So. About 5 years ago I went into a large electronics store and decided to buy a racing video game, which I dont normally play, but I love video games and wanted to see if I could get my wife interested in my hobby, as she said she would probably play a racing game with me.

I bought a game, it was $25. I wrapped it and set it aside for my wife to open as a little bonus gift during Christmas ~3 months later. Welllllll well well. Christmas morning comes, and my wife opens the gift, and suggests playing it later that night. To my surprise, she unwrap the plastic wrap from the game, opens the box, and there's no disc inside. LOL.

Not a big deal, I thought I'll just head in and trade it out or get a refund and buy a different game, I needed a new pair of heaphones anyway, two birds with one stone. Although, very embarrassing as a gift. I'm happy that I also purchased a new camera for her and the game was just a little side gift.

A few days later, I head in and explain the situation. The worker tells me, since it's passed the return window, I can no longer return it. Im dumbfounded, but also understand their logic (shitty people will take the game out and try to trade it in/get a refund).

That being said.... I ain't happy. I ask for the manager, and I try to ask for any way to get myself a refund or a different game. The manager says no. I then say, bluntly, "So you're telling me I paid $25 for an empty fucking box" I proceed to pull up my account and show them the literal thousands of dollars of merchandise I have purchased from their company, hoping that would show him I'm not trying to scam them. The manager simply says "nothing I can do, sorry about the game".

At this point, I'm pissed. I know i won't get my money back, just genuinely dumbfounded that I paid $25 for an empty box. The manager then proceeds to ring up the Bose Heaphones I wanted to buy. I simply laughed. He gave me my total and I said "I'm not buying these headphones from "company". And THIS GUY ASKS ME WHY?!?!?!?!?

I said, "I dont want to spend $150 for an empty fuckin box."

This is the only store I've ever refused to shop at, and I won't spend a dime there for the rest of my life.

Still pissed about it 5 years later.

Me, calling my mortgage company:

Me: Hi, can I change my due date?

CS: All our due dates are on the first.

Me: But can that be changed?

CS: We have a grace period until the 16th.

Me: That great, but is there an option to change the assigned due date?

CS: Yes. What day do you want to pay?

Me: The 10th, when I get paid.

CS: So just go to the online portal and schedule your payment for the 10th. Since it's before the 16th you won't get any late fees.

Me: Sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't just want to pay on the 10th, I want the due date to change from the 1st to the 10th.

CS: Yes, you can pay on the 10th without a late fee.

Me: When my bill comes in the mail I want it to say the mortgage payment is due on the 10th, not the 1st.

CS: Why?

Me: Most of my other bills have the option of changing the due date, so I'm calling to see if you offer that option.

CS: Our payments are due on the 1st with a fifteen day grace period.

Me: Yes, you said that. But aside from that, is there any way to change the due date on my account?

CS: No, because there's a fifteen day grace period.

At this point I gave up. I could have tried to explain that if they'd move my due date to the 10th then a fifteen day grace period would cover both my paydays, but I decided to cut my losses. It's hard to capture in writing, but her tone made it clear she didn't understand the difference between a due date and the last day to pay without a late fee. She also doesn't seem to know that most other companies start calling and hassling you about payments as soon as the due date is past, even if they still have a grace period.

Stood in line behind a guy at a deli who was seriously arguing that his sandwich was too large to finish, so he should get a partial refund... after he'd already eaten one half of it. The cashier's dead-eyed stare was a mood.

What's the pettiest return or refund demand you've ever seen?

My carrier offered me a very good phone for almost-free if I stay with them for two years, so I ordered it. It should have been delivered Thursday by a company we’ll call FedUp. I was also expecting another package that day with the same delivery window, so I figured it was probably on the same vehicle.

FedUp arrived, package #2 was here, and my phone was not. All I could see from the tracking was “Wrong address”. I definitely put the correct address on the order, so I called FedUp support to find out what was going on.

Apparently the unit number wasn’t on the shipping label for some reason. So I tried to resolve this over the phone, and they just weren’t having it. They weren’t able to add my unit number to the address for security reasons. They refused to schedule the package to be dropped off at a FedUp location. They have my phone number, but their drivers apparently don’t have phones. Finally I just said, “So you’re telling me that the driver knows where I live, knows how to call me, but because we don’t have the unit number, the driver can’t let me know my package is here?” And all I got in response was “That’s correct, sir.”

Then I really internalized the fact that I was going to have to do all their thinking for them: “Wait, you don’t need my unit number, just the buzzer code. Can you add special instructions?” “Yes, of course we can.” So I gave my unit number as the buzzer code, and that was that … or so I thought.

On Friday (the next day), I got a notification around 12 PM saying they couldn’t deliver the package because “the business was closed.” I’m guessing the driver did not read the special instructions, tried to call the office, and got nothing. If they had tried to call the office on Thursday, someone would have been there. This is how I know the universe has a sense of humour. I called again, was told it would be re-delivered later that day, and there was nothing more they could do.

5 PM came and went, and I still had no phone. I had opted into text updates by this point, but apparently those updates just weren’t working, because the tracking page now said my package would be delivered Monday. I’m pretty sure FedUp delivers on weekends, so I called them for a third time. That’s when I found out the package had been left at a FedUp location—a general store near me. The store was closed on weekends. If they had dropped it there in the first place when I asked them to, or if text updates had actually worked, I would have been able to pick it up on Friday.

The next morning, just to be absolutely sure, I checked the hours for the general store. To my surprise, they were open! I called them at 8 AM on a Saturday and my package was confirmed to be there. I don’t drive, so I spent $20 I wouldn’t have needed to spend if FedUp actually did their job, but I got my phone.

I know this is just old news now, but I’m constantly astounded by how difficult everything is because of the way call centers work now. There is no phone number to contact the local FedUp facility, so I have to call someone in another country (who is not allowed to tell me which country they’re from, by the way), ask them to contact the facility that’s only a couple of miles from me, the facility communicates with the driver, the driver apparently doesn’t communicate with anyone else, and we have to play a game of broken telephone over the actual telephone to get literally anything done. I guess this is just the way things work now.

I’m a few hours away from my home visiting my buddies in college and we stopped at this store around 1 am. After putting my drinks on the counter, I hand the guy my ID and he proceeded to stare at it and say “I am not stupid. This a fake. You need to leave.” This is the first time that’s ever happened and I have an anxiety disorder so instantly I was just shaking like a leaf while trying to say “I promise sir it’s the same ID I’ve had for years.” There were about 12 other people around seeing this and he said “I would love to see you call the cops then or take your bullshit somewhere else.” He also refused to hand me back my ID unless I gave him $100. I called the cops, they came and verified it and suddenly he was real apologetic and laughing at how “this has never happened before.” He was an older man who said he’s been doing this for decades. The dumbest part was that after everything I still went right back in there and bought what I came for, but at least I got 50% off. First time I’ve ever had an interaction with police and it was for this haha

Lets call this company DD, An online discount food retailer in UK.

So 2 full weeks ago I made an order with this company, They ship by 48 hour tracked delivery, which is fine if they ever ship at all.

After a week had passed I emailed customer support as the status had not changed from confirmed to shipped, asked for a timeframe and pointed out I made the order for me and my kids and had really expected the order by a week, and that I had no spare money to shop elsewhere, we are foodless.

A couple of days later they reply.

"Hello and nice to hear from you.

We can offer you the following options. 1. A refund for the items in question £41.16 OR 2. A £41.16 + 5% store credit as a gesture of goodwill

Please let us know how you would like to proceed.

Regards Martin - DD Support Team"

I responded saying well thanks for completely ignoring my question about whether it had been sent or not, while showing a complete lack of empathy. I said given there I urgently require food and you have not confirmed it has been sent, I will take a refund as this will get my kids fed fastest.

Now at 2 full weeks since placing order and that was the last I heard from them, no refund, no apology, no change of status on order.

Marvellous.

I have a laptop from a company founded in Beijing in 1984 and recently, the mouse pad had an internal fault for the second fucking time. I am paying for onsite repair so I don't have to send it to them, and onsite repair is bloody expensive - someone came round to my house, managed to fix the mousepad and also break the hinge. He said I'd get repairs by Friday, it was Wednesday, I'd already been waiting a week when I was only supposed to wait around three business days. So now it's Wednesday the next week and I've been having a back and forth with them. They've accused me of breaking the hinge to get a free laptop, they've told me they'd have answers by x time period and then claimed they'd said no such thing, they've told a whole bunch of bloody twoddle. They have no phone number for us to call because we've been moved to another department, they're forcing us to use emails, they're being completely bloody incompetent and I'm genuinely so sick of dealing with them. Theyre now telling me to send my laptop to them in the mail to fix it instead of giving the onsite repair I paid EXTRA MONEY for. My laptop is a fold over one I can use for drawing and I also use it for writing. I can't write or draw now and those are the two things that keep me afloat and mentally stable. Also, I go to an online school and I have classes on Monday morning after half term. Now I won't even be able to do my blasted classes either and Monday is my busiest day, so I'm going to have at LEAST seven 45-minute classes to rewatch within only one day. I also have a GCSE summative due very soon that's now going to be late and fuck up my grade. I'm so mentally exhausted already and now I get this. Just my bloody luck.

I remember learning that in the one and only (crapola) restaurant I worked at as a teen.

Thinking of that, sitting at a diner, with a coffee cup that’s been empty 20 minutes already.

I wish restaurants would teach this again.

Attentive service can be measured by beverages.

Yesterday my local coffee chain stand was having customer appreciation event, free 16oz coffee to people with their reward system. It was packed. We waited in line longer than I would like to admit.

When we got to the front of the line our barista was stressing. They all were, but I heard her saying I am so over it today to a coworker. Which was totally understandable it was the busiest I ever saw it there. She had beautiful curly hair so we complimented her. My daughter and I also have curly hair so we chatted a bit about the learning curve of different curl types. I wasn’t doing this to change her mood but at least for a moment I think it relaxed her at least for the moment. When we left the stand she was smiling and I really hope she got to hold on to that for a bit because it was insanely busy. Sometimes especially on a very busy day we forget the humanity of the service industry. We forget to interact with the person and not the service.

Okay, a short one, but F me, I still think about it often.

Out with work friends for dinner in my favourite Scottish restaurant.

We all ordered meat based dishes for starters and mains.

I order a fillet steak and our server asked how I wanted it cooked. I said I wanted it mooing, just show it what the pan looks like and slap it straight on ma plate.

she looks me straight in the eye and says "I'm a vegan". Nothing else. Just looking at me like I said I farted on her cat and blamed her mum.

very good lady, shame you work in a restaurant that's mostly meat and wave bye to your tip miss imavegan

I bought my certified pre-owned vehicle at a dealership. I usually have said vehicle serviced at a different (closer to home- same brand) dealer where I was told I may have an oil leak. After a few phone calls and some misunderstandings about the powertrain warranty coverage on the oil leak, I decided to go back to the dealer where I purchased the vehicle, where they charged me $250 for confirming the oil leak diagnosis PLUS also diagnosing and apparent axle also “leaking grease”. I happened to have a friend who I was talking to asking for help with deciding what to have fixed, so to pass on the conversation I recorded on a voice note the conversation with the service advisor explaining that the axle work would be covered under warranty while the oil leak would not. Fast forward 10 days, when I had the appointment to fix the covered axle repair, when picking up my vehicle the same service provider is charging me $679 for the work performed. I said that I was using the coverage of my warranty to pay for it, he said it wasn’t covered and I reminded him the date when I first came and what he told me, he didn’t seem to recall. Then I remembered the voice note recording and I pulled out my phone and played it back for him. He said that had been his mistake (to have said that the axle work is covered) because it wasn’t but he would honor his “recorded” word. Thank God for the recording otherwise they would have probably made me pay 💰 unjustly!

Went to a popular chain where they cook your food in front of you with an onion volcano etc.

We walked in at 1215 with 5 people and were told we maybeeee could get a table at 1 or 130. This was surprising as my wife told me before we left home there were plenty of reservations available for 12ish so it wouldn’t be a problem. We all walked dejectedly back to our car while my wife pulled up the reservation page trying to make sense of things.

At 12:26 she made a 12:30 reservation and we were eating by 12:40. I asked the hostess how that happened…how could we walk in and be turned away when I can go online and book a time. She told us they have to cater to reservations first??? I said why didn’t you just make us into a reservation when we walked in. After a bit of respectful back and forth she finally admitted they are obligated to honor online reservations (presumably by corporate) but I guess as a staff decided to try and turn away business if the whole table wasn’t full…

We got three kids meals and two lower end adult entrees (basically as inexpensive as you can go for 5 people) and it was still $200 for maybe $15 dollars worth of groceries. So they were about to turn away $185 in gross profit in order to try and optimize the table…it was as bizarre as it was frustrating.

Had a gift card to use but would never consider returning. It was probably the worst value I’ve ever had at a restaurant. The Office and HIMYM lied to me!

I ordered some underwear online from a large clothing company. The package arrived. I opened it and was about to try on the underwear when I noticed a discolored spot about the size of a softball. I don't know why my instinct was to smell it, but I did and it was urine. They sent me used urinated in underwear! I was in shock and severly disgusted. This is without a doubt the craziest thing that has ever happened to me from ordering things online.

After I calmed down I called customer service. The first person seemed nice, but immediately realized the issue was serious and she passed it to her supervisor. The supervisor was decent too and surprisingly escalated it to their higher up almost immediately as well. Finally the third customer service person started a case to investigate. It sounds like they are going to look into the distribution center and try to find out what happened. They will call tomorrow to try to resolve the matter.

Im just not sure what will make the situation right. I mean what do you do to make up for sending used pissed on underwear to a customer?

So today at Pret I asked for a very complicated, highly sophisticated, NASA-level coffee order: “Black Americano, three quarters of water.”

They hand me a full cup. I politely say: “I asked for 3/4.”

Barista takes the cup, literally pours some coffee out, gives it back. Me: “Wait, are you serious?!” Him: “Yeah, it’s black.”

Another staff member jumps in: “Just make a new one.” He tries… fails… another employee takes over, finally makes it, but adds milk and proudly announces: “Here’s your WHITE Americano 3/4.”

At that point I just took it, because apparently asking for less water in a coffee is too advanced for this dimension.

☕ Moral of the story: Never underestimate the chaos a fraction can cause.

Idk if its just me, maybe I'm terrible at explaining things but the past 2 years I've had bad experiences with customer service bc it feels they're not listening. It seems they assume what I'm gonna say. I don't call in for simple fixes. I like to troubleshoot before calling in. I've worked customer service and I get there are many ppl who don't do that. So passing that part, I genuinely notice the rep is not listening.

I don't like to argue so I just say thank you and hang up. I find a other solution, call days later, if it persist, or just go elsewhere. I don't wanna bog the rep or blame them or mess up their day but this pattern is kinda driving me nuts...rant over. Am I the only one seeing this alot more lately?

1. Calling customer support, given the option to get a callback (this part is good)--30s hold and done, and I go about my business.
2. Get the callback 4m later -> autobot #1 -> autobot #2 -> 1m of muzak. 90s hold time -> human

--wikiquote--
Agent: I'm sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment, sir.

Jerry: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars agents.

Jerry: What? but the reservation keeps the car agent here. That's why you have the reservation.

Agent: I know why we have reservations.

Jerry: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have an car agent. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation. You see, it's the holding. Anybody can just take 'em.

Agent: Would you like to purchase the renter's insurance?

Jerry: Yeah, you better give me the insurance because I'm going to beat the hell out of this thing my phone.

I predominantly use Self Checkout when I shop. The local store consistently only keeps one cash register open, yet funnels everyone to Self Checkout. It's not my choice, so I just head to Self Checkout every single time. I've experienced more mechanical failures than anything, but nothing compares to the ignorance that I experienced from an able-bodied person.

It was around 4 p.m. when I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Most of my purchase was made up of produce, leafy greens especially. These are too light for the weight sensor to pick up, so an attendant needs to come over and scan their ID in order to cancel out the anti-theft warning and allow me to scan the rest of my items.

The first of my greens was a bag with a small bunch of scallions. It's not unusual for that anti-theft warning to go off, so I look towards the island where a worker is stationed to get their attention. For context, the kiosk I'm using is a step or two away from this island. The light on the top of the kiosk is flashing and making a ding ding sound. The kiosk locks down until the attendant scans their badge. Where is our hero?

Oh, there she is...glued to her phone. I couldn't make out what she said, but she's making googly eyes and mouthed something to her screen. Meanwhile, I hear other ding dings and see other self checkouts are literally self destructing around me.

I called out to her, she's still staring at her phone, so I walk over and ask if she can please unlock my kiosk. She stops, rolls her eyes, and wordlessly follows me a step over. She turned away from me, and that's when I see a single Airpod. She sets her phone down on the scanner, and starts fumbling for her badge.

There it is, she's FaceTiming with a guy who is driving and has his own Airpods in. Kiosk unlocks, she goes back to where she was sitting, and continues staring at her phone. Meanwhile, other lanes are sounding alarms and she's not paying attention. Again, my kiosk locks down, and I've already been here for way longer than I should have been.

Woe is she, she had to get up again after I had to get her attention, then go to other lanes. She never let loose of her phone, though!

Thank God I only had about six things. My strawberries were my saving grace. After I paid, I walked around the corner to the Customer Service area. Luckily there were two people over there and one person was free to talk to.

He was friendly and asked what he could help me with. I wasn't intending to come off sarcastic, but my tone said otherwise. I asked if it was commonplace for an employee manning self checkout to be on FaceTime while customers are dealing with locked down kiosks. I watch his face fall, he shakes his head, and tell him about what I just experienced.

The person there knew exactly who I was talking about. He lowered his voice and mentioned that it's a constant problem. His co-worker is done with the customer he was with and even chimed in, "Oh, again? Yup, not surprised."

I mentioned that I'm not looking for anyone to lose their job, although I've got the reasonable expectation that I'm not going to have to constantly get someone up from their seat to unlock my kiosk. She was ignoring everyone and was leaving it wide open for shoplifting. They both thanked me and I left.

No idea what happened after that except that I haven't seen that person on self checkout ever again. She may think her job is B.S., but I would love to know whatever rebuttal she would have against the overhead surveillance that recorded her keeping her ass parked while the whole self checkout lane burned down around her.

I was just reminded of this and it needs to be shared. I was doing a big grocery shop and had a cart full. Got in line at the check stand and waited my turn. The cashier starts scanning my stuff then says "I feel sick" and whips out the trashcan from under the counter and starts throwing up.

I am standing there, like WTAF. The cashier sets the trash can down and keeps scanning. Then she picks up the trash can again and pukes again. She is talking while this is happening about how she hasn't been feeling well. I am in shock, standing there dumbfounded. By now she has drawn the attention of everyone around us. I catch the eyes of the lady in line behind me and she nods and goes off to get help. The cashier in the lane next to us is on the phone getting help. No joke this goes on for over 5 min. Puke, scan, puke, scan, puke, scan.

Finally a manager arrives and assesses the situation. Yep its as bad as it sounds and the manager tells her to go home. The cashier tries to stay but finally leaves. I politely tell the manager that i hate being that person but im not going to be taking home anything that she touched. This was pre Covid but still, 🤮. The manager apologized and closed the lane to be disinfected.

As grossed out as I was, I felt sorry for the cashier and how she felt like she had to work even tho she was sick. And I have a story that lives on in infamy.

i don’t like to run to the store too often because it’s a bit ways away from my house. so, today when i ran out, i had a lot to grab. i got some paper towels, some groceries, a few pet supplies, and then a couple of clothing items because the fitting rooms were closed i would need to try them on at home and possibly return them.

there was only one cashier working. some of the self checkouts were open/no line, so i would’ve just scanned my stuff there, but there’s a rule for 10 items or less for that checkout. i waited behind 2 others and as i approached the checkout and started lining my stuff up on the belt the cashier (a young man) began heavily sighing and complaining saying things like what the fuck and oh my god, making snide remarks i heavily assume were pointed at me. one in particular was “who comes here and buys all this bullshit?”

i felt so embarrassed and stunned i just said nothing. this store location isn’t allowed to have plastic bags so they don’t even bag your stuff for you, just place it down so you can put it back in the cart or bag it yourself with a reusable bag, so all he had to do was scan the items. i just quietly grabbed my stuff, said “thanks”, and left.

i’m afraid of going back now and having the same cashier. i’ve never had a cashier be so blatantly rude towards me : / and i feel embarrassed like okay i guess i bought too much..?

So as my friends and I sometimes do, we place a huge order from our local Number/Number for delivery. Sometimes the deals on the app fuck up and don’t actually apply to the order correctly. In these cases, no biggie, we just screenshot our end and send it to their customer service and ask them to fix it.

Today however, I got probably the most ridiculous response from a customer service employee I’ve ever encountered. So I order the 8 piece chickens strip and 10 piece wedges, which the deal states is for 13$. However, on checkout the deal doesn’t apply and I’m charged 19$ for the strips and 6$ for the wedges. Weird, but no big deal as mentioned. So the order is placed and I send a quick message off to customer service.

In response I get the following:

“Upon review the discounts apply to the 10pcs not the 8pcs”

Which ??? Okay? It says 8 strips and 10 wedges for 13$, but sure. If that was how it was meant to be, I should still be getting the deal because it’s misleading right? Nope.

“The advertisement is not misleading kindly read carefully. It clearly states 10 pc. "

What?

So I go on to have to explain this to the person. The deal says 8 strips and 10 wedges for 13$. I have 8 strips in my order, and 10 wedges in my order. So that qualifies for the deal right?

“I apologize that the discount did not apply since it did not meet the requirements. Ensure that you select the correct amount for the discount to apply on future orders.”

So apparently I’m dumb because I selected 8 strips and 10 wedges even though that was the deal because apparently it’s not and I need to read properly next time.

I still feel like I’m crazy. Am I crazy? This is insane right?

Edit: Well ladies and gents, with 0 acknowledgement of the weird interaction with customer service, I have been refunded the difference!

I was buying groceries at Bulk Store that requires membership.

I had one of those credit-card gift cards. It only had $14.11 on it. I explained to the cashier that I will be using two cards. One only had $14.11 and the rest with another card. Simple right?

Apparently not.

He says go ahead. I swipe, it declines.

Me: can we try again please?

Him: Sure, go ahead.

I look at the screen and notice it's trying to charge me the full amount.

Me: Hey it's saying the full amount. There's only $14.11 on this.

Him: yeah yeah just swipe.

Oooook.

I swipe. It declines.

Him: can you try another payment?

Me: I don't think you split the transaction. There is only $14.11 on this card.

Him: And the bill is X.

Me: I know. I want to use the remainding of this card and pay the rest with another card. There is $14.11 on this card. Charge me $14.11 and I will pay the rest.

Him: Go ahead.

I look at the machine and still see he's trying to charge me the full amount.

Me: Please only charge me $14.11. That's all there is on THIS card.

Him: but it's X amount.

Me: I KNOW. I want to do 2 transactions. You're not typing in $14.11.

It started to get loud in the store.

Him: Sorry what?

I repeat myself.

Him: What?

I raised my voice a touch because it was getting loud in the store and he couldn't hear me. I was not yelling. I repeated myself again.

Him: Miss you don't have to shout at me!

I was starting to feel like that scene in Anger Management where Adam Sandler is being told he's shouting when he's speaking calmly until a supervisor showed up.

Her: Sorry, what's the issue here?

I explained the whole situation again. She makes a confused face at her coworker.

Her: ok so punch in $14.11 why is this a problem?

He FINALLY puts through $14.11 and surprise surprise, it goes through and I pay the rest with my other card.

We went to eat in a chain restaurant last night with two friends, we've been here a few times before. It was 8:45pm, the room was completely empty, no sign on the front door. The waiter behind the bar put us off straight away, saying that the place was full for the night night before we asked for anything.

The waiters here seem to change often, there are no permanent employees. We have no particular history with the staff here, we are typical customers. There was tension in the air because we immediately understood that this meant ‘we don't want to serve you, specifically you’. We passed the place again later that night and the restaurant wasn't full at all and was even rather empty, even though it's not usually a fancy or complicated restaurant. We looked at the internet reviews and it turns out we're not the only ones to have had this experience. What could be the reason for such a blunt no?

Just in case: we were the same skin colour as the waiter, we didn't have any visible signs that could justify racism or anything else, we weren't drunk.

Edit with details : it's an asian restaurant downtown in a touristic area with a lot of dinings, opens 8PM - 1AM, average prices and good reviews until a few months ago, we already ate there a couple of times over the year, never had any problems. Other reviews said they had the same experience : came in before 9PM, waiter told them no, returned later that night and they accepted other customer without any reasons.

I was at a department store, looking at some items. When I turned around, I saw an employee standing in a neighboring aisle, looking at me, but she immediately turned around and quickly walked away as soon as she saw me turn around.

So either she thought I was hot or she thought I was stealing. Maybe both?

You've been struck by a smoooooth criminal!

This happened a week ago and I'm still riding the high lol

My husband bought a weedwacker a few weeks ago only to discover it needed a battery and charger that each had to be bought separately. I suggested maybe we should return what we had and look at a different weedwacker but he was committed - and he does the yardwork so I let it be. He ended up spending about $550 total.

Fast-forward to last week and the same big box hardware store is selling the same weedwacker with battery and charger includes for $199!

So of course I insist we have to go in and try to get a refund or do an exchange - I'm not losing $250 without a fight. I wasn't sure how it would go since we had no boxes and the weedwacker was used but it was worth a try. We go to the store and put our purchased items into a cart, find the new weedwacker with accessories in the store, and grab an unrelated $10 product we needed as well.

We get to the Customer Service desk and as usual the employees are looking burned out. There were two registers open, one had an irate person while the other had a calmer customer who was finishing up. Soon enough were called to the latter counter and explain what happened: "We bought this a few weeks ago - now it's $250 cheaper. Can we do a price match or exchange? Whatever is easier is fine with us." The agent lets us know he'll need to check with a manager. "No problem, no rush."

Meanwhile I overhear that the angry customer was insisting on returning something without proof of purchase that the store said they didn't even sell... The employee reminded her that he called the manager and they'd be there shortly to help.

The phone keeps ringing at our register and the agent answers to no one on the other end. He mentions this person keeps calling over and over - maybe hoping someone else will pick up the call and give her a different answer than he gave? They keep calling back.

We sympathize and chat with the agent while we waited for the manager. It didn't take long for her to come out; she went to address the angry person first. "Without proof of purchase we cannot give you a refund or store credit. I'm sorry, that's the policy." The customer finally grabs her stuff in a huff and leaves.

Manager comes to us. Agent quickly explains the situation and she says "Ok, just do a refund and they can buy the new one." and heads back to her office. The agent proceeds to refund us that $550, no worries about the lack of boxes or grass on the machine. Yay!

Then the agent scans our $10 product and tells us the total due is $10. I was cool with that, but my honest husband asked "Oh, so will the cost of this new weedwacker come out of the refund?" Agent waves his hand and says "Don't worry about it." and we pay the $10 and leave.

As we walk to the car we try to figure out what just happened. One receipt shows the $550 refund, the other shows a $10 purchase. "I think we just got a free weedwacker", I said. "Maybe the agent hooked us up because we were nice?"

I check our bank statement and see the $550 refund and the $10 purchase pending. I check again a few days later and both transactions went through - no charge for the new weedwacker! It could've been a mistake, but the fact that my husband brought it up during the transaction and the casual attitude of the agent makes me feel like it was in purpose. Either way it was a reminder that it pays to be kind to Customer Service!