I had an experience at a store today that was particularly pleasing, and I wanted to share it because it is refreshing to hear positive experiences.
Does anyone else have an experience they can share where a store employee really made them feel that the customer comes first?
This evening did not start out with the makings of a proper relaxing evening. Specifically, when I arrived home from work, I glanced down into the basement and saw that the carpet was wet. Not a good sign.
I let out a sigh, glanced over at my wife and said “One step forward and two steps back huh?”
She told me of how the float switch on the sump pump got stuck again and how she spent the morning cleaning up the mess.
I sized up the naughty pump and drove quickly to Home Depot to purchase a new float switch, preferably the type that goes straight up and down.
This I found, complete with a picture of my pump on the package, and I happily came home to install my new widgit.
But there was a small hitch. It seems that the instructions for the new float assembly were saying to mount the whole thing on a special lug that’s on the top of the pump. On the picture, the lug was at 9 o’clock, looking straight down at the pump, while on my pump, the lug was at 12 o’clock: directly over the fitting for the outlet pipe. There was no way I could put the sliding float directly over the outlet pipe. It was the same model, but something was just not right.
I looked all over the pump for a way to rotate the top 90 degrees, but found none. Worse still, all of the screws of the pump were rusted badly. I swore under my breath…:mad:
Back to Home Depot, intent on returning the device and blowing a hundred bucks on a new pump.
I felt like giving the guy at the returns counter a laugh, so I showed him the picture on the box of the “proper” pump and told him my tale. He said “Why don’t you bring in the pump? Do you have the reciept?”
I said “You have got to be kidding. It’s over a year old. I’ll just get a new one.” He called a fellow from the plumbing department. They both looked at me and said “Just bring it in. Those things are guaranteed for a year.”
I doubted that they would take my rusty old pump and tried to insist on simply buying a new one. They looked at me and said “Just go home and get your pump before we change our minds!”
Back home I went, smiling.
I packed the pump up in a shopping bag and back to Home Depot I went.
The guy at the return desk looked it over and then called the plumbing guy, asking for a SKU number. I heard him say “Can’t find it? Just get the number for the next larger pump.”
Two minutes later he handed me a store gift card with $103.88 on it. Mind you, my pump had been the next model down, but he wouldn’t hear it (I didn’t protest much).
Five minutes later, I was walking out the store carrying the pump I had originally wanted after all, the one with the vertical float. Total cost to me: Three trips to the store and a little work.
That made my day 