A customer called on the phone wanting to know information about our tank/stand combos. Particularly the size, shape and price. Which no big deal. Easy enough to answer, though I did have to repeat myself a couple of times because the customer wasn't totally understanding what I was saying. It happens. Phone conversations aren't always the clearest.
But then.
The customer had a question involving an item that goes in the tank. That item was something that had just come out a couple of years ago and was a newfangled device to help keep the tanks cleaner. It's something that goes on the bottom of the tank and has a tube and filters the water in a box and then puts clean water back out.
Which in the beginning sounded like an undergravel filter system. Which isn't new at all. That's totally old school.
But no. That's not what the customer wanted.
So I was like "are you looking for a filter?"
But no. The customer was looking for a thing that goes in the bottom of the tank -not an undergravel filter- that sucks at the gravel and cleans it and puts fresh water back in.
Which sounded like a gravel vacuum, which isn't a filter at all. But the gravel vacuums we had were ones that took water totally out of the tank and didn't put fresh water back in unless you were talking about the ones that connect to the sink.
But no. The customer didn't want one that connected to the sink. It was supposed to suck out the water, cleaning the gravel in the process, and filter it in a box and then put clean water back in.
Which sounded like a filter system. Specifically our canister filter systems where you have a box underneath the tank and then two tubes go into the tank. One to suck out the water, one to put it back in, but you still have to maintain them and they're more expensive and they don't clean the gravel.
Nope. The customer was adamant that what they were talking about was only like $20 two years ago when they first saw it. That it cleans the gravel too.
So again, I tried to talk about the gravel vacuums.
But no. It wasn't that. The entire thing was self contained. No water would ever need to leave the tank. It cleans the gravel and filters it and puts clean water back in.
Round and round we went in this conversation for like 15 minutes. With the customer increasingly getting louder on their side of the phone constantly saying NO! THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!!!! IT'S *proceeds to explain again*
To which I was like. "It sounds like you're trying to combine two things together the filter system and the gravel vacuum but that doesn't exist like that. It's one it the other."
But no. It was a new device. It was out two years ago, etc.
The customer was finally like "Let me talk to someone else." Because obviously I wasn't getting what this customer wanted and they were sure that someone else would understand them better.
So I put them on hold and went to the manager and was like "After you busy? Because there is a customer on the line that is being difficult and they want to talk to someone else" and I did my best to explain the situation but after playing Ring around the Rosie, I was more than upset. So. Very. Frustrated. Frustrated enough that I was shaking and close to tears and barely able to speak clearly because I had no idea what the customer was trying to find and it felt like they were going to stay on the line forever until the answer was found.
All my manager got in the phone and had a similar circular conversation with the customer until he figured out what they were after.
......It was our battery powered gravel vacuum.
One that's handheld that has a little filter system within it to gather the gunk while the water is being filtered through it. (Which is $60 btw not $20) which after hearing that. Yah that makes sense.
*Exhales* It was mostly a case of the customer not explaining themselves well because with how they were describing the device the manager shredded it sounded more like a filter system and not the gravel vacuum.
-Sarnic Dirchi
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