Refund refused & awkward customer

cityrocks

i recently refused to give someone a refund on a service provided cos she only changed her mind. while i know im correct in my position she demanded to know the owner of the business' name, which i refused to give her.i gave her the managers name and told her when hes available. she insisted it was my legal obligation to give her the owners name, though i've searched the web and could not find any info on this. so, hopefully someone out there can clarify this issue for me?

thanks in advance,

c

Sponge Bob

You are correct if you gave your line managers correct name and if they are generally available at your location....not hidden in Abu Dhabi like.

krpc

cityrocks wrote: »

i recently refused to give someone a refund on a service provided cos she only changed her mind. while i know im correct in my position she demanded to know the owner of the business' name, which i refused to give her.i gave her the managers name and told her when hes available. she insisted it was my legal obligation to give her the owners name, though i've searched the web and could not find any info on this. so, hopefully someone out there can clarify this issue for me?

thanks in advance,

c

The owner's name? I think most people ask for the manager's name and leave it at that? She must have thought she was important.

Although, what is the harm in giving the customer the owner's name? Not giving it would just make someone more frustrated. I'd give them the sun, moon and stars in that situation. Good thing I don't work in retail! Plus, if someone is determined enough, it's quite simple to find out the name of the owner.

Cabaal

rc_irl wrote: »

The owner's name? I think most people ask for the manager's name and leave it at that? She must have thought she was important.

From experience thats generally the case, they think by looking for details of people further up the ladder they'll create fear in you and you#'ll cave in....its idiotic
:rolleyes:

Although, what is the harm in giving the customer the owner's name?

The customer who is in the wrong will bother the owner with her pointless query, why allow somebody like that to bother the owner when the issue has already been dealt with with-in the law.

Not giving it would just make someone more frustrated. I'd give them the sun, moon and stars in that situation. Good thing I don't work in retail! Plus, if someone is determined enough, it's quite simple to find out the name of the owner.

tbh if I was the OP I'd offer to ring consumer connect for her so she could confirm that she has no legal right to exchange the item just because she changed her mind

Now that will piss her off

borderlinemeath

Cabaal wrote: »

tbh if I was the OP I'd offer to ring consumer connect for her so she could confirm that she has no legal right to exchange the item just because she changed her mind

Now that will piss her off

That's exactly the way to go.
Regardless of the owners or managers opinion, once you are within the bounderies of consumer law the customer cannot demand anything.

I used to have a stack of those consumer cards for these customers, I've run out now but will actually print off the relevent details from consumerconnect.ie to reiterate the law as so many customers are ignorant of it.

I had one particular customer who tried to refund something without the box, I pointed out on the back of the receipt where it clearly states that "refunds and exchanges are given when items are returned in a saleable condition with labels and packaging intact"
She demanded our head office number and was giving out that I was violating her customer rights and she was "entitled" to her money back.
Once I printed off the refunds and exchanges policy from consumerconnect.ie she backed down. She was fully convinced that she was right and that she had consumer rights on her side.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Tell her it's owned by 13,236 shareholders! For Pete's sake - the owner. Doesn't the stupid woman know most businesses don't have "an owner".

You did your job perfectly. Up the line to your Manager. Nothing else is required.

Fey!

The manager is there to deal with people like this so that the owner doesn't have to.

I think that you did exactly the right thing, OP.

dan1895

Fey! wrote: »

The manager is there to deal with people like this so that the owner doesn't have to.

Ha ha you should tell her that!
We used to have a load of those cards too, were great for shutting people up when they hadn't a clue of their rights

Greyfox

rc_irl wrote: »

Although, what is the harm in giving the customer the owner's name? Not giving it would just make someone more frustrated. I'd give them the sun, moon and stars in that situation. Good thing I don't work in retail! Plus, if someone is determined enough, it's quite simple to find out the name of the owner.

I'd do the complete opposite and take great pleasure in causing the old bat as much frustration as possible! I've dealt with so many eejits like this and the only satisfaction I get out of my crappy job is winning silly arguments like this

This is more proof that the "customer is always right" saying is absolute nonsence. Loads of customers are ignorant of the law and have a very inflated opinion of their own importance. Anybody who asks to speak to someone above your manager deserves to be told to f**k off!

Antigone05

its unfortunate to say that 50-60% of customers to a retail store/business are not very polite/friendly.

busman

Greyfox wrote: »

This is more proof that the "customer is always right" saying is absolute nonsence. Loads of customers are ignorant of the law and have a very inflated opinion of their own importance. Anybody who asks to speak to someone above your manager deserves to be told to f**k off!

Nice attitude to your customers

From reading most of the posts here I get the consensus that most people feel that if the customer does not have a legal right for a refund, end of story!

So most people think it is better to turn away a customer for life (and maybe all the other people she tells her story to!) that to give a credit note to use on another service and maybe keep her as repeat customer?

As for the customer asking for the owners name, while there is no legal obligation for you to give it, there is a requirement that a copy of the Certificate of registration of the business name is displayed in a conspicuous position!

KevArno

Don't people understand that not all businesses are owned by individuals? There can be any number of persons, or indeed other companies involved as shareholders in a company. As was mentioned earlier, there is a purpose in having management in place, and that is to deal with all issues as presented on a day to day basis, within the constraints of the law. Unless a case was to move down a legal route, I would never expect involvement from an owner.

I also despise this new found opinion in Ireland that business people should do ANYTHING to hold on to a customer for life. It is a ridiculous expectation. You cannot please all of the people all of the time. There comes a time in some lingering transactions when it is necessary to cut your losses and take a stand.

Nody

busman wrote: »

So most people think it is better to turn away a customer for life (and maybe all the other people she tells her story to!) that to give a credit note to use on another service and maybe keep her as repeat customer?

You know the funny thing? It does not work! Customer loyalty is simply not there; you can see it from big chains outcompeting small family stores (while the people bitch about the family stores going away they still go shop at Walmart, Tesco etc.) with better service to the general service model of companies world wide. If it did work don't you think by now it would have been done and used to knock out the competition?

Cabaal

Nody wrote: »

You know the funny thing? It does not work! Customer loyalty is simply not there; you can see it from big chains outcompeting small family stores (while the people bitch about the family stores going away they still go shop at Walmart, Tesco etc.) with better service to the general service model of companies world wide. If it did work don't you think by now it would have been done and used to knock out the competition?

All depends, there is still a niche market for smaller retailers both online and on the streets, a perfect example of an online retailer that provides what I can only discribe as excellent customer service is shaving.ie

The owner has been very interactive with boards.ie users, listening to feedback, dealing with issues and getting stock in to suit customer needs.

All in all excellent...you won't see a big ratailer doing this as proactively

borderlinemeath

busman wrote: »

Nice attitude to your customers

From reading most of the posts here I get the consensus that most people feel that if the customer does not have a legal right for a refund, end of story!

So most people think it is better to turn away a customer for life (and maybe all the other people she tells her story to!) that to give a credit note to use on another service and maybe keep her as repeat customer?

As for the customer asking for the owners name, while there is no legal obligation for you to give it, there is a requirement that a copy of the Certificate of registration of the business name is displayed in a conspicuous position!

The majority of customers who go the route of "get me the manager" are using bully tactics to get their own way in a situation where they have been too lazy/too stupid/too selfish to read or make themselves aware of the terms and conditions of their purchase or service.

If they get their own way they will only do it again and again and end up with an inflated notion of their own self importance.

It is not in any company or service providers interest to "give in" to these individuals.

Most of the time if a customer is nice about their exchange/refund that is outside store policy I will give it.

It costs nothing to be nice, a please/thank you/ I'm very grateful that you made an exception for me goes a long way from the retailers point of view.

Dotsyx

busman wrote: »

Nice attitude to your customers

From reading most of the posts here I get the consensus that most people feel that if the customer does not have a legal right for a refund, end of story!

So most people think it is better to turn away a customer for life (and maybe all the other people she tells her story to!) that to give a credit note to use on another service and maybe keep her as repeat customer?

As for the customer asking for the owners name, while there is no legal obligation for you to give it, there is a requirement that a copy of the Certificate of registration of the business name is displayed in a conspicuous position!

The customer who kicks up this much of a fuss when she's the one in the wrong is not the type of repeat customer you want imo.

Greyfox

busman wrote: »

Nice attitude to your customers

From reading most of the posts here I get the consensus that most people feel that if the customer does not have a legal right for a refund, end of story!

So most people think it is better to turn away a customer for life (and maybe all the other people she tells her story to!) that to give a credit note to use on another service and maybe keep her as repeat customer?

Yes, turn them away, in any case the people on the frontline should not have to worry wheter or not this kind of customer becomes a repeat shopper, also If she tells her story to the people she knows they should realise that she was in the wrong!

I have a good attitude to customers initially but once a customer decides not to accept a fair explanation/resolution to a dispute they become an unreasonable idiot that don't deserve the politeness that I'm expected to still give them.

A company have to draw a line somewhere on what entitles people to a refund and what doesn't and if some idiot is unwilling to read the companies policy/term and conditions that's their own fault. It's not a nice job telling people that their not due a refund but it's a lot more difficult if it's a case of they'll get their money back if they shout loud enough for it!

If the company were to give this bat her money back then how is this fair on all the other customers that changed their mind? The customer also has no business asking who the owner is, their is a system in place for complaints and that's usually asking to speak to a manager because the owner usually has more important things to be dealing with then trivial complaints. Also if a shop assistant explains that no refund is due it's because they have been trained to do this and as the manager has probably done the training they should be backing up their staff for doing their job correctly!