Measuring Tape Would’ve Saved Them A Lot Of Money (And Miles)

I worked at a high-end furniture store. Our standard policy on custom furniture was that customers had seventy-two hours to change or cancel; after that there were no returns or cancellations. We made customers sign on the back of the receipt.

One day, a lady called.

Customer: “I need to return a sofa that I just had delivered. It doesn’t look big enough for the space. It’s order [number].”

Of course, it was custom.

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t do that. The register doesn’t even have the option for that.”

She went into hysterics and screamed and yelled.

Customer: “I was told I would be able to return it!”

I was staring at her signature on the return policy, but I did my best customer service voice and told her again we couldn’t do it. An hour later, we got a call from a man trying to return a sofa, and surprise, surprise, it was her husband.

The minute I told him it was custom and we couldn’t do a refund, he flipped from innocent to furious, started called me names, and asked for a manager (who told him the same thing that I had).

A week later, we got a complaint from the regional manager that we weren’t being clear on return policy because this man had FLOWN from the east coast to Chicago just to show up at our corporate office and scream at them that his sofa was too small.