Would you want yourself as a customer? (1 Viewer)

[Stan]

I used to have two supervisors like this. I tend to be pretty laid back, so the worse their tantrums got, the calmer I became because I refused to argue back. This of course made their reactions even worse.

It was hilarious to watch. They would actually almost break out in hives. Never sat in meetings with both of them together, but separately had seen them get these strange reddish blotches from neck to forehead.

Amazing how stressed out some people get over the most petty thing.

As for myself, I think I'm a pretty decent customer. Do a lot of research beforehand so I know what I'm looking for.

If people are to pushy, pull that sleazy used-car salesman attitude or that phony "Hello Sir, welcome to Home Box Store, blah blah blah". Unless they have a tremendous price, I turn around and walk out the door.

 

[Bryan^H]

Yes. I have heard stories, and bad customers are nowhere near as bad as a bad patient or their angry family.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I've been in retail now for a little over 2 years (selling electronics at Sears).

In my experience there rarely is such a thing as a bad customer but I can give an example or two.

1-the bottom-feeder: This is the customer that won't even consider a new product but comes in on a regular basis scoping out the open-box stuff and demanding another 10% off the price sticker that's on the merchandise, along with someting for free to sweeten the deal (a free tv stand or BluRay player for example).

2-The Lawyer: This is a person who'll try to trick a salesperson into quoting a lower price or no-interest deal that doesn't apply to the merchandise, or some freebie. They'll try to confuse the salesperson by repeating the same demand many times until they get just the slip of the tongue they need to demand to talk to a manager and get what they want.

3-The professional Consumer: These people scan the flyers and ads searching for typos regarding specs or pricing. If the ad description for a certain tv model is in error and says it's a 1080p set and not a 720p set even though the listed model number is for the 720p set they will demand a 1080p set at the price for the advertised 1080p model.

A variation on this is the customer who fraudulently claims that someone on the phone told her a certain item was in stock that we in fact don't have. This person will never know the name of the person that gave her the information, and will demand the product be given to her free to compensate her for her inconvenience.

4: The Renter--this is the customer who buys a product with little or no intention of keeping it. They either want to use it only for a special occasion (i.e. watching the Superbowl on an HDTV or recording a wedding or graduation with a camcorder) then return it, or they want to sample multiple models of a given product for a few weeks before finally choosing one. They get around the restocking fee by claiming the product is defective.

5: The know-it-all. This is the person that is convinced a product will do something it isn't designed to do and claim it's defective when it won't do it.
Many of these are convinced that a digital-to-analog tv converter box will work with cable or will work without an antenna, or that a vcr/dvd combo with no tuner will record tv without an external tuner and don't believe the salesperson when told it won't. They buy the product anyway and howl for a refund when it doesn't do something it was never designed to do. In most cases there is a more expensive alternative or add-on product that will do the job for the customer but they're convinced the salesperson is only trying to make more money and that the cheaper product will work.