Shop Talk
I broke it. Now you have to give me another one for free...
Why do people think this actually works? When does any of this actually work? If you wreck the car you bought, do they give you another one for free? If you sign up for cable and throw your TV out the window, do they give you another one for free? If you burn down your apartment by setting your curtains on fire with a lighter, does your landlord say, "I'm sorry about making those curtains so flammable. Here's a new apartment for free. And since you've been paying your rent on time for 2 months now, I'll buy you a car too." When you've been eating at McDonald's for years, do they greet you at the door, seat you and give you free food? I don't care how long you've been going to Marathon stations for gas. They don't give you a free fillup just ...
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I think because we give them the phone and charge them for service so they think we are responsible for their phone sort of like if you have Direct TV and break your box, you think they owe you another box.
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When cell phone service started, it was hard to get customers on board. There are always techno geeks (I mean that in the nicest sense) that will try any new technology, but in the case of cell phones, there weren't enough of them to start an industry. So in the beginning, reps and companies had to give away a lot of "stuff" to justify charging over $100 a month for 100 minutes and that kind of thing. Not to mention when agents got into the picture and some didn't understand replacement procedures and lots of equipment got "given" away. Well, maybe not lots, but if you car crashed or burned, and your "cell"phone was hard wired into your car, then it got replaced one way or another with few questions asked. Now that cell phones are part o...
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My favorite example is shoes. You've been wearing them all your life. Call Adidas or Nike and tell them you need a new pair, and you're not going to spend 80 bucks on them. See how far that gets you.
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Well, or Ipods. Just try getting your money or a new one out of the sales person because you had a fight with your girlfriend and she ripped the thing apart. Most of the problem is with what they have gotten away with in the past. There are so many of them that have had stories like that work for them.
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I've had two cases of where customers are looking at leather cases and while trying to shove their phone in the case they snap off the top part. I'm always shocked they broke my case and I'm not sure how to work in that they need to pay for it but I always whimp out... âšī¸
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Well we had a customer yesterday that pulled out his knife to pry out the external antenna plug on a razr. I snatched the razr from his hand and explained that unless he wanted to hand me his credit card for a $450+tax purchase, he wasn't to touch my phone. He got all huffy and said that it was just a demo phone, and that I shouldn't mind. It's not a demo, it's one I got out of a box to have on display near my desk, it will be sold to a customer, and not with any knife scratches on it. He got huffy and left. I was okay with that. Geez.
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To fix the problem phone companies should quit offering "free" phones. Sales would sure drop for the first year, but once people realized that they have to have a phone to live they'll start paying for it. Just like gas, we "need" it to live so we pay for it, eventually that would cure the problem.
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Too many times in recent history people have been rewarded for screwing up & then making asses out of themselves trying to blame others. The fix will be to stop rewarding those who do this!
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Had the same coversation with a drunken idiot at the bar last night. He thought I was full of s*it and didn't want to hear the answer I gave to him. I used the car insurance Analogy.
What a morona this guy was.
What a morona this guy was.
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I actually think we did it to ourselves. By bending rules and giving away free stuff or even by giving out free phones with new service, we create that expectation for customers that phones are "cheap." I once knew someone who did all that crap and made exceptions in order to "create loyalty" to our store...I think it just sets the precedent and customers will now be mad when we don't make them feel special. Just my two cents.
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đ đ đ đ đ đ đ đ đ đ đ đ AMEN !!!! I think your post should be hung in all retail stores and played thru the IVR...so true ....
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As the manager of an indirect VZW location, we take the extra step to be sure the customers are fully aware. We have a waiver that they sign which states that they understand that the phone they have received today was at a discount price with contract signing. If for any reason the phone is damaged beyoned any warranty repair (including physical and liquid damage, as well as the phone being lost/stolen), they are responsible for replacing the phone at retail cost, unless they have insurance. You always have those customers that will say "Well, I wasn't told this. Why should I suffer because I wasn't informed" to try to get something free out of you. We have ALL our customers sign this form to protect our butts. All our customers that...
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Yeah we have all our customers sign an agreement stating that if they cancel within the first 6 months, or they cancel under the 30 day guarantee and don't return the phone, they have to pay us $350, but that doesn't help. I still get people that cancel in 2 days and I ask where they phone is and they are like "Oh I sold it to a friend." No offense meant, but I think that having people sign that peice of paper will solve nothing. Peoples' stupidity will always outweight a peice of paper.
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But, the ability to prove to them that they were in fact told so, and that they physically acknowledged it, is enough to shut them up and stop their lies.
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That--Case and Point-- is exactly why we have them sign off. People can be stupid all day long, I don't care. But when we show them that they have signed off on this form, they generally shut up and walk out of the store. Ahhh the sweet smell of victory!
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I keep forgetting that the rest of the world's customers apparently aren't as stubbornly ignorant as mine. I could show someone a signed paper and they would probably be like "I didn't sign that! You're lying! You're a racist!" Seriously... well at least at one of my stores. At the other one we wouldn't have any problems, but the one in Elkhart, Indiana... oh my god... Most people have more fingers and toes than the average person's IQ in that town.
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I think people feel entitled to free equipment for 3 reasons -
1) With so many offers for free phones, they must be cheap, right? Many customers really aren't informed about the difference between activation and retail prices, or about what could happen if they don't buy insurance.
2) They signed a contract for service, and feel they have a right to use that service regardless of what stupid thing they do to their equipment.
3) They're too spoiled and self-centered to realize the cost for that new phone they want has to come out of someone else's pocket if not theirs.
Just my thoughts on the matter...
1) With so many offers for free phones, they must be cheap, right? Many customers really aren't informed about the difference between activation and retail prices, or about what could happen if they don't buy insurance.
2) They signed a contract for service, and feel they have a right to use that service regardless of what stupid thing they do to their equipment.
3) They're too spoiled and self-centered to realize the cost for that new phone they want has to come out of someone else's pocket if not theirs.
Just my thoughts on the matter...
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I once had a customer one time tell me to just give him a phone. So I leveled with him. I told him I would gladly hand him a brand new phone at no cost for the phone. I then explained to him that by doing this, I was counting on him to make my mortgage, car, insurance, utility, cell phone, water, trash, sewage...(you get the point) bills for me, because I would no longer have this job to pay for my living expenses. He said "okay, i get the point, thanks anyways" and left.
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I tried explaining that to a person once, and he told me to cancel his account, because he wouldn't help fund an organization that would fire an employee for helping a customer... I of course tried to talk him out of cancelling, because anywhere else his bill would be at least $20 more a month. Regardless, he told me he was "doing me a service" by cancelling his account. I think he was a little weird...
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