thing. I'll buy everything I can from them from now on.
Tell me, at this new store you are spending all your money in, have you told the manager how much you enjoy the service in his/her store?
I didn't think so.
Pretty presumptuous on your part. Since you asked, when I bought the TiVO and MP3 player, I didn't (at CC) b/c they pretty much suck too. However, at my new CD store, I tell them all the time how much I like them better. And at the place that I buy my HT and Stereo equipment, they are quite aware that I am willing to pay a little more simply b/c of their level of service. In fact, when the store was unable to get the speakers I wanted, I had to go someplace else to get them. I called Mike (the owner) to apologize for not buying one of his brands. Of course, he told me not to worry about it and ended up buying a new amp and pre/amp from him a couple of months later. So, yes, I do tend to reward people for great service, and let them know how it makes me shop there.
I try to start over, but it locks up again. Pull out the game and there's a huge mark on the disk. Take it back to the store w/out problems. I probably had 2 hours of game-play on it.Thanks Wal-Mart. 
