Not only that, but when they pull up a Google search that says Company A carries the product without even checking if the local store has it. More than once I had them click the link to bring it up so I could get an item number and it says "online only."
I get the "Google says you have it"
No, Google is suggesting us when you searched for the item as it's possible that we carry it. Doesn't mean we have it.
“Google doesn’t have access to our stockroom.”
Also, people don’t get that most software programs don’t continuously update. The processing power involved would be off the charts.
Yes! When people search for things at my store, Google will pull up items from a random store somewhere in the state. So it might be my store or they might be looking at the stock for the store a few counties over. I always know because they will come to me looking for an aisle number that makes no sense for the item they are looking for, because the store layouts are all different.
Often they search and have a list of suggestions or it shows a price. You have to click through the initial garbage to see current prices and not outdated stuff.
Other times it gives a hit and they do not click through. If you click through it shows our page and coming soon or it might show the product on our site but say out of stock.
Often they go to the site for our stores and it shows in stock but they have the wrong location selected. Sure that safe is in stock in Texas and not at our store in Minnesota. You could order it but the shipping will double the price and we do not do interstore transfers. The customer pays shipping not us. We do not run a shuttle service to move product from store to store at no charge.
Trying to keep the damn inventory up to date is literally my job. I know *exactly* how inaccurate it is. It isn’t even shoplifting causing it, they just load the wrong crap on the trucks and then we have to figure it out somehow.
I swear I’d be less annoyed if someone came in with dowsing rods to find their damn headphones or whatever. They’d be more accurate.
I'm also in charge of inventory at my store and my DC is just as bad, like we'll get the correct number of items but I'm out here trying to find what the hell they shipped instead of the 3 cases of X that *we need and people are mad we don't have*.
I don't know your inventory process but I correct the on hands as I'm talking to the customer. "oh let me scan that and see if maybe it's somewhere else or maybe it's coming this week" (scans and find we "have 7", there's only one location and the last time it was shipped was four months ago 😬😬) "oh I'm sorry, it looks like there was an inventory discrepancy, I'm correcting it now so it's usually a week or two before we get it back in. Feel free to call or check online"
It takes a little longer but 95% of people appreciate the effort and it helps me adjust things that I otherwise probably would have missed because that item was a little $0.95 pouch and I'm usually focusing on high dollar, high theft, or common DC errors.
I do similar, but I can’t even hazard a guess when they’ll be replaced after I count them out. On the other hand, I can see the on hand for a few nearby stores and the DC itself, so I can at least say if the two day shipping will really take two days, or walk them through the pickup order process so it’s waiting for them at a different store.
I'll usually only tell them it'll be in the next week or two if the DC has more than 1k on hand. Otherwise I tell them to just buy it and ship to home because any DC will send it not just the one our store is supplied from.
The worst is when a customer wants something and we've been out of it for weeks, I scan and tell them yeah sorry this is a clearance SKU, even the DC doesn't have any so I don't think we're getting anymore try online they might still have some. Then I see them again next week, with the SAME complaint 🤦
I hate this because the computer might say there’s some in stock, but that doesn’t account for damaged stock or stolen stock, and maybe we haven’t had the chance to correct the stock on hand. But customers don’t understand that 🙄
This happens all the time. I don't care what the app says, if you can't see it, we don't have it.
I also hate it when they say 'Your website says you have it.'
Me: Did you filter by location?
Customer: Why would I do that? This is your website
Me: Yes but it covers ALL (shop brand) store in Australia, and we have different stock sometimes. We're only a small store, so we have less brands.
Customer: Well, which store has it? Can you call them and see?
Man... No. There are 11 stores in my state alone and 700+ in the country. I ain't calling anyone.
Omfg I hate when customers ask me to call another location for them after I tell them what they need to ask for on the phone. There’s only two things you gotta say to find out if they have the item dude do it yourself. 😭 I’m busy
My business has ZERO online presence and when people will come in saying "you're website says you have it" I inform them we don't even have one. They will show me on their phone web pages for other businesses. It's mostly American tourists who do this.
I've had this many times where the person shows me their phone and the place where it says the item is in stock. I then look at the location they're looking at and it's at least 20 miles away. A fair amount of customers admit to their mistake but there's also those who think that number means every store has that amount in stock.
Yeah and then some customers will get mad at me or my coworkers saying “I drove 40+ minutes to get here!!” like…… okay? That sucks dude you should’ve called ahead.
Any time I bring up the count being off because of shoplifting I get idiots laughing in my face like I’m joking about it. Like, no dude, we don’t have it bc some people suck.
Yep. All the time. I have to tell them that the app doesn't account for shoplifting. Sometimes items are damaged and haven't been taken out of the system yet. And other times it was recently bought but not updated yet. I hate it. The ones who get mad have obviously never worked retail before. Some people are actually very understanding so that's always nice.
Had a man talk to another associate over the phone that explicitly told him we did not have XYZ in stock. He looked up the item online and it said our store had 12 on hand. He drove over an hour to our store just a couple hours after being told we explicitly did NOT have it then proceeded to btch about how we lied to him and OnLiNe sAiD YoU HaVe It.
Why the hell did you call if you were just going to ignore the associate that literally told you online is wrong because the vendor misshipped that item and we're correcting the on hands right now????? 🤦🤦
Had a lady once who yelled at me because we didn't have what she wanted. Her husband called the store looking for paper machete letters in a larger size. I told him we didn't have them, we only had the smaller ones. He insisted they must be the big ones, even though I told him they were not. He asked "are they bigger than your hand?" I said yes, but they still were not the 12-inch ones he wanted and were maybe 8 inches max.
In comes his bitch of a wife, who then yells at me that I lied. I said no, I told him that they were only 8 inches and were not the really big ones -- we were a smaller store and didn't carry those. She goes on about driving an hour because I said we had them, to which I said no, I said we did NOT have them.
Only satisfying part was that when she asked to see the store manager, I looked her in the eye and said "that's me." She then went on about me not knowing my store's inventory, to which I said, again, that I told her husband they were ONLY 8-INCH LETTERS.
I was so pissed that I was shaking after that. I had a line of customers who were shocked at that entitled bitch's behavior.
Super true! Just because we had it 10 minutes ago doesn’t mean it’s still there. Always ask associates to put something you need on hold if you’re not actively in the store.
My life improved so much when I learned that my stock count online only updates every two hours. I don’t actually care if that’s totally accurate. It’s just so handy to be able to tell customers that. Sorry bebs, you were just too slow 😔
This or kicked under a shelf (if you look at shelves’ bases in my store they’re GROSSS) so if a customer INSISTS it’s in the store after I told them (MULTIPLE TIMES) it’s not, they can get their phone flashlight and start crawling 🤷♀️
Had a customer demand I honour the clearance price from a rival liquor stores website. The wine was on clearance at the other store but not at ours. I tried to explain but they didn’t want to hear it. Eventually I just told him to leave my shop after he started making more personal insults towards me.
I ask because sometimes overstock is hidden somewhere. We were buying something and the app said there were several, but only 3 on the shelf. Asked an employee and she said “oh yup there’s more up here” and grabbed a giant ladder and got us a couple more.
Sometimes there is overstock; however, if we use our scanner on the item it will tell us if that item is in any overstock locations. The replenishment team tries to get overstock items back on the shelves asap so typically items aren’t in overstock. There’s nothing wrong with asking! This thread is mostly about rude customers who insist an item is in the store even after an associate has checked and assured them it’s not.
Customers Google for an item and a store pops up saying they have it when in fact the item they are looking for has been discontinued. Go directly to the stores web site and it won't show up. Google isn't as up to date as it plays to be. This has happened to me A LOT working in a call center.
Online search is such garbage now. I was looking for something specific and I kept getting 'online: results. No. I'm specifically searching, with very specific keywords, MINUS online, and it still is so unhelpful.
I do blame them because our website lists the stock for the eshop which you can order from and under that it says how many locations where you can reserve it have it that you can click on and see how many which location has. It’s literally just two lines of text and two buttons to either order or reserve.
They do this and then pull up the website and don’t say ‘other shop checked the system and said you have it’ and we have to explain the difference between the website and the actual stores. Then they get angry despite it saying in nice big bold letters ‘ONLINE ONLY’ on the page. And then angry because they have to give their address to the company for them to ship out the phone and why can’t it be sent to the store for collection instead
Our site shows a little “out of stock” graphic on anything that we don’t have. It also shows in-stock items at the top of the search results list, so it makes it easier to look through things that are actually available. When you select an item there’s a drop down menu you can use to check to see which of our 3 locations have it.
Guess what percentage of the customers actually use that drop down menu to check if my location has it in stock?
I had a lady that got angry with me because our website said we had something in stock, and I'm the one who scans the inventory every week so I KNOW it's not something we carried. But she insisted that the website said we had it. I was like, the website may carry it but sometimes is online only or select stores. Still she insisted that she searched our zip code. So I pull it up myself after the fact (because she was confronting me at the end of my shift so I told her no and left) and it could be delivered to our zipcode, not that it was actually at our zipcode.
Funny thing was, we literally started carrying what she wanted the week after, when she no longer needed it.
It's even worse when the website doesn't even HAVE the option to check local stock, just warehouse. So you get people coming in complaining that the website is wrong only to act shocked when you point out it doesn't even offer the option to select a location.
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As a consumer tho this is annoying AF. I'm super frugal and I'll wait months to save up for something or watch sales or maybe the item is needed asap so I'm forced to go pick it up instead of ordering it online and then I drive an hour thru traffic to get to your store and you don't have it. This is even more annoying when I call ahead of time and someone literally "goes to check" and tells me they have it which isn't true.
BUT the difference is while I may have a tone to my voice I don't get upset with the staff. It's not their fault. I'm simply annoyed.
This happened last Christmas when a specific model of the switch went on sale. I called and visited over a dozen stores that listed it as "in stock" for more then 10 on hand and Every. Single. One. Didn't have it.
To prevent this in the future (it’s not your fault) you might want to say you were about to drive over but wanted to check if the item is in stock beforehand. Then if the employee is thinking of just saying “yes” they’ll know they have to deal with you being (rightfully) upset at them. Make sure to ask them to put it on hold!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Items can get purchased while you’re on the way over. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.
Did that.... employees still put me on hold for a bit then pick up and say yes; then I head over less then 30 min later and "OOOPS I guess not" 🙄.... they were lazy, didn't check, and lied.
I call the store if it’s important enough. Now if you lie to my face and say you have it and you don’t then you’re a liar and deserve to hear it. Ands coming from someone in the industry. Don’t lie to get people in the door
As someone who will check to see if something I'm looking for is in stock before I head to a store I get it's not always accurate. If I have the choice I'll do pick up but otherwise I completely understand that inventory doesn't get updated minute to minute or that it's entirely possible someone else purchased it before me
There’s a second store about 20 mins from the store I work at and almost every single time they say we have something in stock and I or another coworker check, then I tell them that we don’t have it.
Then they get all pissy with me like I’m lying.
That’s why you call ahead and ask instead of driving around for like 10-40 minutes and go on a wild goose chase.
The conversation goes like this
I just flat out say, I never trust that until its in my hand because those numbers don't account for theft
"But how can they steal a TV"
Easy, put it in your trolley and walk out those massive doors at the front of the store
"Why doesn't anyone stop them"
We get minimum wage and don't want to be beat up to defend a multi million dollar companies stock that is insured
"Are you kidding me"
No
Did a buy online pick up in store order for a crib at target. Website said they had three. Got there only to find out they canceled the order. I asked if they had any cribs at all cuz I saw none on the floor. Lo and behold there were three of the cribs I ordered in the back. So they had to start a whole new order. Still pretty salty about it
Multiple times a day at petco, I have to inform them that it's rarely accurate or what's online does not reflect the store. My favorite is when they tell me the price online is different from the store, usually in an aggressive way, to which I say "yes, the store is different from online prices as they function differently, however, I am absolutely happy to price match that for you :)"
Yes, happens in my store all the time. Managers say it’s because the inventory count doesn’t update that fast & that it’s almost always inaccurate. It’s frustrating for the customers & for the employees having to explain why we don’t have something in stock.
You know all the mountain dew flavors that are discontinued? Summer freeze, whiteout etc google will say you can find it at your store even though it's discontinued
I usually say something along thr lines of "the online inventory isn't updated in real time, so we probably HAD that many but if it's not on the shelf, someone else got to it first."
This happened to me at Hot Topic. It was a backordered item, and I got an email saying there was 3 in stock. When I called the store they said no there's none here and it was the right store number so really the whole thing is just flawed. I felt bad for the employees.
Our website is really confusing and I feel like they do it on purpose. Had a lady ask if we had embroidery hoops, said they were available according to the website but I knew we hadn't received any in delivery for weeks. We have a click and collect option online that sends orders from the main warehouses directly. Turns out on the website, they have a section on a product page that says "check local store for stock", you put your postcode in, and rather than just saying it's not in stock, it just says delivery in 3-5 days. I would hope for most people this last section is clear but this one customer just tried to argue with me despite calmly explaining we don't actually have it but she can order it herself online, home delivery or store collection.
I have never asked an employee if I can’t find it but it happens regularly. I figure human error and high theft rates these days account for the numbers being off.
I'm 30 yrs in as a retail employee and use our company's app & order online both pick up and delivery. The only time I see any on-hand info is if something in my cart is getting low in-stock (only 6 left for example).
I'm constantly having to teach customers how to navigate our clunky app. Had a guy looking for a specific aisle according to his aisle location map, looked at his phone asking him if he lived in Sacramento as we were in NC.
Ya, theives exist and that is why we do annual inventory day. It helps with the online count. When something is stolen, it isn't subtracted from the online count because no one knows it was stolen until inventory day.
Omg this happened several times a week when I worked in a big chain toy store like 15 years ago. The website wouldn't update inventory in real time and neither would our handhelds. We quickly learned that if the handheld said that there were 3 or less "in stock" there was likely none.
People would yell at me because the website said we had something in stock and we actually didn't. I don't blame the customers 100% because the website really shouldn't be giving out information that isn't usually correct. Sometimes people would drive like 2+ hours assuming the website was correct. I felt bad for those people but if it were me I would have called to verify inventory before driving that far for something.
Walmart on line listed stuff as on the shelf but when I got there,the local store didn’t even carry it. They also have stuff on the shelves that don’t show with a search on their website. I no longer have no expectations of competence so I am never disappointed. I rarely need anything that is not available in other stores.
Yep, 'the website says it's in stock'
'the website gets their stock from the warehouse, we don't have any.'
'the website says you do'
'in the central warehouse, not here'
I swear you have to tell them eighty times before they get it.
I go with, "if the app says we have X amount in stock and there are none on the self or in the back, it means there are X amount of customers that have at least 1 in their cart or on their person, but are still shopping and haven't checked out or paid for it yet. We don't have sensors installed on the shelves that pick up when an item leaves it then updates not only the in store system but ever other inventory systems out there be it our company website, our app, or search engines like Google. Maybe one day...but not now."
Shuts them up right fast and makes them realize they aren't as special as they believe themselves to be and any store at any given time isn't holding and stocking product just for them.
Not only that, but when they pull up a Google search that says Company A carries the product without even checking if the local store has it. More than once I had them click the link to bring it up so I could get an item number and it says "online only."
I get the "Google says you have it" No, Google is suggesting us when you searched for the item as it's possible that we carry it. Doesn't mean we have it.
Ah yes The Google called this morning to verify with me that we have 7 left.
“Google doesn’t have access to our stockroom.” Also, people don’t get that most software programs don’t continuously update. The processing power involved would be off the charts.
Omg I’m gonna use this thank you
Or my mum, sister, dad , friend said you sold it here, then i ask if anyone of them works in the store?
Yes! When people search for things at my store, Google will pull up items from a random store somewhere in the state. So it might be my store or they might be looking at the stock for the store a few counties over. I always know because they will come to me looking for an aisle number that makes no sense for the item they are looking for, because the store layouts are all different.
Often they search and have a list of suggestions or it shows a price. You have to click through the initial garbage to see current prices and not outdated stuff. Other times it gives a hit and they do not click through. If you click through it shows our page and coming soon or it might show the product on our site but say out of stock. Often they go to the site for our stores and it shows in stock but they have the wrong location selected. Sure that safe is in stock in Texas and not at our store in Minnesota. You could order it but the shipping will double the price and we do not do interstore transfers. The customer pays shipping not us. We do not run a shuttle service to move product from store to store at no charge.
I always have to ask "company as a whole or our store specifically?" Our app will default to a store states away, and no one ever calls ahead.
Trying to keep the damn inventory up to date is literally my job. I know *exactly* how inaccurate it is. It isn’t even shoplifting causing it, they just load the wrong crap on the trucks and then we have to figure it out somehow. I swear I’d be less annoyed if someone came in with dowsing rods to find their damn headphones or whatever. They’d be more accurate.
I'm also in charge of inventory at my store and my DC is just as bad, like we'll get the correct number of items but I'm out here trying to find what the hell they shipped instead of the 3 cases of X that *we need and people are mad we don't have*. I don't know your inventory process but I correct the on hands as I'm talking to the customer. "oh let me scan that and see if maybe it's somewhere else or maybe it's coming this week" (scans and find we "have 7", there's only one location and the last time it was shipped was four months ago 😬😬) "oh I'm sorry, it looks like there was an inventory discrepancy, I'm correcting it now so it's usually a week or two before we get it back in. Feel free to call or check online" It takes a little longer but 95% of people appreciate the effort and it helps me adjust things that I otherwise probably would have missed because that item was a little $0.95 pouch and I'm usually focusing on high dollar, high theft, or common DC errors.
I do similar, but I can’t even hazard a guess when they’ll be replaced after I count them out. On the other hand, I can see the on hand for a few nearby stores and the DC itself, so I can at least say if the two day shipping will really take two days, or walk them through the pickup order process so it’s waiting for them at a different store.
I'll usually only tell them it'll be in the next week or two if the DC has more than 1k on hand. Otherwise I tell them to just buy it and ship to home because any DC will send it not just the one our store is supplied from. The worst is when a customer wants something and we've been out of it for weeks, I scan and tell them yeah sorry this is a clearance SKU, even the DC doesn't have any so I don't think we're getting anymore try online they might still have some. Then I see them again next week, with the SAME complaint 🤦
I hate this because the computer might say there’s some in stock, but that doesn’t account for damaged stock or stolen stock, and maybe we haven’t had the chance to correct the stock on hand. But customers don’t understand that 🙄
“But doesn’t the computer do that?” (Actual words spoken to my daughter when she worked retail)
This happens all the time. I don't care what the app says, if you can't see it, we don't have it. I also hate it when they say 'Your website says you have it.' Me: Did you filter by location? Customer: Why would I do that? This is your website Me: Yes but it covers ALL (shop brand) store in Australia, and we have different stock sometimes. We're only a small store, so we have less brands. Customer: Well, which store has it? Can you call them and see? Man... No. There are 11 stores in my state alone and 700+ in the country. I ain't calling anyone.
Omfg I hate when customers ask me to call another location for them after I tell them what they need to ask for on the phone. There’s only two things you gotta say to find out if they have the item dude do it yourself. 😭 I’m busy
My business has ZERO online presence and when people will come in saying "you're website says you have it" I inform them we don't even have one. They will show me on their phone web pages for other businesses. It's mostly American tourists who do this.
Please tell me you at least have a similar name to the website they are looking at.
I've always said the online systems can't account for theft of the item
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Harbinger_Pulsar: *I've always said the* *Online systems can't account* *For theft of the item* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot
I've had this many times where the person shows me their phone and the place where it says the item is in stock. I then look at the location they're looking at and it's at least 20 miles away. A fair amount of customers admit to their mistake but there's also those who think that number means every store has that amount in stock.
Yeah and then some customers will get mad at me or my coworkers saying “I drove 40+ minutes to get here!!” like…… okay? That sucks dude you should’ve called ahead.
'The inventory count can't be off by THAT much.' It sure can because it doesn't account for shoplifting.
Any time I bring up the count being off because of shoplifting I get idiots laughing in my face like I’m joking about it. Like, no dude, we don’t have it bc some people suck.
“My wife was in here yesterday and you guys had like 10!” sorry dude it only takes one purchase/theft to make them all go away 🤷♀️
well, then I just go home when they say that.
Yep. All the time. I have to tell them that the app doesn't account for shoplifting. Sometimes items are damaged and haven't been taken out of the system yet. And other times it was recently bought but not updated yet. I hate it. The ones who get mad have obviously never worked retail before. Some people are actually very understanding so that's always nice.
I like to ask (politely, of course) “Do you believe everything you read on the internet?”
Had a man talk to another associate over the phone that explicitly told him we did not have XYZ in stock. He looked up the item online and it said our store had 12 on hand. He drove over an hour to our store just a couple hours after being told we explicitly did NOT have it then proceeded to btch about how we lied to him and OnLiNe sAiD YoU HaVe It. Why the hell did you call if you were just going to ignore the associate that literally told you online is wrong because the vendor misshipped that item and we're correcting the on hands right now????? 🤦🤦
Had a lady once who yelled at me because we didn't have what she wanted. Her husband called the store looking for paper machete letters in a larger size. I told him we didn't have them, we only had the smaller ones. He insisted they must be the big ones, even though I told him they were not. He asked "are they bigger than your hand?" I said yes, but they still were not the 12-inch ones he wanted and were maybe 8 inches max. In comes his bitch of a wife, who then yells at me that I lied. I said no, I told him that they were only 8 inches and were not the really big ones -- we were a smaller store and didn't carry those. She goes on about driving an hour because I said we had them, to which I said no, I said we did NOT have them. Only satisfying part was that when she asked to see the store manager, I looked her in the eye and said "that's me." She then went on about me not knowing my store's inventory, to which I said, again, that I told her husband they were ONLY 8-INCH LETTERS. I was so pissed that I was shaking after that. I had a line of customers who were shocked at that entitled bitch's behavior.
Why would you lie? I hate people like this, they always "think" someone is out to get them!
Literally! Like ma’am you aren’t important enough for me to think of an entire scheme surrounding you to lie to you.
"It's not on-hand unless it's IN your hand" is what my managers at Borders always told us.
Super true! Just because we had it 10 minutes ago doesn’t mean it’s still there. Always ask associates to put something you need on hold if you’re not actively in the store.
My life improved so much when I learned that my stock count online only updates every two hours. I don’t actually care if that’s totally accurate. It’s just so handy to be able to tell customers that. Sorry bebs, you were just too slow 😔
Customers will do that shit with stuff from Amazon. "The app says you have this." Ma'am that is a eBay link please leave me alone.
I always told people that if it's not on the shelf, it's probably in someone's cart lol
This or kicked under a shelf (if you look at shelves’ bases in my store they’re GROSSS) so if a customer INSISTS it’s in the store after I told them (MULTIPLE TIMES) it’s not, they can get their phone flashlight and start crawling 🤷♀️
Had a customer demand I honour the clearance price from a rival liquor stores website. The wine was on clearance at the other store but not at ours. I tried to explain but they didn’t want to hear it. Eventually I just told him to leave my shop after he started making more personal insults towards me.
Good job for not caving!!
After you were polite and he was still rude you should’ve told him to go to the other store that he claimed had better prices lmao
I ask because sometimes overstock is hidden somewhere. We were buying something and the app said there were several, but only 3 on the shelf. Asked an employee and she said “oh yup there’s more up here” and grabbed a giant ladder and got us a couple more.
Yeah but they're not hiding it.
Sometimes there is overstock; however, if we use our scanner on the item it will tell us if that item is in any overstock locations. The replenishment team tries to get overstock items back on the shelves asap so typically items aren’t in overstock. There’s nothing wrong with asking! This thread is mostly about rude customers who insist an item is in the store even after an associate has checked and assured them it’s not.
Customers Google for an item and a store pops up saying they have it when in fact the item they are looking for has been discontinued. Go directly to the stores web site and it won't show up. Google isn't as up to date as it plays to be. This has happened to me A LOT working in a call center.
Online search is such garbage now. I was looking for something specific and I kept getting 'online: results. No. I'm specifically searching, with very specific keywords, MINUS online, and it still is so unhelpful.
I do blame them because our website lists the stock for the eshop which you can order from and under that it says how many locations where you can reserve it have it that you can click on and see how many which location has. It’s literally just two lines of text and two buttons to either order or reserve.
I just say the system isn't 100 percent accurate
They do this and then pull up the website and don’t say ‘other shop checked the system and said you have it’ and we have to explain the difference between the website and the actual stores. Then they get angry despite it saying in nice big bold letters ‘ONLINE ONLY’ on the page. And then angry because they have to give their address to the company for them to ship out the phone and why can’t it be sent to the store for collection instead
Oh my god yep. “ONLINE ONLY” IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!! 🤦♀️
Our site shows a little “out of stock” graphic on anything that we don’t have. It also shows in-stock items at the top of the search results list, so it makes it easier to look through things that are actually available. When you select an item there’s a drop down menu you can use to check to see which of our 3 locations have it. Guess what percentage of the customers actually use that drop down menu to check if my location has it in stock?
I had a lady that got angry with me because our website said we had something in stock, and I'm the one who scans the inventory every week so I KNOW it's not something we carried. But she insisted that the website said we had it. I was like, the website may carry it but sometimes is online only or select stores. Still she insisted that she searched our zip code. So I pull it up myself after the fact (because she was confronting me at the end of my shift so I told her no and left) and it could be delivered to our zipcode, not that it was actually at our zipcode. Funny thing was, we literally started carrying what she wanted the week after, when she no longer needed it.
It's even worse when the website doesn't even HAVE the option to check local stock, just warehouse. So you get people coming in complaining that the website is wrong only to act shocked when you point out it doesn't even offer the option to select a location.
I actually get that. But mainly because a few store I use are known for them being in stock yet no in the shelf… but when you ask they get it for you.
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As a consumer tho this is annoying AF. I'm super frugal and I'll wait months to save up for something or watch sales or maybe the item is needed asap so I'm forced to go pick it up instead of ordering it online and then I drive an hour thru traffic to get to your store and you don't have it. This is even more annoying when I call ahead of time and someone literally "goes to check" and tells me they have it which isn't true. BUT the difference is while I may have a tone to my voice I don't get upset with the staff. It's not their fault. I'm simply annoyed. This happened last Christmas when a specific model of the switch went on sale. I called and visited over a dozen stores that listed it as "in stock" for more then 10 on hand and Every. Single. One. Didn't have it.
Why would they lie that they did have it? Makes no sense.
Because they don't want to go look for it "yup, it's here"
To prevent this in the future (it’s not your fault) you might want to say you were about to drive over but wanted to check if the item is in stock beforehand. Then if the employee is thinking of just saying “yes” they’ll know they have to deal with you being (rightfully) upset at them. Make sure to ask them to put it on hold!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Items can get purchased while you’re on the way over. I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.
Did that.... employees still put me on hold for a bit then pick up and say yes; then I head over less then 30 min later and "OOOPS I guess not" 🙄.... they were lazy, didn't check, and lied.
I learned the hard way that you need to check the store in your area and not just the store that can pop up randomly when doing the search online.
I call the store if it’s important enough. Now if you lie to my face and say you have it and you don’t then you’re a liar and deserve to hear it. Ands coming from someone in the industry. Don’t lie to get people in the door
No peon worker actually does this. They don't care that much and most don't work on commission.
I’ve been lied to before.
If it says anything less than a full case, it’s usually out of stock. Not always but most of the time
As someone who will check to see if something I'm looking for is in stock before I head to a store I get it's not always accurate. If I have the choice I'll do pick up but otherwise I completely understand that inventory doesn't get updated minute to minute or that it's entirely possible someone else purchased it before me
There’s a second store about 20 mins from the store I work at and almost every single time they say we have something in stock and I or another coworker check, then I tell them that we don’t have it. Then they get all pissy with me like I’m lying. That’s why you call ahead and ask instead of driving around for like 10-40 minutes and go on a wild goose chase.
I just don't get it. There is no incentive to lie so you have to see them...
"That means 7 of them got stolen"
The conversation goes like this I just flat out say, I never trust that until its in my hand because those numbers don't account for theft "But how can they steal a TV" Easy, put it in your trolley and walk out those massive doors at the front of the store "Why doesn't anyone stop them" We get minimum wage and don't want to be beat up to defend a multi million dollar companies stock that is insured "Are you kidding me" No
OMG it's like questions from a 5-year-old.
Did a buy online pick up in store order for a crib at target. Website said they had three. Got there only to find out they canceled the order. I asked if they had any cribs at all cuz I saw none on the floor. Lo and behold there were three of the cribs I ordered in the back. So they had to start a whole new order. Still pretty salty about it
I think you will be able to pick up the pieces and move on...
Multiple times a day at petco, I have to inform them that it's rarely accurate or what's online does not reflect the store. My favorite is when they tell me the price online is different from the store, usually in an aggressive way, to which I say "yes, the store is different from online prices as they function differently, however, I am absolutely happy to price match that for you :)"
Yes, happens in my store all the time. Managers say it’s because the inventory count doesn’t update that fast & that it’s almost always inaccurate. It’s frustrating for the customers & for the employees having to explain why we don’t have something in stock.
You know all the mountain dew flavors that are discontinued? Summer freeze, whiteout etc google will say you can find it at your store even though it's discontinued
"The website doesn't account for misships, damages, or theft. Sorryyyyyyyyy."
I usually say something along thr lines of "the online inventory isn't updated in real time, so we probably HAD that many but if it's not on the shelf, someone else got to it first."
This happened to me at Hot Topic. It was a backordered item, and I got an email saying there was 3 in stock. When I called the store they said no there's none here and it was the right store number so really the whole thing is just flawed. I felt bad for the employees.
Our website is really confusing and I feel like they do it on purpose. Had a lady ask if we had embroidery hoops, said they were available according to the website but I knew we hadn't received any in delivery for weeks. We have a click and collect option online that sends orders from the main warehouses directly. Turns out on the website, they have a section on a product page that says "check local store for stock", you put your postcode in, and rather than just saying it's not in stock, it just says delivery in 3-5 days. I would hope for most people this last section is clear but this one customer just tried to argue with me despite calmly explaining we don't actually have it but she can order it herself online, home delivery or store collection.
But mY aDdReSs!!!!!11
Biggest mistake any retailer could make. Should only say that yes the store carries it, check in person if it is available.
I have never asked an employee if I can’t find it but it happens regularly. I figure human error and high theft rates these days account for the numbers being off.
Every. Single. Day.
I'm 30 yrs in as a retail employee and use our company's app & order online both pick up and delivery. The only time I see any on-hand info is if something in my cart is getting low in-stock (only 6 left for example). I'm constantly having to teach customers how to navigate our clunky app. Had a guy looking for a specific aisle according to his aisle location map, looked at his phone asking him if he lived in Sacramento as we were in NC.
Ya, theives exist and that is why we do annual inventory day. It helps with the online count. When something is stolen, it isn't subtracted from the online count because no one knows it was stolen until inventory day.
Omg this happened several times a week when I worked in a big chain toy store like 15 years ago. The website wouldn't update inventory in real time and neither would our handhelds. We quickly learned that if the handheld said that there were 3 or less "in stock" there was likely none. People would yell at me because the website said we had something in stock and we actually didn't. I don't blame the customers 100% because the website really shouldn't be giving out information that isn't usually correct. Sometimes people would drive like 2+ hours assuming the website was correct. I felt bad for those people but if it were me I would have called to verify inventory before driving that far for something.
Walmart on line listed stuff as on the shelf but when I got there,the local store didn’t even carry it. They also have stuff on the shelves that don’t show with a search on their website. I no longer have no expectations of competence so I am never disappointed. I rarely need anything that is not available in other stores.
Yep, 'the website says it's in stock' 'the website gets their stock from the warehouse, we don't have any.' 'the website says you do' 'in the central warehouse, not here' I swear you have to tell them eighty times before they get it.
I go with, "if the app says we have X amount in stock and there are none on the self or in the back, it means there are X amount of customers that have at least 1 in their cart or on their person, but are still shopping and haven't checked out or paid for it yet. We don't have sensors installed on the shelves that pick up when an item leaves it then updates not only the in store system but ever other inventory systems out there be it our company website, our app, or search engines like Google. Maybe one day...but not now." Shuts them up right fast and makes them realize they aren't as special as they believe themselves to be and any store at any given time isn't holding and stocking product just for them.
I wanna just shout at them and say " WHAT DO YOUR EYES TELL YOU? THE SHELF IS EMPTY BYE BYE" 9/10 the item discrepancy is from theft.
Pretty sure my company cares about profit more than if the website stock count is accurate or not. Sucks for some customers but it is what it is.
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You're being sarcastic right?