Never Free From Complaints

I work in a supermarket, and our policy (or maybe our country’s consumer law policy) is to give an item for free if it scans higher than the ticketed price.

As I often am, I was called over my headset to check a price on something that scanned higher for the customer than they expected. Reaching the location in the aisle, I noticed an old price ticket that should have been removed previously was still there, giving the impression that this item was half price. I informed the checkout operator that the price was wrong and thought that was it. 

A couple of minutes later, I hear a call over the PA informing that there was an aggressive customer at the front end. Basically, this means as many team members as possible should attend, in order to scare a customer who may be physically violent into backing down with a large presence there.

A manager and I got there first, and this guy was going on about how he hadn’t been charged correctly for his items. He had four of the items, and following the same policy that gave him the first one free, he would get all subsequent items for the price advertised on the shelf. So, he had one for free, and three at half price.

Manager: “That’s how the policy works. You’re actually better off; you got one for free!”

Customer: “No, it’s wrong! Just charge me for them all!”

He wasn’t having it, and kept arguing about it, and told us to just charge him for them all. As soon as the final one was put through (at half price), his whole tone changed, and he calmed down immediately.

Customer: “It’s already cheap enough. I don’t understand why it should be free.”

He then proceeded to leave. 

I should point out that this item, even at full price, is under $5 each, so it’s not big money, but anything free these days should be considered a win!