How's this for customer service?.........

Mark Rios

Member
Messages
797
Location
Central CA
About a month ago I bought a 3-pack of reading glasses from Costco. I didn't like them so I went to return them and exchange them for another style. The outdoor food court got in my way and made me stop for a berry sundae (damn food court!). I left the package of glasses in my cart while I waited in line. There was only one person in front of me. The cart was no more than 15" away at any time. I ordered my berry sundae (very yummy) and went over to my cart and someone had lifted the glasses. Some stinkin', selfish, low-life thief stole them.

Well, I'm a bonehead and I shouldn't have left them in the cart. They were only about $20 and I'm not going to starve for the $20 so I chalked it up to experience. But I went to the membership desk, explained what had just happened and asked if they wanted me to fill out a report or something. They asked me for my membership number/card and the next thing I knew, they looked up my purchase of the glasses and refunded my money!!!

Way to go Costco!!!
 
That's great, Mark! I've always found our Costco's management team to be very professional and always ready to help. Here's and example...

About a year ago, I had to stop at the Costco on my way home from work. This isn't my "Home" store, merely one that I pass leaving the office, 55 miles from home. I bought five items, one of which was a 3-pack a really good-looking strip steaks. I get out to the car, throw everything in and hit the road. I got home, only to realize that I left the steaks in the cart, sitting in the middle of the parking lot!! :doh: :dunno: After an unconsolable five minutes, my wife suggested I call the store here and explain, and see if there was anything they could do to correct my "dumbness". The manager I talked to checked my purchasing history, and told me to come in and find her. About 30 minutes later, I was walking out with a new package of meat! :thumb:

Way to go, Costco!!!

- Keith
 
Yep, here in Japan, they are great too.

My wife bought a box of stuff, and it was the wrong size etc, almost a year later we went to the store with the product, and no receipt and they took it back no problem, my wife was dumbfounded :D
 
The outdoor food court got in my way and made me stop for a berry sundae

That's YOUR fault for living in LaLa Land. ;) Ain't no outdoor food courts at MY Costco's. They're all indoor, but situated so that you pass them on the way out.

I find that much better for my waistline. By the time I get to the food court I'm (a) tired of being in this monster store :zzz: and I want to go home and (b) dealing with the fact that once again I spent $200 in Costco :doh: and am not willing to give them another $5 for a snack.
 
LOL Art. I know what you mean. My next door neighbors call Costco "the $200 store" all the time. :)

John

Friend of ours pointed this out to us... if you're shopping for groceries, you can pretty much just count up the items in your buggy and multiply by 10. Because it seems that on average it costs about $10 per item.
 
When I owned my Sears Roebuck franchise store we gave that kind of service. What the customer needed, the customer got. Then Sears changed their service/returns polcies. I had to follow or get out or starve or both. Customers immediately lost confidence in spending their money with Sears. Sales dropped dramatically. I closed down less than two years later and opened a different business. Taking care of the customer can sting in the short run but pays big dividends over the long haul.
 
When I owned my Sears Roebuck franchise store we gave that kind of service. What the customer needed, the customer got. Then Sears changed their service/returns polcies. I had to follow or get out or starve or both. Customers immediately lost confidence in spending their money with Sears. Sales dropped dramatically. I closed down less than two years later and opened a different business. Taking care of the customer can sting in the short run but pays big dividends over the long haul.
I definitely agree with what you say here Frank. About 1980 I bought a belt sander from sears. I had their circular saw, a radial arm saw, drill, jig saw,10" tablesaw, band saw and a table sander with a disc and was always looking at their tools. The belt sander would not track correctly, could not keep it in line. I took it in through the doors under the words "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" and the man at the desk said I dropped it. I honestly didn't think I did, but I thought about it for a moment. No sir I don't think I did, well the crux of the story is he blew me off, I left the store and have not spent more than 50 bucks if that since then. Oh, up till then I had taken nothing back. Still remember his name, who me? hold a grudge? no, but I remember things. I was going to sue only to have the words removed from above the door but I didn't.
Shaz
 
Sure wish we had a costco store around here.

I keep hearing about their great service:thumb:
 
...and am not willing to give them another $5 for a snack.
$5 for a Costco snack? Must be the exchange rate thing. At my local Costco you can get 2 hot dogs, a Coke, a slice of pizza, and a berry sundae for something like 12 or 13 cents, I think. :D

I make a fair amount of my hardware store purchases at the local DoIt Center, sort of a regional mini-borg chain. I like giving them my business, since they have helpful staff, and it's small enough that you get to know everybody who works there. A few years ago my brother-in-law and I went there to buy a bunch of bulding materials, including a framing hammer. We got home and realized we'd left the hammer in the cart in the parking lot. Went back to the store later that afternoon, and the clerk who rang up our original purchase had the hammer behind the desk waiting for us when we got there. He saw it come back into the store in the cart, and remembered selling it to me. He said he knew I'd be back. ;)
 
Frank said:
When I owned my Sears Roebuck franchise store we gave that kind of service. What the customer needed, the customer got. Then Sears changed their service/returns polcies. I had to follow or get out or starve or both. Customers immediately lost confidence in spending their money with Sears. Sales dropped dramatically.

I'm guessing that happened around the 1980s or so?

When I was a kid, Sears was THE place to go for tools, and they had excellent service from people who really knew their wares. I used to tag along with my dad and look over all the cool tools there. Dad would play 20 questions with the sales clerk, plunk down a few crisp bills, and we would head out the door with some new toy and the knowledge of how to use it. It was really a fun place to go back in the day.

Fast-forward to the late '80s. My wife and I were in Sears one day. She was buying a gift card to send to a relative, and she received some very rude treatment from a clerk there. I was in the tool dept., returning a 3/8" ratchet that was stripped. The clerk handed me a "repair kit," the installation of which would have tested a jeweler's dexterity skills. When I asked him why they wouldn't just replace the item (Sears used to boast about its no-questions-asked replacement policy), the guy basically said that they had changed their returns policy and had the option to substitute the kit. He further stated that if I didn't like it, I was free to shop elsewhere.

So we did.

I have not returned to a Sears store since then (my wife has been there a time or two), and we generally view Sears as the place where our fathers and grandfathers shopped. They had some serious image problems 15 or 20 years ago, though lately they seem to be re-inventing themselves in the marketplace. But with all the other options now available, Sears remains rather irrelevant to me.

If you don't take care of the customer, somebody else will. As for wrenches, I just buy the cheap Tai/Chi tools and they work fine for what I'm doing. And if one breaks -- oh well -- I just buy another for a couple bucks.

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Kevin asked, "I'm guessing that happened around the 1980s or so?"
Actually, 1974. We closed it shortly thereafter.
I hated giving customers a hard time but had no choice. I worked on a small percentage. If I took back an item Sears would not approve I would have to eat the whole thing.
Folks criticize Wal-Mart, I do also. But say what you will, a return there will be accepted. Customers can buy with confidence there.
 
I've had good return experiences at HD, Lowe's, and Menard's. I don't see how a retailer can not do this, but there are a few still out there.

Wally-Mart takes a lot of flak for (among other things) squeezing the little guys, but there's another side to that story. I've lived in a few smaller communities where the local merchants circled the wagons to keep out the big box stores. All the while they are charging high prices (sometimes above MSRP) because they know the locals would have to drive a few hours to find better prices in a larger city. I asked a few of those local merchants how they could justify their prices, and was told that's what the local market would allow. But it's funny how they would quickly change their "free-market" tune when Wal-Mart or Best Buy would come to town.

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Top