Customer service at the big box store....not

Dwight Harley

Dwight Harley

Well-known member
We have a great local Chrysler dealership. I can count on them to go out of their way to take care of my vehicles.... also very good customer service for things like if the wife's car has a flat or breaks down when I am out of town. They seem appreciative for your business and give you a ride to and from their shop. With winter coming I knew I was overdue for a new battery in the Jeep so I asked them for a price. Later that day I was in Wal-Mart and saw essentialy the same battery for about $30 less installed. I thought I would ask them about what the turn around time to put the battery in my car would be. However, I could not get any of the sullen looking teenagers working in the automotive department to make eye contact with me or acknowledge that I was there. To hell with this, I said, and took the Jeep into the Chrysler shop and had my new battery installed in about 20 minutes. Good customer service is worth paying a little extra.
 
Yep, and the pro's probably didn't accidently switch the cables around and fry your electronics. Sometimes "piece of mind" is priceless.
 
Remember when a human filled up the gas tank and washed the windshield?

Or, the days before Voice Mail?

Good story, I'm tired of dopey companies who cut the customer service costs just to drag people in and hook them on low product costs and then everyone is unhappy.

I pay 10% more at my lumberyard because I always get great service, tons of advice and excellent wood. I actually save money in the long run.
 
You know what amazes me is that these big chains move in kick all the mom and pops out and wahla ! I have seen it with our local HD store , kicked out the local lumber yard where like Andrew said you got customer service and good product so That they are the only ones left , well what happens after they are gone ? Does the small mom and pop open another store ? What happend to the good old days where customer service was CUSTOMER SERVICE not some chit chat to make it feel like customer service . We really need to take a stand but with all the people out there thinking they are getting a deal we are really in trouble . Sorry for the rant but this bothers me alot !! Good luck support your local small stores .


Dave M
 
I'm sure this is nothing new and that its happening all over the country but I live in what used to be a small farming community that had a small hardware store where you could buy just on widget if thats what you needed. We also had a grocery store owned by the same family for almost 100 years where you were treated like a friend, not a customer. In comes Meijers after suing the Township for the right to build even though the citizens voted against them. Goodbye family grocery store and hello indifference by the employees of Meijers. In comes Home Depot, goodbye small hardware store. Now in
order to buy the one widget, it is necessary to buy a package of them at ten times the cost. You just got to "love" progress.
 
I'm sure this is nothing new and that its happening all over the country but I live in what used to be a small farming community that had a small hardware store where you could buy just on widget if thats what you needed. We also had a grocery store owned by the same family for almost 100 years where you were treated like a friend, not a customer. In comes Meijers after suing the Township for the right to build even though the citizens voted against them. Goodbye family grocery store and hello indifference by the employees of Meijers. In comes Home Depot, goodbye small hardware store. Now in
order to buy the one widget, it is necessary to buy a package of them at ten times the cost. You just got to "love" progress.
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I find it funny that the residents voted against having the stores come in and then turned around and shopped there in numbers big enough to put Ma and Pa out of business.
 
I remember when I had to put references for the experience I put on a application. The bad thing is I'm only 33. It seems in the last 10 yrs the only prerequisites are do you have a high school diploma or ged, Do you know how to use a computer- there is no need for the ability to do math. If the scanner reads it, and displays the price that's it. It doesn't matter if it's on clearance for 50%. By God don't let that be the case because I've seen people behind the registers that couldn't figure that out. The last question I believe they ask is "Does your personal communication skills suck?"
The reason for this is so they will only want to get you out of their way and do the same to the next person. "Next please"
 
Math skills not required! should be on the application. I often have to tell the cashier at the fast food restaurant how much change I have coming to me. Seems that if they hit the wrong item on the menu display then everyone gets confused. I spent five minutes a few days ago trying to explain to another sullen teenager that she owed me 17 cents change. She was totally flustered and had to call some mangager type over who had to reset the register.
 
I really didn't much care about a lousy 17 cents. What I wanted her to do was some simple math... Here's a five dollar bill. My total was $4.83. I don't care what the register says, 17 cents is the difference. I wasn't trying to bust her chops...I have also had my share of crappy jobs. If anything, I go out of my way to be nice to folks who are doing this kind of work.
 
I know, it's a dumbing down of America. Political correctness and computer checkout....in a short generation, the USA will become a population of blank staring, mouth breathing cattle.
 
There is nothing I hate worse than dealing with numb teenagers at the local store. I guess that they're the only ones who will work for minumum wage. When a business only pays minimum wage you get minimum effort out of the employees. There is a local Mom and Pop store out home that sells everything and I mean everything, food, building materials, boots you name it. You can walk in the door and within a few mins be speaking to the owner, explaining your situation, such as you buying building materials for repairs on your mother in law's house with her visa card and there is never a problem. I even showed up one time with my sisters visa number and expiry date on a scap paper (she lives 12 hours from here) and needed to buy $500 worth of lumber for a patio door set of steps that needed to be built ASAP at her cottage or the insurance was going to be cancelled. There is never a problem once you speak to the owner. He even told me that he's had people call him up at home on a Sunday when he's closed needing lumber to finish a project and he just tells them to go get whet they need and come in on Monday and pay for it. There's alot to be said about good service which is severely lacking in alot of todays big box stores.

Bill G.
NB, Can
 
I know, it's a dumbing down of America. Political correctness and computer checkout....in a short generation, the USA will become a population of blank staring, mouth breathing cattle.
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Lee why is there dark little (and its constantly growing) part of me that thinks that the whole point and goal of our present education system? It should be noted I come from a teaching family and have no bone to pick with teachers in general, just lots of individual ones. Happy little drones seems to be the goal.
 
Service is our main thing our store has to offer the customers, and its what they come back for. We carry all the hard to find stuff too
but when you can help them from front door in and back out they appreciate it. We encourage our teen employees to do this and I tell
you what they are much better humans after a year in the Hardware store providing customer service and dealing with older people, young
people and everyone inbetween than the ones workin at wally or the local grocers.


I hate the boxes.. they just suck and dont do the community as a whole a ton of good in the end. BUT THEY HAVE everything and I can
go 24 hours a day and shop shop shop.
 
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