What Not to Say
I think it’s a fair assumption to say that I am well-versed in all things retail. My particular specialty was placating angry or disgruntled customers. See, I’m of the opinion that if a customer is unhappy, it’s the retail establishment’s obligation to rectify the situation. So when I, as a customer, get jacked around, I know how to dance the dance.
Recently, Kevin ordered me three more Story People prints. I love these prints; in fact, my entire family owns several, along with sculptures and the like. Instead of ordering direct from the artist, we chose to go through gallery in Maine. This is where the problem started. Abacus Gallery, who will not get the benefit of a link from me, completely dropped the ball. After a grand total of 11 emails and four phone calls, no one was able to give us the status of our order. The day that we did receive part of it, we were told that our order would be shipping soon. Um, hello? We already got it. When I emailed AGAIN to say that we needed to cancel the remaining order and would need a refund, or we would dispute the charges, I was FINALLY contacted. The lady on the other end of the phone obviously did not understand the song and verse (that go with the dance). She informed me that she “did not need to be trained” how to do her job, and that I did not need to elevate the situation by disputing the VISA charges.
ARE YOU FRICKIN’ KIDDING ME? I was calm and reasonable, but firm. At no point did I raise my voice. I simply restated my position: They failed to follow-up with a customer, and now the customer was irritated. When she finally got to the part about “I want to give you something to make you happy”, I told her that we would not be using their “services” in the future, but the one thing they could do was assure me that they would not treat future patrons with such apathy. Then she hung up on me. Bitch.
The moral of the story? Once again, it’s Caveat Emptor. But shouldn’t it also be that the customer is always right?
Oh, and one more: Don’t shop at Abacus Gallery in Maine. They don’t care about their customers.
Leave a Reply