A customer is in the habit of shopping for most of the
family consumables in a nearby store each week taking advantage of the
advertised sale items. A periodic scan of the receipts begins to show a pattern
of not providing the sale prices for some items each week, overcharging as much
as 15%.The customer returns to the shop and regularly obtains credit for these
obvious “mistakes”.
The on-site management attempts to push back with a series
of excuses like: “Someone mismarked the sale item; that was yesterday’s sale
and the price marked was wrong; the computer made a mistake; and, you must have
moved the items to the sale priced locations”. The customer has lost faith in
the store and is frustrated with the excuses, accusations and attitude of its
personnel. While continuing to use the store due to its convenience, she has
shifted as much of the volume as possible to other shops.
While no one is perfect, a consistent pattern of deception has
led the customer to use the phrase “theft” to describe the situation, and does
so to friends and neighbors. Eventually this store may close due to lack of
sales volume.
How does your business handle situations like this?
Steve Koenig, SCORE Counselor
Visit us at: www.scoresouthflorida.net
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