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Originally Posted by GreatGreg
I don't think I'm coming out on the side that blames the customer any more than you are coming out making it everyone else's fault but your own.
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I'm not blaming everyone but myself, I'm blaming a single careless retailer. Well technically I'm also casting questions as to why a company fanboy like you always blames the customer. But other than the company and their main fanboy, I'm not blaming anyone else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreatGreg
It's entirely possible that someone else picked up the special edition, walked by the sale aisle and took the on-sale version and just chucked the sp.ed. version in its place.
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Well, it is remotely possible. Very remotely. But common sense is that the probability is vastly higher that it was careless shelving or shelf tagging at the store.
Adding further credence to the common sense position is that it was alone on the shelf, not a single distinct digibook among other SKU's.
Even a fanboy as yourself has to accept that its far more common that the store makes a mistake than a customer just happens to transport a single exact wrong copy of a title onto its nearly identical shelf tag.
Even ignoring that 99% certainty, let's focus instead on how the retailer and manager handled it.
Probably you didn't know this, but a couple of years ago Best Buy discontinued having music and media product specialists. They made a conscious decision to take extra profits and eliminate worker hours. They did this with the patent risk of those areas being underserved and subject to higher shelving issues (whether by staff or these mysterious ghost customers you seem to believe in.)
As a business, it's their right to take this the money over people & customers approach, but it's also their responsibility to accept the consequences.
Here we have a case where an attentive specialist could have prevented the whole issue, but due to Best Buy's decision to take extra profits instead, they did not.
A customer - through no fault of their own - picked up the movie at the expressly implied offer price, then got hassled at the cash.
After the clerk wasted the customer's time, the manager then expanded the problem. The manager disrespected the clerk first by asking if he'd checked for error, then completely disregarded that clerk's affirmation and started his own time-wasting investigation.
Had this been a professional manager, having doubt in the clerk's statement, he should have discreetly and courteously handled that elsewhere at another time, instead of in front of the customer. A pro-active manager might even consider why he has clerks working front line that he doesn't trust or support.
The managed initially feigned service and made a promise he'd quickly break. No apology was offered, and the only explanation given was far-fetched and sought only to absolve the store of its responsibility.
Seeing a customer gradually losing their patience and satisfaction, a professional manager would have sought to defuse and perhaps salvage the situation. Not this typical Best Buy manager however. He escalated the tension and made the problem worse. Instead of just an insolated bad in-store interaction, his shoddy service prompted the customer to go public.
Someone - not sure if it was you - said an honest explanation and apology could have sufficed. While I can't speak to whether 'thecardman23' would have accepted that, I know in my own case had a courteous and prompt manager come forward and said "You know, this looks like we made a mistake here, we have the wrong tag/item. There's a big price difference on that right now. I'll give it to you if you like... but the one that's actually on sale is a different package." I can guarantee you I would say "That's OK, I understand."
Unfortunately we'll never know, since the Best Buy manager used his Best Buy training and behaviors that are apparently taught and condoned by Best Buy leadership to do none of the right things, and all of the wrong things.
The end result is this manager didn't just let down his store and alienate yet another customer, he's contributed to further bad will and worsening of his company's reputation.
Plus I'm guessing the quarterly adjusted inventory reconciliation would result in a wholesale cost of about $11-12 for that old digibook, of which someone was willing to pay $8. We'll probably see it at Giant Tiger for $5 next year. But the point is all this damage was only going to save the company less than $5, an amount they would have easily recouped next Tuesday when the a happy cardman23 customer would have bought another overpriced new release 'exclusive'.
I continue to find it curious that you praise such a management style. If you don't already, you should definitely try to become a Best Buy manager. You already natually possess the deep anti-customer sentiment that usually takes time and training to develop.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by GreatGreg
Is it the retailer's fault in this case? No.
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We may never know whose fault the shelving was, but how they handled the situation and the poor treatment of the customer is definitely the retailer's fault.
Quote:
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Ever walk by a supermarket aisle when the no-name brand chips are on sale? Ever see a pile of brand-name chips just left in its place? Or do you think this is some sort of scam by the grocery store to stick a bag of Lays in a display that says President's Choice just to 'see if they can catch a live one'?
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I still believe retailers are responsible for the products they shelve and offer. It's their choice whether to be careful or careless, and it's their decision to leave shelf facing and replenishment to the overnight crew rather than have someone take care of it during the day.
And in your imaginary cookie case, the shelf tags, while small and not always well placed, would at least say "Chips Ahoy" or "President's Choice", giving the customer a slight opportunity to notice the difference.
In the actual case we're discussing, the shelf tag matched the movie, giving the customer little fair chance of detecting the store's error nor the store's neglectful handling of their own shelves.
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