Customer Service: Boo for Target & Yeah for Walmart!
My grandson purchased a $42.79 PSP UMD (universal media disc) for his birthday from Target. He inserted the disc into his PSP 2001 and had to wait for the disc to load and update the psp system. The screen on his psp froze and he could not turn off the psp, nor could he unlock the screen. My grandson asked his brother to insert the disc into his psp 2001 to see if the disc works. Well, his brother inserted the disc but the screen was blank, it would not do anything. We took the disc, the casing, and the receipt back to Target to get our money back.
I explained all the above to the clerk at the return counter on the same day of purchase (less than 2hrs from 1st purchase) and she stated Target's policy for electronics was if the casing was out of the packaging, you could swap it for the same game, but you could not get your money back. I told her the game is defective and gave her the casing in good condition, and the receipt, and she stated we could only swap it for the exact same game. She went on to say if you go to other stores like Wal Mart... I interrupted the clerk and said, if I went to Wal Mart they would give me a choice to exchange or get my money back. I also told her its the same at Sears, so don't go telling me about the other stores.
I asked the clerk for the Manager, and this is not right because you all don't have any signage in the back in electronics stating the refund policies to the customers. Because I would have never bought anything in electronics if this was the case. I also told her the disc damaged my grandsons PSP, and if we swap it out, will they test the disc to ensure it works. She said yes, and I needed to go to the back to see the gal for another new disc.
When we got back to the counter the gal asked my grandson to insert it into the PSP, so he did. I told the clerk the disc is not working because the screen is locked. Clerk said they don't have a PSP to test the disc, and I need to call the manuafacturer to see if I could get my money back. At this point I asked for the Manager, and another guy who is like a lead in the electronic dept said they don't do refunds, and I need to contact the MFR (manufacturer). I told him they don't have any return policy posted for the customers in the electronic area, stating if the package is open, item is not refundable, only exchangeable for the same item. I asked him are you the manager, he said no. Just so happen the manager stepped into the conversation, and he said it is law, no refunds, and I need to call the MFR.
I asked the Manager & clerk if the MFR phone number is in the casing? They had no knowledge that the MFR phone number was no where on the casing. I checked for the phone number myself, prior to returning the items. I told the clerk I live 12.5 miles away from their location, and I can't be going back & forth. So do they have the MFR phone number? The manager must have told the clerk to give me the Target Corp office phone number because I never got the MFR phone number from the store.
The phone number I received from the store clerk was 1-800-303-0308, and this is the Target Guest Relations desk. I spoke to Justin and he did not tell me anything I already heard from the store site. I asked for the MFR phone number, and would you believe he said 'let me see if I can find that number for you'. I was terribly upset and mean to Justin and said "the hell with you all" and hung up.
I will never shop at Target again because they have very, very poor customer service. They were never taught to go an xtra mile for their customers. They showed no compassion, nor did they apologize not once to my grandson. The impression I got from their services is "they could care less what the customer is feeling and the trouble they put the customer through. My grandson bought the game himself for his birthday, he saw and heard everything from both sides. He asked me to calm down, and I told him no because your PSP is damaged from their defective disc, and they ain't gonna fix it. So they should have refunded his money to him because exchanging the game would be no benefit to him since his PSP is non-operable.
When we all got back into the car, he had tears and told me, it's okay grandma because you did everything you could to help me. It broke my heart. So I took him to Wal Mart to look for another PSP, and an employee approached us to see if we needed help. I asked her, if by chance would they have a number I could call tech support for my grandsons PSP? I explained what happened to his PSP, and she said, we might have it, let me look for the number.in less than five minutes she came back to us with a big smile, and wrote the contact number for us to contact tech support for my grandsons PSP, and we got it backup & running. My grandson will not play with the disc we got from Target.
My point is Target has poor customer service, management needs training with people skills, they display no compassion, couldn't even apologize for the inconvenience they caused us, and management should be more knowledgeable with the MFR procedures. It's easy to tell a customer to call the MFR's, but when the store team and guest relations is unaware of the contact number to the MFR's, it really makes you all look like "da, where's da number". Employees and adults may be alright with your return policies but to an 8 year old child, he will always remember this incident. He felt like he was ripped off $42.00.
Tootsie
Jackson, MS
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