Some Companies’ Policies Are Too Good To The Customer.
How you ever heard of such a thing? My question to you is would you quit?

By: Susan Young
Staff Writer
Susan@biznetonline.com

I know a few people who work in a customer service position at a large retail establishment on the Coast. The company prides itself on the level of customer service they provide. I agree that great customer service is an asset to any company; however, in this case - customer returns - it just may be detrimental to the employees who work on commission.

At this store, the employee loses commission when items he or she sold are returned. This can be fair, if the employee can save the sale by selling another item to the same customer; however, when a customer plans on being dishonest, the employee loses the commission on the initial sale and often twice that amount. A dishonest customer is someone who buys one item with cash and steels another item of the same size and color; then returns the stolen item with the sale’s receipt and later returns the item bought legally saying it was "a gift". In this example, the customer has now made money from the company and taken twice the amount of the original purchase out of the employee’s commission.

The customer is always right, but when the customer abuses the store return policy to the level of theft, and is allowed to get away with it, many times without any warning or punishment, something is wrong! The customer is now no longer a customer. Little is done because the store claims they are making money because they are so lenient with returns. The employee seldom knows that the double return has been committed because the dishonest customers usually return the items at sister stores.

The employee is kept on just as long as he or she keeps up a certain amount of sales per month. If the level begins to fall, the employee is documented for not selling enough. A certain amount of stress is produced by the disapproval of not making one’s draw, but does the mis-draw really lie in the salesperson’s ability to sell or the return policy. If the dishonest customers aren’t enough, the store also allows returns from years prior (i.e. I have witnessed the return of an item from twelve years prior.). The employee who sold it loses commission even after all these years.

How you ever heard of such a thing? My question to you is would you quit?

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