Would YOU be satisfied?

 The Boring Details...

At first, the clerk refused to sell me an item for the price marked.  I complained:

 

7-11 Corporation                     June 21 2003 PO. Box 711 Dallas, TX  75221 1-800-255-0711 SLC: 328-3369 Dear sir or madam I’m writing to complain about an incident that happened in the evening of June 21, 2003 at your store located on the corner of K Street and 3rd Avenue in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The clerk, who gave her name as Susan Kiles, called the police because I asked that I only pay the price marked on the merchandise.  She also proceeded to educate me on the sameness of some vocabulary words, saying that she is a creative writing teacher.  I don’t mind the education (she was wrong, by the way), but I strongly object to her calling the police. I was only trying to make a purchase and then go home.  I do not expect police action, when I go to purchase soft drinks and cigarettes at 7-11.  I intend to publish what happened on the web site http://www.nowscape.com/suck , with pictures.  For this web page, I intend to return to this neighborhood store tonight, to take the photographs of the store and of the situation.  I will not let such problem simply evaporate, I promise; I will follow trough. I ask that you look into this matter and tell me what action you took, if any.  A second clerk was also present.   I paid by credit card, so you will be able to verify that I was in this store at 9:21 pm. Sincerely, nowscape.com/suck

Thee (3) months later, I received a reply:

 The Good News  :(

Today is October 1, 2003.  I can drink two 7-11 big gulps each month, until the end of the year. That's because 7-11 sent me 6... count them... coupons!

About 70 days later I received a message form Jane Golden of the Seven-eleven company.  The telephone she gave on my number on my answering machine is 275-0145.  It's a pager, apparently.  Later she called again and spoke with me. An audio recording of this conversation (for quality control purposes:)  is here.

 The Almost-Apology

She wanted to verify some things.  She said that what the Seven-Eleven clerks reported was different from what I had reported.  I asked if she she had checked the store's surveillance tape. She replied that 7-11 does not keep the tapes very long. (If I were 7-11 I would keep them much longer).  Apparently both clerks had said that some other item had been marked with the price which was in dispute.  (The clerks were not truthful.)  She said that I had called 7-11 three times, in all about this.  (Not so. I only called once.)  She said that if it's not so, this mistake could be attributed to the fact that her information she received was computer-generated (??)... and she said that we know that sometimes commuters make a mistake [my emphasis].  She said that this information is a computer generated email [sic].

This smacked of disingenuousness.  Say anything to get rid of the victim and call the next one before it's time to go home.

Jane Golden apologized for the incident and said that I am a valued customer.   Perhaps she knows that I had been patronizing the corner location of the  7-11, a Division of the Southland Corporation, since it  had taken over a 'mom-and-pop' business there.  I said that I accept her apology.

Upon closing our conversation she asked that I remove the image of the coupon at the top of this web page so that unscrupulous customers would not print it and thus obtain a 'big gulp' dishonestly.  We agreed that I would no remove it, but I would change it to prevent this unintended use.

I have started been shopping at another convenience store in my area.  It's called MAVERIK.  The people there are always friendly, often greeting me by name.

Maybe I'm wrong.  I think that at Seven-Eleven the customer is always wrong.  I thanked her for the valued coupons, but mentioned that I still have many big gulps to drink  before the end of the year.  But she told me not to worry, the coupons would still be honored at the beginning of next January.  Great! Maybe I will see if this is true by attempting to convert an expired coupon to a big gulp.  In my mind, 7-11 is trying to put its customers in an embarrassing situation, by encouraging victims to try  to persuade a snot-nosed, pimple faced clerk that it's ok to use expired coupons in exchange for a big gulp, after all, headquarters approved it.  Stay tuned, film at Eleven.

 Does this suck?

A copy of this web page has been shown or sent to all parties involved.

 

Last updated: November, 2013

Do these things suck? ~~ Unpleasant experiences with companies, professionals and organizations. Scams.