Farewell, FYE

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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(I must share my angry story about FYE. I think it’s mild enough not to belong in the Pit, but if it should belong there, I apologize in advance.)

Today I went to FYE to unload some old CDS and DVDs that I had dug out of my garage. I’m heading overseas shortly, and figured that I’d try to get a few bucks back on them immediately, rather than go through Craig’s List or eBay.

The FYE I went to was in King of Prussia, PA, the largest mall on the east coast.

I went in, and the employee behind the desk didn’t greet me. I said, “Could I trade these in?” to which he responded, “No.”

Let me make it clear that I can take a joke. His demeanor was such, though, that I thought he may have been serious; at no point afterwards did he laugh, grin, or do anything that would indicate that he was a nice guy. If I hadn’t been CERTAIN that FYE accepts trade-ins I would have turned around and walked away. But I stayed, and he began to process the order.

As I’m sure they do with everyone, he proceeded to open each DVD and CD case to check to see if it was damaged. The first one he checked apparently wasn’t up to standard, but he didn’t tell me that. Instead, he kind of tossed it like a frisbee in my direction, managing to keep it on the counter between us. I stil wasn’t sure if he was giving it back to me or not–he didn’t say anything–but I started to get the message when he put the next CD in a new pile closer to him.

By the end of the transaction, I had a CD and two DVDs in “my” pile, and he had the rest in “his.” I think he didn’t accept one of the DVDs because it still had a Blockbuster tag on it (I must’ve forgotten to take it back years ago and didn’t notice the label before bringing it in), but that is only speculation, since he still wouldn’t say anything. I’m also left to presume that he didn’t accept my Violent Femmes CD because it was really old, since I know it’s still in perfect condition.

He didn’t tell me.

Finally, he asked me if I wanted cash or credit. After I took the cash, he didn’t say goodbye or anything. By that point I didn’t expect him to.

With eBay, iTunes, and other ways of buying music, I would THINK that retail stores like this would try to put their best foot forward to try to keep customers. And while I realize that the guy who handled my transaction was only an employee, it would be nice if FYE had an easy way of sending them feedback through their website; yet, that isn’t the case. So forget it, FYE. I didn’t do much business with you over the past few years because of all the new alternatives to buying music, but today’s events have solidified me as a non-consumer for the rest of my life.

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It is at this point where I generally say. . . please get me your manager. . . NOW!

From that point on, I conduct any transaction as though that employee didn’t exist. Because generally they’ll say something like, I was just joking or try to be helpful or change their demeanor. I don’t deal with any of it. I just ignore anything else the employee says from that point on. I’m always civil and very polite in my dealings, but I don’t deal with people who are not giving good service if I can help it.

And I will repeat this . . get me your manager. . .NOW! until I get a manager high enough to be helpful and responsive.

I’ve gone as high as a regional manager of Pizza Hut once who told me that the franchise that I was going to had the lowest ratings of any pizza hut in his region. At that point, I decided it was worth my time to drive to another RoundTable pizza or stop going to RoundTable altogether.