Sour Deal

 Today was not a good day at work.

I had a family that I had been keeping in touch with for the past 3 weeks, coming into the store today, finally ready to purchase a $37,000 storage cabinet they had been eyeing on, this was their third visit to the store and they were suppose to drop by next week to enjoy some discounts from the Year End Sales, but the wife was so excited to get the item she asked her husband and son to drop by today to confirm the purchase, out of goodwill, I extended the Year End Sales discount to her.

Prior to this third meeting, the first two meetings I had with them were always friendly, I had a very nice banter with the wife and the whole family was just really great to talk to, during those meetings, I also shared with them that our items will have a waiting period of about 4 to 5 months because they are built to order from Italy and shipped over, and with the current shipping issues due to covid, there could potentially be delays, so this was something that they have been aware of since the start.

Anyways, they drop by the store today and had a chat with me about the storage cabinet they wanted to get, so I ran through the different leather options they could select from with them and advised them on which leather they should pick for easy maintenance, the wife was so excited about the options and kept asking me for advice on the colors, I could tell she really wanted the storage cabinet and we proceeded to have a really good and long chat about a few other items she thought could work with her space.

Nothing was cheap, everything is crazy expensive and she clearly wasn't going to shell out another $10,000 for a side table she probably wasn't really very interested in, so we went back to the storage cabinet and once all the customization options had been confirmed, I then excused myself to go prepare the Invoice for the customers, I requested for them to take a walk first around the mall first because it will take a while for me to prepare the invoice, in fact I told them to give me half an hour, but they insisted to just stay and laze around the showroom, so I left them on their own and as predicted, I took a bloody half an hour just to prepare the invoice for 1 Storage Cabinet because that is how inefficient, unnecessarily complicated and outdated our Invoice system is, and this was after my supervisor assisted me, if I had been alone I would have taken so much longer. 

It takes less time for me to prepare a renovation quotation back in ID4, and a renovation quote is a lot more extensive than an invoice for a single furniture item. It's fucking ridiculous how inefficient the system is.

When I was finally done and printed out the invoice for the customer to confirm that everything was in order, the mother jokingly told me I took 26 minutes to prepare the invoice because she had been counting the minutes, the son then takes a look at the invoice to vet through and pointed out that the waiting date is reflected as "3 to 4 months" instead of "4 to 5 months" that I had shared with them, a typo my supervisor had made when he was helping me with the Invoice, I apologized to them for the typo and told them I will update it to reflect the correct waiting period.

They then proceed make the initial deposit payment, which amounted to $21,000.

The mother then brings up the 4 to 5 months waiting period and ask me what would the company do if the product doesn't arrive after 5 months. The correct answer would be nothing, we can't do anything because if there is a delay, it is something that is beyond our control, but my dumbass decided to say...

"Oh, if it delays, we can loan you one of our storage cabinets first. We have an incoming shipment that we can probably loan to you guys if we end up facing a delay."

....because that was what a few of my colleagues had done when their customer's order got delayed, tables were loaned, sofas were loaned, chairs were loaned. I figured if they could loan those items, then I could probably loan a storage cabinet as well.

As I went back to prepare the receipt for them and I decided to tell my colleagues about the customers request, but to my surprise, they told me the loan was not going to be possible because the item had a marble top and those are prone to getting damaged during deliveries if not protected properly.

It sucks when I had to break the news to the customers, but to be honest, I didn't think this was going to be a make or break for them, they already knew early on that the waiting time is 4 to 5 months, and this option to loan them a temporary cabinet was only brought up today. I mean the Mother clearly wanted to get the storage cabinet, the fact that she came back so many times is prove of that. If I can't loan them a temporary piece, they can just use an existing piece they already have first to tide them over.

Well, I was wrong, because they kept pressing me to add that as one of the terms in the invoice and they were relentless. I kept apologizing and telling them I had misspoke, that it was not possible, but they kept insisting, the mother than brings up the typo I had made earlier and kept saying things like...

"We have to wait an additional 1 month, your waiting period you put 3 to 4 months, but now you say 4 to 5 months, if it doesn't arrive in 5 months then how?"

... which was really irritating because I told them from the start it is 4 to 5 months, I didn't add an additional month into the waiting period, and also, it is not up to me to control whether there is a delay or not, I know the furniture brand will built the item in time, but it's the shipping that could delay and this is not up to me or my company to decide if they will be delayed due to covid, I can't guarantee anything. Eventually, I told them to give me a day to check with my boss to see if the arrangement for the loan was possible, to which the wife then gives me an ultimatum...

"You help us check, we came back to look for you because we like you and your service is good, but if this is something that is not possible, then I will want a full refund instead. You help me check."

... and they went on their way. If she had told me this before they paid the deposit, I would have been a lot more firm and just told her she either take it or leave it, but because she had already made the deposit, I had to placate her instead.

I shared this with my supervisor and his advice was for me to just issue the refund because the customers were clearly being difficult and he would rather not have their sales if that is the case, which I personally agree with, I mean this has been the way I work at ID4 as well, if the customer is being difficult, then I don't want to work with them. I am not desperate to earn a little over two thousand dollars in commission for your project but have to deal with your antics for 4 months, in this case, I am not even going to be getting any commission from selling you the $30,000 storage cabinet.

Out of courtesy for the customer, I decided to message my boss anyways and as expected, he told me it was not going to be possible to loan them the items, but told me to let them know if the item doesn't get delivered within 5 months, then they will be able to get a full refund, which I personally thin isn't a good deal.

It's like me queuing up to buy lunch and the store tells me that the waiting time is 30 minutes, so I wait in line and after 30 minutes when I ask the store how much longer do I have to wait before it's my turn and they tell me to wait another 10 minutes, I would rather wait that additional 10 minutes, because why the fuck would I choose to exit the queue after I have already been queueing up for 30 minutes.

So I break the news to the customer via text and essentially told them about my boss' offer and also shared my suggestion, which is to void the order immediately, the husband accidentally butt dials me, so I was able to hear the wife very angrily exclaiming something along the lines of...

"IF HE CANNOT AGREE TO THE TERMS, THEN ASK FOR THE REFUND, CANCEL THE ORDER."

... I can understand why she was upset, if I had clarified this situation before I got them to make payment, things might have panned out a little differently, but because I only told them it was not possible after payment was made, the wife probably felt a little cheated.

The son then gives me a call a few minutes later and request for me to cancel the order, he was actually very apologetic about it so I also felt bad. I proceed to void the order and send a picture of the void receipt to the husband's phone, once again apologizing for the miscommunication,  he was also very nice and told me it was alright, that the mix up wasn't wholly my fault.

Anyways, this soured deal pretty much ruined my entire day, it just left a really bad taste in my mouth and I'm sure both father and son had to placate the mother after I void the order.

But the more I think about it, the harder it is to really grasp the entire situation because this purchase was something the wife clearly mulled over for a while, she clearly really like the item because she visited the store multiple times just to see the same item.

She knew about the waiting time for the past half a month ever since she visited the store.

She came in today with the intention to get the cabinet.

The "replacement loan" was not something that was promised to her during her first or second visit, this was only something that was brought up today, that means the promise of having a "replacement loan" was never a factor in her decision to get the storage cabinet.

It's like I have craving for Bubble Tea for the past week, so I drop by a Bubble Tea store to get said Bubble Tea and the cashier then tells me...

"Oh, we are giving away a free gift today with every purchase"

... and after I pay for the drink, the cashier tells me she has made a mistake and that there is no free gift.

Am I going to cancel the whole order because there was no free gift? 

No!

I came here to buy my bubble tea, so I am going to get my bubble tea, regardless of whether I get a free gift or not. When I came to the shop, my main goal was to get the bubble tea, I am not going to cancel the order just because the "free gift" that was promised to me was not honored. 

 I didn't come to get the bubble tea because of the free gift, I came to get bubble tea to satisfy my cravings, so why should the exclusion of a free gift that I only learned about recently affect my decision to get the drink?

Like the free gift, the loan replacement shouldn't have been a deal breaker for the Mother.

So I don't really understand her logic to cancel the order, maybe she did it out of spite and if it is out of spite, then it is her loss because her pride would probably prevent her from coming back to get the item from the store, but it's for the best because I don't have a lot of faith in my company to deliver the item on time to be honest, something will probably happen somewhere to delay the shipment and if this is her reaction to such a small non-issue, I can only imagine how much worst she will become if the item she ordered ends up getting delayed.