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#1
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Or maybe a reason to hate what store managers have become. Yesterday, I went to Staples to pick up a couple of cheap prepaid long distance phone cards, anticipating some lengthly conference calls while I'm on a trip next week. I like to give the company a break rather than have them pay for the outrageous markup on a long distance call from a hotel room and this is a sensible way to do it that gives me a receipt for reimbursement. So anyway, the deal was two 75 minute cards for $10. I picked up the two two from the pile and went to the register to check out. I had a couple of other things that I wanted rung up separately, so there were two transactions. I didn't pay attention to the credit card total when I signed it (you know, scanned, computers never make mistakes . . . ) That was my fault. I should have caught it there. So I get home, peel the glue off the cards and get ready to put them in my travel bag when I notice that one of them is a 150 minute card. I look at the receipt and see that instead of $10.45, it's for $21.something, with one card at $7.49 (the regular price of a 75 minute card, even though the "special" sign said, below the $10 for two price "$5 for one"), and the other card for $13.49. This morning I went back to the store with the receipt and the cards to straighten it out. The nice lady at the customer service counter apologized for the confusion and said she'd just give me a refund for the 150 minute card, and let me keep it for my trouble. So she started scanning and punching numbers into the computer, and it told her that the card couldn't be returned. So she called the mangager over to see if he could make it work. He was only willing to refund both cards and sell me new ones, but since that was all I was really entitled to, I said OK and he got to work. He tried a couple of times and couldn't make the computer accept the refund either. I suggested that perhaps it was because there was no way to tell whether I had used the cards or not, so he called the access phone number and verified that the cards still had their original value, but still, he couldn't override the computer's refusal to process the return. Finally he phoned someone else, explained the situation, and got a number which I assumed was some authorization from on high that allowed him to override the program. When he handed me the credit receipt, it was for the correct amount, but the item refunded wasn't the phone cards, it was "Self service copy center." If a real person was allowed to make decisions, this would have been simple and taken just a minute instead of involving three people (not counting the automated response to confirm that the cards were unused) and about twenty minutes. This reminds me of a song on Ricky Scaggs' new live album called "I Live The Simple Life." He sings about a little home, a nice family, the bible, and then ends up with: "A cell phone when my old car dies" "The Internet to show me where, a GPS to show me where" Gimme the simple life. -- I'm really Mike Rivers - ) |
#2
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
So anyway, the deal was two 75 minute cards for $10.
Or you could have gone to Costco and got 670 minutes for 19.99! --------------------------------------- "I know enough to know I don't know enough" |
#3
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Mike Rivers wrote:
This reminds me of a song on Ricky Scaggs' new live album called "I Live The Simple Life." He sings about a little home, a nice family, the bible, and then ends up with: "A cell phone when my old car dies" "The Internet to show me where, a GPS to show me where" Great song, written by Harley Allen (Red Allen's son). You can hear Ricky sing it live tonight on the folk festival webcast that I mentioned in my earlier post. (Actually, its "....a GPS to get me there".) Of course, since the festival took place less than a week after Ricky recorded his live album, it won't sound much different from the record g. |
#4
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Oh man I hear ya- overly dependent and rigid computer world we have created.
Thank goodness things never stay the same- too bad changes sometimes take decades! C "Mike Rivers" wrote in message news:znr1062265016k@trad... Or maybe a reason to hate what store managers have become. Yesterday, I went to Staples to pick up a couple of cheap prepaid long distance phone cards, anticipating some lengthly conference calls while I'm on a trip next week. I like to give the company a break rather than have them pay for the outrageous markup on a long distance call from a hotel room and this is a sensible way to do it that gives me a receipt for reimbursement. So anyway, the deal was two 75 minute cards for $10. I picked up the two two from the pile and went to the register to check out. I had a couple of other things that I wanted rung up separately, so there were two transactions. I didn't pay attention to the credit card total when I signed it (you know, scanned, computers never make mistakes . . . ) That was my fault. I should have caught it there. So I get home, peel the glue off the cards and get ready to put them in my travel bag when I notice that one of them is a 150 minute card. I look at the receipt and see that instead of $10.45, it's for $21.something, with one card at $7.49 (the regular price of a 75 minute card, even though the "special" sign said, below the $10 for two price "$5 for one"), and the other card for $13.49. This morning I went back to the store with the receipt and the cards to straighten it out. The nice lady at the customer service counter apologized for the confusion and said she'd just give me a refund for the 150 minute card, and let me keep it for my trouble. So she started scanning and punching numbers into the computer, and it told her that the card couldn't be returned. So she called the mangager over to see if he could make it work. He was only willing to refund both cards and sell me new ones, but since that was all I was really entitled to, I said OK and he got to work. He tried a couple of times and couldn't make the computer accept the refund either. I suggested that perhaps it was because there was no way to tell whether I had used the cards or not, so he called the access phone number and verified that the cards still had their original value, but still, he couldn't override the computer's refusal to process the return. Finally he phoned someone else, explained the situation, and got a number which I assumed was some authorization from on high that allowed him to override the program. When he handed me the credit receipt, it was for the correct amount, but the item refunded wasn't the phone cards, it was "Self service copy center." If a real person was allowed to make decisions, this would have been simple and taken just a minute instead of involving three people (not counting the automated response to confirm that the cards were unused) and about twenty minutes. This reminds me of a song on Ricky Scaggs' new live album called "I Live The Simple Life." He sings about a little home, a nice family, the bible, and then ends up with: "A cell phone when my old car dies" "The Internet to show me where, a GPS to show me where" Gimme the simple life. -- I'm really Mike Rivers - ) |
#5
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Mike,
Very rarely it's the computer. Sometimes it's the programmer. Usually it's the manager who specified how the program should work. --Ethan |
#6
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#7
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#8
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#9
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 12:38:59 GMT, Carey Carlan
wrote: (Mike Rivers) wrote in news:znr1062265016k@trad: If a real person was allowed to make decisions, this would have been simple and taken just a minute instead of involving three people (not counting the automated response to confirm that the cards were unused) and about twenty minutes. All that takes is a real programmer writing a real override into the software. Don't blame it on "the computer", blame it on the programmer, or perhaps the programmer's supervisor who was afraid the override could be abused. Or to be fair the intended customers for the software, who may have been consulted before the software was written, and made it clear that they didn't want such an override in the software. Doughboy |
#10
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Not counting what it costs to join Costco. I still haven't decided
that I can spend enough money there to pay for the membership fee. Good point. Check out their gas prices next time you drive by. --------------------------------------- "I know enough to know I don't know enough" |
#11
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
In article "Ethan Winer" ethan at ethanwiner dot com writes: Very rarely it's the computer. Sometimes it's the programmer. Usually it's the manager who specified how the program should work. Almost certainly in this case it was a decision not just of the local manager, but one of policy for the chain of stores. Kind of like Guitar Centers not accepting returns on microphones (but if they trust you and want to keep your business, they can work around it). It's just that the computer's action seemed to frustrate the customer service clerk and also the local manager. Neither had ever taken a return on a prepaid phone card before and apparently neither knew that the system was programmed not to accept one. I went through four or five computer bags at this same Staples store (and I'm still looking for one that fits my computer and lifestyle) and they never had a problem with those returns. And one time when they gave me the wrong disk drive when I was buying one with a rebate, when I discovered it after cutting off the UPC sticker to include with the rebate coupon (at that point noticing that the numbers were different), the manager on duty that day did a bogus "price match" for me, crediting the difference between the price I paid and the price after the rebate - more than generous since I got a drive with a larger buffer and didn't have to wait for the rebate check to come. So in general that store has been good to me. Probably if the manager who handled the disk drive problem had been there the day I went to exchange the phone cards, he would have simply refunded my money and told me to keep the cards. But different days, different managers, different policies. It shouldn't be that way of course, but it's nice that at least some are still willing to exercise their authority as a manager and, when there's a mistake, make the customer feel maybe a little happier than if everything had gone right with the purchase. -- I'm really Mike Rivers - ) |
#12
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#14
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#15
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
If a real person was allowed to make decisions, this would have been
simple and taken just a minute instead of involving three people (not counting the automated response to confirm that the cards were unused) and about twenty minutes. I went to Mervyns a week or two ago and wanted to buy some Levi shorts. The first batch I found was all blue. Hey, I love blue for 6 days a week, but wanted green. So I picked up a few. They were marked $32 a pair (yow!). Later on, I find in the same store, but on the discount rack, a single pair of green 550s or whatever fits me. Everything about the green was the same as the blue, but for the obvious color difference. Hey, they were both 550s, same size and all, not irregular or anything. But the green was priced for something like $20 or so. So of course I try to reason this at the register, wanting to see if I could negotiate the more expensive blues down to the green price. No deal. Only the color is different (on the actual product) and therefore the price is $12 apart. The SKU was different, and that made all the diff in the world. I donąt know what is more robotic-- the computer or the people who slavishly bow down to its might and intellectual superiority. Its a good thing I like my blue shorts a lot. -- TAPKAE http://tapkae.com "We're the cleanup crew for parties we were too young to attend" (Kevin Gilbert) |
#16
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
And just wait until you get screwed by the phone card company. Wait until they charge you a minimum $1 for each call. Wait until they deduct $1/week service fee. I once got a phone card. I used it for a 3 minute call and then it was expired. That was the first and last time. (or next time I will very carefully research the cards). Rob R. (Yes, I prefer microphones to ocelots...now we've talked audio.) |
#17
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
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#18
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One More Reason to Hate Computers
Computers just make it faster/more convienent to implement stupid policies.
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