Stories about annoying customers

Customers are the best source of amusement during a long work day.

Today I had a woman who tried to return a broken Nintendo DS. She bought it 2 months ago and it looked like it had been through hell and back. The screen was scratched and covered in pet hair, dirt, etc. and the hinge had been complete cracked open.

I told her we couldn't take the item back since the problem had obviously been caused by the owner of the unit. She protested, of course and asked why we could do anything for her. I explained again that the problem wasn't a manufacturer's mistake that it was the owner's fault for not taking care of the unit.

So she caves and just buys another unit for her little grandson (tells me this afterwards). I advise her that made this time she should buy a durable case for the unit to avoid future breaks. She tells me that her grandson did have a case. I guess he wasn't using it then cause the DS was in disgusting shape. Like it was a used dog toy or something.

I love the parents who try to return an item that was obviously destroyed by their kids and they just end up buying another one after we refuse to take it back. Great lesson to teach your kids. No, it's okay to treat your stuff like garage, cause I'll always buy you another one if it breaks.


I had another woman who tried to return her son's PSP when it apparently had a problem with the screen. I pull the unit out of the box, install the battery pack and game and turn the unit on. The only thing that appears on the screen is a giant, shiny crack that looked like a spider web. I ask her what happened and she claims her son had it for an hour and then started crying when it stopped working.

I look at her funny .... "So, he dropped it and then started crying when it stopped working?"

"I don't think so."

"See this crack in the screen. That doesn't just happen on its own. He dropped the unit or something and I can't do anything for you in that case because we only cover items that break due to a manufacturer's defect."

"Oh .... okay. I guess we'll just have to buy another one."

"May I suggest a protective case?" *smiles*