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Child Item

Biggest chancer customers you have dealt with?

Dublindude69

First off I'm not sure if this is the right area for this so mods can feel free to move it.
Anyone working retail ever delt with someone that you know is chancing their arm?
This guy came into us with a Music CD claiming he bought it here and it was faulty and wanted a cash refund. The funny part is it had a sale sticker on it from another company

He tried to argue he bought it here but I kept pointing to the sticker on it.

Another time someone wanted a cash refund on something our company didn't even stock

.

Anyone else got any stories?

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SeaFields

There is a bit of a scam going at the moment and one of the girls in our shop was caught out by it a few weeks ago.

The individual goes through bins and stuff to find receipts for expensive items. They go into the shop, grab the expensive item off the shelf and go to the till for a refund. They usually pick a vulnerable member of staff to do this such as a young girl on an isolated till.

fakearms123

biggest chancer customers ive dealt with are kids, little smelly snotty nosed kids with permanently sticky chocolate pudgy hands, their incredible speed for someone with such short legs, loud, emotional wrecks so they are so they are!

wobzilla1

A foreign woman came into the shop yesterday with a carton of milk. She said she bought 2 cartons 3 days ago and only used one. She wanted a refund, then changed her mind and wanted a carton with a better date on it. The milk she had wasn't even going off for about 2 days anyway and the cartons on the shelf only had a day longer than her one. The manager rightly told her to **** off

eimearcmh

Not these are only minor things really.....

But some customers automatically presume we do free photocopying. Some presume that because they do business with us that its their right.

Its standard to give out an envelop if we are giving out a letter, cash etc but ive often got asked can i give them an extra 1 or 2. Saves them paying for it in the post office apparently.

As stated by another poster i often find that its the financially better off folk who try to cut costs this way.

wobzilla1

We also let people return bottles of wine if they order too many for a party. You get people ordering a few cases of wine on sale and returning 80% of it when the sale is over and try to get a refund of the higher price

eightyfish

I posted this in another thread a few weeks ago but this guy was definitely a chancer:

C: Hello, I would like a refund for this camera please.
M: *takes bag* I'm sorry, but unfortunately I can't give you a refund.
C: Why? I am not happy with it. I want a refund.
M: It is in a Argos bag. This is not Argos.
C: But I only put it in that bag to bring it in to you.
M: *takes out box* And do you have a receipt?
C: No, I lost it.
M: *looks at box* This box has an Argos sticker on it.
C: That must have stuck to the camera by mistake when I put it in the Argos bag.
M: Also, we don't sell cameras. This is a computer shop.
C: *looks annoyed, then goes red, then walks out, leaving his camera with me*
M: *opens camera box - box empty*

eimearcmh

Gyalist wrote: »

That was a well-known scam by the Roma women a few years ago. They'd buy something small with a 200euro then suddenly change their mind once they gotten the change.

Still happening unfortunately. It more common with €50 now though.

needaname

Was working on a till in a busy supermarket and some guy comes up and asks for change of a 50... so I give it to him... then he decides he doesn't actually want change anymore (all the while he is in front of a huge queue of impatient customers)... so I swap back, give him his 50 and take my change back only for him to make a scene about how I hadn't given him my 50euro back. Turns out he was known for doing this quite regularly in the same shop :mad:

ScouseMouse

needaname wrote: »

Was working on a till in a busy supermarket and some guy comes up and asks for change of a 50... so I give it to him... then he decides he doesn't actually want change anymore (all the while he is in front of a huge queue of impatient customers)... so I swap back, give him his 50 and take my change back only for him to make a scene about how I hadn't given him my 50euro back. Turns out he was known for doing this quite regularly in the same shop :mad:

Foreign lady in a long skirt and head scarf tried the break a 200 note trick on my wife, then changed her mind after pocketing some of the twentys,

Seen it attempted several times before.

The face on her when I got every penny back and returned her 200 euro note - ripped into four pieces !!!!

Augmerson

Some Roma tried to scam us once in a shop I worked in. Alot of people who worked in retail will be familiar with this. They come in, buy something, hand over the money, you count it and are about to put it in the till when they ask for the money back so they can count it, and that's when they usually take a few fifty euro notes out of it with sleight of hand. Then they bring back the item later on and claim it's not what they wanted so they get a full refund plus the money they kept earlier on.

Well, on this occassion, when the woman asked for the money back, I stuck it in the till and handed her receipt and she flipped. I told her I couldn't give her the money back as she had just bought it, but they started really flipping out so we just gave them the money back, it was funny though.

eimearcmh

Augmerson wrote: »

Some Roma tried to scam us once in a shop I worked in. Alot of people who worked in retail will be familiar with this. They come in, buy something, hand over the money, you count it and are about to put it in the till when they ask for the money back so they can count it, and that's when they usually take a few fifty euro notes out of it with sleight of hand. Then they bring back the item later on and claim it's not what they wanted so they get a full refund plus the money they kept earlier on.

Well, on this occassion, when the woman asked for the money back, I stuck it in the till and handed her receipt and she flipped. I told her I couldn't give her the money back as she had just bought it, but they started really flipping out so we just gave them the money back, it was funny though.

From reading the above posts its clear its a common problem. As long as we are aware of it and make others aware of the scam then they won't be successfull.

I presume you have cameras above your head/at the desk/till/counter anyways?

Adyx

mojesius wrote: »

Another one from the restaurant, seen many times. Table of underagers would come in, try to order drink. No ID, no drink. They'd all order cokes, bring their drinks to the toilet with them and return with extremely pale cokes, thinking they were really smart. I'd take it off them saying 'that coke doesn't look right, let me get you a fresh one'. The shock on their faces was hilarious.

had people coming up all the time when I worked in a club asking for a coke in a pint glass with ice. It was ridiculous how obvious they made it. Served a chap one time anyway and followed him straight into the toilets where he tried to deny having his own alcohol despite the 35cl bottle sticking out of his pocket. :rolleyes:
Another time this guy was drinking away on a bottle of Stella in plain view till I took it off him and threw him out. He tried to insist he'd just bought it despite us not having sold it for several years.

Stercus Accidit

Adyx wrote: »

had people coming up all the time when I worked in a club asking for a coke in a pint glass with ice. It was ridiculous how obvious they made it. Served a chap one time anyway and followed him straight into the toilets where he tried to deny having his own alcohol despite the 35cl bottle sticking out of his pocket. :rolleyes:
Another time this guy was drinking away on a bottle of Stella in plain view till I took it off him and threw him out. He tried to insist he'd just bought it despite us not having sold it for several years.

Maybe if they weren't charged at the door, forced to check their coat(for a fee), and ripped off for the booze, this wouldn't happen.

I've never felt bad about my naggin in the jacks to top up a single, I spend plenty on the single coke and whiskey to make up for it.

username123

Used to work in a supermarket that sold its own bakery bread. A woman comes in one day, says theres a fly in her bread, holds up paper bakery bag with top of it folded down closed. Bakery girl goes a bit green thinking a fly could have gotten cooked into the bread (it happens). So she takes the bag and goes to open it. Woman shouts 'dont open it, fly will escape!'. Simultaneously bakery girl is opening bag and a housefly flew out of the bag and off into the supermarket. The woman had obviously trapped a fly into the bag to return the goods!! Crazy.

The absolute worst was a woman I served as a waitress in the states. She was as belligerent as anything, kept wanting things on the menu changed, wanted a kids portion for herself to be cheaper etc... Anyway after she complained about every single aspect of the meal and service, while chomping down every bit of food given to her she refused to pay and screamed her head off at our manager who let her away with not paying just to get rid of her. No tip for me after all her abuse either.
Imagine my delight when a week later I was in Kmart and a woman in the queue in front of me was haranguing the staff member on the till insisting whatever it was she was trying to buy had a 50% off sticker blah blah blah staff member was almost in tears. It was the same woman and I took great pleasure in absolutely lifting her out of it verbally, letting the whole shop know what she had done in the restaurant the previous week and that the staff should know she was just a scammer etc.. She was removed by security - revenge was sweet.

Adyx

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Maybe if they weren't charged at the door, forced to check their coat(for a fee), and ripped off for the booze, this wouldn't happen.

I've never felt bad about my naggin in the jacks to top up a single, I spend plenty on the single coke and whiskey to make up for it.

Or maybe the club I worked in didn't have a door charge, never forced people to check their coat and regularly ran excellent promotions and deals.

I've never felt bad about throwing cheap, tight-arsed pricks out the door either.

MitchKoobski

Last November when we had the really bad floods I had an old woman come looking for a coal bunker. It was absolutely pissing out and we keept them in the garden centre, so I ventured out and brought one back in. Told her it was €19.99 (cant remember the exact price atm) so she nodded and said she'd take it. Got up to the counter and she said "Oh well here's €15 that should be good." Myself and the girl on the till both said no its twenty. Then the old woman says "Yes but you should give me €5 off for water damage. Normally it should be €10 but I'll settle for €5." I explained that it was raining, and when things are outside int he rain they get wet. She would be keeping this in her garden, where it would get wet in the rain. She demanded to speak to the manager, who promptly told her she can €20, then bring it home and dry it with a towel.

BigBenRoeth

username123 wrote: »

It was the same woman and I took great pleasure in absolutely lifting her out of it verbally, letting the whole shop know what she had done in the restaurant the previous week and that the staff should know she was just a scammer etc.. She was removed by security - revenge was sweet.

Ha,you are some legend.

OP-Good thread

Stercus Accidit

Adyx wrote: »

Or maybe the club I worked in didn't have a door charge, never forced people to check their coat and regularly ran excellent promotions and deals.

I've never felt bad about throwing cheap, tight-arsed pricks out the door either.

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who finds the drinks prices in Dublin agreeable, and if you do, I'm sure they do the same job as you. There's cheap tight arses, and then there are normal people sick of being rode, I'm sure you can tell the difference.

MitchKoobski

Forgot these two.

1. Customer wanting compensation credit on her account because she didn't like the song we use when customer's are on hold (telling you which song would give away who I work for), and then saying it was too loud and hurt her ears.
2. Customer wanting compensation credit because apparently the agent in the Indian call centre was talking to her in a sexually suggestive manner while he solved her billing issue.

Sam Vimes

triseke wrote: »

i used to work in a shop that sold things for babies, ie clothes blankets etc. One evening i was on the floor on my own and a woman came into the store. She went to the back of the store. About 5 minutes later i went back to see if she needed help. She had a duvet set in her hand and proceded to tell me

"oh hiya, i was here earlier on and i was talking to a blond girl" I named several of the blond staff and she she identified the assitant manager's name.

"oh yes. thats her. I was talking to her earlier about returning this item. I bought it for a friend of mine but she has since lost the baby, and in the fray ive misplaced the receipt. The manager told me to come back with the item this evening".

Now, of course i was shocked at this. I had not been long in the job at the time and thus did not know how to take a return item. I called the manager in the office who came up to the floor.

When the woman saw the manager she told me that she had to get something from her car and would return in a few minutes. She never came back. It was only when i spoke to the manager that i found out that this woman is notorious for doing this. She will go to the back of the shop, pick up an item, tell a sob story and get the money back.

Same happened to me. I asked her when she bought the thing she was trying to return so I could look up the receipt but it was taking me a while to find it so I said she should finish her shopping and come back. Turned out we had never sold that item since the shop opened, it had just been sitting on a hook at the front of the shop ready to be grabbed by someone chancing their arm

Sam Vimes

When her son broke the phone she bought him a customer once said "you shouldn't sell things that can break"

BigBenRoeth

Sam Vimes wrote: »

When her son broke the phone she bought him a customer once said "you shouldn't sell things that can break"

LOL!
That's made my day :pac:

PFL

Used to work in a phone shop, countless stories had a customer who turned out to be an absolute idiot candidate for Ireland's stupidest criminal;

Out the back of shop working on paper work, one of the consultants comes in looking to okay a discount on a €1200 sale (three phones, speaker system & an ipod)

Go out to the shop floor and recognise this big spender as an absolute chancer, ask the consultant hows he paying - response credit card - go up to chat to money bags;

M - Hey David, big purchases
D - Yeah, you know Christmas is coming

M - No problem, lets get you sorted here, how do you want to pay
D - Plastic Fantastic

M - No hassle €1200 please
D - Here ya go
M - When did you change you're name to Ian Burke David?
D - mmmmm -- thats my real name David is a nickname

Other customer interjects - I'm sorry (to David) what's your name?

D - mmmmm -- Ian Burke
C - That's my f**king card you fu*king scumbag, my wallet was robbed an hour ago.

Queue customer lounging at David and mayhem ensuing - shop security restrain David and we calm customer - Guards come and haul him away.:D (names changed)

Another time we had a gang of women crowd around the demo phone walls, snap three or four phones of the walls and leg it out of the shop with their 'prizes' - the phones are plastic replicas.

Augmerson

eimearcmh wrote: »

From reading the above posts its clear its a common problem. As long as we are aware of it and make others aware of the scam then they won't be successfull.

I presume you have cameras above your head/at the desk/till/counter anyways?

Yeah, above your head and a side view. The info was passed down by the Security chaps in the company.

Cantona's Collars

Had a guy in Galway who claimed I destroyed his fence while digging along the road-he didn't have a fence.The boss didn't want any hassle so seeing as I refused to go and "fix" it he sent his son who wrote off his van on the way.As soon as people see you doing any work near their home (and yes they were mostly well to do) they see an opportunity to gouge you.One bollix in Wicklow got new gates to his land hung as he claimed our machines wrecked them-the gates had rusted away with age and lack of care over the years.Another guy blocked us in on his land claiming damage had been done and nobody was driving out til he got paid-I drove a JCB up around his house and out,a fleet of jeeps and vans followed with him roaring and shouting like an eejit,when we said we had photographic evidence of no damage:D he relented.Chancers are always out there watching and waiting-be alert folks.

xkariex

I work in a supermarket with its own home bakery and this ederly man came in and stated that a rat had went through his read because there was little holes in the slice.
We asked him when did this happen he said in the shop as there was crumbs on the ground and he saw the tail went and got the manager his story dramatically changed to it must of been as there was hole in the bread..

Can just happen ha..

Another one when i was in the deli tried to bring back cooked meat 4weeks out of date sayin it tasted funny !!

HA customers are priceless !!!

actuallylike

Worked in an off licence and one night there was two of us on, a young looking guy had come in and my mate Gav was checking his ID:

Gav: Sorry mate, this really doesn't look like you.
Kid: It is though,
Gav: Well, what school did you go to? (Still don't know why he asked this)
Kid: <says a school>.

Gav asked me did I recognise him as I went to the same school.

Me: Sorry mate, I don't recognise you, what year did you graduate?
Kid: 2002
Me: But that's the year I graduated?
Kid: Yeah!
Me: But...I don't recognise you and you were in my class?
Kid: ehh...
Me: What's your name?
Kid: J Walsh
Me: But...he's a mate of mine, I know J Walsh.
Kid: Yeah!
Me: ...<in hysterics> You're NOT J Walsh!!!!

He left.

yermanoffthetv

Worked in a bank in a small town a few years ago. 2 young girls walk in about 16-17 ish tracksuit bottoms, scrunchie...ya know the type.Asked could they change some money. Thinking it would be 100 for some 20's or something I said ok.Pulled out a wad of what must have been 2-3 grand in 200's and asked for 50's. I didnt even bother to count it. You wouldnt have to stick it under the uv lamp to know they were fake, I mean amatureish fake like they got a hold of some thin textured paper and photocopied them. My facial expression was in not amused mode.I mean for god sake how dumb can you get, trying to pass forgeries an a place where theyre trained to spot forgeries :rolleyes: I made the excuse of we didnt have that much 50's in cash and come back another day. Gardai were duely notified. As it was a small town, the sight of a squad car flying past the window 5 minutes later leads me to believe their escapades came to an abrupt end :cool:

Kimia

The worst is when the manager doesn't stick up for you and gives the customer whatever they want, after you spent half an hour trying to calmly explain how they will not be getting a refund etc. Does my head in. :mad:

Frelance

Worked in a shopping centre for a year and had plenty of chancers. One woman came upto me to buy some DVD's that were all brand new on the shelves and when i scanned the barcodes and told her the price, she said check again and pointed to some stickers on the back. Loads of bargain stickers had been attached to them from our cheap dvd's section. She started bull****ting about getting us done by trading standards for false advertisement. Told her i was getting a manager but just wanted to Keep her waiting while i got security to confirm she had done it herself
She now has a lifetime ban and a spot on our dodgey customers wall:P

Had a fella walk in and put a display tv in his trolley and walk out with it. When security caught up with him he said his wife was inside paying for it:rolleyes:

another guy returning a xbox 360 at our front desk got a surprise when i was called to check it and found an empty shell??? no idea where the innards were but he must have been ragin because we were just handing over the store credit card when he was caught.

Fun times were to be had indeed. I quite liked catching out the scammers and shoplifters