12/21/2009

I'm going to be kinda sad when I run out of saved messages to write about. But until then, you can bet I'll be continuing to make regular blog updates. In fact, for the last few days, I've been taking the liberty of typing up my posts a day in advance (this one included.)

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~On this fine day, a gentleman approached the counter with a DVD player and it's receipt. There was nothing wrong with the player, he had just decided he didn't want it anymore. Standard procedure for these types of returns requires me to compare the serial number on the box, the device, and the receipt to ensure that all three parts match.

>Both the serial numbers on the packaging and the DVD player did match.
>Both the UPC on the box and the one on the receipt matched.

Cool beans.

>The serial number on the package and DVD player, however, did not match the serial on the receipt.

That was a problem...
Joy for me.

If, for some strange reason, you are not fully aware of the purpose of a serial number, please click here.

Now, because the serial on his proof of purchase didn't match the item itself (in fact it wasn't even close,) I wasn't able to process the return. Our computers literally will not even allow the return without some type of override. Regrettably, the man insisted that the receipt he was showing me was, without a shadow of a doubt, the one he had been given when he purchased the DVD player. With nothing else I was capable of doing, I informed a supervisor of the situation.

At this point, I'm going to take the opportunity to describe the possibilities that one has to take into account when handling this man's case which include but are not limited to:

A. He is telling the truth (AH HA-HA HA! Fat chance.)
B. He found a receipt somewhere, or got one from a friend, that happened to be the same model player he already had in his possession, and now wanted to use it to get his money back.
C. He had the receipt from a legitimate purchase he had made and now wanted to use it to return a DVD player that was stolen or received as a gift.
D. When purchased, the scanner recorded the serial incorrectly.*
E. He simply had the wrong receipt and wasn't willing to admit it.

Being presented with the man's situation, taking into account any or more the aforementioned possibilities, and remembering store policy, she immediately refused the return, as well. Again, to my dismay, the customer was not willing to accept no for an answer. Now it was time to contact a member of management. It was also time for me to get really aggravated.

When the manager arrived at the counter, he took a grand total of about 5 seconds to review the dilemma, and overrode the incorrect serial so that I could give the man the money for it. When the manager did so, he said, and I quote, "I'm not in the mood to argue today." There are very few instances where I can say that I wanted to slap a co-worker more than a customer, but this was definitely one of them.


* I'll be the first to admit that it is definitely possible for a serial number to be recorded incorrectly. All it takes is a flaw in the bar code. In this man's case, not a single number and/or letter scanned from the pristine bar code on the box matched any of the corresponding numbers and/or letters on the receipt. The odds of it being scanned and recorded that incorrectly without giving an 'invalid scan' error are infinitesimal.