The customer is never right

I work in a shop and 2 of the price tickets for items had been (either) put on the wrong way round or moved by someone, I of course am not insinuating that the customer swapped them around (like they would!?!) but sometimes they fall off and people put them back vaguely in the right place - bare in mind that these 2 items are next to each other.

Essentially the customer had bought the higher priced item and wanted it for the price on the lower priced ticket.

Had she approached the situation calmly the manager would've more-than-likely offered some sort of discounted refund or perk, as it was she shouted across the shop summoning me and then started demanding money back and being very aggressive.

Just to point out that getting aggressive with a lowly-sales assistant doesn't help, first we have little/no power to do anything about the prices and secondly if we have to go fetch a manager for you the manager is going to be confronted with an upset assistant who's done nothing wrong and is probably going to bad-mouth you before the manager before they come out to speak to you. You will be offered a lot less help than had you been nice because now you have all of the staffs backs up.

The customer starts screaming at my supervisor and manager who are now both involved telling us that her sister works in trading standards - implying she will 'get them involved' as if we're all going to get charged fines and sacked and the shop shut down! (Yeah, of course!) as if this sudden hollow threat was going to make us quake in our boots and going "Nooooooooooo, don't call trading standards, what ever will we do???"

As it is the law is very clear, and working in retail for 10 years in various shops we are made very aware of the legalities of it and in every shop I have worked in I have been told the same thing, so to re-iterate for those of you who are unclear:

Retailers are under NO obligation whatsoever to sell items to you at an advertised price, a price ticket is an 'invitation to buy' only and the price can be changed and is contractually agreed when you pay for the item at the till point.

Trading standards can fine companies for advertising items at incorrect prices. However it needs to clearly state on every item the incorrect price and they need strong proof of this in order to apply this fine (E.g. Trading standards would have to walk in and find 100 tins of soup all with individual price stickers on for 30p and a shelf ticket for 30p but the store was scanning them all at 50p) that sort of thing. - In our case all the items had the correct prices on and it was only the shelf label that was incorrect (again these items were next to each other and could've easily been swapped/knocked off etc.)

We were not advertising incorrectly for 3 reasons:

 - 1. All items were individually stickered with the correct barcode and price

 - 2. The tickets, although in front of the wrong items, were still not advertising incorrect prices as the tickets had item codes on them below the price which correlated to the correct items - had we looked at the item codes on the tickets and on the individual barcodes the prices advertised are still correct.

 - 3. The customer had already paid for the item, entering a contractual agreement that said she was happy to pay that, until money exchanges hands (which it had) all ticketed advertising is still only an 'invitation to buy' - which the customer had already agreed to.

Even if the item was completely advertised incorrectly (which it wasn't) the retailer is STILL under NO obligation WHATSOEVER to sell you it at the advertised price, if you choose to buy it or not is completely up to you. The most that would happen is the company would get a fine after a lengthy process of trying to prove the inaccuracy. You would NOT be 'entitled' to buy the item at the lower price.

Also had the customer been polite, calm and understanding we would've given some sort of discount, as retailers try to be helpful and avoid argument as much as possible. As it was she spoke to all of us with guns blazing, being aggressive and condescending to 3 members of staff, it felt like she was trying to get a rise out of us and trying to get us to argue back - all of the staff were patient, polite and honest to her - we all told her we understood her point of view and would see what we could do, explaining and pointing out the barcodes with the correct price on - but following her attitude and the legal obligations set forth by trading standards and the fact that she wasted half an hour and 3 members of staff's time shouting at us and telling us we were wrong and she wanted the difference back none of us felt vaguely inclined to help her.

As it was she still took the item. And as she left had the nerve to tell us that she thought we all had horrible attitudes towards her - because obviously being nothing but polite while she lost her temper was such an awful attitude to take.

It was an unfounded and unnecessary act of aggression, in which no one won -I'm sure she left feeling angry and unhappy, but she also caused 3 members of staff to feel angry, aggressive and upset/hurt as her final say was a personal attack to say we were awful individuals with bad attitudes.

Anyone who has worked in retail will have encountered this, in all the shops I've worked in I'm pretty confident its happened at least once in every single one of them - do you know what, not once has trading standards gotten involved, the stores never got fined, the staff kept their jobs and the world did not crumble into non-functioning chaos. That is because in every instance THE CUSTOMER IS NEVER RIGHT.

Grr.

Brand new speed machine

So, long time since I blogged on here...and since then I bought myself a new car.

Not 'new' new, its second hand, 6 year old, 35000 on the clock and more power than I've ever handled (which isn't saying much for someone who is not that well driven!)

I stuck to my ethos that I like small 'sporty' cars, but not 'mod-ed' cars. Cars that were purposefully designed as such with the manufacturers stamp of approval.

So I bought myself a Mini. Everyone says you should own one in you driving life for that go-kart experience and for that typically British built sentiment. Although most of the car is German and made by BMW now, it is simply assembled in Britain - but that is probably a good thing considering the great reputability of German engineering and reliability.

Obviously I did not go for the Mini 'One' and to be honest I can't see much reason why anyone would buy the base model? The Mini 'Cooper' comes with a lot more kit, a decent chunk more power, is still comfortable and cheap to run with low insurance and high MPG figures, you gain vdry little that I can see buying a Mini 'One'. HOWEVER did I go for the 'Cooper' - (which I believe should be everyones staple choice) ...I went for the 'Cooper S' ...unfortunaltely I was not quite able to stretch to the John Cooper Works version....maybe a goal for another time!

My new Mini Cooper S Specification

1.6 Turbo Charged Petrol Engine
175bhp Although som figure say 182bhp - going to have to look into which is correct)
240nm of Torque
Top Speed 140mph
0-62 in 7.1 seconds

Standard Kit:
- Adjustable Steering Column
- Anti-Lock Brakes
- Isofix
- Runflat Tyres and Runflat Indicator
- 6 Airbags
- 6 Speed Manual Gearbox
- Passenger Airbag Deactivation
- Radio/CD
- Remote Control Alarm
- Twin Chrome Exhausts
- White Indicator Lenses
- 2nd Remote Key
- Sport Button

Additional Extras
- Interior colour (in Pacific Blue)
- Exterior Mirror Pack (Folding and Heated Mirrors and Heated Washer Jets)
- Metallic Paint (Lightening Blue)
- Panoramic Glass Sunroof
- White Roof/Mirrors
- White Bonnet/Boot Stripes

Chilli Pack which includes:
- 17" Crown Alloy Wheels
- Passenger Seat Height Adjustment
- Front Fog Lamps
- Xenon Headlights
- On Board Computer
- Interior Light Pack (Ambient colour changable interior LED lighting)
- Part Leather Interior
- Air Conditioning

And finally, a picture of the beast, complete with racing stripes!

'The roads are not safe...'

:P

A question of taste...

So I get it, people like and buy different cars for different reasons. My own personal taste is no exception to the rule, I like sporty cars but not garishly expensive cars...and when I say sporty I mean that the manufacturer purposefully designed them that way...I am not a fan of 'mods' to give crappy little 1.0 litre boy racer type 15 year old car sporting credentials that it doesn't deserve seems somewhat pointless to me.

I own a Fiat Panda...however I did choose the sporty 100hp version...but why you might ask? Simple...it is better than the Fiat 500...which is a Panda underneath but with more bling, less room in the boot/back seats and a bigger price tag. As James May said the fiat 500 is an accessory, a bit like a hand bag..but the Panda is the better car for every other reason. So having looked at cars with similar power/spec the Panda was the cheapest to buy, lowest insurance group (which, when I bought it, made a MAJOR difference) and also they are relatively uncommon - and i like the feeling of marginal exclusivity. The panda 100hp comes with tinted rear windows, a nice spoiler, larger wheels/alloys than the standard panda, fog lights, a subtle bit of a body kit and is slightly lower than the standard Panda...a lot of this however only becomes really apparent when you park next to the standard Panda...and yes, I will actively seek out normal Panda's to park next to when I'm in a car park. It looks good, and has on all those accessories that you would want for your sporty little hot-hatchling. 

And in regards to my Panda, the aforementioned is just regarding the styling...inside it has slightly hugging seats and orange illuminating dash, a good CD player/stereo system, climate controlled air con AND last but not least...The Sport Button...not a big garish red power button but push it to see the word "Sport" appear on the dash followed by a flood of power as the engine revs more prolifically, the steering becomes super sharp and the engine fizzes with joy, begging you to rev the life out of it. 

Don't get me wrong, the Panda is not the be all and end all of cars...the suspension in the 100hp is ROCK hard...which is great to dart around corners, it handles great and sticks to the road really well...but when it's 7am in the morning and you're going to work half asleep and you hit a few sinks/potholes on the way it is very tiring. Also if you have the sport on a lot the mpg is not great...mine goes down to about 36mpg and as high as 44mpg if I do a long motorway journey and keep the sport off. Admittedly this is not stupidly low...but dissappointing when modern Diesel engines with more power can easily hit 60mpg without trying.

So...anyway...driving today and I get behind a fiesta (at least from what I could tell it once was a Fiesta) I'll give the guy credit that the colour was nice (an unusual grey-ish green colour) and it looked like decent paint job from the rear...what killed me was the wheels and suspension. He had clearly fitted larger wheels...too large, they stuck out around 2 inches from the side of the car and the alloys were red...RED? On a greyish green car? It didn't match to say the least. But the final straw was the suspension...it was so low that I could actually see the wheels touching the bodywork as he turned them...I considered following him to see him hit a speed bump or pot hole so I could laugh at the inevitability of him loosing some trim or bottoming out the over lowered suspension. 

I almost crashed with laughter.

And this brings me around to cost...I'm sure you can pick up an old corsa/fiesta/polo etc. for cheap...but buying stereos, tinted windows, body panals, re spraying the car, buying bigger wheels and alloys...then things like turbos and extra cooling for the engine you've added the turbo to...all of this costs SOOOOO much money! Why not just save all your pennies together and just buy a decent car in the first place? Something like the new Fiesta ST...better fuel economy...better power, engineered correctly not just stuck on with gaffa tape and much much MUCH better styling. Ford will have spent THOUSANDS of pounds on designing there ST the be fast, efficient, well designed, comfortable etc. if you think you can do a better job with a second hand turbo and some fibreglass body kit then you are so sorely mistaken. 

And you know if that guy I saw in his 10 year old fiesta with the wheels that can't turn properly found himself at a set of traffic lights with a proper Fiesta ST he would be shamed by its beauty, jealous of its power and luxury and I would put money on the proper ST beating it flat out...because even if he's added a turbo to give it stupid power it won't be able to sustain it for long as that old engine just wasn't built for it...it will inevitably overheat, or explode...but the proper version will go on and on. 

Additional note. If you are in the Peterlee/Shotton area you can quite often get a glimpse of this guy and his kitted out car hanging around A supermarket car park of an evening...his mates have equally ridiculous cars...I simply used him as a perticularly bad example! 

 

Cars

Stereotypes, at the moment in my current job logging accidents and arrange repairs/hire cars after accidents I have found myself terribly guilty if stereotyping people. Quite often the stereotypes are irrelevant and do not apply...but then you get a few claims in a row where you internally roll your eyes and think "how obvious" and "I could've guessed"

Especially with logging accidents...stereotypes generally do not apply, in fact one that really irritates me is the young driver stereotype. 

It is generally thought that young drivers cause all the accidents with there youth and inexperience...however after logging claims you find that yes young drivers are involved in lots of accidents but that they rarely seem to be to blame. It quite often seems that the young drivers are being more cautious/hesitant at junctions and an impatient middle aged businessman too busy looking at his phone or fiddling with his onboard complex computer system in his big fancy BMW goes running into the back of the poor young driver who was just taking there time a little at the junction.

And in that paragraph I have encroached upon another stereotype...the BMW/Merc/Audi drivers stereotype...that these cars seem to be owned by people who think that there journey is more important than everyone else on the road. It really isn't. 

Of course I highlight again that these are indeed just stereotypes from my observations...not all young drivers are blameless and not all businessmen crash into the back of people...so lets have fun. ..

My new favourite stereotype is that people who drive Subaru Impreza's think there car is glued to the road at all times...when I log a claim with no other vehicle involved in the accident...just the driver and their machine, it is nearly always the scooby with the (typically male) driver who tells me he was going round a corner and 'just lost control' - how hard and fast were you pushing that car to just 'loose control' especially in such a 'planted' vehicle. It was clearly just your terrible judgement thinking your car could go around a 180 degree corner at a million miles an hour. No...just no. 

I have a lot more 'rant' inside of me...but for now I'll stick a cork in it.

Long time no post

As per the title...it does what it says on the tin (ronseal style) it is not long since I blogged...just since it was a personal blog...the others are so functional. 

Anyway...a super speed blog for 5 mins of my lunch break and it is a personal winge/moan/personal flogging. 

So you feel flattered...dispair...hope...more dispair...fear... All just in a days work. Initially flattered but then slightly creeped out and the cut down, like you're a disappointment....and I'm not surprised if I am, I have very little self esteem...rarely (if ever) feeling attractive/pretty/ladylike. I don't do the tangerine fake tan/extensions/false nails...often told this is a good thing but when those around you make such effort, although possibly mis-guided effort, it leaves me feeling old and haggard. 

I want my confidence back...

The 40 something drivers...

I have recently noticed a strange 'sub-group' of drivers adopting an odd driving style. So far I can deduce it appears to be predominantly older drivers (people who have clearly retired) driving around EVERYWHERE at 40 mph.

Initially, on a national speed limit road doing 60 mph I quickly caught up to and got stuck behind an elderly gentleman in a brand spangly new Micra (Which honestly looked like he'd just drove it outta the show room) doing 40 mph. Figured it was just an elderly gentleman going cautious in his lovely new expensive car. BUT we reached a village, the speed limit dropped to 30 mph, and having just recently been done for speeding (doing 36 in a 30) I was not taking any chances and slowed down. To my disbelief, the elderly gentleman I had been stuck behind pulled away from me, continuing to do 40 through the 30 zone. I followed this particular gentleman from Durham to Peterlee (Around a 10 mile journey) and not once did his speed waiver from 40 mph regardless of whether we were in a village, on a back road, or on a national speed limit road.

It did not end there! The same journey (which I do twice a day playing taxi to my partner) and I had one of these people behind me. This time in the 30 zones they were right on my tail, attached to me and ranting wanting me to speed up or get outta there way, then in the 60 zones I'd pull away from them, leaving them trundling along at 40!

Crazy stuff right? - But not a one off I have been noticing these drivers more and more And have examined a few different theories. At first I thought maybe the car has cruise control, being old they set it to 40 and just leave it at that. But this cannot be, as the cars being seen to be doing this do not always come with cruise control.

Maybe there legs are old and arthritic, and they can only hold there leg in 1 position on the accelerator, so when they reach 40 they decide 'that will do'?

Odd...any theories?

Angry MPV Drivers

MPV's...Multi Purpose Vehicle's (Apparently) Infuriate me. I find them pointless and without purpose, expensive, all over the road and full of angry male drivers - But I have a theory.


Firstly lets cover WHY mpv's bought by families with 2 children are NOT a good buy by going through some of the basics.

(Before I begin i would like to clarify that this is aimed at 5 seat mpvs, If you have more than 3 children and buy a 7 seat mpv to transport your family then fair play, if you need to transport more than 5 people then 7 seat mpv's pretty much have the market cornered)

So lets do a basic comparison of a popular mpv vs a pretty basic hatchback.



Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6, 16v VVTI Model
0 - 60 in 12 seconds
Luggage Capacity 500 litres
Averages 40 mpg
Insurance group 13
£210 per year to tax
£16,000 - £23,000 to buy new



Honda Civic 1.4 I-Vtec SI model
0 - 60 12.6 seconds
Luggage Capacity 485 litres
Average 47mpg
Insurance Group 13
£115 tax per year
£13,000 - £17,000 to buy new






1. 0 - 60: Although the civic has a smaller engine it still manages its 0 - 60 time in only 0.6 of a second slower than the mpv - which on normal roads you will not notice, seriously to notice 0.6 of a second you need to be on a timed lap or track.

2.Boot Capacity: The civic's is only marginally smaller then the picasso - may I add to that, the picasso has one of the larger boot capacitys of the mpv's, were I comparing this to say a renault scenic its boot only has a 430 litre capacity - bare in mind most mpv's are sold to people with children giving the impression that you can get more in the boot (push-chairs/shopping etc) when actually modern hatchbacks have genuinely capacious boot. A terrible misconception.

3. Running costs: The civic is cheaper to buy in the first place, is in a much lower tax band and has a higher average mpg meaning less fuel stops.

4. Looks: I appreciate that looks are all down to taste. And I do not think the Picasso is an ugly car at all. But in general mpvs are tall, large, cumbersome and hatchbacks are a little more sleek, sporty, hunkered down and aesthetically pleasing.


5. Saftey: Both cars come with a 5 star NCAP safety rating. If you think your chidren are safer all high up in a big car, you are seriously overestimating your cars abilities. Both cars are equally as safe.

Theres a pretty basic comparison. Of course there are arguments both for and against hatchbacks vs mpvs. But I genuinely find MPVs to be overpriced and under performing, they are either no bigger or not much bigger, in 5 seat versions they carry no more people and are no safer or more comfortable to drive.

This is my theory behind angry male 'dad' mpv drivers:

The 'dad' of the family wants a sporty little number, not to expensive to run but looks good and a little bit 'racey' - the hot-hatch is what he craves. Golf GTI, Civic Type-R, Megane RenaultSport, Focus ST etc. reasonably spacious cars which are not excessively expensive to run, all have amazing safety ratings and capacious boots and are little or no more expensive to buy or run than those underperforming and unattractive mpvs.

Unfortunately for the typical male 'dad' type that wants this, his wife does not want this. She wants a sensible, safe, large car to transport lots of shopping children and push-chairs and she thinks (ill-advised by car companies and sellers trying to sell mpv's) that a large mpv usually in the most sensible grey of colours (dull) is the only car that will fulfill her needs. She wins the argument and they buy the mpv.

The 'dad', dissapointed at his mpv, feels his heart sink whenever a nice hatchback glides past him. So gutted is he that he is not driving it he gets a serious chip on his shoulder and starts to drive with serious rage.

So often I have been over took badly, been bullied out of the way and pushed in front of by large dull grey mpv's - increasingly so even over the usual 'cock' suspects of BMW's and Audi's who just think they are better than you (that is another blog! lol!)

So this is for you angry mpv drivers. You  should've just bought the hatchback you really wanted (and buy it in a nice colour, I'm bored with silver and grey cars, the world is awash with them) :)