11 Times Customers Were NOT Always Right
From the NAR achives: Here are classic 11 stories where customers were NOT always right!
1. The customer who learned the hard way what happens when you refuse to pay:
I’m a female on-call locksmith. It is 3:00 am, in -16-degree weather. I go to the car that the person has been locked out of. I make them sign the paperwork, and I pop the lock in under five minutes.
Customer: “Wait! Why should I pay $150 for something that only took you two seconds?!”
Me: “Because you couldn’t do it yourself.”
Customer: “You b****! I’m not paying this! I’m going to dispute the charges!”
Me: “Well, in that case…”
I take the keys and throw them back into the car, lock the door, and slam it shut.
Me: “Have a good night.”
Customer: “You can’t do that!”
Me: “You just said you were going to reverse the charges, so I’m reversing the job.”
I got chewed out so hard for that, but it was worth it.
2. The hotel guest who was a next-level pathological liar:
I’m checking in a woman who walked into our hotel. We have two rooms left, and we are one of the pricier hotels in the area.
Me: “Your room will be [price] plus tax per night.”
Customer: “You don’t have anything cheaper?”
Me: “Not right now. We are almost sold out tonight.”
Customer: “Not Triple A?”
Me: “No, I’m sorry.”
Customer: mumbling “My house burned down!”
Me: “I’m very sorry.”
Customer: mumbling “I’m dying!”
Me: “Um…”
Customer: “My husband just died!”
Me: “Ma’am?”
Customer: “He was in the military! I want a room for a hundred dollars less!”
Me: “I’m sorry, but we don’t ever offer rooms that low. There are hotels right across the street that do, though.”
Customer: “No! I want to stay here! My husband loves this place. It’s the only place he will stay.”
Me: “Your deceased husband?”
Customer: “Uh, no, the other one.”
Me: “Your other husband?”
Customer: “Just give me a room.”
She gets keys, walks out of the hotel, and returns with a man.
Customer: “See, he isn’t dead!”
Me: “I’m glad to see that.”
Customer: *to man* “She was trying to kill you!”
3. The customer who falsely accused an employee of of theft:
I rang up a customer and about ten minutes later, the woman comes back in, cuts in front of the rest of the line and begins yelling at me.
Customer: “You never gave me my credit card back! You stole it!”
Me: “No, ma’am, I did not steal your credit card. I gave it back to you.”
Customer: “No you didn’t! I know you stole it! I demand my credit card back!”
This goes on for ten minutes as I continue ringing up other customers, all of them staring at the insane woman screaming at me.
Customer: “I looked everywhere and I cannot find my credit card! I know you have it!”
She opens her wallet to show me that her credit card is missing. I spot the credit card in her wallet.
Me: “Is your credit card a light-blue visa?”
Customer: “YES!”
Me: “…It’s in your wallet, right there.”
She stormed out with an attitude and didn’t even apologize.
4. The lower-price seeking customer who needs reading glasses:
Me: “Hello, how are you today? I see you have picked out a lot of our sale items today.”
Customer: “Yes, I did! I think these sales are great!”
I smile as I continue ringing in her items.
Customer: “Um, this cereal is $1.99, not $2.99.”
Me: “It says right here that this cereal is $2.99. You must just be mistaken with another brand. It can get pretty confusing sometimes.”
Customer: “No, that cereal is $1.99! You’re wrong! I know it is; I saw it like that on the shelf!”
Me: “My apologies, the sign must be for another product. I will call someone to go check–”
Customer: “No! The sign said that this cereal is 1.99! I will go and get it myself for you, then!”
Me: “It’s all right. I can just get one of our employees to go and check that for you. There is no need–”
Customer: “I WILL SHOW YOU I AM RIGHT!”
The customer storms away, leaving me at the speedy checkout with a line of 10 people. She soon returns looking flustered.
Customer: “Debit, please.”
5. The woman who discovered the unfortunate truth about her anniversary “diamonds”:
A woman comes up to the jewelry counter with a tennis bracelet.
Customer: “I’d like to have this professionally cleaned, please.”
Me: “We’d be happy to do that for you. Can you give me the value so that we can put that on the form for insurance?”
Customer: “Of course. It’s worth $15,000.”
Me: “Ma’am, for such a high value, I’ll need to verify that these are actually diamonds.”
Customer: “Of course they’re real diamonds! My husband gave that to me for our anniversary, and said it was diamonds!”
I go and get our diamond tester from the back. If the stones are diamonds, the machine will beep. I test the bracelet in front of her. It doesn’t beep.
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but these are more than likely cubic zirconia, and the highest value I could insure this bracelet for is $2,000.”
Customer: “I don’t believe you! Your machine must be broken!”
I reach into the display case, and pull out a diamond ring. I silently test multiple stones, and the machine beeps as it should.
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s functioning properly. We’ll be happy to send your bracelet out for cleaning, but will only be able to insure it for $2,000.”
The woman’s face at this point is so contorted with rage she looks like she’s going to pop. She snatches the bracelet up and runs out of the store.
Manager: “I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he gets home!”
6. The ice cream shop customer who only had 31 brain cells:
Customer: “Excuse me.”
Me: “Yes?”
Customer: “You only have 28 different flavors of ice cream. You’re supposed to have 31 flavors.”
Me: “Ah, yes. The company dropped the ‘flavors’ thing over a decade ago. Some smaller stores have as few as 16. The larger store downtown has 40 flavors. I should point out we do have four flavors of frozen yogurt as well, so that’s 32.”
Customer: *angry* “That’s false advertising! Your sign says ’31 flavors’! You’re supposed to have 31 different flavors!”
Me: “Ma’am, like I said. They dropped ‘flavors’ from the logo and signs over a decade ago. This store is less than eight years old. If you can find something that says ’31 flavors’, I will give you a quart of ice cream.”
Customer: *pointing* “Right there! Are you blind? Thir-ty-one f-l-a-v-o-r-s!”
Me: “What portion of it says ‘flavors’?”
Customer: “It’s right there! Under the 31!”
Me: “Look at the sign. Tell me what it says.”
Customer: “I don’t need to look at the d*** sign to… oh.”
She pauses.
Customer: “Oh. Pint of mint chip, please.”
7. The customer whose lawyer act got called out by a real lawyer:
A man has been causing a ruckus at the registers for ten minutes and a line had formed behind him.
Man: “I’m a lawyer and I know my rights! If you don’t take this return I’m going to sue the living s*** out of you.”
A woman in a professional-looking business suit steps up to the register. In a cool professional voice, she asks to see the receipt that the man is waving. After a moment’s inspection, she gives him a hard stare over the rim of her glasses.
Woman: “Sir, the store’s return policy is clearly printed on your receipt. They cannot take back opened CDs.”
Man: “But–”
Woman: “FURTHERMORE, by purchasing from this store, you are accepting the store’s return policy as a signed contract that you agreed to abide by.”
Man: “I–”
Woman: “IN ADDITION, by blatantly trying to circumvent this contract signed by you, no judge would rule in your favor.”
Man: “But I–”
Woman: “If you really were a lawyer, you would be fully aware of this fact. By claiming to be a lawyer when you are clearly NOT, you are committing an act of fraud, which can get you arrested.”
The man turns white and flees the store without another peep.
Woman: “I’ve had eight years’ experience working behind the registers, dealing with people like him. MAN, that felt GOOD!”
8. The customer whose broken phone argument was fundamentally broken:
Me: “Thanks for calling [Store], how can I help you?”
Customer: “My phone service isn’t working.”
Me: “Okay, I’ll see what I can do. What wireless company do you have?”
Customer: “I don’t have wireless.”
Me: “… I’m not sure I’m following you, ma’am.”
Customer: “What’s not to follow? I said my PHONES AREN’T WORKING!”
Me: “Okay, but in order to assist you, I need to know what service you have.”
Customer: “AT&T.”
Me: “I’m sorry, but we don’t contract AT&T wireless in the store.”
Customer: “Look, lady, it’s not WIRELESS. My HOME PHONES aren’t working, and I can’t get a hold of my son and I’m worried. The service has been on the fritz all day. I need you to FIX IT!”
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, I can’t fix your home phone service. You’ll have to call your provider.”
Customer: “What are you, stupid? I bought the phone from you!”
She probably had bought the telephone through us, because we sell some made by/for AT&T. But we don’t do the service at all.
Me: “Ma’am, we don’t do the service. We are just the phone retailer. Is there something wrong with the phone itself?”
Customer: “NO. It works fine, but I can’t actually CALL anywhere. Now, I need this FIXED. I’ve been without a phone all day, every phone in the house is messed up, and I can’t call my SON. I don’t have a phone at ALL! Do you understand?”
Me: “Yes, ma’am, I do, but like I said, we have nothing to do with your service. We just sell the PHONES. You have to call AT&T to see what’s wrong with your service.”
Customer: “And just how am I supposed to do that, smarty-pants? I DON’T have a PHONE that WORKS!”
Me: “With all due respect, ma’am, how did you call us?”
Customer: “B****.” *click*
9. The employee who taught a customer an embarrassing lesson on how ownership works:
I was working in the seasonal section of a large bulk retail chain. It was Christmas time and we sold large sets of decorative houses with lights in them.
Customer: “Hi, I would like to purchase one of these…” *points to a house set* “…but there aren’t anymore underneath it. Where are the others stored?””
I use my price gun to check the quantities of said item.
Me: “I’m sorry, it appears we are sold out.”
Customer: “Well, then, I’ll just take this one.” I
Me: “Oh, that’s just a display unit. That one isn’t for sale.”
Customer: “Why not?”
Me: “This is one of those specific items that we are given a temporary display unit from the vendor that we have to send back at the end of the season.”
Customer: “So why can’t I buy it?”
Me: “Well, it’s not ours to sell. It is rented from the people who made the set.”
Customer: “I don’t understand why I can’t buy it!”
Me: “It does not belong to us. We cannot sell what does not belong to us.”
Customer: “Why not?”
Me: “What kind of car do you drive?”
Customer: “A 2000 Focus. Why?”
Me: *to a passing customer* “Sir, would you like to buy a 2000 Focus?”
Customer: “What are you doing?”
Me: “Selling your car.”
Customer: “Why? It’s MY car!”
Me: “Well, I didn’t think ownership made a difference to you.”
She then stormed off to talk to a manager who told her I would be taken care of. He then proceeded to buy me a piece of pizza for making his day.
10. The customer who put the “lie” in “July”:
A customer is at the refund counter to return a DVD player. I get called over to inspect it, because I work in the electronics department.
Coworker: “All right, everything seems okay. May I see your receipt?”
The customer hands over her receipt, but it’s dated July. It is November now. Our return policy only allows for 45 days.
Coworker: “Ma’am, I cannot give you a refund, because this is from July.”
Customer: “But the electronics associate said I can return it anytime!”
Coworker: “Do you remember who it was?”
Customer: “It was that young man!” *points towards me*
Me: “Ma’am, I have never told you such a thing.”
Customer: “Yes, you did! Are you calling me a liar?!”
Me: “Well, I’m just a seasonal worker who got hired two weeks ago, so…”
11. And finally, the restaurant customer whose sexism fell straight through the glass ceiling:
A customer had a complaint about his food. He refused to let the woman working the register help him.
Man: “I want to talk to a manager.”
Female Employee: “Yes, sir.”
The employee gets a shift manager to help her.
Shift Manager: “Can I help you, sir?”
Man: “No, I want a manager!”
Shift Manager: “I am a shift manager, sir.”
Man: “I want to see the store manager!”
Shift Manager: “Uhm, okay, sir, I’ll be right back.”
I was in the office working on the crew schedules for the next week. Shift Manager comes in and asks me to deal with the customer. She didn’t need to explain. I’d heard it all… He was very loud. I went to help deal with the situation.
Me: “Can I help you, sir?”
Man: “I want to see a f****** God-d*** manager! Where’s the f****** store manager?”
Me: “I am the store manager, Sir.”
Man: “I want to speak to a male manager!”
Me: “Sir, all of my shift managers are female. As, clearly, am I.”
Actually, every person working that day was female.
Man: “I demand to speak to your d*** f***ing boss!”
Me: “I can get you a number so you can call my district manager, sir. Will that be okay?”
Man: “Finally! DO IT NOW!”
Me: “Yes, sir. Just a second.”
I go into my office and grab one of the district manager’s cards.
Me: “Here you are, sir. If you give HER a call, I’m sure SHE will be happy to help you.”
I thought he was going to have a heart attack after that. Purple was definitely not his color.
Do you have a story where the customer was NOT always right? Share your story or leave a comment below!
