Don't you DARE...

[sraun]

Had an unpleasant afternoon at Sam's Club - I was supposed to be in and out in 10 minutes + check-out time. It was more like an hour and ten minutes.

Had two things to do - pick up new glasses and buy some bakery goods. Got in - no one in sight in Optical. Wander around Electronics for 5-10 minutes, wander back to Optical a couple of times. Finally see the sign that says "Back in 15 minutes".

Now, I consider a "Back in 15 minutes" sign to be, at best, nearly useless, and, at worst, actively evil. There's no accountability, and little useful information - effectively, I have no choice but to assume that I have just missed whoever, and go away for 15 minutes. After all, I have no way of knowing if I've just missed the clerk leaving, or if they've been gone most of that time and should be back any second. (I consider the use of such sign sufficient cause to avoid doing business with the guilty merchant.) How much does one of those "Back at ?" clocks cost, anyway?

Well, OK, I go off and do my other shopping. I get back to Optical 15-20 minutes later. Still no sign of anyone. There's a guy checking out glasses - the two of us wander in, check it out, and wander back out to window shop for a while. I go over to Customer Service and complain. A Floor Monitor Guy comes by, and tries to get me(us) real help. No luck. I see another lady wander in, look at glasses, and wander out. I window shop. After about 20-25 minutes of window shopping, I decide to sit down. A different lady comes by - looking like she needs to pick up glasses too - and asks how long I've been waiting. 'As near as I can tell, there hasn't been anyone here for an hour.' I go back to Customer Service - they page again. The Floor Monitor Guy comes by - 'she still hasn't shown up?' 'Nope - it's been over an hour since, and I haven't seen any staff here.' He goes off in search of a manager.

The Optical staff finally shows up - turns out she was actually out on her lunch hour. She works a solo 12-hour shift on Sunday, and has neither scheduled lunch hour nor backup. I get my glasses and leave - this did a pretty good job of wrecking a good chunk of my afternoon.

Now, I don't mind that she was gone to lunch for an hour. If I'd seen her leaving on my way in, and she'd told be she'd be back in an hour, I would have said "Fine!", and dealt with it. If there had been a sign up that said "Back at 4PM", that would have been fine. But I got there sometime shortly before 3PM, and the sign said 'Back in 15 minutes" - I was given significantly bad information, and that is the unforgivable sin!

Grrr - I'm planning on writing a letter to the local Sam's Club and Sam's Club Corporate. I don't really expect a satisfactory reply. I'm already planning on switching to CostCo when the current membership expires.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Ah, memories.

*still misses her industrial mixer*

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I think switching to Costco is a great idea.

K.

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

Damn, I'm sorry to hear that, but then anyone can can get bad service anywhere. I've shoped CostCo now 4 years and find the quality much better than Sam's on non brandname items. I've also found much better service there too.

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

My family hve been Costco members for over years, and we've had very few problems (other than the fact that they mostly stopped carrying the huge Sinai 48 salamis.) Plus, the guy who's the head of Costco has said that he wants good profits, not spectacular ones, and so the company pays its employees well and gives them benefits, which leads to one of the lowest turnover rates in retail.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

How aggravating!

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Here's another reason why Judy and I are seriously contemplating switching to CostCo: Sam's Club is owned by Wal-Mart, and I detest Wal-Mart's business practices.

[sraun]

That's actually our primary reason for switching.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

That was my main reason for switching, along with Wal-Mart's political donation policy.

[filkferengi]

Definitely vexatious, with all 5 vowels!