The Toaster Sketch

Hard to believe this really happened.  It is John Cleese and Michael Palin away from being hilarious:

Dear Wal-Mart Managment :

I would like to express my unhappiness and disappointment stemming from a recent trip to your Walmart Supercenter # 3857, located at 2151 Royal Avenue, in Monona, Wisconsin.

I went to your store on Sunday, July 11, 2010 with the seemingly simple task of returning a $29.99 Hamilton Beach toaster oven which I had purchased a few days earlier (on June 27th).  The toaster didn't work correctly, and so I wanted to return it.  I have just moved, so I had accidentally thrown out the box and accompanying papers, but I had my receipt, so I figured everything would work out fine.  I have never had a problem returning any recent purchase to any store I have shopped in, provided I had the receipt with me.

And yet, Wal-Mart managed to make this simple task a frustrating and difficult process.

I was told that since I didn't have the manual with me, I couldn't make the return.  The employee explained that she needed both a bar code to scan and the paper manual in order to complete the transaction.  She suggested that she could use the bar code off another toaster oven of the same model, if I could go get one from the shelf.  But she would need supervisor's approval to do the return since I didn't have the manual.   

I told her I thought that was ridiculous, since I had the receipt, but that she should call her supervisor while I went with my daughter to find the toaster oven on the shelf.  When I returned with the product, the clerk informed that her manager said I could do an exchange, but I couldn't get a refund without the paper manual.  

I told her that was unacceptable.  Why would I want a new copy of the same device, if the one I bought a week ago doesn't work?   She said she could get the supervisor to come down to the counter to explain it to me.

The supervisor arrived, and told me the same thing: I could get a new copy of the malfunctioning appliance.  They would take the manual out of the new one and keep it with the one I was returning.  I explained to her also, that I didn't want another Hamilton Beach Toaster Oven, as the one I had didn't work correctly.  You would sell me an item without the manual?  I was unwilling to accept that as a solution.  

Then the supervisor said she could arrange for me to receive store credit.  I also found this an unacceptable response.  After all this time, the best the supervisor could offer was store credit, when I had a receipt?  Unbelievable.

I asked her to call her supervisor, she walked off saying she would.  I never saw or heard from her again.

While we waited for a possible response, another supervisor happened on the scene.  The first clerk again explained the problem:  I wanted to return an item without the paper manual, but I had a receipt.  The second supervisor said: "It's our policy that you need all the paperwork that comes in the box."  I began reading out-loud the "Wal-Mart Returns Policy" poster hanging on the wall behind her. (http://www.walmart.com/cp/Returns-Policy/538459#37440 )  It stated quite clearly that items could be returned within 90 days, provided the receipt was present.  None of the exceptions listed pertained to small appliances, nor did any of the exceptions mention needing the paper manual.

This second supervisor walked out of the room, without another word to me.  She did not return. 

Shortly after that, a store manager arrived, perhaps called by the first supervisor.

He heard the explanation from the Returns desk employee, and said, "You should do the refund."  She said she would do so, but explained that this was contrary to her training.  

It is simply unbelievable that you have policies in place designed to complicate a simple return.  I also find it hard to believe that your managers and supervisors are all so powerless or disinterested, or both as to let a customer remain in such an unsatisfied state.  I can't imagine another store where not one but TWO supervisors would walk away from an unhappy customer without saying another word, without coming back to see if my problem was resolved, without caring one way or another how it turned out.  This is what passes for customer service in your store?  I find it appalling.

Why would anyone want to shop in your store when they are treated this way?  Is it by treating people with such little concern that Wal-Mart became the successful retailer that it is today?  

I look forward to your response.  Is this typical for Wal-Mart customer service?  Is this how you train your supervisors to help people?  As this was one of my first experiences at Wal-Mart, your response will help me determine if I shall continue shopping with you.

Is this seat taken?

Our family frequents the La Quinta Inn when we travel. They are the most dog friendly chain that we have come across. There is no additional fee for our pup and no deposit required.

La Quinta serves a free breakfast for guests. Generous seating is always available, but it has been our experience that finding a high chair is like striking gold; it just doesn't happen often at all. Why on earth would a hotel exclude a high chair from the seating options? It is not an expensive purchase. I wouldn't think it would impact any insurance policy since the hotel allows children. The lack of highchairs seems to be a ridiculous oversight across the chain.

But don't think that La Quinta is the only commercial enterprise offender. Dear Starbucks has a similar problem. Though Starbucks is even odder in practice. Our recent trip to a Bloomfield, NJ location revealed that the entire store only offered one highchair for patrons. One highchair? Do you offer one seat for adults to share? Of course not. Adults have generous seating options from the wooden wipe clean seats to the comfy cushioned chairs. But our small children get to wiggle on our laps as we look enviously on at the one parent that snagged the only available highchair. I'd like to say that this experience was unique to this specific location but that is not the case. Many starbucks only offer only the one highchair.

~Special Follow Up~

Before we were able to post this entry, we got a call from Morgan, Manager of La Quinta in Fairfield. It seems that the email I sent through the www.lq.com site complaining about the lack of highchairs reached an actual human being with common sense! Morgan apologized profusely and said that a few highchairs were being purchased today!!! He attempted to explain bizarre policy that doesn't make the various individual La Quinta Hotels account for high chairs on site. I won't even bore you with the bizarreness of the further explanation. Since I won't be back to the Fairfield La Quinta anytime soon, I will have to trust in Morgan and his dedication to righting the wrong. But high fives all around to what appears to be excellent customer service follow up for La Quinta Inns & Suites!

We also received an email from Starbucks in regard to the follow up to our experience that we sent via email on the corporate site. They claim that they are looking into the highchair issue. They also stated that free drink coupons were on route to our address as a way to welcome us back to their stores.

It was a day of good customer service follow up!

And this is what we look for.  We know that not everyday is a company's best day, and that mistakes happen.  We don't demand perfection.  Our question is: What does a company do about a problem when we bring it to their attention?

Both Starbucks and La Quinta made an effort to fix the problem.  Kudos to both!!

Wrapped up in books

A child-friendly shopping experience we can't say enough about is Book Sales, specifically the Keene Public Library sale.

Our home is overflowing with books new and old. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying a book sale. And our absolute favorite type of sale is the set price per bag of books. This usually doesn't happen until the final day of a sale but we've never been disappointed by the leftovers. And our children love being handed a large bag that they can fill with absolutely any book they want.

Good old Keene Public Library offers a $5 per bag day on the final day of their Fall and Spring book sale. They even give you a bonus bag for free! The workers of Keene Public Library practice common sense and realize that all of the remaining books will have to be put into storage~ and who wants to do that work? And ultimately, a book in someone's hand is worth more than a book languishing on a shelf. We happily left the last Keene sale with 4 enormous bags of books and a giant box of a children's collection of 10 volumes with just $15 given out of pocket. Kudos to you, Keene Public Library!

A second Scoop of Friendlys

Our journeys recently offered us another chance to test out the Friendly's Menu.

The last time we visited them, it didn't work out very well. Friendly's uses a splashy, complicated, multi-tiered menu for kids, that appears to be deliberately designed to trick parents into spending more than they might have originally thought when heading out for lunch. So after our last visit, we called them, and told them so. The customer service operator apologized for our poor experience, and sent us a small gift card to make up for our troubles. She said they change the menus often, and she'd send our comments to the design team, so maybe our next visit would be a happier one.

Well, the follow up visit was better. Not fabulous, but more along the lines of what you'd expect. They had, indeed, changed the children's menu and it was slightly easier to follow along. We still don't understand why you need to give kids a choice to sort of "super size" their meals with different desserts. It is just plain confusing. But I suppose we should throw out some sort of kudos to Friendly's for attempting to simplify their previously horrendous menu with a less messy update.

As always, the offerings at Friendly's for vegetarians are abysmal.

can't touch this

www.springfieldmuseums.org

Our family decided to explore the Springfield museum quadrangle this past weekend. We took the two hour car ride down; excited to run around in the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden and peruse the different museums. As parents, we new that the sculpture garden would be a necessary accent to the museum experience. As interested in art and exploration as our children are at a young age, they still want to run & play for the bulk of the day. Just heading to a quiet and reserved art museum wouldn't be the best outing.

We arrived and quickly found the free parking lot that is steps from the central entrance where you purchase passes for ALL of the museums at one price. The entrance fee is a little steep, but they do offer an AAA discount and children under 2 are free. Since you buy your tickets in the Science Museum, we explored it first.

We started at the bottom level which is devoted to displays of aquatic life (real and fake) and to amphibians. Our kids loved this level! We had perfect timing and got to witness a Bearded Dragon being fed live crickets. One room had tons of drawers filled with fossils, skins, etc. that could be pulled out and examined. Jack would have happily stayed in this room all day just opening and shutting the drawers; nirvana for a 15 month old baby! The rest of the museum was devoted to old school stuffed animal exhibits and shiny gemstones that were enoyable to view. And before we left for our next spot, we picked up a few small items in the well stocked gift shop.

It was nearing an early lunch time at this point. Perfect timing to spill out into the sunshine and the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. Or so we thought. The very first thing that caught our eye was a sign in the grass declaring "Please don't climb on the sculptures." Really? We didn't take this as a good omen. What sick mind creates a Dr. Seuss sculpture garden for families only to dictate that you can look but you can't touch? Since the grass was still damp, we sat on a rock patio that held The Lorax sculpture in the very middle. And as we snacked, we watched the crab-apple guard glaring at us to ensure we were keeping a good distance from the art. Sheesh!

After we snacked, we checked out the rest of the sculptures. All were quite lovely. The main piece had a wide bronze walkway down its middle. But were you allowed to walk upon it? Of course not. And do kids understand this rule? Of course not. The experience was absolutely muted by this ridiculous no climbing rule. Imagine if the much beloved Alice in Wonderland sculpture found within Central Park in NYC had such a rule! I have cherished memories of climbing all over that sculpture and having conversations with the various bronze characters as I touched the shiny metal.

"A favorite of children, the mushrooms and figures have become smooth and polished over the years as pint-sized feet have climbed over them to the top of this 11 foot structure while using their tiny fingers to grab hold of Alice’s hand or the Hare’s ears for support." - Central Park 2000 This is what we were looking forward to. This is the experience we drove down to have. It's not what we got.

Sculptures are inherently tactile, outdoor sculpture gardens even moreso. To set up a children's themed garden and then tell them not to touch it, made the trip very unsatisfying.

A new direction

www.stopandshop.com

We were loyal customers of Shaw's Supermarket until last weekend. Not wanting to ignore the strike at Shaw's distribution center, we decided to do our weekly shopping at the Stop and Shop in Milford. Boy, are we glad we stumbled into this store!

Stop and shop has a brand new way of food shopping that we adore. Upon entry, you scan your loyalty card at a large display of scanner guns. Once your card is processed, a scanner lights up for you to take. Game on! Now, as you walk through the store making your selections, you scan the item and bag it right in your cart. The scanner logs your groceries, tracks the prices, and offers coupons not advertised. If you make an error, simply remove the item from your cart and from your scanner log. When you are done shopping, you go to the check out line, enter your scanner, and suddenly every item you purchased rings up with the cashier. You can then hand over additional coupons and the cashier will enter them for you as the scanner can't read paper coupons. You pay and out you go! Perfection!

How much fun will shopping be for our technology loving 8 year old when we let her control the scanning? No more begging to be left out of the boring grocery run! And I should also mention that prices were cheaper on a lot of every day items. A can of soup at Shaw's is typically $2.19 for the brand I purchase. At Stop and Shop, the price was $1.79. That's a savings that can't be ignored!

At at our local (Milford) Stop and Shop, the customer service was also shockingly fabulous! A shout out to the young stock-boy who saw us questioning the price of an item. He recognized a chance to pitch his store positively and he went for it. He is the sole reason we are now Stop and Shop customers. At that moment, we had no idea this scanning system was in place as we had walked right by the display. This young man was so friendly and so thorough in his explanations that we went right back to the display and got our scanner. When we passed him a second time, he waved and asked if we were enjoying the experience. Well done! And our cashier was patient as we stumbled through the new check out process with the help of her kind guidance.

Nice work, Stop and Shop! We look forward to exploring this new relationship.

That's mighty fine pie

Perhaps we're just weird, but we like true customer service. In fact, we expect it. Unfortunately, in this day of phone trees and automated responses, it doesn't occur often. Today we experienced the best and the worst of it at the Home and Garden Show in Durham.

We might as well get the icky out of the way first.

Many people working at the trade shows we've attended recently seem to not understand why they are there. Let us (gently) remind you: give out samples, talk up your company, maybe make a sale... Overall, create a positive impression for potential new customers.

Speaking to the creepy older gentleman representing Wick-It Cool Candles who felt it okay to smear scented candle wax all over my hand while commenting on Victoria's Secret and attempting to massage my digits. Could it get any worse? No sale. And to the incredibly crabby lady with the flavored dips, if you want to increase your customer base, I would highly recommend you ditch the desire to critique the amount of free samples people are consuming and to absolutely rethink negative comments on attendees' kids. Not smart.

But some vendors get it, and they get it right. Simply, they are friendly. They smile and give some information about their company. They know that samples that aren't given away represent missed customers. They know that families with children present are families consisting of future customers. We leave their booths happy. We like them and we follow up on their companies.

For instance: the lady in the Cabot Cheese booth (www.cabotcheese.coop) who happily offered all of her cheese flavors to our family and was smitten by our son Jack, offering him a job with the company (in eighteen years or so...) And the people from Lakonia Olives (www.lakoniagreekproducts.com) who quickly explained their company history and offered fine samples of their olives and oils.

But far an above the pack, we loved our interactions with Saffie's Neighborhood Bakery (www.nhbakery.com).

Greg and Kathryn offered samples of several types of delicious Whoopie Pies to our whole family. Want another taste? Fine. When we came back to buy a few pies for the road, Greg gave us an extra Woopie Pie, since Ophelia kept giving her samples to Jack. And Kathryn gave Avery a gigantic cookie-- just because. We are officially huge fans of Saffie's. Thanks for their great service and attention at the show. Kudos to these folk who recognize their customer base and roll out the red carpet.