Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Borders and SACD problem$%#$%#%&

Just got in from a short trip to Borders Books and Music.
I've always enjoyed shopping at Borders because they have a good selection of books and music and usually good customer service.
Tonight as I was leaving the store I asked the salesperson (who as it turned out is their 'inventory manager') who would I contact about them making a seperate SACD section. Right now the SACDs are mixed in with the regular CDs. I explained that its very diffucult to find SACDs in his store and that all the other music stores have a seperate section.
At that moment he got very defensive and said "WHAT other stores have a seperate section. I listed 3 or 4 other stores. I also explained that some SACDs wont play on a regular CD player and that I would hate to come in and pick up one of those by accident if I didnt have an SACD player.
Anyway....... I asked him again "to who would I make this request?"
He said (in a very lispy stick up his arse voice) that he didnt think it was necessary to tell me. I asked him why? He said "Because I'm the inventory control manager and I dont like the idea. It would just be a huge hassle for me."
At first all this just kinda slid off me, but as I was driveing home the more I thought about it the more it REALLY bothered me.
Anyway. You guys can help make this mans job a " huge hassle" and find your SACDs at Borders easier by going to and filling out the form at
https://www.bordersstores.com/care/care.jsp?page=7 (could someone please make that clickable.?)
Please help.
Sorry for the rant, but this guy just truly pissed me off.

BORDERS - DAM THE MAN!

Which store were you in? I'll gladly send them a lashing.

Mesquite, Tx.
Please woop him good for me.
Thanks

After incidents such as this I've mostly stopped shopping for hi-rez discs at local stores.

At least your guy knew what an SACD was.... not that that's really consolation to his attitude!

Yea. I had read that thread and thought about it while I was there tonight.
When "Huge Hassle man" and I were talking, one of his employees chimed in and said "I dont even know what a SACD is." I think we both gave him a "shut up stupid" look.

Oh, I think I would have complained to the manager about someone being so rude to me. What an asshat.

Oh trust me!, there will be some calls made in the morning.

OK...I sent them an email...

I had to select "service" from your pulldown menu, but the more approprite subject would actually be "lack of service". This is in regards to something that happened to a friend of mine, not myself, but the total lack of customer service, or even courtesy, forced me to write.

While visiting your store in Mesquite, Texas my friend inquired whom he should speak with about a suggestion for the cd displays. He had been shopping for SACD's and found it difficult, as all the SACD's were mixed in with the regular CD's. He wanted to suggest that they be in their own section as is the case in many other stores. The person he spoke with replied, that he himself was the inventory control manager and he didn't like the idea because, "It would just be a huge hassle for me." He wouldn't even let my friend know who else he could contact to make his suggestion.

It's this very lack of customer service that is driving the online economy. Amazon.com just gained yet another customer.

Just wonderful timing on this thread. I am on my way to Borders ( I have a gift cert to use up) this evening to pick up the new NIN disc on DVD-A. Hopefully I have a better experience.

Oh, come on guys, you got to give credit to the guy for being honest; wrong but honest.

Jaime

But not diplomatic.

He could have "honestly" said that, right now, the volume of SACD's they sell did not warrant the additional labor that would be involved in implementing that change. He could have thanked the customer for the suggestion and pledged to revisit the issue with management and monitor their sales of that product type. He could have offered to inquire with other Borders how they handle the situation.

Instead, he was rude to a customer. Bray pointed out how their service could be improved, and the person in charge of improving the service simply replied that he didn't want to.

There is always more than one way to tell the same story.

Honestly, though, it really would not be a pain in the ass for him. The minimum amount of work that he would have to do is print up some signs that say SACD and place them over the spots where teh SACDs are... not that hard.

Got a response from Borders today...

Dear Craig:

Thank you for contacting Borders Customer Care about your experience at the Mesquite store.

Please accept my apology for the delay in responding to your email. Although we strive to answer email as soon as possible, we sometimes receive more inquiries than we anticipate. If you need or prefer immediate assistance in the future, you may wish to call our Customer Contact Center at 1-800-770-7811.

You have reached a central mailbox for Customer Care that isn't connected to a specific store location. Neither Borders Books and Music stores or Waldenbooks are capable of sending or receiving email outside the corporate network. They do not have publicly accessible email addresses.

I understand that service issues like the one you described can easily ruin a positive opinion of an entire company. We are concerned about a situation such as this occurring at any of our stores. Please accept my apologies.

You made the correct decision by contacting us. Your comments were forwarded to Gary Utay, the General Manager and Holly J Linden, the District Manager for the area. Although I asked that one of them contact you by email, feel free to reply with a phone number where you can be reached. Both will want to know if there is a problem at their store and both will be grateful to receive your feedback so that they can rectify the situation.

We appreciate the time you have taken to bring this matter to our attention. If there is anything else we can do for you, please let us know.

Best,

Dan
Customer Resolution Specialist

Nice that you got a reply. I had to laugh at the guys title though. "Customer Resolution Specialist"

I still havent recieved a response. Maybe I was a little harsh in my message.?......................... Naahh!

There's nothing in that letter specific to your concern. It sounds like a form letter with maybe a couple of specific paragraphs cut and pasted.

I suggest contacting the Manager of the Customer Complaint Amelioration Department. I hear she's very effective.

Isn't her office in the basement by that dude with the stapler fetish?

I buh-buh, I believe you have my stapler.

Another response...

Dear Sir;
I am the General Manager of the store in Mesquite, Tx.and I am responding to your problem with our SACD's location in our store. I have passed your suggestion to our multimedia department in home office.
We do appreciate your interest in Borders and I hope you will visit us again on your next visit to Texas.
Thank you,
Gary Utay
GM

That doesn't sound too promising. It also won't do anything to discourage the type of behavior you ran into.

Sounded to me like he got yelled at, and was told he had to email me. So he did. Nothing more.