Amy, who claims to be "the boss, and answers to no one, " yelled at me today. I called in because I ran out of oil, "just a will-call customer" as she referred to me.
In July, I had an appointment with their representative who was to come out and check my system to set it up on a budget plan. 15 minutes before the appointment, the representative called, left a message and said, "I have to reschedule, I'll call you back, " and then never did. I stayed home from work that day to handle this appointment that never happened.
After running out of oil today, I called and explained what happened. I acknowledged, politely, that I must have "forgotten and subconsciously waited to receive that call." I apologized for running out, (not necessary in my opinion, but polite), and accepted responsibility for not having followed up.
I asked if it was possible to have it delivered today and was told "no, the earliest is tomorrow, " to which I understood and agreed. I asked what the best payment/delivery system would be and was told that payment options "start in July" and I couldn't participate.
I very politely said, "If I were the business talking to a customer whom I had cancelled an appointment on 15 minutes prior, said I would return a call that I never did, and realized that this mistake caused the customer to miss out on payment options, I would try to work outside the 'box' of my job and see what I could do to retain this customer's business. You've now told me you can't deliver today, and that I can't participate in the budget. Is there anything you can do to show you want my business? I accept most of the responsibility for running out, but you did 'drop the ball' by not returning my call."
She put me on hold and then Amy, "the General Manager who answers to no one" as she identified herself later, began speaking without asking me what was going on. She did not allow me the opportunity to speak and explain, she only carried on as though she knew.
She launched into a defense of refusing to accept responsibility for their lack of keeping the appointment and told me I "had ample time since July to November to call them back." She accused me of "not being home" for my appointment, when her representative cancelled on me. She continued to yell at me about how "there are no trucks in my area today." She completely missed the point and from my perspective, seemed to believe I was angry that oil could not be delivered today. However, she never gave me the opportunity to say, "I understand that, I'm not upset that you cannot."
Because I am not a child and felt that the way she treated me was inappropriate, I hung up. A few moments later, it occurred to me that it would be impossible for someone to treat a customer that way unless the entire idea of the initial conversation had been miscommunicated to her by the original receptionist.
I called back and said, "Clearly, this was not explained properly to you because based on what you're saying, it appears you were misinformed. I would like to explain properly what has happened, and give you the opportunity to apologize." She interrupted and yelled, "I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE! I will never apologize! You are just a will-call customer!" and hung up on me.
To me, this seems like strange behavior for a business to use to represent themselves. I called back and asked who it is that Amy answers to, and she replied, "No one, I am the General Manager, I answer to no one." I said, "It is untrue that you answer to no one, you have a boss, there's an owner out there who will care that you're acting like this." She replied, "It is not untrue, I AM THE BOSS."
If there's no owner out there who cares, then perhaps future, potential customers will care to know that this is how I was treated, but then, I'm not important, I'm "just a will-call customer."
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