"I'm never shopping THERE again!" Share your story!

[Adios]

I was in a department store once and asked the sales assistant if I could see a purse that was in a glass case.
She said "No, thats really expensive" and actually sniffed and looked over my head.
I replied "yes I know, because I have the matching bag and car key set" and held up my bag so she could see it.
She couldn't help me fast enough after that - in hindsight I wish I'd walked away though.

[Kimblee]

That was what I was gonna say. My grandmother used to tell people that any bride who didn;t have bruises had married another woman.

I'm so glad i'm far from that woman.

OT -- MY grandmother told me (well before I was married) "If your husband beats you, just remember -- he's got to sleep sometimes, and two-by-fours are easy to come by." 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled gripefest.

LOL

Grandma (aka stepmama's mama. diffrent woman entirely and one of the best grandmas ever) told Stepmom when she was 23 9at her wedding) "Just tell him "You can hit me, but you gotta sleep, and my fryingans are CAST IRON."

Now we occasionally give each other a look and say "cast iron..."

[otterwoman]

I'm lucky that where I live now, jobs are so scarce that people are glad to be working. The local Walmarts, Sears and such have wonderful, helpful associates. My mom was visiting from AZ, and was stunned to see a clean, organized Walmart with smiling people.

My walk out story: I was looking for a new (to me at least) car. I went to a local dealer to look a used cars. I did get helped by a salesperson. However, he started pushing me towards a new car. I knew my budget, and was insistent that I wanted used. Finally, he got the sales manager. The manager looked at me and said," Why would you want a used car? You have no idea what they did in it. You'd never wear used clothes!"

I was standing in front of him wearing clothes I had bought at the Salvation Army.

I turned and walked out the door. I ended up at a Hertz car sales lot and got the same used car I saw at the local place, for $3000 less. And great service. So good that my parents bought a car from them a month later.

[ShadesOfGrey]

I took the photo to a drug store & made my copies there.  The lady there saw what I was doing & asked what they were for & I told her.  She told me it WAS a copyright violation, but under the cirumstances (obituary photos) no one with any common sense or compassion would refuse to sell them to me.

Wait..what? It's bad customer service to choose not to break the law? And it's "common sense" to break the law?  Please clarify, cuz this post sounds really, really off to me. 

[Kaymyth]

She basically said that it wasn't her job to do that either.

Well goodness, whose job is it, then?  The store elves?

Or the bra faeries!  

DF has his own Best Buy horror stories.  One of the worst:  he went in, looking to buy a new computer.  He looked around, and found one he liked on sale.  Sale price of $900.  He also noticed that the sale prices were posted over the original prices, on slidey-numbers; out of curiosity, he slid over the numbers to see what it had been before the sale.  The original price?  $800.

He searched out a store employee to ask about the odd discrepancy.  The response?  "Oh, you weren't supposed to see that."  

There were also the Microsoft MSN subscription CDs, back in the day when the internet still worked that way.  They'd slip the CDs into peoples' bags and charge them $30 for the CDs, all without asking the customer being checked out whether or not they actually wanted it.  Not something that happened to DF personally, but it was pretty big news when they got called on the scam.

[otterwoman]

I took the photo to a drug store & made my copies there.  The lady there saw what I was doing & asked what they were for & I told her.  She told me it WAS a copyright violation, but under the cirumstances (obituary photos) no one with any common sense or compassion would refuse to sell them to me.

Wait..what? It's bad customer service to choose not to break the law? And it's "common sense" to break the law?  Please clarify, cuz this post sounds really, really off to me. 

I worked for a photo lab chain for a dozen years. We had people come in all the time to copy photos for obits/funerals. We would tell them to get a release from the studio. If they didn't have a release, we'd turn them away. We'd feel bad about it, but that's the law. If they were nice to us while we told them this, we'd mention that the chain studio down the hall in the mall would give a release for anything, even if they didn't do the original photos. We needed a release so we wouldn't get sued. We wouldn't check to see if the release was from the actual photographer...

[Carnation]

DF has his own Best Buy horror stories.  One of the worst:  he went in, looking to buy a new computer.  He looked around, and found one he liked on sale.  Sale price of $900.  He also noticed that the sale prices were posted over the original prices, on slidey-numbers; out of curiosity, he slid over the numbers to see what it had been before the sale.  The original price?  $800.

I forgot the specifics, but a friend of mine was so badly treated at Best Buy, he sold his stock in the company.

[Kaymyth]

DF has his own Best Buy horror stories.  One of the worst:  he went in, looking to buy a new computer.  He looked around, and found one he liked on sale.  Sale price of $900.  He also noticed that the sale prices were posted over the original prices, on slidey-numbers; out of curiosity, he slid over the numbers to see what it had been before the sale.  The original price?  $800.

I forgot the specifics, but a friend of mine was so badly treated at Best Buy, he sold his stock in the company.

Yeah, they are pretty much jam-packed with eeeeeee-vill.

We go to Micro Center for all our computery needs, and they're quite lovely.  And for some reason they sell little carnivorous plant starter kits.

[Piratelvr1121]

yep "plush size gals" just should lock themselves up in a dresser somewhere till they are skinny enough to "matter"

Yeah my best friend has said something to this affect a few times, and after one experience at the Target in Cedar Rapids, she's decided not to bother trying to find clothes for herself there anymore.   She'll look for other stuff there, but she's written off their clothing department because of their selection of nice looking shirts for women her size.   That is to say, almost nothing at all, and she's not overweight, just taller (5'7") and big boned.  

So this experience took place in Feb. of '09, she'd just dropped her sis and niece off at the airport along with a mutual friend of theirs, and decided that since she was in CR she'd run a few errands that took her to Target.   After getting what she needed, she decided to look in the clothes section since I'd told her about some cute St. Patrick's Day tees I found there that were just $5.    Well after she got home and was telling me about this, she said "it must be a widespread thought that the only girls who deserve anything cute for St. Patrick's Day are the little, petite things like you."  

 Then she says, to make matters worse, she was wearing yoga pants, loose shirt, crocs and her coat (pouring rain & freezing outside) and no makeup, and when she told the woman who was trying to help her what style she goes for (hippie/boho), the woman looked her up and down, kind of laughed, and told her "Maybe you should go on one of those makeover shows."  

I did find a St. Pat's shirt for her at Target this year and gave it to her as an early bday present (which is 4 days after St. Pats) but I can't blame her for not caring for their clothing department at all and wanting to avoid anyone who thinks insulting a customer is going to help sales.    Friend did tell the girl in response to the snipe, "Pardon me?  Maybe I would like to make over the fashion industry for making such unflattering styles that don't fit or look nice on a rude boned, rude tempered girl!"  

The salesgirl backpedaled saying "Oh but you have beautiful eyes!!"     It's a good thing I wasn't there that day because even though I'm not as outspoken as my best friend is,  I would have been REALLY tempted to tell this &%#@ off for insulting my best friend like that. 

[Elfmama]

Walgreen's.  There is one about 2 miles from my home, but I buy Willow's insulin needles at one about 5 miles away.  Over 5 different transactions, the nearer one has:

1) been astonished that I don't know Willow's exact birthdate.  Um, did you miss the part where I told you that the patient is a cat?  And the initial prescription is from a veterinarian?

2) told me that the needles prescribed for a cat (1/2 inch, .3cc, 28/29/30 gauge) don't exist.  This in spite of seeing the flap from the previous box from their own store.

3) ignored me sitting at the drivethrough for 15 minutes, until they could tell me legitimately "We're closed."  You weren't closed when I pulled up!

4) told me that the vet's office wouldn't fax them a new prescription for the needles.  Vet's office said they never asked for one.  I've been dealing with that vet's office for 25 years, and I believe the receptionist there before I believe the Walgreen's. I had to go on vacation with the script still unfilled; Elfqueen had to go in and point out to them that she knew that they had been sitting on that script for 10 days, and didn't need a script to begin with.  And they were going to sell her a box right now.  (There may have been hints that she would go up the chain to corporate or to whatever department in the state licenses pharmacists.)

5) finally admitted that they might have a box of the right size needles; when they sold it to me, I noticed that a prescription label on the box had been mostly scraped off.  OK, they sold someone the wrong size and took the box back. No big deal; I took it, since it was the only box they had (they said).  When I got it home there were only 90 needles instead of the 100 that I paid for.  That was the last straw for that particular store.

The Walgreen's farther away has never given me a problem.  I pull up to the drivethrough, slide the old box flap and my credit card into the drawer and tell them I need a new box.  2 or 3 minutes later they give me a new box and my credit card back.

[artk2002]

Macy's...  I had bought a King-sized bed from Ikea and wanted to buy some sheets.  You need to understand three facts to see why this might be an issue: 1) There are two different types of King bed, a "standard" and a "California"; 2) I live in California; 3) Ikea sells standard kings.

Went in looking for sheets.  Woman in the household department (after I chased her down, since I was studiously ignored) told me "they don't make those."  Not "we don't carry that size," but "they don't make those."  I left and found a few at Linens N'Things.

Fry's: I keep swearing that I'll never return, but it's the only place nearby that sells certain things.  *sigh*  Their employees have no idea what they're selling.  I was looking for a particular part (a wall-plate RJ-11 socket) and had scanned the display twice.  Found the employee who was supposed to be responsible for the display and asked him if they had any.  He starts a visual scan.  Refuses to look anything up.  I've had other employees refuse to look things up as well.

[wolfie]

Walgreen's.  There is one about 2 miles from my home, but I buy Willow's insulin needles at one about 5 miles away.  Over 5 different transactions, the nearer one has:

1) been astonished that I don't know Willow's exact birthdate.  Um, did you miss the part where I told you that the patient is a cat?  And the initial prescription is from a veterinarian?

2) told me that the needles prescribed for a cat (1/2 inch, .3cc, 28/29/30 gauge) don't exist.  This in spite of seeing the flap from the previous box from their own store.

3) ignored me sitting at the drivethrough for 15 minutes, until they could tell me legitimately "We're closed."  You weren't closed when I pulled up!

4) told me that the vet's office wouldn't fax them a new prescription for the needles.  Vet's office said they never asked for one.  I've been dealing with that vet's office for 25 years, and I believe the receptionist there before I believe the Walgreen's. I had to go on vacation with the script still unfilled; Elfqueen had to go in and point out to them that she knew that they had been sitting on that script for 10 days, and didn't need a script to begin with.  And they were going to sell her a box right now.  (There may have been hints that she would go up the chain to corporate or to whatever department in the state licenses pharmacists.)

5) finally admitted that they might have a box of the right size needles; when they sold it to me, I noticed that a prescription label on the box had been mostly scraped off.  OK, they sold someone the wrong size and took the box back. No big deal; I took it, since it was the only box they had (they said).  When I got it home there were only 90 needles instead of the 100 that I paid for.  That was the last straw for that particular store.

The Walgreen's farther away has never given me a problem.  I pull up to the drivethrough, slide the old box flap and my credit card into the drawer and tell them I need a new box.  2 or 3 minutes later they give me a new box and my credit card back.

I get mine online at a shop that specializes in prescriptions for cats. Never had a problem - in fact when I filled out their form wrong because the brand my vet uses and the brand they sell use different names for things they called me within 5 minutes and cleared things up with no hassle. If you want I can pm you the name.

[Elfmama]

Thanks, but I think I have it straightened out now -- just go to the one by the library instead of the one by the Target.    Unless you can get insulin there for less than $55.  That I'm still getting from the vet.

[CakeEater]

If I could leave the bank where I have my home loan easily, I would. They're an online associate of a major bank, so I mostly have to do anything over the phone.

I stopped receiving statements when I moved house, but was sure I had rung them to change my address, so about 2 months later, I rang. Yes, the address was right, no idea why I hadn't received them, did I know I could check my account online, yes, they'll send me replacements. 2 months later, no statements. Rang again, same dance.

Third phone call, after attempting to enter the correct phone pin about 3 times, the employee accused me of deliberately entering the wrong pin so I held up their phone system, made me change the pin, which still didn't work, before he finally said, "Oh, it's a computer problem here." No apology.

I asked to be transferred to someone else, who finally worked out that one statement had been sent to my old address and returned, so there had been a stop put on mail in their computer system. 6 months, 3 phone calls and 4 employees later!

I won't even go into the debacle with attempting to change the account my payments came from.

[zyrs]

I have a lot, so I'll try and be brief:

1. Sears: years ago, I took out a loan to get a sectional couch which I needed by Christmas.  Since I took out the loan and bought the couch in July, I was assured that it would be delivered before Christmas.  My couch was supposedly finished by the end of August, according to the sales representative.  I kept being given different delivery dates, further and further out.  The week of Christmas,  I was finally informed that my couch had been sitting in a tractor-trailer 3 states away for the last 3.5 months and wouldn't be delivered until the trailer was full.  Hopefully by February.  I got a refund check cut, went to a different company and got seating delivered the next day.

2.  TGIF: I took my mother to dinner.  The restaurant was having some sort of contest for their waitstaff to sell 'rewards cards'.  The waiter refused to take no for an answer, stopping by the table just to try and sell me the rewards card so much that we were never able to say more than 4 sentences without his interrupting.  Once he bent at the waist and placed his face directly between my mother's and my face.  While the waiter took it over the top, it was corporate's idea to have the contest.

3.  Outback Steakhouse:  The hostess sitting with my wife and I and touching my arm every time I talked to my wife was weird and creeped me out.

4.  Sleep Country USA:  Just an all around bad experience.