About To Get Charged With Battery, Part 9

A customer comes in with some family members in tow and starts yelling about how her phone is broken and she’s on vacation and needs a new one. The phone is older and still has a removable battery. The phone isn’t actually broken; the battery just doesn’t last as long as the customer wants it to.

Me: “Do you use all of these apps? It looks like some of them take up a lot of battery and constantly run in the background. If you are able to remove any of them or just close them when not in use, that may help save your battery life.”

Customer: “Absolutely not! I use all these apps. I can’t get rid of any of them. The battery is just garbage. You need to give me a new phone!”

Me: “Well, the good news is that it looks like it’s just the battery that’s bad, and there’s a battery store across the parking lot. I know they stock this type of battery and it will only cost you about $20!”

Customer: “You’re just trying to palm me off on someone else! You just don’t want to help me! You think I’m a problem and want me to be someone else’s problem! You have to give me a new battery!”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m not trying to palm you off on anyone. We don’t carry batteries, but the store right across the parking lot, about thirty feet away, will be able to help you with a replacement.”

Customer: “You have to fix this now!“

My manager comes out to see what all the shouting is and the customer continues demanding a battery. My manager goes to the back to see if we have anything that would work with the phone, but we don’t.

Me: “Well, you also have the protection plan. If you don’t want to replace the battery, I can overnight you a new phone for free. It will be shipped directly to you!”

Customer: “No, that is absolutely unacceptable. I cannot wait that long. I need a new phone now! You have to give me a battery or a new phone. You are just trying to send me away!”

Me: “Well, if you don’t want to pick up a new battery across the lot or have a new phone shipped overnight to you, the other option would be to pay this phone off and purchase a new one. We can get you the same type of phone or a newer one, whichever you’d prefer.”

Customer: “Fine! Just go get me a new phone!”

I go back and grab the new phone and see that she has just purchased her current phone, which is $350, and she hasn’t made any payments. I brace myself for what’s coming.

Me: “Here’s the new phone. In order to purchase this today, you will have to pay off your current phone, and there is an upgrade fee of $40 plus taxes, so your total today for the new phone will be $420.”

She throws her debit card at me.

Customer: “You’re crooks! You’re just trying to take all my d*** money! All you want is my money! You should just give me a phone! I can’t believe you’re actually charging me for this!”

I quickly process the payment and hand her the new phone.

Me: “It should activate on its own when you turn it on. Let us know if you have any problems with it!”

The customer’s family just stood in the back, quiet, the whole time. One of them tried briefly to calm her down but gave up pretty fast. I’m still shocked she decided to pay $400 for a new phone on the spot rather than spend $20 on a new battery or even get a replacement phone for FREE. Luckily, she came in right at close and we were able to lock the doors so she couldn’t come back in. I never saw her again.

Related:
About To Get Charged With Battery, Part 8
About To Get Charged With Battery, Part 7
About To Get Charged With Battery, Part 6
About To Get Charged With Battery, Part 5