A Court Case?

Dealing with customers can occasionally cause quite the headache.

Especially if I have time to fume about it afterwards.

So, one of our new cashiers called me over to the register to help him out with a problem.

At first I thought that the problem was that the people wanted to sign up for a dog training class, which new guy didn't know how to do.

So I was like "Well you need to grab the paperwork..."

"They already have the paperwork." New guy told me. And the woman pulls out the paperwork from her purse. "They want to return the class." He continued.

Oh.

That's not hard.

But then I saw the address, saw the store number. And realized....the class they'd signed up for...wasn't at our store.

"Did you do this at a different Starsmet?" I asked them.

"Yes. We want to transfer into a class down here."

"I'm sorry," I told them. "We can't transfer classes. You have to return the class you purchased at the first Starsmet, and then come down here and sign up for one here."

Dog Training Classes aren't something we can transfer between stores because each store has a different dog trainer that gets commission on their classes. Because they get commission you can't just transfer one class to another dog trainer because then the second dog trainer wouldn't get paid for teaching the class basically.

The woman was like "But I already tried to return the class! And they said they couldn't do it because it was past due but that I could transfer to a class down here."

O.o

It's statements like that where I wonder if someone actually told the customer that.....or if the customer is just making it up on the spot to try and get their way.

I usually tend to think the latter....

"I'm sorry, but we don't transfer classes....I can double check with a manager though and make sure we haven't had a policy change I wasn't aware of though."

"Yes, Please do that."

I do that. Confirm that we can't transfer a class between stores, that the customer would have to go back to the first Starsmet to return the class there, get their money back and then come down here and purchase the class here.

And somehow...in the midst of that I offered to call our sister store in the next valley over to see what the deal was with not returning the class.

Only after I'd spoken to a manager there, and been briefly put on hold as they checked some things....did I look at the date.

The date for the class?

OCTOBER 2016.

They'd waited SEVEN MONTHS to try and return the class.

And guess what? Usually we only have a 60 day return policy on classes just like most other products in the store (with the exception of live animals)

Why did they wait?

"Because I moved, and life got crazy." yadda yadda.

*shakes head* You'd think that they'd have tried to make an effort to come before now.... I even wonder what caused them to remember that they had even signed up for a class seven months ago. My guess is it's a need for money or something.

Still. I talked to the manager, who said that they'd get the dog trainer in touch with the people about the class.

And I told the customer this. That the dog trainer had their information and should be giving them a call later in the day to see if they can work things out.

-As I confirmed with our own dog trainer that depending on situations, classes can be rescheduled even months and months later depending on the circumstances.

I also confirmed that the dog trainers usually call once or twice if a person has missed a couple of classes to confirm that they still wanted to take the class.

I confirmed that dog trainers do try to make sure the people who sign up for the class actually come to class.

*shakes head*

So again, I have to wonder why these people didn't act before now.

Because they probably got at least two calls to remind them they missed class....

In any case.

I explained the situation to the customer, told them there was nothing more my store could do etc etc etc.

And the woman seemed really understanding. It was her fault after all that she'd waited this long and was now having issues.

But the friend the woman came with. oooh. She wasn't having it.

"We may take this to court!" she proclaimed like a juvenile. "Because you guys promised us a service and you didn't provide it. So we should be able to get this class!"

O.o

Uh.

NO.

I didn't get a chance to respond really because they walked out the door then.

But honestly.

They would lose that court case and waste more money in the process.

Because we upheld our side of the agreement.

The customer signed up for a class and didn't come. It's on their heads for wasting their money.

It would have been different had the other Starsmet said "We're going to have class this day at this time." and then not actually hold it when the customer shows up.

Then there would be a case.

But no. If you didn't go to the class....it's your own fault for wasting your money, not ours.

And that little exchange...was stuck in my head the entire day, causing my headache I mentioned earlier. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi