(A couple comes up to my register to purchase a microwave. As I’m ringing them up, I begin asking the standard questions that I’m required to ask.)
Me: “And it looks like we do offer you two years of coverage on the microwave in case anything goes wrong with it or it stops working. It would be just [price] to add that on today.”
Wife: “No, thanks.”
Husband: “Our last microwave lasted fifteen years before it broke, so I think we’ll be fine.”
Me: “Oh, okay!”
(I finalize their transaction and hand them the receipt, and the woman explains what happened to their last microwave. I proceed to tell her about a similar incident that my family once had with an old television set. She laughs, and then her husband speaks up.)
Husband: “So… Do you have any sort of coverage in case this microwave stops working?”
Me: “Well, yes, that’s what I offered you that two-year plan for.”
Husband: “No, but I mean, do you have any sort of coverage outside of that?”
Me: “Well, we do have a [length of time] return policy in case it gives you any issues right away and you want to bring it back.”
Wife: “But you don’t have any warranties on it or anything like that?”
Me: “The manufacturer has about a one- to two-year warranty on the microwave already, so you’d have to go through them if you had any problems.”
Husband: “But what if I were to take it home tonight and I tried to plug it in and it didn’t work?”
Wife: “Well, that’s what they offer the [length of time] return policy for.”
Me: “Yes.”
Wife: “So, you don’t stand behind your product at all?”
Me: “Well, it’s like if your dad owned a computer store. He doesn’t manufacture the computers, he’s just authorized to sell them. Since he doesn’t make them, it’s technically not his product, so he isn’t required to fix it if you have any problems. That’s the manufacturer’s job, since they are the ones that actually made the product.”
Husband: “So, if we brought it back here, you wouldn’t ship it out to the manufacturer to get it fixed?”
Me: “If you had the coverage on it, we would absolutely ship it back to the manufacturer for you if necessary. But if you don’t have the coverage on it, that’s something you would have to do yourself.”
Wife: “So, you don’t stand behind your product at all?”
Me: “I can’t think of many places that do that unless you buy their coverage on that product.”
Wife: “I can’t think of many places that don’t do that.”
Me: “Without you having to pay for it?”
Wife: “Yes! [Competitor #1] or [Competitor #2] would do that.”
(I know that NO store would take a product back after a certain amount of time without a customer having purchased coverage through that store, I decide to just go along with the woman’s crazy idea anyway instead of arguing.)
Me: “Oh, do they? I don’t shop there enough, so I don’t know too much about that.”
Wife: “Yes, they do.”
Me: “Oh, okay.”
Wife: *to husband* “Do you still want to get it here?”
Husband: “Well, I don’t know.”
Wife: “I don’t think we should get it here if they don’t stand behind their product.”
Husband: “Yeah.”
Wife: *to me* “Yeah, I think we’re going to return this right now.”
Me: *trying not to look frustrated, yet still smiling* “Okay! That’s totally fine! If you want to head over to [Returns Department], they would be more than happy to help you with that.”
Wife: “Right over there at [Returns Department]?”
Me: “Yep. Right over there where the sign says, ‘[Returns Department]’.”
Wife: “Okay, thanks.” *starts to walk off towards the returns department, then turns back to me* “We’re not blaming you. It’s not your fault; you’re just the messenger.”
Me: “Oh, no, I understand. It’s totally fine.”
(The couple walks over to the returns department and they do return the microwave. One of our managers has come up to my till to buy some food.)
Me: “What do you do if you offer [Our Coverage], the customer refuses it, you tell them about our return policy, and they get mad because we won’t stand behind our product unless they buy our coverage?”
Manager: “You tell them that we do stand behind our product; that’s what our coverage is for. You explain to them that it’s a really good deal, tell them why they should buy it, and tell them everything that it will cover. If they get mad about it, well, that’s their problem, and if they threaten to go to another competitor, you just say, ‘Okay,’ and if they want to do a return, you let them return it.”
Me: “So… I handled that entire situation correctly, then?”
Manager: “Yes.”
Me: “Okay.”
(The customers ended up getting their return, but I don’t know how far they’ll get with our competitor. Out of curiosity, I called our competitor to see if they offer such a plan that my customer was so sure that they DID offer, and I found out they don’t.)
