Putting A Yell On You

The grocery store where I work has a loyalty program that grants customers a discount on gas if they buy so many dollars in groceries. I work at customer service and handle problems customers have about anything that goes wrong anywhere in the store in person and over the phone. I answer a call.

Me:
“Hello, thank you for calling [Company] customer service. This is [My Name]; how may I help you?”

Customer:
“Yes, my husband was just up there and got gas from your gas station and he didn’t get his discount.”

Because of our fuel program, our pumps have prompts that many customers who don’t get gas at our store regularly do not know they have to follow. It is a common problem for them to try and pump gas immediately, which causes the pump to overlook the discount.

Me:
“Did your husband get any discount at all?”

If they use their loyalty card, they get a generic discount no matter what, and it tells me if they even scanned their card.

Customer:
“The receipt says we paid $3.45 a gallon.”

I am hoping the gas station didn’t change their price on me!

Me:
“Okay, so he did use his loyalty card… Now, did—”

Customer:
“—of course, he used his card!”

I ignore her interruption.

Me:
“Did your husband follow the prompts on the screen? Because what can happen is he might have scanned his card and then went to pump his gas. If he did that, the pump would have defaulted to the generic discount every customer automatically gets when they use their card at our pumps.”

Customer:
*Yelling into background* “Did you follow the prompts?”

Husband:
*From the background* “Of course, I f****** followed the d*** prompts! I didn’t get my twenty-cent discount!”

Customer:
*Still to the background* “He said that if you… Here you talk to him.”

Husband:
“I don’t want to talk to them; I want my d*** discount!”

There is a fumbling with the phone.

Husband:
“Hello?! Yes, I didn’t get my twenty-cent discount. My receipt from the gas even says I should have gotten it but I didn’t! How are you going to make up for this?!”

Me:
“Sir, it sounds like you did not follow the prompts. What it should have—”

Husband:
“—of course, I followed your f****** prompts. Your d*** pump refused to give me my discount!”

I then explain to him, in detail, step by step, what should have appeared on the screen and the actions he should have taken to get to his discount.

Husband:
*Frustrated* “I did all those d*** things and it didn’t even tell me how much I could have saved. It skipped from how I want to pay to me pumping for gas without my discount.”

Me:
“It sounds like to me that after you selected your form of payment you went directly to pumping your gas.”

Husband:
“Of course, I did!”

Me:
“When you did that, you skipped the last prompt that asked you how much of your discount you wanted to use. Pressing 1 would have been the full amount, 2 would have been to change the amount, and 3 is for the generic discount that you got. If you skipped this step it would have defaulted to 3, so it wouldn’t use any of your points without your permission.”

Husband:
“Well, that is too d*** confusing… So, you are telling me I am s*** out of luck?”

Me:
“I understand it can be confusing. Next time, to make sure you get the discount, I advise asking an attendant for assistance and they would be more than happy to assist you. Your points are still there for the next time you want to fill up. However, to make up for your frustration and confusion, you can come into the store and I’ll give you back the difference of what you should have saved.

Husband:
“YOU ARE THE F****** STORE?!”

Suddenly, he is yelling into the background.

Husband:
“YOU CALLED THE D*** STORE! I TOLD YOU TO CALL THEIR CORPORATE OFFICE!”

His wife says some things too soft for me to hear.

Husband:
“YOU AT THAT STORE DON’T DO S*** TO HELP CUSTOMERS! I HAVE HAD THIS PROBLEM BEFORE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE NEVER DOES S***! EVEN THE MANAGER REFUSES TO DO ANYTHING! I WANT YOUR CORPORATE PHONE NUMBER!”

I am an assistant department head of customer service, but because the head isn’t in that day I am acting department head and directly beneath the managers. What I am offering to give him can’t be any more than six or seven dollars. It isn’t that much money to make a customer happy for something that wasn’t our fault to begin with.

Me:
“Sir, I am sorry to hear that happened to you in the past. However, I am here until ten tonight and if you come in and ask for me I will be more than happy to assist in giving you the difference in what you could have saved.”

Husband:
“YOU GUYS DON’T DO S***! I WANT YOUR CORPORATE NUMBER!”

Me:
“I am sorry to hear you feel that way. Our corporate number is on the back of your loyalty card. If you don’t have it near you, it is [number].”

Husband:
“Good.”

Before I realize he has hung up on me:

Me:
“Have a wonderful day.”

I talked to my manager so he knew my story if corporate ever called him about this particular customer. He told me I handled it the best I could have and nothing more could have been done on our end.