Just got back from your kiosk in Scotia Square where you refused to sell me a new cell phone as you’re “doing an inventory.” So, you can’t sell me a phone because you’re too busy counting the phones? Curious. And when I ask how long the inventory will take, you just say you don’t know. Strange way of doing business. Not sure RB would approve. —Just Want to Hand Over Cash for a Phone</b
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2010.
so, no other company’s phone would do? that must be some phone,can you reach the shuttle when it goes into orbit, or is it just for textring and shhit? the reason i ask you that, is because, i can’t see me wasting more than 30 seconds before saying to said douchebag, that he just lost a sale, plus 10 other people you know, that were going to get one too.that should fuck them up a bit.word of mouth is a powerful thing,put the name here,so everyone can not buy a phone or shit from them.
Typically, companies will shut down for a day to do inventory. Unless they’re a massive big-box store. The big-box stores have the resources to do something as complicated as inventory overnight.
Take it easy on them. It’s a corporate decision, and they’re just doing their job. Meanwhile, is it that Virgin cellphone that important you can’t wait a day? You need to give Richard Branson more money?
LS : Nothing special, just that the Mergin-Vobile (LOL) kiosk in SS is most convenient for me.
And yes, another retailer did get my 100+ bucks…
Dr. F : It’s a tiddly kiosk – it’s maybe 10 minutes to count what they’ve got (there were 2 of ’em working on it).
Couldn’t they have just taken one off the count for the ‘phone I bought at the end?
I’ve always thought the idea of being in business is to sell your service or product first, offer great support and service second and everything else comes afterwards….?
Anyway, the $ have been spent elsewhere – not a huge loss to RB but still silly.
I agree with you, STL. The object of a business is to makes sales, and it seems STUPID that they wouldn’t sell you their product because they were counting it.
Unless they had signs up saying “closed” (did they?), then wtf?
STL— In the case of a full count, no. Depending how it’s done, cell phones need to be counted and ensured that the ESNs/Serial no. match with the actual product, ensure that the ESNs/Serial no. haven’t been registered, so it’s far more complicated than taking stock of the 50 or so cell phones that they may have in stock. Then, they need to count the actual physical static merchandise like sales terminals and security locks. Then, finally after all of that, they would need to account for any missing merchandise, or what is known in the business as “shrink”. That is the real time consuming aspect of it. You have to go through sales records, then shipping records… I hope you get the picture.
Speaking from experience, any retailer (especially high-theft electronics) is more concerned about stock than your business. 1 missing/lost/stolen cell phone costs the company more money than you’ll ever give them. Any retailer that tells you differently is lying, sorry to say.
As I mentioned, you don’t see it most bigger retailers because they do it overnight because they have the workforce to support it. In the case of the “tiddly” kiosk, the two working it are probably the only people that were willing to work it and potentially the only people that the management could trust with it.
DF : Thanks for the information. However, if counting their stock is genuinely more important than selling their stock, there’s definitely something wrong. The sales generate the profit; knowing what you’re missing doesn’t.
I’m not saying that doing an inventory check isn’t important, I’m just saying that turning a cash-paying customer away can’t be a good business decision.
Why couldn’t they just record the ESN etc. of the phone they could have sold me and then correct their inventory at the end for the sale, and have the extra $150 in their register?
FUCK, why is this bitch not happening between you and La Virgin? Maybe they would throw in a fridge magnet or something for your trouble.
K : Because the whole point of this forum is to bitch and poke fun at the situation.
Knowing what you’re missing costs more profit than you might think. Depending on the item and the profit it generates, the loss of 1 item can cost the company the profit of 5 to10 other items, because you essentially have to write the product off. It’s a pure 100% loss, whereas they may make only 20% profit on your sale. So, for every one product they lose, they need to sell 5 more units just to keep up with the margin generated by that one loss. You can extrapolate how quickly a loss of maybe 2 or 3 phones at a kiosk like that, where they may only sell 2 or 3 phones a day, would be quite the concern. So, if they even find that one elusive phone, that wasn’t properly entered into inventory properly counts as 5 potential sales.
As to the sale itself, most modern POS deduct the sale from the on-hand numbers, so, all of a sudden, you’d need to account for 2 lost cell phones in the system, even though technically, they’ve sold you one, and they realize that. That can be frustrating when you’re trying to account for multiple lost units. Also, some POS systems lock down when they’re in inventory mode, and most places now no longer can process manual transactions, as everything is tied to their sales systems.
I appreciate what you’re saying. It’s not fair and it’s frustrating from the customer point of view to have been turned away. Especially considering that you wanted to spend your money. You did the right thing and went to a different company though, and Virgin may learn from that mistake, especially considering you probably weren’t the only one they turned away that day. Perhaps they could have closed up early, and made them work a little bit longer, with more people. Who knows. I certainly can’t say what their staffing is like; although I tend to see pretty well the same people day in day out when I walk by. I’m just illustrating that it’s not always so cut and dry.
DF : I guess my final two words on this would be (1) Knowing what they’ve lost doesn’t make it come back, and (2) if their business is to sell cellphones then doing anything must be detrimental to revenue/profit.
I’m done. Thanks for the interesting alternative viewpoint.
Dear Small Time Landord,
Don’t come back to the kiosk until you’ve effectively cleaned the sand out of your vagina you dweeb.
For what it’s worth, the inventory was not a weekly store inventory (which we do every week afterhours), it was being done because ownership was being changed over and the corporate gods deemed it necessary to be done at noon, instead of the normal before or after business hours scenario. Were you totally unaware of the fact that there was an independent third party doing the inventory, she had a damn uniform on and NO ONE was helping her? Yes, there were two of us standing around, but we were unable to make any sales during this inventory because that would throw off the count and make the whole thing pretty pointless. But, I guess you didn’t have time to consider that because you were in such a rush to come on the coast and post a bitch about someone making just over minimum wage? Are you really that big of a loser? And are you really that stupid? Cell Phone salesmen/women work off commission, if we could sell you a phone WE WOULD, but we couldn’t at the time.
ps. your accent pisses me off, but the fact that you took the time to write a bitch about me (MY FIRST!!!!!!!!) really makes me happy. So come back to the kiosk anytime (when you aren’t so cranky) and I’ll gladly help you and your cheapo little phone that is popular amongst teenage girls. Seriously dude, man up and get a blackberry.
Three word which STL already did – go somewhere else
“man up and get a blackberry” LOL Awesome.
I have to admit though if the store is open for business then it is. God forbid the company should accommodate their inventory process which, uniform or not, requires the store to be closed. In that case, and if it were my business, inventory counter girl can wear her jeans to work in the evening when the store is closed. Yup, it’s going to cost a little extra to accommodate an evening shift but it won’t be at the expense of revenue, future sales and my shop being the subject of today’s bitch.
takeabath, if you were paid commission only instead of near minimum wage you’d insist on shopping in the mall, drinking coffee or reading The Coast rather than standing there to NOT do what you were hired to do but to look stupid to customers instead. Perhaps hanging the “sorry we’re closed” sign is missing from your job description?
perhaps we don’t have a closed sign. we just shutter up and call it a day. Unfortunately, like I said in my earlier post, the inventory was held during normal business hours. Again, this was not a decision by any of the employees at the store. Nor was the duration of the inventory lengthened or shortened by any employee at the store. Full store inventories are typically done by an inventory company like WIS, and this was the case when STL showed up looking for help.
STL, RB does not run VMC. He makes press appearances, but for all intensive purposes, they are owned by bell. And since that is the case, and there are only bell stores in scotia square, then you technically didn’t take your money elsewhere. you took it right back to the people that made the decision that caused you such a massive inconvenience. Thanks for giving the kiosk employees so much credit though.
“not my fault” or “I don’t make the rules” or “I just work here” (being useless to you, joe customer) = “worth minimum wage and that’s about it CSR”
Think about it.
I love the “ill take my business elsewhere” line. Good….go, GTFOOH. For every douchebag who thinks that for one second they are important enough to mutter that line, I laugh in your face. Who the fuck are you….are you bill gates, are you the hot shit you would like to think you are…no. Get over yourself, stop being a bitch and save your breath. Your last word little bullshit is meaningless, and if you need that little bit of a dig to make yourself feel better, your life is already shit to begin with. FUCKING LOSER…AMEN.
wow cuja… you’re not in retail are ya?
and virgin sucks ass if this is their policy.
I’m not expecting much backlash from takeabath (an actual employee it would seem)
since they’ve paid you to sit on your ass…
fuck em, you got a better phone from a better company no matter where you went or what you got.
Seriously, it could have been one of those 20 lb grey, brick phones with the 2 color backlit display and it’d work better than virgin any day.
are you incapable of using a cell phone? all the phones work the same regardless of the company. it’s the deals and plans that differ. And for what it’s worth, the virgin plans are pretty comparable to everyone else, and their customer service has been deemed better than the other brands.
So what exactly was your issue zzz?
uh… they blow goats.
literally.
my issue is that they blow goats.
repeatedly…
until the goats bleat for the sweet mercy of death.
and then the virgin guys deny them that sweet release until the goats are forced to bludgeon themselves to death with their own little stubby horns.
actually zzz i have worked retail, i was a manager for my family’s service station. I trained the kids and ordered all the stock as well as did the books. We had security cameras and open mic recorders for the asshole people that came up to the pump and tried to rip the place off. One guy ordered 15 dollars in gas and when my girl went and pumped it he refused to pay saying he had only asked for 5. I called him in on the PA and replayed his request. Then i told him the customer is not right when they are disrespecting another human being. He then had a choice, pay the money or we contact the police. What would YOU have done. I have absolutely NO patience for people who think they are entitled to anything. Especially when they are rude and obnoxious like it sounds the OB is.
well your statement that people shouldn’t bother stating they’re taking their business elsewhere is pretty…. well, I’m not going to mask it in any way….
it’s dumb.
and not regular dumb like flicking on the light switch when the power’s out…
or drinking toilet water because you’re drunk and thirsty…
this is D U M B.
like ” I would like to be unemployed because I fail to listen to the consumer who gave me precise instructions on how to please them” dumb.
now, ripoff artists are a different category…
but
“For every douchebag who thinks that for one second they are important enough to mutter that line, I laugh in your face.”
wow.
you’re the type of person who skoffs at the receptionist at job interviews because they’re “only the receptionist” …. when oops, they’re the CEO’s grand-daughter wanting a job for the summer….
you treat every customer nicely or your you’re… d u m b.
YOU ARE DUMB.
as in…
U R aS DuMb aS tHiS LoOkS
“I love the “ill take my business elsewhere” line. Good….go, GTFOOH. For every douchebag who thinks that for one second they are important enough to mutter that line, I laugh in your face. Who the fuck are you….are you bill gates, are you the hot shit you would like to think you are…no. Get over yourself, stop being a bitch and save your breath. Your last word little bullshit is meaningless, and if you need that little bit of a dig to make yourself feel better, your life is already shit to begin with. FUCKING LOSER…AMEN.”
That sums it up perfectly. Good post. An honest truth most bitchers here can’t seem to swallow. Take your 1 phone personal cellular account elsewhere. Rogers, Bell, Koodoo, Virgin, take your choice. Bottom line is NONE of these companies have any reason to worry about the one impatient fuck and his/her $70/month or so of business that was inconvenienced at a mall kiosk. These are established companies, they don’t give a flying snake shit about Joe Nobody (OP) taking his ever-so-precious “business” elsewhere.
“you’re the type of person who skoffs at the receptionist at job interviews because they’re “only the receptionist” …. when oops, they’re the CEO’s grand-daughter wanting a job for the summer….”
“Good thinking zzz!”
No, wait.
You and your 1 in a million scenarios. You are such a fucking clown. lol
big shoes,… check.
red ball nose….. check.
fluffy rainbow afro… check.
you’re right… every company shouldn’t bother with people… they should only cater to big corporations that matter… the little guy can fuck right off.
you realize that no-one would have a cell-phone that wasn’t a company phone if this were the case, right? and thus your keosk wouldn’t be needed… and so you’d be fuck-outta-luck.
hali, scenarios happen like this all the time.
people LIKE YOU who believe they only have to cater to the ‘right’ people to get ahead will INEVITABLY miss one person they were ‘supposed’ to be nice to and …. oops, tough shit.
Be nice to EVERYONE and you won’t have to worry about the exception cases.
btw, since we’ve taken to calling people names…
you’re a twat-weasel.
a big, hiary, floppy, fugly, “oops, I have someones cock in my nostril” twat-weasel.
lol @ zZz…..crackin me up over here!
Cuja- Do I think you were manager because of your qualities, or because it was your families’ gas station?
zZz- Is Hali your wife’s ex or something? What did you do to piss him off?
btw, thanks for the tip Hali, I’m totally going to try to find a clown zZz now…
hopefully a scary one.
we’ll see.
for now you’ll have to settle with the bear.
Wow, primitive message board set up you’ve got here admins…
No message edit function? Hello 1999…
I don’t think it’s the message board, just sayin’
“What kind of adult uses this type of language?”
Fuck right off.
there is one, you just apparently don’t know how to use it.
and I find it rather challenging to come up with witty, adjective heavy yet humorous insults.
If I wanted to grow up, would I really come on a board designed not to solve problems but to whine and complain about things we have no intent on changing???
I await your next ultra-inciteful 6th post… hopefully it beats the altruistic
“If you’re not well over 200lbs with abs, stfu OP.”
not to mention with Kay (hopefully) leaving soon, we have to have someone to point our raging hate-ons to. I graciously accept.
you side-of-head talking, sheepishly in-the-box Nova Scotian scum.
jstyle…
the j stands for jasizzlemanizzleizzlefizzleswizzleI’mtheshizzleizzlemizzlefasizzle.
Couldn’t this whole scenario been handled JUST a little bit differently?
As in
“Sorry, sir, but we will be with you in just a few minutes. The inventory-taker has to finish up these last few items and then we will be able to do sales again. Probably be ready 15 minutes or so.”
And then maybe OP could have said back, pleasantly,
“Oh, I see that you are temporarily not able to do a sale at this exact moment for reasons beyond anyone’s control. (Computer is down, power outage, inventory count by order of head office, no worries, hey, these things happen.) Perhaps I will come back in a half an hour, as buying a phone is not a life and death situation.”
Or
“Oh, well, I really do need to get a phone today, and I’m running short of time, so perhaps I will see what is available over at the other service provider. Thank you anyway!”
And then the OP could have had nice lunch at one of the many fine establishments that we all know and love.
As opposed to:
“WHAT? I need a phone NOW!!! Do you hear me? NOW!!!! This VERY SECOND!!! Not five minutes from now, NOW!! In fact, I demand that you hand over a phone this instant!!! I don’t care what your “boss” has told you what to do!! You listen to ME! OO! I’m a customer!!! I am always right!!! Don’t you know that? You OBEY ONLY MEEEEEEE!! Or . . . or . . . don’t make me say it . . . OK, you ‘ve left me no choice . . . .
I!!!! WILLLLL!!! TAKE!!!! MY!!!! BUSINESS!!!!! ELSEWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
which would explain that really loud yet far-away-sounding
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
that I heard coming from that direction around that time this was going on just before security was called . . .
Hey now, i’m getting a little more familiar with this system! haha
Still haven’t found the edit function though 🙂
zzz: This message board is clearly your paradise. Judging by your post count, you spend a lot of of time on here (i’m sure you’ve got it justified to yourself, one way or another though… lol).
On that note, I’m not stooping to your level. I feel as if i’m conversing with a teenager full of misguided anger/frustration after reading your responses/posts in general. Arguing on the internet is an utter waste of time, not to mention arguing anonymously at that. Enjoy your kingdom of complaints. You’ve earned it.
This thread is locked. Everyone needs to check themselves and their sense of civility.