Double post! Tons of lag.

superchunk said: Bodhesatva said: Ahhhhhh! I work at Toys R Us, as many know. I have zero loyalty to the company; what I'm about to say isn't motivated by love of my corporate mother. I'm just a low level guy earning money while in college. But seriously, there is exactly one type of customer I hate, and it's the ones who think that its our fault when games don't arrive on time or we don't have enough of them or something. The girl was absolutely correct to assume the game would be there when it is supposed to arrive. She is absolutely correct that the game is likely to sell out. The only problem here was DHL, and Toys R Us has no control over that. It isn't their fault: you're just blaming them because they happen to be the people standing in front of you when you found out. I would have done precisely the same thing as that girl/manager, by the way. There's absolutely no way to know that a shipment is going to be delayed by DHL. Should we have told you to come at 2, when the new shipment arrives? I can tell you this: if that had been my store, you wouldn't have gotten a copy, as we were already sold out at 1 PM. That would have made you even more pissed, I can assure you of that. They can't win. And most people don't get upset, they just say "no problem" and move on, and come back later. Sorry Bod, it was the girls fault. As most customers, I did not notice the smaller print that said by 5pm. So I didn't know that the product was due to arrive on Tuesday, I thought, as always happened when I worked for Circuit City, it had already arrived the prior day and would be available on Tuesday. She should have said it wasn't in the store yet and should arrive sometime the next day before 5pm. Then I, as well as the other people she talked too, would not have showed up at opening. Instead I would have called throughout the day to see if the shipment had arrived. I was not upset that because dhl was late, I was upset because a Toy R Us representative failed to inform the customer, me, correctly. In doing that, the customer had false expectations and was setup to be disgrutled. So again, she was a moron and failed at her job. She is the front line person answer tons of different calls, and on that day many were the same. She should have already known that the correct answer is the game will come in some time tomorrow before 5pm. It is best to just call back tomorrow to see if we have recieved our stock. Instead she said that it will be in high demand come at opening. No mention that it was not in stock. No mention that dhl may be late. nada. zip. zero.

No, this is entirely the fault of DHL and you, I'm sorry to say, unless you just aren't communicating this properly.

There is no way she could know that DHL would be late. If she had told you to come later, and it showed up on time, you would have been out of luck, and you would have been ever more pissed if that were the case.

It's unfortunate there are customers like you. I certainly have had this problem before -- about 2 or 3 times in a year-- but most of the customers say: "No problem, I'll come back later." It's not her fault, and as you yourself noted, a warning was put on the sale you read, and should be common sense anyway. That common sense warning reads like this: "Warning: there is a tiny chance that something could go wrong and a product won't be here when we want it to be."

 

Again, it really sounds like you're the one who was inappropriate here, unless there's something I'm missing. You know those customers that blow up unnecessarily when something goes wrong, that the workers complain about once they're gone? You sound like one of those people right now.

 

Look at Soup's story -- THAT is poor customer service. Your situation looks a lot more like a DHL mistake that shouldn't be a big deal. Again, there is a gigantic, painful chain of events that delivers a game from the production facility to the store front that is actually selling it: in this case, it goes from Nintendo to DHL/Fed Ex to a Toys R Us warehouse (where products that are waiting for release are held) to DHL again, and finally to the specific store in question. If any part of that chain is disrupted, the product arrives late -- and yet, many people assume that it's the person standing in front of them that is to blame, simply because that person happens to be standing in front of them. 

That really does seem like what you've done here. Did they apologize to you for the problem? Did they offer to rectify the issue by holding/reserving a copy for you? Because those are the only errors I can see that they may have made. Again, I've run in to similar problems many times, and almost every customer says: "No big deal, I'll be back later." 

Bodhesatva, I am sorry to inform you that you are sadly mistaken. It is only the fault of the store. Not DHL and defiantly not the customer. It's simple. Please the customer. Do not piss the customer off. That is what retail is all about. Unfortunately for Superchuck, others, and myself TRU dropped the ball. As a retailer you never, ever make a promise that you cannot keep to a customer. The sole reason that TRU ran the add was to drive foot traffic into their store. I don't usually shop at TRU and this is the only reason that they got me into the store today. Unfortunately for them, they went about bringing in customers the wrong way. They should have had ample supply of the game or they should have told the truth from the start. They did neither.

Today, instead of growing a customer in myself they (TRU) have reassured me that there is a very good reason I do not shop at TRU and I will make it a point to refrain from recommending them as a decent retailer.

I don't know what your background is but if you get the chance you should take a peek into business, logistics and especially, MARKETING.

I've called every hour since my store has been open, and everyone says I will get my copy since I pre-ordered, and they hold pre-orders. If I don't there better be some extra compensation, for being lied to by about 12 different people over the phone.

soup20000 said: Bodhesatva, I am sorry to inform you that you are sadly mistaken. It is only the fault of the store. Not DHL and defiantly not the customer. It's simple. Please the customer. Do not piss the customer off. That is what retail is all about. Unfortunately for Superchuck, others, and myself TRU dropped the ball. As a retailer you never, ever make a promise that you cannot keep to a customer. The sole reason that TRU ran the add was to drive foot traffic into their store. I don't usually shop at TRU and this is the only reason that they got me into the store today. Unfortunately for them, they went about bringing in customers the wrong way. They should have had ample supply of the game or they should have told the truth from the start. They did neither. Today, instead of growing a customer in myself they (TRU) have reassured me that there is a very good reason I do not shop at TRU and I will make it a point to refrain from recommending them as a decent retailer. I don't know what your background is but if you get the chance you should take a peek into business, logistics and especially, MARKETING.

This is an entirely different line of questioning.

I absolutely agree that when I'm on the job, I actively try to please the customer, even when that customer is a total jerk and is completely in the wrong. Happens all the time. From this perspective, the customer is always right. And again, that's definitely the perspective I have while I'm working. 

But we're not looking at it from that angle, are we? We're now talking about this outside the store from an outsiders perspective. From my perspective: when a jerk walks in the store and treats me like a moron, I brush it off and continue to placate that jerk. No problem. But the second I'm outside the store? I'll fully acknowledge he's a jerk if asked, and it is no longer my responsibility to treat everyone I meet like royalty. 

The question at hand is now from the latter perspective. DHL is supposed to deliver goods by a specific date and time, and clearly they did not do that. The Toys R Us warehouse is supposed to ship them by a certain time -- perhaps that was the problem. Or perhasp the product wasn't sold to TRU until a few days ago, in which case it would be Nintendo's fault. 

But the clerk at the front of the store has absolutely nothing to do with shipments arriving on time, and is absolutely free from blame on the subject -- in Chunk's case. 

The suggestion that we should tell people that something could possibly go wrong in shipments is silly; not only is that acknowledged in the ad, but obviously, something could go wrong. It's common sense. There is always a .1 percent chance that something will happen and a game won't arrive when it's supposed to arrive, or the store will be burglarized (yes, that's happened to me before), or the warehouse will mess up, or something. 

As far as I can tell, your entire complaint with this woman rests on the fact that she didn't say: "ANd by the way, there is a .1 percent chance that this game will not arrive at its scheduled time." It just so happens that you were that .1 percent, but the delay wasn't her fault. When on the job, I'd do everything I can to placate the customer anyway; now that I am not on the job, I will say that anyone who blames me for an error that's obviously outside of my control is simply shooting the messenger and is one of those nightmare customers workers complain about when they tell stories to their friends.

well day one and no galaxy for me, i went to toysrus on my lunch(2:15)- they hadn't gotten any of their allotment yet (its on sale buy galaxy get a 25 buck gift card)


guaranteed to be out on shelves by 5...come back at 4:55 wait til 5:15...still no galaxy and now there are ~20 people bitching about it.

manager goes, i am sorry but here, give me your name and phone number and the second they come in, i will go thru the list from first to last and call you personally to say they are in and will hold them for you since you are here,,,


i gave my name was ~10th on list. guys at counter said they must have gotten over 100 calls for it. had 5 people want to buy a wii while i was there..(they were trying to get galaxy and the wii at the same time...needless to say they got neither.)

They should of taken your name and reserved your copy, that store are doing things wrong.

You are supposed to please the customer at all costs, especially after what they said/done.

38 preorders...they got 4 copies. What were they thinking!?!

Here's the deal:

 

I called Toys R Us in Moline.  I get transferred to the VG Dept. head.  I kindly ask "do you have Galaxy in 

stock".

I'm told "yes, we have 28 copies, and there is a line forming, so you will need to hurry".

I think "Sweet, I'll drive 20 miles on lunch break and snag one".

I get there, and there are no sales tags  on the shelf.

I go the the Service Desk, and they say they don't have any.

The VG head (that I just spoke -mind you) comes up, and says that they don't go on sale till 5PM.

I told the 18 year old minimum wage moron "look, I just drove 20 miles because you yourself said you

have them, right now in this very store, 28 copies to be exact, and that people were in line for this, and

your magically not selling them now, even though the ad said BY 5PM"?

He said "That is correct".

So I called him a f'cking moron, beliddled him for his crappy choices in life and that's why he works at a

f'cking toy store, then went to Best Buy and gave them my $50 for the game, which they gladly wished

to sell me.

F*CK TRU!!!!! 

Our local store didn't even get a single copy in not a damn one and they've been taking preorders for it for months now. I'm real glad I didn't preorder there though I feel sorry for the ones that did.