Customer service: What is your take on this?

[Anonymous]

I have some store credit to a fish store, and I used it up yesterday. Just don't know if the owner did the right thing in the book of customer service.

Basically the store credit is for live stock only, which I understand, since dry good and equipments, they claim, have very little markup. Good.

So I want to use it on a sale item, and the cashier want to charge me the pre-sale price before applying the store credit. So here is two scenarios, and let me know if the owner did the right decision:

1, Store credit of $100, sale item is $110, pre-sale price is $135. Customer need to pay $110 for the coral with credit card, or $35 if customer want to use the $100 store credit.

2, Store credit of $21, sale item is $49, pre-sale price is $69. Customer need to pay $49 for the coral with credit card, or $48 if customer want to use the $25 store credit.

What do you think?

 

[Anonymous]

The store credit is the same as cash - you should be able to use it on sale items as such.

 

[Anonymous]

Agree with Andy. If it were me, I'd probably stop giving that store my business.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Andy.

 

[Anonymous]

Agree with Andy. If it were me, I'd probably stop giving that store my business.

This.

The LFS I frequent treats me the opposite of this, I get unmarked discounts in addition to marked ones.

 

[Anonymous]

Store credit = cash


I wonder if it is even legal to put restrictions on store credit?

 

[Anonymous]

Agree with Andy. If it were me, I'd probably stop giving that store my business.

+1

 

[Anonymous]

Store credit = cash


I wonder if it is even legal to put restrictions on store credit?

I agree with everyone above me and the above quote I wonder about as well. Something to look into indeed :?

 

[Anonymous]

I would give the owner or operator a chance to make it right and if they don't then I would tell him or her that I appreciate their time and that I would be taking my business elsewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

Does it make a difference where the store credit come from? What if the credits are from selling frag to the store, returning live stocks to the store, or from incentives that was not fulfilled at the time of transaction ?

 

[Anonymous]

A store manager or operator can make any sort or rules - concerning store credits - they want. Like the only for livestock rule but I would assume it wouldn't matter why you got the credit.

Nobody wants or can likely afford to lose a customer these days so I would speak to management/owner and give them a chance to make it right. They may not even be aware of what the cashier told you about sales prices and credits.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, it is the owner's rule. The traffic is low, so he is pretty much the only one around nowadays. I went to the original store back in late 90's when his brother was the owner. I am more inclined to go to my more local LFS now.

Edit: What made me more upset is that I have to explains where/how/who I got the livestock credit from *every* *single* *time* that I use it (they have the record on their computer system, but the owner always want me to explain it as if it was something he never saw before :roll: ). When I went to his brother's store back then, he remembered my name right away, and to a customer, that was a plus.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't blame you a bit.

 

[Anonymous]

Store credit = cash


I wonder if it is even legal to put restrictions on store credit?

perfectly legal- there was a big outrage when store gift cards became all the rage- many of them have a time limit in which full credit is available, after the time limit, an interest rate is deducted from the available balance.

Also, with the Movie theater gift cards, you can only use them to purchase tickets- they cannot be used to purchase popcorn or other refreshments...

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Andy.

I agree with Bier who agrees with Andy.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to trade in 4 rose anemones for a $100 coral that cost the owner $10-15. He would then sell my 4 anemones for $400. 8O Now that's some profit.

I have since killed all of my rose anemones by loweing Nitrates from 160 to 0.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to trade in 4 rose anemones for a $100 coral that cost the owner $10-15. He would then sell my 4 anemones for $400. 8O Now that's some profit.

BS. He's making up for all the other inventory that has died on him. In the end I bet he's breaking even if he's lucky.


With regards to Store Credit - his policy is rather lame, it should be treated as cash and I would take my business elsewhere as the Store Credit is worthless in his shop. I don't even get limiting the Store Credit to livestock. It's cash. It makes no difference in the end how it is spend. Markup may be higher on LS but once you factor in shrinkage the difference is essentially nil.

 

[Anonymous]

Store credit = cash


I wonder if it is even legal to put restrictions on store credit?

perfectly legal- there was a big outrage when store gift cards became all the rage- many of them have a time limit in which full credit is available, after the time limit, an interest rate is deducted from the available balance.

Also, with the Movie theater gift cards, you can only use them to purchase tickets- they cannot be used to purchase popcorn or other refreshments...

If dupa was provided the conditions of his trade-in, then this thread is moot.

 

[Anonymous]

Right. It was just verbal agreement, with "$xx.xx in livestock credit" on a receipt, and similar entry on the POS database.

 

[Anonymous]

Seems to me he's giving you a store credit on live stock that you sold at a reduced rate than what he's selling for (4 to 1 seems what it looks like), he's requiring you to buy live stock, probably that same 4 to 1 price markup, and he's making you buy pre-sale price? Regardless of his "losses" (which IMO are not your problem, electricity to keep everything alive? sure, him having a bad month of sell? piss-off) he seems to be making out at least 16 to 1 on what he gave you, and the end result is he'll probably mark the coral you got as a loss too for tax purposes.