Laura Tate
Whatever happened to good customer service?
“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.”
-Henry Ford
The old adage in customer-based and service-oriented business, “The customer is always right,” seems to have been forgotten in these days and times of rising costs in retail and public-based services. Also forgotten, it seems, is the necessity to be polite to one’s customer.
These observations come from a recent personal encounter in a Malibu store, as well as events at other places, retold by coworkers.
Any store I have ever frequented, whether it be for clothing, electronics or even just basic home supplies, allows items to be returned, unused, whether it be because of a defect, or perhaps regret in a spontaneous unneeded purchase. This type of policy, I believe, is based on keeping customers happy-a satisfied patron will return time and again, therefore enabling a business to retain a large customer base and not only keep its doors open, but also grow. There are people who abuse this notion of being able to return items-often using something bought and returning it under false pretenses. But, on the whole, it seems an open return policy is a profitable policy. There are, however, stores that have no-refund polices and limited exchange or credit policies, as I recently discovered at one boutique in Malibu. And there are stores with employees who have no idea how to treat a customer, as both I and a coworker have experienced.
My coworker’s experience happened when she went to return slippers she bought without a receipt. The salesperson told her she could only exchange the slippers, and that she had to do it then, she couldn’t get a credit receipt. So, she quickly found a pair of pumps she thought were nice and went home, only to discover that they hurt her feet. She went back and was told that she could only exchange the shoes, right then and there, and could not receive credit or even a partial refund for the cost of the shoes beyond the cost of the slippers. A month and half later, her husband found the original receipt for the slippers. She worked up her courage, and decided to try again to get her money back. This time, luckily, she encountered a nice manager, with a reasonable mind.
“Tell me what it is that you need,” he said. “I just want my money back,” she told him. No problem, he said, and he refunded the money to her.
My ordeal did not last that long-two weeks-but it was as frustrating.
In a mad dash during a shoot for the cover of an upcoming issue of the Malibu Times Magazine, I bought some clothes at a popular local boutique located in the Malibu Country Mart. Now, usually, I would arrange in advance to pull clothes from a store for a shoot, but this was a last-minute problem, and there was only time for a last-minute solution, and I put the clothes-three items costing almost $1,000-on my personal credit card. I had no worries about not being able to return anything, as I assumed the clothes were returnable if not used. This assumption was based on my past customer shopping experience of every business having refund policies, and on the fact that, if there would be a no-refund policy, a store would clearly state it. There was no mention from sales people at the store, nor were there any signs I saw that stated any such policy. And, the sales girl who had helped me, put my receipt in the bag. So, a few days later, as I prepared to return the clothes, which had been sitting in the bag since I bought them (it turned out we didn’t need them), I was completely surprised when I pulled out the receipt; it read that no refunds were allowed. Still, I thought, if I explained the situation to the store manager, she would understand and allow a refund. No dice. The manager at the store said the store had a strict no-refund policy and could do nothing but offer an exchange or credit. This did not do, as I had no need nor desire for the clothes, or for any other clothes, not to mention $1,000 would put quite a dent in my personal budget. It didn’t matter to the woman that their store policies are not clear enough-no refunds, she said. I asked her what would happen if she refunded my money; she said she would be fired. Hmmm, that sounded dubious to me. So, asking who regulates the policies of the store, she gave me the number of the corporate manager. She said the same-strict no-refund policy, never do returns, it’s a policy of the owner. I asked for the owner’s name and number. “I can’t give out that information,” she told me. (It turns out that the corporate manager knew about my situation before I even called her; the manager of the store had called in advance and informed her that I would be calling, seemingly to make sure that the corporate manager didn’t capitulate to my request.) I was shocked; these people are giving me a hard time, and with purpose it seemed. We hung up, with me telling corporate that I would find out the owner’s name anyway, and plead my case. A half hour later, she called me back and said she would try and talk to the owner for me. Days went by. I e-mailed her asking what the status was. Still waited. I left a phone message. Waited some more. Then, feeling as if I had no other recourse, I left a message saying the matter would be taken care of through the Better Business Bureau. I received an e-mail 15 minutes after my message, saying I could take the clothes back. Finally, someone saw the light.
Now, I was not a happy customer. I felt I had been given an unnecessary hard time, but I was willing to forgive. But then came the kicker-when I went to the store and told a salesgirl there that I was given the OK to return the items, the manager, an older tall blonde woman, asked if the corporate manager mentioned a restocking fee. I said she did, but only in reference to future pulls from the store. “You won’t be allowed to pull from this store in the future,” the woman told me in a not-so-nice tone, as she turned her back to me and walked away.
“Really,” I said. “That’s interesting.”
I was fuming, but I kept quiet, just wanting the whole ordeal to be over. (At this point I looked for the sign they said was by the cash register that stated the store’s no-refund policy. There was a small, white, 4-inch by 5-inch frame that stated several things in different-sized fonts, with the no refund policy listed last-it didn’t exactly scream for anyone’s attention. )
But then the manager asked in a steely low tone, “How did you get them to change their minds?”
“Well,” I said, drawing out my response, “The corporate manager seemed to understand the value of good customer and working relationships.”
Most likely, I won’t be visiting that store again any time soon; not until management changes at least.
There have been other similar events, in rudeness at least, that have taken place here in Malibu. One person once told me about how she, her husband and friends were rushed to finish their dinners at a popular local restaurant, so a celebrity could take their table.
There still are many friendly restaurant and retail business owners in Malibu who go out of their way to give the best service they can. But for the ones who might take the “snooty” rather than the treat-your-customers-well policy, is this really the impression you want to give to not only the residents here, but also the tourists and visitors whom you rely on for business?
Henry Ford, a extremely successful businessman, would have thought not.