Piles Upon Piles Of Rudeness
I booked and pre-paid for a tire installation at my local superstore. I arrived fifteen minutes before my appointment and waited while the elderly woman behind the counter split papers into various piles, put them all back into one pile, and then did it again. After the fourth round, I spoke up.
Me: “Um, excuse me. Can—”
Woman: “Hold on.”
She did her shuffle two more times before putting them all in one pile and turning to me.
Woman: “Yes?”
Me: “I have an appointment for—”
Woman: “What’s your name?”
Me: “Jane Smith.”
Woman: “Spell that.”
Me: “J-A-N—”
Woman: “Hold on, not so fast. J…”
Me: “…A.”
Woman: “Okay.”
Me: “…N. E. Smith. S—”
Woman: “Your tires aren’t here.”
Me: “Oh. The app says they are, and I have an appointment for—”
Woman: “Okay, well, our system says they’re not.”
Me: “Okay, what—”
Woman: “Okay, I found them. It’s under Jane Smith, not John Smith.”
Me: “Yes, that’s what I—”
Woman: “Oh, the tires you ordered were wrong. You need [Other Brand] [size I ordered], and they’re $40 more per tire.”
Me: “That’s the same size I ordered. What—”
Woman: “Look, it happens a lot. People think they—”
Me: “Stop interrupting me.”
She turned away.
Me: “Okay, I want a re—”
Woman: “No refunds.”
Me: “Stop interrupting me!”
Woman: “No. Refunds.”
Me: “Okay. I want to hear your manager say that.”
She glared at me for a moment before picking up the phone to page for a manager over the loudspeaker.
Manager: “Hi, how can I—”
Woman: “She wants a refund because she ordered the wrong tires. I told her we have the right ones in stock, but she insists.”
Manager: *To me* “Okay, we can do an exchange or a refund. That’s up to you, miss.”
Me: “A refund, please.”
Manager: “Okay, if you’ll follow me to customer service, I can get that squared away.” *As we are walking* “You’re just getting your money back because they’re the wrong tires, right?”
Me: “Actually, it’s because the woman back there ignored me when I arrived, asked me questions and then cut me off when I tried to answer, and tried to say I ordered the wrong tires but offered the same size.”
Manager: *Sigh* “I’m sorry. I will address that with her.”
I got my money back and went to a different company. My tires were more expensive, but they confirmed I had ordered the right size and did the entire swap in under half an hour.
I went online later and found many reviews about [Woman] treating customers exactly the way she treated me.