Get Out [DP Store] [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

GnawRadar

06-15-2008, 01:08 AM

It read to me like you (& your store) have been more than reasonable. From how you tell it that guy deserved the banninator, surely no-one is that unlucky! & to keep on forgetting reciepts...god, i'd never return something to a store without one.

Couldn't have said it better myself, plus even though you try to help most of your customers with a problem, you don't have to help everyone. If this person doesn't realize what they're doing is wrong then they deserved to be kicked out of your store and hopefully this will open up his eyes to what he is actually doing and maybe he will change his ways...but I doubt that.

suckerpunch5

06-15-2008, 01:14 AM

I keep forgetting we have this cool 'bot that posts these entries here. And might I add that I'm really looking forward to getting the blog entries off of myspace and back onto the DP site... that's coming soon.

As for this entry, I'm still steaming about it a little. I was honestly hoping this kid (not a young kid, more like a 17 or 18 year old kid) would come back with a parent, as he seemed genuinely insulted at being thrown out. I was SO looking forward to explaining to a parent what had transpired to that point.

Grr.

ha ha! As a teacher, let me warn you that some parents would see absolutely nothing wrong with little Dracula X's actions. Some kids could murder someone and the parents would think it was the victims fault. But yeah, way to hold him accountable.

jcalder8

06-15-2008, 01:14 AM

I'm sorry but your story sucked!!!!

I was all excited for some guy doing nothing and you just freaking on him or maybe a bunch of kids swearing or how about a parent telling a kid to shut the fuck up. Those would have been awesome stories.

But this one was a customer who is an ass and has taken advantage of you in the past. He should have been kicked out. Oh well maybe the next one will be more exciting.

code52

06-15-2008, 01:32 AM

Those types of people ruin it for everyone else by taking advantage of the system. I think you did the right thing and if it was me I probably would have snapped sooner.

digitalpress

06-15-2008, 01:41 AM

I was all excited for some guy doing nothing and you just freaking on him or maybe a bunch of kids swearing or how about a parent telling a kid to shut the fuck up. Those would have been awesome stories.

Those aren't "stories" at all. That's just shit that happens on any given day. I was thinking most of our community have heard that a million times before. Still, if you find that kind day-to-day tedium "exciting", let me know and I'll just PM you on a daily basis.

To whet your appetite, here area few little daily ditties to excite you:

1. I have one of those XBox 360 HD-DVD units in my display case for 30 bucks. It looks like a mini 360 and dumb people seem to think it IS a 360 and they're about to walk away with the deal of the century. Today, a kid walks up and says, "I wanna buy that! Yeah!". So I tell him the total with tax and then I guess he wonders if this is maybe too good to be true. "I can play 360 games with that?" and I respond "you can connect it to your 360 and play HD DVD's." He looks befuddled, as so many before him have. Then I say "it's an HD DVD player. It says HD DVD player on the label. I'm sorry if it's confusing."

2. Two little bobble-heads are at the front register. One is obviously Fox from StarFox. The other is a baseball guy (who looks like a kid, by the way) with the number 03 on his jersey, he's got a black eye. A kid walks up, "who is this?" as if this is supposed to be a real baseball player. "That's Joba Chaimberlain of the New York Yankees!" I exclaim. "No it isn't... Joba wasn't playing baseball in '03". Then I go on about how "03" is important in Joba's life. It was his number in minor league ball. It was the number he wanted but it was retired on the Yankees. It's the number of children he's fathered but doesn't know yet... eventually the kid got bored and walked away. I could have gone on forever though, really.

3. There are always hand-prints on the glass of the mini-museum area of my store. I'm tired of cleaning it off so I've started spraying contact poison on the glass. To warn customers, I created a sign that reads "Beware: Contact Poison". It's in braille, clearly displayed behind the glass.

RadiantSvgun

06-15-2008, 01:48 AM

Get yourself a bouncer for the store. I'd be happy to offer my services for the simple, low price of a Magical Chase :D

gepeto

06-15-2008, 01:55 AM

Kids can be down right ignorant but they take whatever they can get. You actually did right because he definately needed a timeout. It was people like these that exploited every loophole.

I remember most companys had a liberal return policys and then you had serial returners kill that not because they didn't like or was a problem but because they beat it or made a bad decision etc.

When this was going on at newport mall back in the day they would let certain people pass but they were pushing weight buying an obscene amout of product monthly.

The young man needed to be put on ice and told that exploiting the system hurts everyone. Suspensions do wonders to kids. It is almost a form of stealing. Let him earn his way back. Most will.

GarrettCRW

06-15-2008, 01:55 AM

Get yourself a bouncer for the store. I'd be happy to offer my services for the simple, low price of a Magical Chase :D

I think I just heard Sothy laugh.

exit

06-15-2008, 02:01 AM

TonyTheTiger

06-15-2008, 02:02 AM

You know, it's funny. Some stores have gone so far as to make it nearly impossible to return something <cough>Toys 'R' Us</cough> probably due to this very thing. That's probably bad policy as it scares people away. I've actually avoided buying gifts for people there because I knew that if there was some problem they'd have a hell of a time trying to return it.

If someone is scamming the system then getting rid of that person is probably the better solution than coming up with a ludicrously restrictive return policy. For every freeloader there are 50 honest people. I would only worry about other customers in the store at the time. I know I'd be a little uncomfortable if I were in a store and the owner freaked out on someone. Even if the guy deserved it the environment all of a sudden becomes a little chilly.

Ed Oscuro

06-15-2008, 02:09 AM

Should've beaten him with his severed arm for trading in broken units he bought for $20 on eBay as the systems he'd bought from you.

digitalpress

06-15-2008, 02:12 AM

I know I'd be a little uncomfortable if I were in a store and the owner freaked out on someone. Even if the guy deserved it the environment all of a sudden becomes a little chilly.

It was quite early in the day. There were two customers in the store. The adult was in the bathroom, the adult's kid was wandering around looking at stuff. Pretty sure neither of them caught what was going on. Still, I probably would have reacted the same way with a store FULL of people (and have in the past, it's in writing here somewhere). I don't just scream at customers like this - I explain why I want them out of my store and sternly urge them to leave. Pretty sure that if *I* were a customer there I'd respect that, but who knows?

digitpress Jim

06-15-2008, 02:46 AM

Joe my man, sorry to hear that story about Dracula X. Welcome to the world of retail my man. I have been doing it for over 7 years and I love being around the video games, but the customers just plain down suck sometimes especially the ones that take advantage. You made the right call by throwing that fool out. Take care brother, I will be in touch =)

Digitpress Jim

dao2

06-15-2008, 02:53 AM

It was quite early in the day. There were two customers in the store. The adult was in the bathroom, the adult's kid was wandering around looking at stuff. Pretty sure neither of them caught what was going on. Still, I probably would have reacted the same way with a store FULL of people (and have in the past, it's in writing here somewhere). I don't just scream at customers like this - I explain why I want them out of my store and sternly urge them to leave. Pretty sure that if *I* were a customer there I'd respect that, but who knows?

Links? ;p

Joe my man, sorry to hear that story about Dracula X. Welcome to the world of retail my man. I have been doing it for over 7 years and I love being around the video games, but the customers just plain down suck sometimes especially the ones that take advantage. You made the right call by throwing that fool out. Take care brother, I will be in touch =)

Digitpress Jim

I would be a horrible store owner :| I have low tolerance for ppl that need a good punch in the face and would have the urge too ban them from the store all too often ;p Granted most oldschool gamers aren't like that ^^

Was "co-commander" of a CS clan a while back and I banned about 100 ppl a week >< I had simple rules really. No AWPs, No Racism, No being sexist (there were a couple of girls in the clan), No saying shit too clan members (not including good-natured or normal stuff ;p)

CS really does have a special crowd ;p
And too my credit I only banned a fellow clan member once ;p and he was asking for that ban since the day he joined :|

Soviet Conscript

06-15-2008, 03:17 AM

I deal with customers like that all the time and it annoys the hell out of me when the managers at my store give them what they want, no matter what the situation may be. Only time I can just unleash everything on them is when they mistreat me or a co-worker and I usually watch out for that, especially when it's a customer that I know will cause problem.

So what you did was highly appropriate for the situation, since you can't just slap a claims sticker on everything and send it back to the manufacture with no questions asked.

oh man, tell me about it. i had the same problem at a store I worked at. no matter if it was the customers fault or not the managment would give or do whatever they had to to appese an angry customer. but if it was an empolyee in the same situation well, god help you then cause they would have no mercy.

it was a grocery store/video rental (i worked in the rental section) and when a cutomer broke any policy or rule and we tried to enforce it all they needed to do was run and cry to managment and they would get a refund, thier ass kissed, free stuff and then we would get repremanded for trying to enforce the rules they set up. it was ridiculas.

oh, your story does remind me of one customer we had...i'll call him Ben L. anyways back in the VHS days he would rent brand new movies and return them saying they were broke (he was cutting the tape) latter he pulled the same crap with DVD's. he would be the first one to rent them and lo and behold they would come back with a big scratch claiming it was rented like that and as policy he would get a free rental. we have a carwash at the location as well and from what i hear he would get his car washed then come back later with the same car days later claiming it didn't get all the dirt off so he could get a free wash.....this is just the a few of the many scams he pulled. of course managment was usually to timid to do anything at all about it.

last time i know of he was in though he pulled some coupon scam and an employee who was fed up with him went off and started argueing with him shouting ensued. he hasn't been around since that I know of. he can stay gone to.

HYB

06-15-2008, 03:18 AM

These kind of kids make my generation seem bad. You were right in giving him the banhammer, the douche was asking for it.

Tommy

06-15-2008, 03:25 AM

Probably tried to trade in a buddies old broke one for a new one. Used to work at K-mart back in the day and would have this happen all the time. People would buy a brand new system (PSX, Dreamcast, ETC.) and would come back to the store hoping to trade in their old broke system for another new one. Some people got away with it though and eventually we turned down all returns of these products. If the serial code didn't match up on the product we would politely tell them that. Good Job Joe for standing your ground. :cool:

Superman

06-15-2008, 05:10 AM

I enjoyed your story. It certainly presents the problems working in / running a retail store. The way people handle situations vary from person to person, but you took care of the matter the right way.

What I didn't understand is this: "I used to be real good with faces but not so much anymore." You make it sound like old age is catching up with you. I know you're not that old! :p

Ed Oscuro

06-15-2008, 05:56 AM

If the serial code didn't match up on the product we would politely tell them that.
Good idea.

p.s. Tell them that it's their time to enter a WORLD OF HURT and then bodyslam them.

Mianrtcv

06-15-2008, 07:34 AM

In dealing with Dracula X I'd have to return my right foot... because I would have broken it off kicking D X in his A$$. Time to get a ban hammer for the store. DP's least wanted and have pics of offenders.

Lostdwarf

06-15-2008, 08:23 AM

back in the hayday of retail, we use to take this particular type of customer out back show him the scenery, and fully explain to him whats going on ::wink wink:: I completely agree with your standard of how you handled it. As a seller you have the right to refuse business to anyone for any reason. Stand by your word.

mike

punkoffgirl

06-15-2008, 08:59 AM

I would only worry about other customers in the store at the time. I know I'd be a little uncomfortable if I were in a store and the owner freaked out on someone. Even if the guy deserved it the environment all of a sudden becomes a little chilly.

Sorry to single this part out but, that's ridiculous. No one should be uncomfortable if they didn't do anything wrong AND if it happens with other people in the store, it'll provide a bit of "word of mouth" that he's not going to let people walk all over him. You can't be self-conscious and run a retail establishment. I'm all for the teacher putting the troublemaker's name up on the board in the middle of class to shame him, not waiting until recess time to talk with him privately.

Oh and..

What I didn't understand is this: "I used to be real good with faces but not so much anymore." You make it sound like old age is catching up with you. I know you're not that old! :p

Do you think dirt is old? Because Joe was old before dirt was even BORN!

walrusmonger

06-15-2008, 09:32 AM

Man, people trying to return stuff is great. Once I was called a, "whack ass cracker" because I wouldn't let a teenager return Splinter Cell (used) for a new game he wanted a few days later. Then my coworker went nuts and punched a hole in the wall through a motivational poster.

Good times.

Buyatari

06-15-2008, 10:06 AM

I don't agree with this one.

Instead of holding in "this is the last time" you need to tell him that. You need to tell him what will be ok in the future and what will not. You set the rules of returns and he used it, overused it and abused it but I can see why he thought it was ok. He thought it was ok because in the past it WAS ok.

I guess I have a very strict policy and then allow exceptions to good customers on a case per case basis and you have a very open policy and then crackdown on the ones that abuse it.

TonyTheTiger

06-15-2008, 01:42 PM

Sorry to single this part out but, that's ridiculous. No one should be uncomfortable if they didn't do anything wrong AND if it happens with other people in the store, it'll provide a bit of "word of mouth" that he's not going to let people walk all over him. You can't be self-conscious and run a retail establishment. I'm all for the teacher putting the troublemaker's name up on the board in the middle of class to shame him, not waiting until recess time to talk with him privately.

I'm not sure putting a kid's name on the board is really all that effective considering there's no real consequences to it. If the kid doesn't feel the "shame" of it then it's pointless. On more than one occasion I've noticed it's actually considered a badge of honor of sorts. This is especially true if the class in general does not like the teacher. Kind of a "let's make good ol' teach miserable and see how long it takes to get our names up there."

But as for nobody should be uncomfortable, are you sure? Joe cleared up the exact tone that he used (which after his qualifier shows that he handled it fine) but from the initial story I got the impression that he blew up. And be honest. If you were minding your own business and for whatever reason someone started screaming out of the blue you wouldn't feel a little bit uncomfortable? Like the air changed all of a sudden? There is a line between a friendly guy who doesn't take shit from people and a guy you, if not consciously but subconsciously, feel like you have to walk on eggshells around.

Remember that we're seeing this from a bird's eye. We know the back story. I highly doubt that if you were in a store/restaurant/library/etc. and for no reason known to you a guy started yelling at someone you would be 100% cool with it. Of course it's all moot since Joe said he didn't blow up. But I disagree with you asserting that nobody would be uncomfortable if blowing up does happen somewhere. Maybe they shouldn't but they sure as hell would.

I remember there was a guy we kicked out of Blockbuster. He obviously destroyed the DVD he rented since it was brand new and his account was the first one that rented it. He was swearing up and down with his son (who was probably 8 or so) standing there quietly. It was very apparent that the other customers were uncomfortable with what was going on so I tried to break the ice by cracking jokes. The guy asked me who these people (the two managers he was fighting with) were and I said "I don't know. They don't work here. They just like to come in and yell at the customers."

It lasted no more than 10 minutes but after he left you could tell the other people in the store were noticeably quieter. I don't know whether they respected us any more or less for throwing the jackass out (I was certainly happy to get rid of him and was proud that we didn't cave) but that doesn't mean everyone else didn't feel the chill in the air.

Jorpho

06-15-2008, 01:52 PM

Reading all this makes me feel bad about the few occasions when I have returned stuff.

Kitsune Sniper

06-15-2008, 01:58 PM

You should've taken a picture of the guy and pasted it on the wall, in a "WE DO NOT SELL TO THESE PEOPLE" hall of shame.

16bitter

06-15-2008, 02:49 PM

You did the right thing. This guy was absolutely trying to take advantage, and it's sad, but that's how some people are. I worked at a Babbage's for five years and I could tell you some horror stories. When I started, our return policy was pretty liberal, and we had more than a few people who used us as a 30 day game rental place.

Videogamerdaryll

06-15-2008, 03:38 PM

3. There are always hand-prints on the glass of the mini-museum area of my store. I'm tired of cleaning it off so I've started spraying contact poison on the glass. To warn customers, I created a sign that reads "Beware: Contact Poison". It's in braille, clearly displayed behind the glass.

ROFLROFLROFLROFL

Videogamerdaryll

06-15-2008, 03:39 PM

You should've taken a picture of the guy and pasted it on the wall, in a "WE DO NOT SELL TO THESE PEOPLE" hall of shame.

Ha ha..that would be Awesome!!!!ROFL

mnbren05

06-15-2008, 04:30 PM

I agree with the majority of the posters the problem with retail today is the managments die hard belief that the customer is right every single time. I work at a popular sporting goods chain and constantly we have problems with people returning things that we inform them cannot be returned due to our rules (bats, baseballs, golf clubs etc). Low and behold they will come in sometimes up to 5 months after purchase and claim the item broke/the paint chipped/it has a smudge/I didn't like it etc. The sad part is although we clearly tell them we cannot accept returns, they still get their way. All they have to do is call our corporate office and they in turn call us and bitch us out for not being 100% dedicated to our customers (which they can dock our payroll and bonuses for), when all along we were simply following the rules and trying to keep scammers and system abusers from getting their way.

So in short, awesome job Joe you had every right to put that punk in his place and kick him out. I applaud you and I wish that other retail stores would deal with scammers/abusers/punks in the same way. You should defiantly create a wall of shame and put his picture up, it would be quite fitting and it would make a lovely discussion piece.

Emuaust

06-15-2008, 05:57 PM

DP ive had plenty of those type of customers over the years but I recall 2 mother and son combos that really gave me the shits, they would come in and haggle for an hour to get me to drop the price on an item, I would cave in just to get rid of them, then the next day they would be back in complaining that either A. it was a crap game and I want a refund or B. its broken I want a refund.

It got that annoying I told them "If you dont like my goods or customer service then go elsewhere, I dont care, I dont need your business to survive". It may of seemed egotistical at the time and is propbably not something id recommend doing on an often basis with so much competition in my small little town, but wouldnt you know about 6 months later both the moether and son teams where back shopping in my store as they found out the other stores in town where less tolerant then myself and had kicked them out too.

They have been rather good customers ever since!

And while im at it I actually do have a hall of shame in my store, one Lee Meridith is perma banned! the prick came in to tell me that the legit anime DVD's I see in my store are shit and I should buy his pirated ones to stock, what he doesnt know is my dvd supplier will pay a good reward for information regarding pirates of there products, I let it go though as these are just some of the douches in society. About a month later the guy bought a used xbox from me, just before I go any futher Im sure you all that work in an indie store know, there are certain procedures you go through to make sure the product is working before you sell it. This console was checked over good as gold, the little prick bought it in the next day saying its faulty and he wants his money back, when i told him he had tampered with the console as the unit warranty seal had been broken he cracked the shits and went and got some memebers of a bikie gang to come and try and sort me out!!! no fucking kidding!!.

Sudo

06-15-2008, 06:31 PM

Guy sounds like a real douchebag, you did the right thing.

cyberfluxor

06-15-2008, 07:00 PM

You should've taken a picture of the guy and pasted it on the wall, in a "WE DO NOT SELL TO THESE PEOPLE" hall of shame.

I'd like to get the frames from the DP live cam capturing this event. :)

RadiantSvgun

06-15-2008, 10:26 PM

I keep forgetting we have this cool 'bot that posts these entries here. And might I add that I'm really looking forward to getting the blog entries off of myspace and back onto the DP site... that's coming soon.

As for this entry, I'm still steaming about it a little. I was honestly hoping this kid (not a young kid, more like a 17 or 18 year old kid) would come back with a parent, as he seemed genuinely insulted at being thrown out. I was SO looking forward to explaining to a parent what had transpired to that point.

Grr.

Gotta be careful about that Mr. Digitpress. Some parents have this "my baby can do no wrong mentality" with their kids; when the kid needed a good, leather belt to the ass years ago.

Kitsune Sniper

06-15-2008, 11:05 PM

Gotta be careful about that Mr. Digitpress. Some parents have this "my baby can do no wrong mentality" with their kids; when the kid needed a good, leather belt to the ass years ago.

A lot of these parents NEEDED the leather belt to the ass when they were kids, and they never got it.

Steve W

06-15-2008, 11:15 PM

I would have done the same thing if I happened to be in your place. If the kid is too intellectually limited to take care of his stuff and people around him just keep humoring him by replacing everything he breaks, he will never learn a lesson. Stupidity needs to be punished more often in our society. If you beat up your stuff, you deal with it instead of taking it back to the store. The reason he claimed so much of his stuff was broken was probably because he didn't have the intelligence to use them right. Probably putting the DS cart in backward or something. Maybe trying to stick a Sony UMD into his DS cart slot. People are stupid, and they need to be educated. Personally, in my perfect world, that would involve hot tar and feathers, or putting them in stocks and let kids splat him with rotten vegetables. You can take that theme all the way up to cigar burns for the repeat offenders. I'm a bit of a disciplinarian, with an extremely low tolerance of stupidity. :)

Lostdwarf

06-15-2008, 11:26 PM

Frankie_Says_Relax

06-15-2008, 11:28 PM

(My response on the actual MySpace blog)

Often times when you blog about negative game-retail store experiences, I'm right there comiserating with you ...

... and once again, I've been there, done than and feel your pain.

I really truly believe that there are people that in the core of their being, completely fail to see retail employees as human beings with brains, hearts, and any level of intelligence whatsoever.

This guy was one of those people, you're not the bad guy...as long as I've know you I've NEVER seen you be the bad guy ... and don't get me wrong, I'm STILL in customer service in my latest business venture and I'm not one of those people that think that the customer is nothing more than a pain in the ass (and I know you don't feel that way either) ... I KNOW that everybody benefits if people compromise for the good of the "shopping" experience, but this guy ... this guy was NEVER going to stop taking advantage of your good nature.

Your store is gaming retail heaven for most of us, and he sounds like he just didn't understand that ... it's probably some kind of psychological flaw in his personality that runs much deeper than just annoying you ... it's probably a pathology that we've only scratched the surface of.

Good riddance to him. Let people who appreciate what you have to offer take his sales AND your good natured business acumen.

MachineGex

06-15-2008, 11:46 PM

This is a good lesson for store owners. Everyone will deal with these kinda "people" if they stick with it long enough. Usually sooner than later. You learn to log every single serial number of systems bought & sold so you can match them up. Also, when I use to work, I told "problem" customers that if they bought anything, it was "as-is" only, NO RETURNS. They could try it in the store, but once they bought it, we were done with them. I never gave them a receipt if they choose to buy something. They were told this ahead of time and if we had any problems after, they were finished.

Usually, the BEST thing to do is just get rid of them like Joe did. They will find new and unique ways to screw you over no matter how many rules you make for them. You are better off just cutting to the chase and 86 them ASAP.

I dont agree wtih BUYATARI... the guy knew he was breaking the rules(I am sure you need a receipt to return something). If he got a break in the past, you dont have a right to get a break in the future. Since when do you give someone a break, and then they expect one every single time? I dont think that is how it works. A break is just that, you shouldnt expect it every single time. If you dont realize the difference, that is not the store owners fault.

btw...Caller I.D. is a blessing.

Jorpho

06-15-2008, 11:57 PM

i'm really confused here! Other than the 8-bit era when EVER has NINTENDO EVER MADE A PRODUCT THAT DIDNT WORK????? It's very rare almost unheard of with nintendo. Now sony on the other hand that's a whole different ballgame.

A lot of the early DS Lites had a problem with cracks appearing in the hinges. A lot of the newer ones have a touchscreen that is slightly tinted when viewed from the wrong angle. In fact, I've returned one myself (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105666) that apparently had problems that are par for the course now (a source of some of that guilt I alluded to earlier).

Icarus Moonsight

06-16-2008, 01:01 AM

You really did screw up there. He is undeserving of the moniker Dracula X. He may be a little blood sucker but, Castlevania deserves better treatment than that. :o

You can always change his label to Duke Nukem Forever. Will ensure that you never see his punk ass again. LOL

Keep that 86er on the hip man and don't be afraid to use it. The only thing worse than buyers remorse is banners remorse. You did alright. ;)

Rob2600

06-16-2008, 01:33 AM

You should've taken a picture of the guy and pasted it on the wall, in a "WE DO NOT SELL TO THESE PEOPLE" hall of shame.

I want to agree with this idea, but overall, I don't think it'd be a good business move. Instead, what might be a good idea is having a customer Hall of Fame wall. Then, maybe customers will want to be good and earn a spot on the wall.

Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the positive!

Kitsune Sniper

06-16-2008, 01:36 AM

I want to agree with this idea, but overall, I don't think it'd be a good business move. Instead, what might be a good idea is having a customer Hall of Fame wall. Then, maybe customers will want to be good and earn a spot on the wall.

Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the positive!

That wall would be more for employee use. I mean, sometimes Joe will tell someone to never come back, but what happens if another employee isn't aware of the ban?

slackur

06-16-2008, 02:17 AM

Well, I've spent several years now managing an indie game store (R.I.P Endless Entertainment, R.I.P.) and later a Gamestop (yes, yes, boo, sorry, need the discount) and one thing I know for certain is that most customers, no matter what they claim, don't seem to realize the difference between the economics of an indie store and Big Corp.

Big Corp has them all spoiled because of the traditionally easy and stupidly lax return policies (years ago when I was working in Walmart electronics, a customer returns this expensive video card box with, no kidding, a 20 year old modem in the box instead of the real card. I refuse return, point out obvious, customer asks for manager, customer gets his $350 or so for worthless card swapped, and I get chewed out. To top that, my buddy in Sporting Goods had to give a customer a new bicycle because the guy brought in, get this, only a WHEEL and claimed the bike got wrecked. My buddy laughed in his face and then almost quit when the manager gave the guy a new bike. He didn't even have a receipt. And the punch line? The wheel had insignia from a Sears brand. Not kidding.)

Anyway, people don't seem to understand that indie retail game stores are not rental stores, they don't make more than a buck or two on new games or systems (and that's if shipping doesn't kill them), and just because they are the 'little guy' doesn't mean you are all buddy-buddy, take-a-hit-for-me-this-one-purchase kind of business. When I managed an indie store, every other customer who came in thought that I was a pawn shop (even though we don't have any real pawn shops in PA) and that they could haggle every item down, and if I didn't, I was being a jerk to my only good customer. I would try to help if I could, occasionally giving a discount to good customers and listening to situations, but for the most part, a consistent holding to policy with rare exceptions is the only good ground I found. It makes some peeps unhappy, but as Joe's story points out, sometimes you just gotta verbally grab trouble by the scruff of the neck and boot them out. It's just business. And if the parents come running in, hold your ground. If you are in the right, there is no reason to back down. Others who consistently back down, especially parents, are often why we get customers like Dracula X in the first place.

*exhales* /end rant.

Boy, I wish I could do that at the GameStop I work at now, instead of being expected to nod my head and kiss their tail. Lady, I don't care if you bought that game yesterday. It looks like someone ice-skated on the bottom of that. And for the last time, sir, no, they do not make Mario Galaxy for your PS3, I don't care that you played it at your friends house on his PS3, it doesn't exist, yes, I obviously don't know what I'm talking about, I just don't want to sell it to you. Well, I sure don't now.

For real this time, /end rant.

Boy, I've had that pent up for awhile. :)

TonyTheTiger

06-16-2008, 02:58 AM

Man, you guys have no luck with your retail gigs. 20 year old modem in a video card box and you get chewed out? I guess the managerial staff at my Blockbuster was a little more sensible and didn't mind us fighting with obvious scammers. Of course, the irony is that Blockbuster is probably going to vanish in 2 or 3 years...

DeputyMoniker

06-16-2008, 03:33 AM

I think I just heard Sothy laugh.

From the bedroom?

DeputyMoniker

06-16-2008, 03:53 AM

i'm really confused here! Other than the 8-bit era when EVER has NINTENDO EVER MADE A PRODUCT THAT DIDNT WORK????? It's very rare almost unheard of with nintendo. Now sony on the other hand that's a whole different ballgame.

mike

You're a little too far on that side of the fence. The N64 analog stick craps out. The DS hinges used to break. The Virtualboy stand breaks. Some Wii's grind discs. Yeah, Nintendo makes what should be considered a "sturdy product," but on occasion, like everything else in the world, they "don't work."

SpyHunter

06-16-2008, 08:23 AM

This is really a fine line. While I do believe Joe did the right thing because sometimes you just have to take a stand. The store will undoubtedly lose some sales over this. Word of mouth is very powerful and when this guy starts telling his story to his friends or anybody else who will listen, he will slant it and embellish it to make Joe look like Hitler. If it makes a few people go to Gamestop instead to buy their games, then the store is hurt in the end.

Buyatari

06-16-2008, 08:50 AM

I dont agree wtih BUYATARI... the guy knew he was breaking the rules(I am sure you need a receipt to return something). If he got a break in the past, you dont have a right to get a break in the future. Since when do you give someone a break, and then they expect one every single time? I dont think that is how it works. A break is just that, you shouldnt expect it every single time. If you dont realize the difference, that is not the store owners fault.

He might have been a bad seed and there may have been nothing you could have done other than just ban him but I would have set him straight with some hard guidelines after the first case and he may have fallen right in line. Then if he tried it again I'd say thats it. Joe seems to work on the honor system. Many things are not locked up and the rules are not very strict compared with every other game store. It is a videogame Utopia and I feel he believes people are attracted to it for its uniqueness.

Captain Wrong

06-16-2008, 09:43 AM

All my retail experiences have been corporate, where the customer seems to always be right, even when he isn't. The only time I've ever had management put the smack down was my old gig, where ther system flags customers for excessive returns. (This place has a very liberal return/exchange policy.) Basically, this couple got flagged for buying and exchanging DVDs over and over, more or less using the store for rentals. The best part was, when they came through my line and I had to explain to them that they were on a moratorium from returning goods, all of a sudden, neither person in this Asian couple could speak English...despite the fact that they'd been buying and exchanging English language DVDs that didn't have any Asian language subtitles. That was a fun one. LOL

tom

06-17-2008, 05:47 AM

Don't mess with Joe, he once banned (the whole of) Belgium from Digital Press, without giving it a second thought.

Lostdwarf

06-18-2008, 07:58 AM

So a buddy and I went down to the Digial Press store yesterday and as we're walking around the corner we start to find pieces of what looked like a computer. Here is what we saw in the order we saw it.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/6.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/5.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/4.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/2.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/3.jpg

By this point we figured it was a cd-rom of some type after seeing the eye. But low and behold after we turned the corner this is what we saw

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t200/bionicledwarf/7.jpg

Could this be an angry customer? A warning sign to others? Did Joe create a smashmyps1.com? I can only imagine what happened here.

Mike

SpoonMan54321

06-18-2008, 11:40 AM

You're a little too far on that side of the fence. The N64 analog stick craps out. The DS hinges used to break. The Virtualboy stand breaks. Some Wii's grind discs. Yeah, Nintendo makes what should be considered a "sturdy product," but on occasion, like everything else in the world, they "don't work."

let's not forget the infamous flying wii-motes of doom.

Vectorman0

06-18-2008, 11:45 AM

Could this be an angry customer? A warning sign to others? Did Joe create a smashmyps1.com? I can only imagine what happened here.

Mike

Joe has previously mentioned doing this in front of customers, immediately after paying out a few dollars/credit for it being traded in.

Lostdwarf

06-18-2008, 11:49 AM

thats awesome

OMF2097

06-18-2008, 12:34 PM

Joe has previously mentioned doing this in front of customers, immediately after paying out a few dollars/credit for it being traded in.

I vote for the first annual Digital Press: Nihilistic System Smash. We can start by destroying all but one RCA Studio II's that exist in this world:)

Lostdwarf

06-18-2008, 01:08 PM

i vote e.t.

NoahsMyBro

06-18-2008, 03:38 PM

I vote for the first annual Digital Press: Nihilistic System Smash. We can start by destroying all but one RCA Studio II's that exist in this world:)

Judaism maintains a principle called Tikkun Olam (http://handsongulfcoast.blogspot.com/2007/03/tikkun-olam-to-repair-world.html) - it holds that everybody is obligated to try and improve/fix/better the world. (If I understand it correctly.)

Perhaps eradicating Studio IIs could be DP's own Tikkun Olam. :-D

Icarus Moonsight

06-18-2008, 03:58 PM

Digital Press: The Highlander Conspiracy "They all must be R10's!"

Trebuken

06-18-2008, 04:39 PM

Sometimes customers need training. U work retail and there is ALWAYS one customer that drives you to the ends of your wits. I work for a large retailer and we can afford to accommodate the incidental loon or thief, but a small business owner has to no when to cut their losses.

I was thrown out of a store when I was young for know reason ('crazy old man'), and I am sure the young man will not soon forget the incident. You need toi be calm and straight. Don't change the tone of your voice and make sure you exp[lain to the individual why you want them one.

We often have to explain to shoplifters why they are not allowed back in the store..it seems obvious to me but there is something inexplicable about the way some people reason.