I don’t think I am a Diva when it comes to my expectations for customer service. Perhaps you will think otherwise. But, I feel that companies should treat me as if I was their number one customer - even if I am just one of many. Here are just two very recent examples where retailers have refused to go out of their way, and due to this the “diva” in me will rethink my future dealings with them.
A week ago we bought a floor fan at Costco. I am now eight months pregnant so the bedroom is hot even with the AC on. It was a nice stainless look fan, at a Costco price. We put it together at home and used it that night. About half way through the night the fan started making a load noise. This Sunday we stopped in at Costco to return the fan. I should note, there is no Costco in my town so we have to go out of the way to shop there. We shop there about twice a month and likely spend about $200 a month there, if not more. We never go there twice in one week.
When we arrived there was of course a nice long line for returns. There were six staff behind the desk. Two appeared to be working on the membership side (not signing up an members), and four others working on returns helping two customers. We stood in line for 20 minutes with our broken fan. When we go to the front we gave the folks at the desk the broken fan, explained that it was not working and that we bought it one week earlier. The girl looks at the box, and then asks us if we have the remote that came with it. My husband suggested she look in the box, it wasn’t there. We should have said it didn’t come with one, but we said we weren’t sure if it might be at home. So she refused to return it…without the remote. Why would they need the remote back when the fan doesn’t work? Why do I need to waste more of my time driving back to Costco to return a remote worth fifty-cents? In reality, Costco will just return the product to the manufacturer. Do you think the manufacturer is going to tell Costco that they can’t return it without the wee-little useless remote? Considering the fact that I am obviously pregnant and just stood in line for 20 minutes - you would think they would be slightly more accommodating!
I probably should expect poor customer service at Wal-mart. They aren’t exactly known for their incredible customer service. I went there today to pick up a few items. One item didn’t have a price tag/scan code when I got up to the cash. Instead of calling the department she told me (again the pregnant customer!) to go and grab another one with a tag. Are you kidding me? What if I was shopping with my three year old and had him sitting in the shopping cart? Would I have to wheel my cart out of the line, back into the store to locate the product with a tag? Is it my problem that product was missing tags? By asking me to go and get another one, it certainly made me feel as though it was.
While I can’t say I will never shop at these stores again, I will consider how I shop there. Since I have learned that returns at Costco aren’t as “friendly” as they once were I will consider impulse purchases, and will evaluate every purchase of electronics. For Wal-mart I will simply look at other more customer-service friendly retailers before setting foot in Wal-mart to save a few cents.



