Big Lots SCUMBAG retailer of the year?

So, after my two other articles about Big Lots, it had me thinking.  How many other times have they been sued in the past year by their customers or employees?

4/2/2015
Big Lots Hit With Overtime Pay Lawsuit

6/26/2015
Big Lots Sued over Slip and Fall

7/15/2015

Woman suffering burns sues Big Lots.

7/27/2015
Big Lots Background Checks Breach FCRA, Class Action Says

8/3/2015
Big Lots violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

Big Lots disclosed too much information

10/12/2015
Big Lots facing fines after boxes smash employee 

10/23/2015
City Counsel candidate sues Big Lots for ADA violations

11/27/2015
Big Lots sued over delay in distributing final paychecks.

Big Lots to pay $400,000 for race discrimination

Morton’s Steakhouse: Airport Delivery

Here is a pretty amazing social media story by Morton's steakhouse.   Pretty amazing to think that within 3 hours of a tweet that Morton's was able to act on it, get approval, order placed, food cooked, delivered in a completely different city!  Major props to Morton's for the approach they take with social media management! 

Do something unexpected for a loyal customer – when they want it most.

While waiting for takeoff in Tampa, Florida, Peter Shankman jokingly asked Morton’s Steakhouse to deliver a porterhouse steak when he landed at Newark airport.

While departing the Newark airport to meet his driver, he was greeted by a Morton’s server with a 24 oz. Porterhouse steak, shrimp, potatoes, bread – the works. A full meal and no bill.

When you think of the logistics of pulling this off, it becomes even more impressive. The Community Manager needed to get approval and place the order. It needed to be prepared and then driven by the server to the airport, to the correct location and at the right time. All in less than three hours.

Some of the comments on Peter’s post suggest that this isn’t an anomaly. Another reader shares his experience of ordering a baked potato and getting a full steak meal – delivered and for free.

Here is the link to the original story! 

Shout out to Samsung....They get Social Media Management!

Samsung: A Unicycling Kangaroo and a Dragon Phone

There are several lesson's to be learned here:

1. You do not get what you do not ask for! 

2. Don't take yourself too seriously 

3. When a social interaction goes viral....Find a way to capitalize on it! 

As a loyal Samsung customer, Canadian Shane Bennett asked for a free unit of their latest, soon-to-launch phone. To sweeten his offer, he included a drawing of a roaring dragon.

Not surprisingly, Samsung said “no”. But to say thanks, they sent him their drawing of a unicycle-riding kangaroo.

Shane then shared both messages (and drawings) to Reddit where it went viral. In response, Samsung Canada sent him the phone he asked for – and customized it with his fire-breathing dragon artwork.

Costco is becoming one of America's favorite places to buy a car thanks to one huge perk

How you can buy your toilet paper in bulk and get your new car to drive it home in....

Costco's power in the auto industry is growing.

The warehouse retailer sold 465,000 vehicles through partnerships with auto dealers in 2015, a 16.8% increase from the previous year.

That's not far behind the No. 1 auto retailer in the US, AutoNation, which sold 533,000 vehicles in 2014.

Costco has one major perk that traditional car dealerships lack: fixed prices. That means customers can skip the bargaining and upselling that is expected at traditional auto dealers.

The company sells cars through 3,000 dealerships to Costco members across the US.

REUTERS/John Gress JG/GN

Costco also announced that members bought or leased 58,000 vehicles during its 2015 GM Holiday Sales Event, a 34% increase from the previous year's holiday-season promotion. More than half of the people who purchased vehicles through the event said they switched to a General Motors brand such as Chevrolet, Buick, or Cadillac because of Costco's promotion.

"General Motors is pleased that Costco members continue to find our holiday offer with Costco Auto Program valuable," GM spokesman Dan Flores said in a statement. "We were able to work with Costco Auto Program to ensure that we offered a diverse vehicle selection and value that resonates with Costco members, and received great results that included conquests from other brands."

Here is a link to the original article

Experiment nets pay raises for all

REELEY (AP) – In the past three months, the franchiser of Greeley’s two Qdoba restaurants has been banking on a lofty experiment in management.

Enlarge photo

Joshua Polson/The Greeley Tribune via AP

Christine Reyes carefully grabs some lettuce for a burrito on Wednesday at the Qdoba off of 11th Avenue in Greeley. Qdoba is experimenting by paying employees $11 an hour for 3 months to create more stability in their workforce.

Could boosting employees’ pay by $2 per hour keep staffing stable while creating a better customer experience?

The answer, after the past 90 days, would be a resounding yes, said Bill Nelson, director of operations for Q Investments, which has 17 restaurants in the franchise. Greeley was the test market for the experiment.

“It was a success, and we are going to continue to do it,” Nelson said. “It’s been fantastic. The attitude of employees has been fantastic. The service has been better and turnover has been lower. It’s been a win-win for everybody.”

That $1,800-$2,000-per-month gamble will now become a $500,000 annual hit to the bottom line for the company. Nelson said based on Greeley restaurants’ success, the company will roll out raises for employees at all of its restaurants, which includes 14 in northern Colorado, two in Wyoming and one in Nebraska.

It wasn’t as simple as a request for better service to their customers. The company boosted hourly wages to $11 per hour, bringing employees above most other minimum-wage level employees across the city.

But the crews had to work for it. They needed to show up to work on time; if they had to take a day off, they were in charge of finding someone to work for them. They needed to work as a team.

“They knew up front what they had to do,” Nelson said. “It got to the point where during the test, the employees were policing themselves.”

Management used sales, of course, and customer surveys, as well as absenteeism as the barometers for this experiment.

Customer surveys in Greeley already are improving, Nelson said. He said it would be a good six months to a year to determine how actual sales figures were responding.

And managers finally get the chance to relax in their time off rather than make frequent trips back to the restaurants to solve problems. Nelson said a regional manager who covers six stores in the area remarked that the two Greeley stores no longer need much oversight.

“He said, ‘I don’t have six stores anymore, I have four,”’ Nelson said. “And both (Greeley) managers have said their jobs have never been easier.”

Where they used to get maybe 10 applications for employment each week, they now have folders 2 inches thick of those wanting to don the blue visors and roll burritos. The stores have only lost one employee during the entire experiment window.

The whole point, of course, was to take care of people on the front end and see if they would respond in kind.

“The employees are happy to be here. They’re excited to be here. It’s a whole different atmosphere,” said Nickiey Gallegos, general manager for the Qdoba at 2527 11th Ave. in Greeley. “I think it can only go up. I see every week it’s more positive. They’re more excited to be here, and the customer service is amazing.

“I think every restaurant should do it. It’s amazing.”

The program comes in the middle of a nationwide debate on minimum wages; some fast-food workers on the East Coast, for example, have lobbied for $15 per hour.

Nelson said that kind of an increase is a bit extreme, and not the statement his company franchiser, Steve Lauer, is trying to make.

“Typically, what happens is that minimum wages go up every year, and restaurants will just raise their prices to cover that cost,” Nelson said.

“We took a price increase around October 2014, and we’re just going to accept that this will be a little bit of a higher cost. But there are the intangibles you can’t measure, such as time spent on training, uniforms being lost, that type of thing.

“We know that over time with better service, you see better sales. . We’ll lose a little profit, but it will make us stronger.”

The company will roll the program out to its remaining 15 stores by March, Nelson said. Nelson has been approached by other Qdoba franchisers curious about the program’s success, even Qdoba corporate. He’s preparing a report for corporate leaders this week.

But this won’t be the last of it. Nelson knows they could face complacency among the ranks as time goes on. That’s why they’re working on a plan to institute profit-sharing of some sort to employees whose stores meet specific goals in the future.

“There will be some additional reward for achieving sales goals, and some will go back to the employees,” Nelson said. “That’s our intention.”

Here is a link to the full article

Shopkeeper shows just how to deal with angry customers - by pulling out samurai sword

Well, I guess the British have a totally different approach to dealing with disgruntled customers....It includes swinging a samurai sword!

A customer planning to pick a fight in his local store got more than he bargained for when the disgruntled store owner pulled out a samurai sword.

The conversation quickly gets heated, with the customer making angry gestures at the other man before rushing towards him.

It is then that the storekeeper fumbles behind his desk and pulls out a samurai sword which he wields at the man.

The terrified man is then seen running out the shop with the sword-wielding staff member on his heels.

It's safe to say that's one store he won't be returning to again.

See the full article here!

Angry Comcast customer set up Raspberry Pi to auto-tweet speed test results

A Comcast customer who is dissatisfied with Internet speeds set up a Raspberry Pi to automatically tweet at Comcast each time speeds are much lower than advertised.

"I pay for 150Mbps down and 10Mbps up," Reddit user AlekseyP wrote over the weekend. "The Raspberry Pi runs a series of speed tests every hour and stores the data. Whenever the down[load] speed is below 50Mbps the Pi uses a Twitter API to send an automatic tweet to Comcast listing the speeds. I know some people might say I should not be complaining about 50Mbps down, but when they advertise 150 and I get 10-30 I am unsatisfied."

Read the full article here: 

Customer Attacks Clerk for Not Smiling Enough

While it is always polite to smile and is always a good thing to do during interactions with customers, apparently failing to smile can prompt some customers to start a physical altercation with you!

54-year-old customer walked into a convenience store for some late-night snacks around dawn on Sunday. The convenience store clerk completed the transaction in a professional manner and handed over the bag, but apparently he was not cheery enough for customer’s liking. The customer left, but then came back moments later and started calling for the clerk from outside the store, demanding that he come out and apologize for being surly and give him the smile he was owed.

The clerk went outside to confront him, and it escalated into an actual fight!

Bottom line, failing to friendly may not only cost you a sell, but apparently you might even get a butt kicking! 

Get the full article now....

It's about doing what is Right....Not about the tip!

It's about doing what is Right....Not about the tip! 

Here is a story I came across that is about going the extra mile.  Sometimes people in the service industry forget, it is about doing what is right.....it's not about the tip.  This Pizza delivery driver got it right!

(I’m delivering a pizza. An elderly woman answers the door. She opens the door part way, and it catches on one of her crutches. She struggles a little and manages to maneuver herself to get the door open. I see a cast on one ankle.)

Customer: “I’m sorry. I broke my ankle yesterday, and I’m still learning how to get around on these things.”

(She doesn’t appear to be in pain, or anything. Just obviously unfamiliar with the crutches.)

Me: “Aww, that’s too bad. Hopefully a pizza will help. That’ll be [price].”

(She starts fumbling with her purse while trying to balance on the crutches. Pretty quickly she is able to get to her cash. I give her the change. At this point, I can see her trying to figure out how she’s going to carry the pizza with her crutches.)

Me: “Would you like me to bring the pizza in for you?”

Customer: *immediate look of relief* “Could you just put it right here on the coffee table for me?”

Me: “No problem.”

Customer: “That’s very nice of you.”

(The table is just a few steps inside the house. I set the pizza down and turn to go.)

Customer: “Hold on a moment. Please, let me give you a tip.”

(She reaches into her change purse and pulls out a single quarter and hands it to me. I can tell that she doesn’t tip very often, and that she sincerely thinks that the tip she’s giving me is a pretty big deal.)

Me: “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

(I could tell that she meant well, so I smiled and accepted the token in the spirit that she intended.)

Here is the reference to the full story

Cookie Dough Can Explodes In Woman’s Vagina During Shoplifting Incident

Cookie Dough Can Explodes In Woman’s Vagina During Shoplifting Incident

In fairness to the retailers, there are some crazy wacked out customers out there.   I think this has damaged me from every being able to enjoy a Christmas cookie ever again!

Here is the link to the full story.
Here is the full story!

Big Lots mouse in Arizona iced tea!

Mouse found in bottom of Arizona iced tea that customer purchased from Big Lots.  

So when I was looking at the article about Big Lots getting sued for $1.1M for the customer getting injured with the water falling on his head, I stumbled upon the below posting as well.  THIS IS SO GROSS.  Big Lots, will this be your next lawsuit headline?   Will the attorney defense be that the customer should have been grateful for the extra protein content at no additional cost? 

Family Dollar store employee attacks local couple

OK, Family Dollar, just a little pointer, having a employee call a customer the "N" word and then attacking them isn't Delighting your customers.  Even the manager had an opportunity to handle the situation but failed to.

 No one will remember the employee attacked a customer, they will only tell others "Did you here about how racist and violent they are at Family Dollar? "

KILLEEN (January 27, 2016) Police are investigating after a local man and his wife say they were attacked by the clerk at the register at a Family Dollar store in Killeen while they were checking out.

Robionna Whittingham and her husband say the attack happened Saturday at the store in the 3300 block of East Rancier Avenue in Killeen, where they stopped to pick up a few items.

They were standing in a checkout lane behind an older woman, toward whom, they say, the male clerk was being verbally abusive, she said.

"(The cashier) was cursing and saying the “N” word and all that and he was saying that in front of the old lady at the register, then the customer asked for the manger and (the manager) wouldn't even help her,” Whittingham said.

Whittingham said she told the cashier to stop using such language around the elderly customer.

"I said, ‘Your customer service sucks. You are supposed to put the customer first at all times and you think it’s okay to talk like that,’” Whittingham said.

She said the cashier then turned and started cursing at her.

"Then my husband told him, ‘Don't talk to my wife like that and he was like I don't give an ‘F” about your wife," Whittingham said.

"The suspect, the cashier, then left the store and then came back in and there turned out to be a physical altercation,” Killeen police spokeswoman Carroll Smith said.

Outside the store, Whittingham said both she and her husband were assaulted.

"He turns around and punches me in my face. I fall to the ground. I’m bleeding and my ear is ripped open and the assistant manager is just standing there not helping, not telling him to stop, not calling police, nothing,” Whittingham said.

Her husband, who asked not to be identified, was also injured.

Whittingham said both she and her husband had to go to the emergency room for the injuries they received.

The cashier ran after the attack, police say.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Whittingham said she called the Family Dollar district manager, submitted a formal complaint and then was contacted by Family Dollar’s corporate office.

Bryn Winburn, the chain’s public and media relations manager, issued a statement Wednesday in which he said “the person allegedly involved in this incident is no longer employed by Family Dollar.”

Police say the man apparently quit his job at some point during the altercation Saturday, although Whittingham said she and her husband never heard or saw him do anything that led them to think he was no longer employed.

“Which one is it, did he quit or did he get fired? As far as I am concerned, he was still working there when he put his hands on my husband and I,” Whittingham said.

Whittingham and her husband are considering taking action against the suspect and the store.

Read the full article here...
Family Dollar store employee attacks local couple

Big Lots to pay $1.1 million to customer injured by plastic bottles

Big Lots to pay $1.1 million to customer injured by plastic bottles

All I can say is WOW.  Sure, no retailer wants to pay huge sums of money in a law suit but arguing that it was the customers fault for plastic bottles falling on his head and that the customer shouldn't have tried to pick up the bottles from the floor that had already fallen.

How about this, how about having a safe place for your customers to shop?

18 Companies that suck at customer service

CIO magazine just published the 18 best and worst companies in terms of customer support.  Not too many surprises on the ones that made the bottom of the list. 

See the full report here: 

Exceed customer expectations in unexpected and helpful ways

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. - Newton's 3rd Law

While Newton's third law may have been intended for physics, it certainly also applies to business as well.  At it's extreme's, customer interactions with a business has potential for polar reactions.

If I were to ask you to think about some of your worst experiences with a business, I am sure that, very quickly, you could recall some horror stories.  These interactions are with people which represent the company and the brand.   You may not recall the name of the person that you had the horrible interaction with but I am sure you recall the name of the business they represented. 

If I were to ask you to recall some of the most amazing experiences that you have had with a business, I would be willing to bet that this would be a much harder task for you.  Amazing customer interactions are sadly happening far less frequently.  

The goal of this blog is to bring attention to those horrible interactions but much more importantly to sing the praises of those businesses that go the extra mile to DELIGHT the customer.  Not to satisfy the customer but to truly DELIGHT them.  

Customer DELIGHT is surprising a customer by exceeding his or her expectation.  It is a mindset of a organization that if they have fallen short of delighting a customer, then they have to go above and beyond fixing the issue, which will only appease them, and risk losing them forever as a customer and as an advocate of the brand.  They believe they must do something to DELIGHT THEM!  They go a step or two or three beyond what the customer expects them to do.