Karma and The Problematic Customer [DP Store] [Archive]

Vectorman0

07-15-2007, 12:30 PM

For the first one, giving out the $12 was too generous. I would have given her the what the game sells for at the very most, and that would have been if she was acting respectfully.

The third one is really tough. You want the games, but you don't want to be a "bad guy," so maybe telling both parties just that is the way to go. "I don't mean to be rude, but I could really use the games for the store. You could try coming to NAVA where I encourage people to make deals like this." If I was one of them and you had said that, I would have respected your wishes. I'm a nice guy though, and someone who could get $3 more might not be.

swlovinist

07-15-2007, 12:45 PM

Those are some tough ones Joe. I feel for ya, because I have worked "Game retail hell" before, and those types of people will always try to kill honest businesses. I have had all three scanarios happen, here is what I have done.

#1 On the "I was told this on the phone" scanario, I would just stand behind that you sell the game for $7 and that the trade in is $3. I had a person tell me that "I was told this much", I just replied, "I sell the game for this much and I cant give you that because I would loose money" "I am sorry if you heard a differnt number of trade in on the phone." It is ok to be realistic. If the customer cant be reasonable, then they are no good to your store anyways.

#2 Reguarding the lost money, I would wait to give the money back to the person and say "you know, I think that I gave you the right amount back." I would then count the till down right then and there. This is going to do two things. 1. It will limit scammers, and most of the time if a person is scamming, they will walk out the store at this momment. 2. This will satisfy the need to be honest with yourself. By counting down the till you can rest assured that you DID give the money back to the person.

#3 Once the trasaction was beginning, I would politely tell the people that soliciting in the store is not permitted and ban the customers from doing business in your store reguarding them doing a transaction. Even explain to them how it is rude and how it takes business away from your store. Again, if people cannot be reasonable, then they are not worth having business with. This is tough one for people pleasers such as myself, but in the end...you are just doing what you need to do to protect your ass against fraud. I would also put up a sign reguarding "no side deals or solicitation allowed"

I hope these things help, again, I feel for ya.

8Ways2Tuesday

07-15-2007, 01:16 PM

I was reading Acts of Gord (http://www.actsofgord.com) last night, so most of my answers might involve throwing people into walls...

Scenario 1: I wouldn't ever give trade-in values over the phone. Prices for items on sale, yes, but not trade-in values. Concerning this particular customer, I might have quickly lied and said that the values change depending on stock and someone had just brought two copies in, therefore you didn't need it at all or would only pay $xx.

Scenario 2: I'm with everyone who said to get the customer's info and wait til the end of the day - if the till was off, send the money to the customer. I've been shorted/overchanged so many times that I always count while standing at the register.

Scenario 3: Tough call, but I would side with Gord and throw the lady into the wall. Er, I'd quickly intervene and explain that she wasn't at a flea market and couldn't haggle my business away. Sounds like she wasn't a customer and you wouldn't lose business from her not coming back.

FantasiaWHT

07-15-2007, 01:19 PM

#1- I think you should not have given the $12. First, whatever your employee said over the phone is not even close to binding. Hell, if an employee says a game costs something, but she was mistaken and the label says different, that's not binding either. Second, if the lady can't understand that obviously a mistake was made, that's not the kind of customer you want.

#2- You did the right thing. Although counting the till isn't a bad idea, but it would depend on how long that would take, how busy the store was, etc.

#3- Tough call. You're within your rights to allow it or disallow it as you please. It does hurt business in the short term, but might help it in the long term. If you do forbid the transaction in your store, there's nothing stopping the seller from keeping those few games back and walking outside to sell them to the buyer, or getting the buyer's phone number for later. Personally, I would probably allow it, but point out to the people involved that it is actually against store policy but you are making an exception for them and expect not to see it happen again.

TheRedEye

07-15-2007, 01:28 PM

Scenario 1: I wouldn't ever give trade-in values over the phone. Prices for items on sale, yes, but not trade-in values. Concerning this particular customer, I might have quickly lied and said that the values change depending on stock and someone had just brought two copies in, therefore you didn't need it at all or would only pay $xx.

Wow, so your solution is to lie to the lady and tell her that, based on supply, you're at times willing to lose $5 on the sale of a game? What would Joe have done if she went looking for these two phantom copies of Space Invaders and found that they didn't exist?

Joe, assuming the $50 lady was a past customer who did not appear to be scamming you (and as it turns out, she wasn't!), the Space Invaders lady was the only action you took that I don't agree with. At the very worst I would have given her $7 trade-in value. If she's not willing to accept that giving her $12 means spending money out of your pocket for no reason, she is not a repeat customer that you want to have. Even IF she was somehow quoted $12 on the phone, it would have been a mistake and, given the numbers, one that this lady should have accepted. She has the right to be upset, but she doesn't have the right to demand $5 out of your pocket.

DreamTR

07-15-2007, 01:29 PM

For scenario 3, YOU are the one paying the rent on the store, YOU are the one having customers come to you for games. Not for some woman browsing games and seeing someone else selling causing you to lose money from her, or whoever else would have purchased those games.

If anyone does business like that, I would just have a sign up stating that is not allowed on store property. We had a store called Game Dude in Los Angeles that would ban you for life in a heartbeat if customers did that.

Problem is, with this type of business, you have to be nice, so everything you do can have a direct reaction, but I know there is no way I would given the woman $12 for Space Invaders for SNES. I would have apologized and clearly stated that was an error, but then again, as Joe stated, she might tell someone her experience and that would prevent another set of customers from coming in because of it. Tough calls on all three.

bangtango

07-15-2007, 01:35 PM

Without reading the previous responses, here are mine. I'll keep it short.

Scenario 1: Give her the $12 but do it in store credit. Then establish a policy, like Flack said in your blog, about not giving price quotes over the phone.

Scenario 2: Any business I've ever thought short changed me made me wait until the end of the day when the final tally was counted up. Counting up the money when making change for customers in the future should help prevent that type of thing.

Scenario 3: Tell them to take it outside. What is the worst that could happen if it takes place in your store? If the deal between those two somehow goes sour and they ended up in small claims court, sooner or later it would come back to your store. Say if some of the merchandise was non-working or later found to be stolen and the buyer wanted a refund. Well if you allowed the sale to take place in your place of business and something like that takes place down the road, it may not be the last you hear of it.

Darth Sensei

07-15-2007, 01:40 PM

1. I believe most game stores refuse to quote over the phone. There are many reasons for this and this situation is just one of them.

2. Tough call, but I would already make sure that my employees counted the money in front of the customer for change. I'd prolly done as you had done.

3. It depends on the one who was trying the buy out. If they weren't a regular, I would have said something right away. If they were, I would talk to them privately after the transaction and tell them not to do it again or they will be banned. You're not running a charity.

GameDeals.ca

07-15-2007, 01:41 PM

#1. We almost never give prices over the phone. As someone else mentioned (in the blog)... 99% of the deal is getting them into the store, once they're there, they will generally accept whatever you offer them so they don't have to carry it home and look elsewhere. Our official policy is to not give any reasonable quote without seeing the items.

#2. Maybe it's just that I'm in an area with a larger than average number of "shady" individuals... but I would never give someone money that I knew was given to them unless they were REALLY insistant... even after looking through the till, calling my employee on her cell, etc. Unless it was a regular or someone who seemed VERY trustworthy... like she didn't need my $10, but genuinely thought she was wronged. In which case, I would hesitantly offer it to her, on her promise that if the $10 does show up, she'll come back with it (in a joking way).

#3. Always a tough situation... usually if a customer & I are working out a deal on trade-in's, and another customer wanders over to take a look and starts asking questions, I'll "shoo" them away in a joking manner and say "just a minute"... then try to finish the deal ASAP (even if it costs a bit more than expected). Then I'll give the "vulture" customer first dibs on it once the trade-in person leaves. If they get into negotiations in the store before you can prevent it... I just tell them politely that it's not cool. Give them the "I'm trying to run a business and feed my family..." speech... use guilt if you have to, they need to know that they can't do it without pissing them off. The ONLY exception to this is if they want WAY too much for their stuff, and the "vulture" customer is a good regular... if you were going to pass on it anyway, then you have nothing to lose by letting your customer get a good score once you've offered it to them via the seller... but be sure to tell them afterword that generally it's not cool and jokingly offer a "where's my cut?"

exit

07-15-2007, 01:48 PM

1: I would've told the lady too bad, people will try anything to get a few bucks. It's always "Well I called and the girl/guy told me!", they never bother asking for a name and can never remember what time they called. It's the same thing when they're in the store and say "The guy/girl that was here before!", yet they can never remember what they look like. You could've simply told her next time she should get a name and then you'll know who to talk to if a problem arises again.

2: If the lady was a regular customer, I would've given her the benefit of the doubt as well. At least now you know she's an honest person, which is always a good thing to know in retail.

3: When the people finished, you could've told them not to do that in the store for future reference. You could say that it doesn't make it's bad for business and doesn't make your store look good.

With every situation you learn something new, so at least now you'll know how to handle them better. These would be good pointers for people who are new to the job, that way it'll prevent a potentially bad situation from turning worse.

Sniderman

07-15-2007, 02:09 PM

Many years of retail experience thrown behind my opinions:

#1. Never ever ever ever give quotes over the phone. My expereince was with auto repair. <call comes in> How much for a brake job? - We charge $300 for rotors, pads, lines, labor. - <car arrives and it's beyond hope> - You need $500 in work. - But I was told $300! - Ergo, tell future calls that they must bring in their games for assessment so you can gauge condition, completeness, etc. No quotes over the phone and only face to face. Ever.

#2. I would've gave the $10 just to be safe too. Even if I KNOW the clerk didn't make a mistake, it's only $10 and wouldn't really harm the day's bottom line. Now if it had been $100 or even $50, then we have a problem. But it all worked out, so no harm, no foul.

#3. That's pretty shabby to do it there in front of you, and I would have been pretty terse. If the lady was a regular, explain that this is pretty crass and that you don't appreciate the interference. If she's not a regular, she gets the boot. You likely wouldn't see her again anyway. But the way you handled it was fine, but it cost you obviously. I would maybe post something that explains that trade-in buyout/interference ends your part of the trade-in; all parties must leave immediately; and future trade-ins will not be taken in from that person.

Bigjobs

07-15-2007, 02:23 PM

#1: When a customer comes up with a ridiculous price that is obviously misquoted or made up, my sense of pride in my fellow co-workers kicks in and I just call them on their shit. If they get indignant because they just made a mad dash to your store to get a price they know is more than its worth, then you can use the expressions, "I'm sorry, you misunderstood" or "Piss off!" at your discretion.

#2: If a customer thinks you shortchanged him and "Nuh-uh" isn't working; immediately bet him twice the amount in dispute that you didn't. If you're right...score, cash in hand. If you're wrong call the police and say he tried to rob you.

#3: This is one of my favorites. Since I work in a small store whos business goes directly to feeding the owners children, when people try to wheel and deal or snake stuff from us I get a bit incensed. If it's an honest enough guy, and its something he's been looking for I'll tell them to take it outside...'specially if its not something I really want for the store. Occassionally we get some lurkers that like to hang out and undercut us...these people are easily spotted by their green skin and dollar-sign shaped irises. These greedy bastards deserve every horrible epithet I can fling at them because they know better. They know we don't like them and their stupid PDA catalog of every game ever made so they can sit in their goddamn computer store and masturbate over how much money they've made off of the uninformed children at the flea market. You know who you are, Mike.

Glad I could help...

Buyatari

07-15-2007, 02:56 PM

1. When you give her $12 you don't end up looking like the good guy. You are the guy who tried to rip her off and you got caught so you backed down and gave her what she rightfully deserved. "We do not give prices over the phone" is the policy that works best for me or just say $3 take it or leave it.

2. Having the employee loudly count out the cash just as a bank teller would is a must. If this is done every time I mean every time then there is nothing you can do after the customer walks away. I've had problems where I found it best to pay out BUT knew I wasn't in the wrong. I took that back in the following trades from this customer till it was repaid.

3. All trades get swept away as quick as possible from customer view and I've found it helps to have trades take longer than you really need as they are "being tested". The trader looks around and sometimes buys stuff. Anyone trying what you just described gets a warning that both the buyer and seller are no longer welcome if they make a side deal on your property. One of them will always back out in my experience. Sorry pal I pay the rent,lights and gas around here.

Buyatari

07-15-2007, 03:12 PM

After reading what other people say I must add this.

Its not always about $10 or one nintendo game. Habits like this are a cancer to a small business. If I see someone buy games infront of Joe and he doesn't say anything then he must not care ohh look here comes a guy with some sealed NES games....

In each of these cases what about everyone else in the store who is a witness? Need $10 easy cash hell I know what to say. You can also bet the lady buying games will try that again and each time with new witnesses. You aren't there this time but the employees know you let it slide so they let it slide. Now your employees want to buy stuff before you do and what do you say to that!

Its a cancer man. Cut it out asap.

Trebuken

07-15-2007, 03:32 PM

Depends how profitable your store is.

If you are doing well then you must consider the 'cost of customer service'.

In scenario 1 it sounds like the customer new nothing about games and sincerely believed she was quoted $12. Your going to sell it for $7 so your only out $5, you should do it. if she's a regular or not believeable, than stick to your guns; I doubt you are legal obligated to a quote over the phone.

In scenario 2 it's the same thing. You either choose to give them the nefit of the doubt or not. It should be on a customer to customer basis, and only 'the boss' should be allowed to handle events taht remove money from the register uncoventionally. Word of mouth is a big deal for independent stores like yours, don't underestimate these little things.

Scenario 3. I've been tempted to do this in stores before because i believe Gamestop and others do not give fair trade-in values very often. I have not done it though. You can take a hard-line and ask them to go outside, but a sign won't matter much, most people won't read it. There is a good chance that they indivisual who bought the games may sell them to you later on as well; the fact that this person was in your store is relevant. They were there to buy, they will come back, you lost nothing just failed to benefit. The customer essentially outbid you, sniper.

If money is tight I would would take a harder-line until things are better. Since I have heard talk about another store in the future I am assuming things are well...

8Ways2Tuesday

07-15-2007, 04:14 PM

Wow, so your solution is to lie to the lady and tell her that, based on supply, you're at times willing to lose $5 on the sale of a game? What would Joe have done if she went looking for these two phantom copies of Space Invaders and found that they didn't exist?

Perhaps I assumed the lady was being more offensive than she actually was. I read it as if she was purposely trying to get more money than the game was worth - I've had it happen before where I work.

And again, just finished reading Gord, so generally in a mean state of mind, too.

I like the idea about offering credit for the error - that sounds like a really good solution.

I also think it would be okay to just not buy it from the lady, for any reason.

TurboGenesis

07-15-2007, 04:57 PM

Here are my takes:

Scenario 1 -
In the case of buy backs - I would not have took the game. I would say "You can take the $3 that we offer, or take your game back home."

Scenario 2 -
I think you handled this situation the best. Worse case is that it is a $10 lesson learned to prevent a similar incident from happen again.

Scenario 3 -
When this happens, explain to both that your business is not a middle ground for people to conduct trades and sales at your expense. Ask them both to leave if they are to conduct a transaction and also inform the fellow with the NES games offered for buy back that the price you quoted him are for the whole lot and any changes, whether he sells one on his own or even decides to keep a game will drastically impact the original quote. I am sure your employees also know that if they see something they like your business is to buy back from the customer and then sell at mark up to the employee - other wise it is considered stealing.

I worked in video game retail from 1992-1995.
In the end Joe, you are running a business and you learn the good customers, the regulars, the ones who just happen to see the place and are just "checking it out" and the ones who are trying to exploit your business whether it be buying your stock and selling it on line for their profit or bringing in games for cash and not putting anything back in the business.

scooby105

07-15-2007, 05:40 PM

Pretty much the same replies from me as well.

#1 - Offer her the $3, nothing more. If she feels like arguing, offer her $2. I gather that she isn't in the store that often and losing her business wouldn't be a big deal. It may even be better to not have her ever come back.

#2 - Have a video camera set up right over all the cash registers. Also, make sure all your employees count out the money. Then if there is a dispute, you can go right to the video.

#3 - Kick the person out somehow. Whether you want to do it nicely and allow the person to return to your store or ban the person forever, that's up to you. The sign suggestion is also good.

Mangar

07-15-2007, 06:50 PM

Let me preface this by saying - I am NOT a nice person(in fact, i'm kind of a dick), however i am a fair and honest one.

1. I'd have taken the Space Invaders I had in stock, shown her the price and remained firm. I'd have blatantly let her know that she was mistaken, and if she insisted that she was told via phone. I'd simply have told her tough - This is what we pay. The problem I'd have had with this situation, is that i'd have known i was CLEARLY being railroaded and taken advantage of. Which don't fly with me. If that costs me a customer? So be it. Sometimes you have to think like that.

2. I'd have probably handled this situation the exact same way and taken the 10$ loss. The fact that she came back later and such would have led me to believe that she felt genuinely slighted, and I'd have just eaten the difference, while assuring my cashier in the way you did.

3. I'd have let them work out the trade, and sort of held my annoyance in. The problem with booting them out, or yelling at them is that you end up looking like a greedy prick no matter what. Visions of "The Comic Book Guy" from the Simpsons enter my head immediately. It's not as if the person trading the items in was soliciting them to others. Someone simply overheard, and offered him more for items he want. It's something that probably most of us would do. If i seen for example some guy trying to sell Q-Berts Qubes for the Colecovision(A game i currently want for my collection) for 2$ at some shoppe, i'd immediately pipe in with a better offer. I probably wouldn't give a shit if the shopkeeper cared either. More importantly i'd say: Is that the overall bad feelings you would generate by kicking them out or interfering with people who are obviously interested in the exact sort of product and merchandise that you sell, isn't worth the small gain on the trade-in's. By not interfering, they will be more inclined to come back and give you future business.

Mayhem

07-15-2007, 06:58 PM

Personally in those situations...

1) Refuse, and then make sure never to give trade in values over the phone as policy.

2) Take her details and check the totals at the end of the day.

3) Politely inform the female customer she may not enter into a transaction with the guy on your premises. That would probably mean they would leave the shop I guess.

roxybaby

07-15-2007, 08:22 PM

You have to do whatever will let you sleep at night. Might not make the most sense business-wise, but your work is what you love and you don't want to end up with guilt. It all works out in the end.

Fuyukaze

07-15-2007, 09:02 PM

If I sound like I'm being an ass, please understand having worked retail for the past 6 years I've come to see how ugly customers can get.

1.You've been had. Unless your emp agreed to be there to finish it, I highly doubt your emp would ever quote her $12 for a complete copy. She may have been quoted $3 on the phone (if the seller even called) but I'm more then willing to bet the only miscomunication was all on her part. Perhaps a son had called and believed he could expect $12 for it. Perhaps a number of things. I'd have sugested her come when the person who quoted the price was present as she's the one who "agreed" to $12 for it. Sure, you'd have posibly lost a customer (potential or other) but you also wouldnt have lost $9.

2.Wait, oh, wait! I cant stop laughing! You got burned!!!! Atleast she was honest and gave the $10 back. People used to try this on me all the time and the owners of the gas station would tell me to just give them the money. At closing my register would oddly enough come up short each and every time. Funny but the same people would often come in and shop lift beer reguardless of the times I'd request the owners have them banned from the place.

3.You pay rent right? All your bills are paid by you right? I'm sure you have a security/alarm system set up for the shop as well, right? Those people who work for you, you pay their wages I'm going to guess as well. Kinda certain they dont all volunteer from the bottem of their heart either. Ok, now that we've established some facts about this, then perhaps you need to put up a sign? Something about NO SOLICITING in your store? Your store, your buisness, YOUR LOSS if you dont make any money. If she doesnt like that then she can get her own place and set up shop. Your in this to make money. Maybe not enough to rival gamestop, EB, or gamecrazy, but enough to make ends meet atleast.

All in all, you dont have to be the bad guy to make money. You dont have to nickle and dime people and you dont have to de-humanize them either. Your doing none of that though. Your being taken advantage of. Dont agree to an agreement you know nothing of, get a camera on that register so you know what's going in and coming out (have it so it shows customers and emps both), and for the love of god, remember it's your shop, not theirs! If this continues (and it will once your shop's name gets around) you will be out of buisness. Be the nice guy, dont be the gimp.

Also, for future refrence, your not a bank so if someone comes in, buys something dirt cheap, give them only exact change. If they give you a $20 bill and buy something that only costs $3.27, dont let them tell you they want 16 one dollor bills and then change their mind that they want a $10 bill. Exspecialy when your busy as they are probly only handing you 9 of those ones back. Money changers will eventualy target you. Dont let that be another story you feel guilty about in the future.

suckerpunch5

07-15-2007, 09:37 PM

1. Every store I trade games at NEVER gives out prices over the phone, probably to avoid this very circumstance. To many posibilities for miscommunication. Condition also plays a role, so you need to see the item. What if the disc is all scratched up, ect? I think its reasonable to just not give trade-in prices over the phone.

2. Well, that was the good guy thing to do. And good on her for bringing it back. Well done.

3. You don't have to put up with other people buying stuff out from under you in your own store. You pay the rent. They are using your place of business for their own gain. You can politely tell her that she can't do that sort of thing, and if she has a problem with it, politely tell her you don't need her business. That is terribly rude.

chrisbid

07-15-2007, 10:20 PM

1. no price quotes over the phone, in a different scenario a price can be quoted for a game over the phone, and when the person on the phone brings in the game with the word 'bitch' written in marker before the title, you would not want to give full value for that.

2. when i was a cashier at a grocery store in the day, some woman with a baby pulled that trick on me, but it was just a simple hustle. i counted my cash drawer twice, and had the manager count it. so then she accused me of pocketing the money. so the manager gave her the ten bucks. to this day, that still pisses me off.

3. one warning that the practice is not acceptable and after that they get the permanent boot. if you want to be a nice guy, then you at least deserve a finders fee. thats how ebay and amazon make their millions.

i am a firm believer in firing the absolute worst customers. they are a drain on resources, and likely do not give you either profit or positive word of mouth.

FVJVMVP

07-15-2007, 11:35 PM

Wow, I should stop by your store. The payouts at my sources are'nt nearly as high.

Before I give my thoughts, I want you to know that I think karma is a whole lot of crap. Go ahead and sue me, I believe that just because somebody acts like a dick to somebody, does'nt mean that person will be charred to a cinder the next day. The same goes for nice people; if somebody carries an old woman's groceries across the street he/she is not going to get some kind of reward from out of the blue. Of course, bad deeds and good deeds have their consequences, but I do not believe this is karma but instead our human understanding of right and wrong and basic understanding of action versus reaction. If you think that some guy got arrested for stealing fifty dollars out of a colledge kid's purse because some omnipotent yet unseen force willed it to, I will not hold back: you are an idiot.

So without further ado...
Scenario 1: Okay, this should be easy. If the costumer complains that he/she is'nt getting what they expect as far as trade-ins, that's their beef. You run the store, it's your rules. Tell her that's all you can offer and there's no exceptions. You lose the overexagerrated game but keep the money. She/he will probably look for other people who'll buy the game, get dissapointed and eventually the product will make fine nesting for the birds.

Scenario 2: I think you handled this perfectly, though luck played a big part. Even if the lady had been playing you for a fool you'd still learn an invaluable lesson that would probably save you more than a mere ten bucks.

Scenario 3: Again, this goes back to the "your store, your rules" thing. I visited a guy like you who ran a third party game shop who dealed with this stuff all the time (god, I miss him). Generally he'd let this thing fly by as he was pretty easygoing and was never really interested in any of the stuff he was brought. Still, I think you should've denied the lady her in-store bartering rights. It's a tough descision, but if you want something bad enough you'll do anything to get it. Pulling the "it's against stoe policy" trick out of your ass is a shitty move but it gets the job done. You may not want to do this with frequent visitors, however.

Oh, how I can see the flames now...

Mianrtcv

07-16-2007, 12:04 AM

All scenarios are what make drinking more socially acceptable. :)

MF_Luder

07-16-2007, 12:23 AM

#3 is obviously the toughest, but I think you made a good call. What's the most you could do? Probably ask them to take it outside the store. The woman was wrong for initiating that transaction, but once that starts you can't do much to stop it. You would have came off as a complete jerk if you tried to stop the woman from haggling with them. First, often a private party can offer more than you because they don't have to resell them at a profit in the store. Obviously you have a business to run and can't make any profit if you pay full price for the games-- but in this case, the woman doesn't have that same interest in mind, so she can offer more. And who's offer do you think the 2 guys want: yours or hers?

So if the woman came up and was like "Wait, I'll give you $50 for all those!" and you were like "Sorry ma'am, you can't do that!", what's probably going to happen?... if the 2 guys had any common sense they would tell you to shut up and keep your $35. Right? Now, if they were 2 regulars they might be willing to take your offer out of respect to you, but if they're just 2 guys off the street then they're always going to take the higher offer.

It seems like some people have suggested that you should have cut off that transaction between the two, asked the woman to leave, and forced the guys into your $35 offer. But this isn't quite plausible and no matter what, you could do nothing to completely stop the transaction (in any possible scenario the 2 guys could have always turned down your offer and sold the games to her outside the store). So in being a "nice guy" without being too generous, I think the best idea in future cases is to say that you don't allow that kind of solicitation in the store, and make the 2 guys decide whether they want to take it outside or accept your $35 offer. I think doing this may have deterred the 2 guys from selling to her-- at that point you had already offered a good price and this woman hadn't even had a chance to looks through the games and make her own offer. So there's a decent chance the guys would have just taken the $35 and passed on haggling outside the store with some random woman.

Buyatari

07-16-2007, 01:06 AM

It seems like some people have suggested that you should have cut off that transaction between the two, asked the woman to leave, and forced the guys into your $35 offer. But this isn't quite plausible and no matter what, you could do nothing to completely stop the transaction.

Ohh its VERY possible to stop. I've done it for years with a 100% success rate. Not only does Joe have the games in his hand this is taking place IN HIS STORE! You just try to pull this stunt in a mom and pop shop where the owner isn't as nice as Joe. Go hang out in the next random pawn shop you see and try to haggle with the next guy who walks in with something to pawn. You are in for it. Don't believe me go try it.

So if he lets his customers do this now his employees will want the same chance. TRUST ME. Employees feel they deserve more than the avg customer. Give them LESS RIGHTS than the avg customer is not good for morale. Low morale leads to other problems like out right theft which they justify because they weren't able to get the same deals (aka shafted by the greedy owner). So now what do you do? You go from the only game in town to an in-store auction with every trade. This one is huge. I'd never under any circumstances let it happen and the employees have to know how you strongly you feel because they will find items every day they would like to purchase. If you pass on the item then and only then and take it outside off the store property.

walrusmonger

07-16-2007, 01:23 AM

^^^ Damn straight, far too many times a jerkoff boss made the staff at the old store I worked at feel like shit, some of them stole, but me and one other employee would rape every trade in that came in. I think that taking the cream of the crop before the store can mark it up and make loads of easy profit is actually more damaging to the store.

So for 1- I would have told the woman that prices don't change, and you will have to handle the situation with the employee. Say that you'll really give it to her, to make the jerkoff customer feel a little guilt if possible :)

2- Couting out the register is always the best thing to do, but if you want your rep. to be "mr nice guy" then trusting the customer is the best way to do it. Since she took cash though, I doubt she'll be buying very much though, but at least now she can tell her friends that she knows a good place to get rid of the old games!

3- "I'm sorry guys, you can't do that here." Then you go into the whole "We give you a warranty on the game, etc" and make the other person feel like they're taking a risk by buying off of someone else. Maybe throw in a "we professionally clean everything with the highest quality products to ensure they work, you can damage the carts if you are not careful."

I would also post a sign, or maybe host a "trade day" once in a while. Charge everyone $5 as a "testing service fee" (to make sure they dont trade a dracula x for chrono trigger and mario rpg, only to have a street fighter 2 board inside of drac x) and stamp their hands, require traders to be 18 or with a parent, and offer to tell them the value of the games to ensure everyone gets a fair deal.

Barbarianoutkast85

07-16-2007, 02:09 AM

#1 I would of told the woman that there was a miscommunication. If she wants to sell it, she will get $3. You'r a bussiness not a sucker.

#2 I would have counted the drawer, if the drawer was off then you owe her the 10 if not, then explain to her that your drawer is dead-on and she's out of luck.

#3 I would have done the same thing as you since it was the first time this has happened. Now if I were you and saw this same customer pull the same move. Then I would tell him how it is.

MF_Luder

07-16-2007, 03:46 AM

Ohh its VERY possible to stop. I've done it for years with a 100% success rate. Not only does Joe have the games in his hand this is taking place IN HIS STORE! You just try to pull this stunt in a mom and pop shop where the owner isn't as nice as Joe. Go hang out in the next random pawn shop you see and try to haggle with the next guy who walks in with something to pawn. You are in for it. Don't believe me go try it.

So if he lets his customers do this now his employees will want the same chance. TRUST ME. Employees feel they deserve more than the avg customer. Give them LESS RIGHTS than the avg customer is not good for morale. Low morale leads to other problems like out right theft which they justify because they weren't able to get the same deals (aka shafted by the greedy owner). So now what do you do? You go from the only game in town to an in-store auction with every trade. This one is huge. I'd never under any circumstances let it happen and the employees have to know how you strongly you feel because they will find items every day they would like to purchase. If you pass on the item then and only then and take it outside off the store property.

I understand what you're saying and agree that having a very strict policy against this is a very good idea. However, my point is that Joe can't just stop it completely, even though you're saying it can be stopped 100%. The games belong to the 2 guys, not Joe yet, so they are welcome to do whatever they want with them. If someone runs up to the 2 guys and says "Hey, I'll give you $15 more than he's offering you for those!", Joe can completely flip out on the woman if he wants to, but it still doesn't prevent the 2 guys from walking out of the store and selling it to the woman anyways! So the point is, there is no way to 100% stop it... all you can do is find ways to deter it as much as possible.

Some people were suggesting that if Joe had played the "bad guy" for once and asked the woman to stop, that he definitely would have gotten the full $35 trade in from the 2 guys. I was merely pointing out that, while stepping in may have been a good idea, it's not like Joe can force the guys to accept his offer. I've also been to Joe's store a couple times and met him and he doesn't seem the type that would flip out on customer-- he has a very polite demeanor with customers, so I couldn't picture him doing anything more than politely asking them not to engage in that in the store. So while you can have a 100% strict policy to stop it in INSIDE your store and say "I'm sorry, but I don't allow that in here", there is absolutely nothing that can be done once they say "OK, we'll step outside then". Sure, you can ban them from coming back to the store, but I'm sure Joe would prefer to save that for multiple offenders rather than losing customers over one-time incidents.

Push Upstairs

07-16-2007, 04:35 AM

Scenario 1: I've dealt with numerous times when I worked behind the counter.

Like everyone else said, no quotes over the phone...EVER. I would have told the lady that my employee was mistaken and that the quote has always been $3...end of conversation. If she didn't like the going price then that is her tough luck. It's a business, not a charity. The store is how you put food on the table.

I had one person call me up and give me the "but the other guy gave me quotes!" to which I snapped back "Well he shouldn't have!" Customers pulled this crap all the time even saying other stores gave quotes too (they don't).

Scenario 3: I had to deal with this once. I simply told the two that I can't allow them to do their business in the store, but once they were outside there was nothing I could do. I recall that it wasn't something overly rare or something we didn't get in good supply, so it wasn't really a huge loss.

Cryomancer

07-16-2007, 07:26 AM

If you still have the space invaders, auction it off on DP! "be the one to own the fabled cart spoken of in this topic!"

well it might get you the 12 back anyway.

the third thing is tricky, as I myself have sorta done that in a store...but i bought the stuff off the guy that the store turned down, after their trade was done. Maybe that's different. It was still in the store though... if she was yelling at the guy while he was being checked out though, I say too bad, you got the sale first. A sign might not be a bad idea.

digitalpress

07-16-2007, 09:43 AM

Wow, guess this was more of a hot-button than I thought. Thanks for all the replies, I'm sorta working backwards through them now as I catch up.

So if he lets his customers do this now his employees will want the same chance. TRUST ME. Employees feel they deserve more than the avg customer. Give them LESS RIGHTS than the avg customer is not good for morale.

I've made it very clear to my team that this isn't acceptable. They know that they're not to undercut my prices or make side deals, and they know that most of my customers come back and talk to me so I'm going to find out about it if they even try. Not that it matters, they're a great bunch, I take care of them (they can put *anything* aside for themselves and we'll work out a much better deal than the store's price, especially on high end items). No one has broken this policy to date.

I do have a follow-up question to all of the "don't give estimates over the phone". I've considered this in the past, but doesn't GameStop and Game Crazy give estimates? If not, then this is a no-brainer for our store as well. Quite frankly I hate the calls asking "how much will you give me".

walrusmonger

07-16-2007, 10:16 AM

I know the gamestops in my area (queens, ny) and the gamecrazy I worked at never give trade prices over the phone. The reason they told me, was because they want the customer to come into the store and just get rid of their stuff.

Since you will take back older games too, you have less competition in that area, but with newer stuff I would stick to a no price giving policy. You probably give more than the other stores, but at least make it harder on the customer to find a reason to not want to go into your store :)

scooterb23

07-16-2007, 10:38 AM

I've seen a Gamestop employee give prices over the phone once, and only once, in my however many years of shopping there. This was about 3 months ago.

It went something like this...

"No sir, we don't give prices over the phone, you need to bring them in...yes, I understand but...but...*sigh* ok, you'd get $1 in trade for that game, thank you and...ummm 50 cents...$2...$1.50...no we don't even take those anymore...$1...$1...25 cents..." *insert 10 more minutes of this* "Sir, I really need to go, I'm not even supp...$1...$2...50 cents...have a good day."

So, the next week I went back, and asked if that guy ever came in, and the guy behind the counter said yeah...and all the games were burns. That one ended with mall security and eventually the police being called.

Moral of the story, don't give prices over the phone.

MF_Luder

07-16-2007, 12:52 PM

I do have a follow-up question to all of the "don't give estimates over the phone". I've considered this in the past, but doesn't GameStop and Game Crazy give estimates? If not, then this is a no-brainer for our store as well. Quite frankly I hate the calls asking "how much will you give me".

I agree with what everyone else said about not giving prices over the phone. First, it's a hassle to you, and takes time away from the customers who are actually in the store. Second, the prices offered for trade-ins are never going to be compelling enough to get someone to come to the store. You have a business to run and can't offer a "Wow!" kind of price for trade-ins, unless you were charging "WTF!" kind of prices to customers. So all giving trade-in prices over the phone is going to do is scare people away. Once they've already made the trip to the store, it's much more likely that they'll trade-in at least part of what they bring. Plus, when dealing with older games, condition is such an important factor. You don't want to offer $10 on the phone and then get some scratched up Saturn disc in a smashed up case, and then have to explain to the guy that your offer no longer stands. I think the best thing to do is say that you can only give accurate trade-in prices in person, but that you typically offer more than the big chain stores. This way you avoid scaring them off while also making it more likely that the don't take their trade-in elsewhere.

I even use this when dealing with people in my local area. When ever people want to sell gaming stuff to me, they usually ask me to make an offer. I usually tell them that I need to see the stuff in person to make a decision-- partly because I want to know the exact condition of everything I'm buying, and partly because I know they'll be more willing to haggle on the price if I'm already there with cash in hand.

Apollo

07-16-2007, 01:09 PM

The first one, I think you should've met halfway betweenthe rice you would've given her and the twelve dollars.

For the second, you did the right thing. Good job, Joe.

For the third, dropkick her, then throw her into a table lined with cake and a punch bowl. Like some sort of bizarro 8th grade school dance.

Buyatari

07-16-2007, 03:40 PM

Push Upstairs

07-16-2007, 04:12 PM

PapaStu

07-16-2007, 05:31 PM

rbudrick

07-17-2007, 01:50 AM

I didn't read anyone's responses, but I did read the article. Joe needs to take some tips from Gord. That is all.

Ok, well maybe that's not all:

1. Hold your guns next time.
2. You did right and lucked out. Luckily, IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, lol.
3. I would have politely interupted. A small sign on the register disallowing such actions would be fair to point out if it happened again.

-Rob

Untamed

07-17-2007, 03:58 AM

Already posted on your myspace blog.

1. I've worked at a pawn shop for quite a while and that regularly happens. Policy is no number over the phone, even if it is something we get a lot like DVDs where it's 99% of the time 2$ a piece. When they come in we just tell them that we don't give quotes over the phone so that couldn't have happened and continue to quote what we'd normally give.

2. Like Steve said, our computer system allows us to verify our tills whenever we need. We ask them to wait, they either do because they aren't lying, or they make up an excuse "I'm in a rush, you'll never see me again." and leave.

3. It's YOUR store, you're the one who does business in it. Someone offers one of our customers a different price and they start discussing it, we tell them we're not interested anymore and to please take the discussion outside.

I love my job. :)

P.S. I didn't know gamedeals.ca posted here... urgghh...

Oobgarm

07-17-2007, 07:33 AM

calthaer

07-17-2007, 08:23 AM

I actually sort of disagree with the whole "if you be nice to someone, they'll be nice back to you" idea in business. Being in business is not an equal exchange like that. True, if you treat your customers well, they generally return - but the relationship will never be equal, and there's no guarantee that they will return if you treat them nicely. BUT treating customers fairly, honestly, and with all courteousness is always, always the best policy.

But that doesn't mean letting them walk all over you, I don't think. It's a business - that means that the store exists to create profit, not as a charity. I would have told the lady trying to scam you that you can't lose money on the transaction and left it at that. No quotes over the phone is a good way to avoid being scammed again this way.

Giving the lady the benefit of the doubt in the case of the ten bucks is a good thing, and having the clerk count it out in front of them is another good policy to avoid a repeat.

The people trying to undercut you need to take a hike. If everyone in your store did that, you'd be footing the bill for an exchange brokerage or auction house (like eBay) without making a single red cent on it.

And that's the real thing - without drawing the line and sticking to it, that kind of thing could happen again and again until it's so frequent that you're losing a lot of business - and wouldn't the loss of the DP store, or the potential that the DP store can't expand to other locations (to destroy the EB/GS monopoly), be worse than having a few rude customers being shown the door? I think so. Because even if you put your foot down in ridiculous situations #1 and #3, you're still treating customers WAY better than they'd be treated at EB/GS, and you're still treating them 100% honestly and with 100% respect.