Places I Helped Put Out of Business
When I get mad at a business, I get really mad. Generally speaking, I never set foot in their door again. And I stick to it. I didn’t singularly put places out of business. But, I certainly contributed. Here are some places I helped put out of business and the story that goes with it.
Bon Ton
I bought a pair of pants on sale. Unfortunately, they didn’t fit, so I went back to the store to exchange them. When I brought the new pair of pants to the counter, the clerk told me that I had to pay the full price because they weren’t on sale anymore. We had some back and forth that was not very nice. I asked to speak to a manager, and she was worse than the clerk. Finally, I just returned the pants.
Then, I went to the customer service counter and asked for a manager. The manager came out, and he was worse than the other manager. I told him that I would never set foot in a Bon Ton store again, and that I would share this story with as many people as I could. Then, I ripped up my credit card in front of him. He didn’t care at all.
I never went to Bon Ton again and I told at least 25 people my story. Shortly after this happened, I read that Bon Ton was going out of business. With people like the ones I dealt with, I wasn’t surprised. They made about $5 and lost customers forever.
Friendly’s
Friendly’s was a restaurant chain owned by Hershey’s. We went there quite a bit with our kids. They had a program where kids could get coupons in school for reading a certain number of books. All three of my kids got coupons, so we went to Friendly’s and had dinner. I brought the coupons to pay and presented them to the cashier. She told me I could only use one coupon per visit. To this I said they each got a meal and they each have a coupon. But, she stood her ground.
So, I said to divide it into three checks and I’ll use a coupon for each check. Of course, she refused to do this. I asked for the manager and he refused to honor the three coupons. As I paid for dinner with one coupon, I said that we would never go to Friendly’s again and that I would tell as many people as possible. I recently noticed that our local Friendly’s is boarded up. They made about $6 and lost a loyal customer and other customers forever. That’s the definition of stupid.
Bed Bath & Beyond
I wasn’t a big shopper at Bed Bath & Beyond, but I bought a lot of gifts there. When they made the dumb decision to pull all of their MyPillow products off the shelves, I made the smart decision to never buy another item in their store. I even returned a gift that was worth hundreds of dollars.
When I started reading that they were closing stores, I knew that I wasn’t alone. So, they made their point with MyPillow. But, it cost them their business. The person who decided this should be kicked in her/his behind. Insulting half of your customers is not a good marketing strategy.
Conclusion
To me, being successful in retail is pretty easy. The customer is always right and you don’t squabble over $5. You also don’t insult half of your customers like Bud Light just did. These so-called marketing professionals need to be fired immediately and replaced with people who possess common sense.
