The Seated Dead
HEALTH & BODY, LIARS/SCAMMERS, RETAIL, USA, WASHINGTON | HEALTHY | AUGUST 12, 2018
(I work as the customer service manager for a furniture store. While I am at lunch they make a sale of a chair from the floor. Floor sales are final. I get back from lunch and the phone rings.)
Me: “Thank you for calling [Store]. How can I help?”
Customer: “I was in earlier and bought a chair off your floor for my husband. I got home and my son told me he had the same one, so I want my money back.”
Me: *not knowing if it was special order or from the floor* “Let me check your order.”
(I pull up the invoice and see that it’s a floor item, and that she also signed the paperwork acknowledging that the sale was final.)
Me: “I’m sorry, but you purchased this from the floor. All floor sales are final.”
Customer: “But my son has the same one. I bought this for my husband so he can be comfortable, because he’s going through chemo and it’s hard for him. I don’t want the chair anymore! You have to give me my money back!”
Me: “I’m sorry that you and your husband are going through that, but you signed the paperwork acknowledging that this was a final sale.”
Customer: “You have to give me my money back! I want to speak to your manager!”
(I wave the manager over and she tells the woman the same thing. The customer huffs but gets off the phone. The next day
Me: *answers the phone* “Thank you for calling [Store]. How can I help?”
Customer: *from yesterday* “I bought a chair and don’t want it anymore. Give me a refund.”
Me: “Ma’am, as we explained yesterday, all floor sales are final. You agreed to this and signed the paperwork.”
Customer: *bursts into tears* “But I bought that chair to make things easier for my husband and he just died!”
(I can’t help but think, “Right, because the first thing I’d do after my husband passed would be to get a refund on a chair.”)
Me: “Let me get the manager.”
(I pass the phone to my manager who talks to the woman for about five minutes and decides it’s easier to just give her the refund. A couple months later, I answer the phone.)
Me: “Thank you for calling [Store]. How can I help?”
Customer: *with the chair* “Listen, [Manager], I’m looking at my statement and the money hasn’t been refunded yet. I want my money back!”
Me: “This isn’t [Manager]; this is [My Name].”
(Before I can say anything else, she cuts me off.)
Customer: “Well, I want my money back. I’m having to drive my husband to and from chemo all the time, and I’m financially hurting. Get me my money!”
(I pass the phone to my manager, who talks for a few minutes and hangs up.)
Manager: *to me* “I thought her husband died?”
Me: “It’s a miracle!”