I have to differ a bit with you on this Bill. Mostly agree. There are customers who set out to rip off retailers. Those who purchase an item for the time they need to use it and then return it, for example.
It was not Steve it was Christian with the G11, according to the way I read. :-) IMO, there was no dishonesty involved. He brought the item back stating it stopped working. That was true. He was not asked anything further. Best Buy simply returns the item as defective, Canon refurbishes, and yes somewhere, somehow, on this individual item profit is diminished, but then again as you point out... maybe not since the pricing of the item was in place before the camera was purchased and returned. That being the case, one could reasonably argue there's no loss suffered at all, as Canon has a rough statistical idea of how many cameras will be returned, regardless of reason. Sears, as you know has made it a practice on their Craftsman hand tools to replace items, no receipt, no questions asked, regardless of how the item was abused. Do we pay for that policy at the get go when purchasing a Craftsman hand tool? Yes we do. But I, for one, like the idea that I can use a flat blade screwdriver for a crowbar and when it breaks I simply walk in and say 'it broke'. Salesman says 'Oh, OK go get another'. It's proven to be a successful policy, as far as I can tell. The system also works because that extra nickel, dime, dollar, that's tacked on by the mfr. and/or retailer is so often not used up, and extra profit is generated by it. So who's benefiting? Tom C. On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 9:49 AM, William Robb <war...@gmail.com> wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "mike wilson" > Subject: Re: Leica M9 > > > >>> >>> Can't believe you did that. Hate to step on your or anyone's toes but >>> instead of taking responsibility you ripped them off and knew so. > >> >> No. I disagree. I was in customer service for a decade or so. The customer >> is always right and you never say "no." >> >> There are stories of retail clothing stores taking snow tires in exchanges >> from customers. I worked in the hotel business and never said "no" even >> though I knew the hotel guests were full of shit and I pounded it into my >> employees head that they should never say "no." >> >> The guy at BestBuy could have asked what happened but as a good customer >> service person he did not. I'm a terrible liar and I would have confessed >> if asked if it got wet. I totally take responsibility for wrecking the >> camera as I've admitted to what happened here and to all my friends and >> family. i made an attempt to recover my loss and was successful. My >> conscience is clear. > > Very interesting perspective. Is this common practice? > > > It seems to be fairly common in North America, where the vast majority seem > to feel that lacking integrity is a virtue. Add to that the tired old horse > about the customer always being right (he isn't) and it adds up to some > interesting times for retailers. > > The same people who do what Steve did, which is essentially stealing, are > also the first to bleat about high prices, seemingly witless about the fact > that prices are padded to take this sort of behaviour into account, and so > they are adding to the very thing they are sawing off about. > And then they whine because manufacturing jobs are sent overseas so that > companies can try to save a few dollars here and there to stay competitive. > > It's an odd game. I scrap close to a thousand dollars a week in unsalable > product that customers return, having screwed something up and have decided > to try to do precisely what Steve did, which is hide the evidence and hope > no one asks, or who have found a loophole in the system that allows them to > steal from us. > And I am merely one department in a small home improvement store. > > I'm all for giving good customer service, and I'll bend over backwards to > give it, but the assholes who knowing steal from us under the theory that > the customer is always right make it very difficult. > The customer is always right as long as the customer is also always honest. > As soon as the customer fails at his end of that contract, he has become a > petty shoplifter. > But, knowing that giving "bad" customer service is the greater of the two > evils, good retailers let themselves get stolen from in this manner because > the bad PR from not doing so is worse. > The only reason the system works is because the vast majority of customers > are honest, it is a small minority whose conscience can allow them to rip > off a store and stay clear. > The honest ones pay a little more for everything to make up for the losses > that we suffer because of the dishonest ones. > > William Robb > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
