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from the Only-the-true-believers-may-worship-here dept.
An Apple store found a new low recently when a Sydney, Australia father was not able to purchase an item because the Apple staffer would only process his payment using Apple pay. In a move the buyer recounts as being 'stupidity', a staff member repeatedly tried to get the customer onto Apple pay instead of just processing the payment for the item. Things went downhill after the staffer asked the customer if he had an iPhone. The customer got the impression that he would need to use the Apple Pay app to buy what he wanted, when what he really needed was to pay and leave. After trying, and failing, to find a staff member who would just process his payment, the customer left the store, walked across the street, and purchased the same item from a JB Hi Fi store.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @05:12PM (8 children)
At our local Sears, which was always understaffed (especially at the registers), the cashiers would always try to get people to sign up for a Sears card. And if you didn't want one they made the checkout process slow. They did this because they earned an extra little bonus ($5 - $10) per person they signed up for a Sears card.
First, they would ask if you had a Sears card. If you said "yes", they would tell you the checkout process would be faster if you used your Sears card. If you said no, then they would bestow upon you the virtues of obtaining a Sears card and ask you if you wanted to sign up for one.
If you chose not to use your Sears card, or not to sign up for one, they would slow down the payment process. If you chose to use a non-Sears credit card, they would ask for ID and compare the signature on the back of the credit card, the signature on your ID and the signature that you scribbled on the pad. If all three didn't match they would reject the form of payment. If you chose to pay in cash they would hold each bill up to the light, inspect it, then use the counterfeit pen on it. Each and every bill. They always commented to the customer, and to the people waiting in line, that things would have gone faster if they had just used a Sears card.
The kicker was, if anyone chose to sign up for a Sears card the cashier would enter their information right there while everyone else was waiting in line. They would ask all of the questions out loud and expected the customer to tell them name, address, phone, DOB, SSN, etc. It was even slower for everyone, and it was not secure at all.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:52PM (1 child)
A lot of companies apparently do this: give their cashiers the job of signing customers up for a customer card, credit card, or whatever. Too often, the cashiers are given quotas that they have to meet, "or else".
I've always felt sorry for the poor cashiers. It's bad enough having to deal with nutty customers, without having to irritate them on top of it. On top of which, the vast majority of customers do not need and do not want yet-another-card to keep up with - so meeting those quotas has got to be a nightmare.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday February 07 2019, @01:15PM
Add on to that the practice of upselling: asking the customer "do you want to swap your medium for a large, it's only 30p more", or " can I interest you in also buying one of these things the manager put next to the tills". Plenty of large retailers put a lot of effort into getting their existing customers to spend more (increasing "basket value" ), without much concern about the number of customers who go elsewhere to avoid the hard selling.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:38PM (3 children)
Radio Shack did a similar thing, forcing their cashiers to try to get the name and address of every customer, even if they were just buying batteries. I know this because the last time I was in a Radio Shack, I simply refused to give the guy any info, and he declined to sell me a pack of batteries for cash. Which was why it was the last time I went to a Radio Shack. Now nobody goes to a Radio Shack, because they went out of business.
It always astonishes me when a business makes it difficult for me to give them money.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by thewalkindude on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:01AM
It's not the paltry $5 or $10 for a package of batteries they want, it's the money for your information that they can sell in the future that they want.
That being said, I was extremely impressed the last time I was in a Radio Shack about 3 years ago looking for an 'N' type to PL259 connector adapter. The clerk, who I guessed was about 21 or 22 years old, behind the counter actually knew what I was talking about and found the correct adapter, in a dusty package, way back in the corner of the store. Unfortunately, she spent the next 10 minutes trying to sell me on a bunch of other crap that she was 'required' to try to sell. Outside of that she had to problem with taking cash, so I had no problems there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kazzie on Thursday February 07 2019, @01:18PM (1 child)
At least one UK retailer (Argos) has started asking customers if they'd like their (warranty) receipt e-mailed to them when they pay. A good way to build up a mailing list!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DavePolaschek on Thursday February 07 2019, @02:34PM
Home Depot does this too. "Would you like an emailed receipt?"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:46PM (1 child)
Yeah. Didn't they file for bankrupcy ?
Piss off your customers, go tits up. This has been a fundamental rule of commerce for like forever. And yet, I'm sure Sears' CEO behind this policy will be well off with a generous bonus.
Note to investors and shareholders: If you keep rewarding administrators for screewing you over, they will keep screewing you over. You want to know what's wrong with America ? That's what's wrong with America.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday February 07 2019, @12:27AM
Another questionable policy is pissing off your merchandise, as Google is currently doing with Google plus.