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My official TRU rant.........


jcastick

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So, as I do every so often, I stopped by my local TRU after work.....just to see if anything new has come in.

This time is slightly different. I have been looking for Marvel TRU wave 9 since it's release and thought it might be a good idea to get all the SKU, UPC and such information and take it with me so that when I ask for minimates and if they have any new ones that had arrived, I wouldn't get the same look of, "Mini-what-nows?"

I do my usual walk through first so I may not have to talk to anyone and as it has been since before Christmas, Same mates.....same spots......same disappointment.

So now I am in need of assistance and need to ask someone whomever I can find, my usual question.

I walk up to the customer service desk where I am greeted by a younger girl, who seems kind of geek-ish, so maybe she will know what I'm talking about. I go ahead and tell her what I am currently looking for AND that I have the SKU information for possibly finding them easier in their system. She procedes to tell me, "Oh, I know which ones your talking about.....Marvel and ghostbusters and the like, 2 pack figures correct?"

At this point I'm a bit happy that I get someone who knows what I'm looking for......but, instead of asking me for the information to look them up, she turns around and starts talking to the lady who I ALWAYS ASK ABOUT THIS CRAP, who just happens to be behind her..........

This woman proceeds to tell me, "Well, I don't know what type of thing your looking for.......not sure what a Mini-wassie is, your gonna have to give me a better description of what your looking for."

Sigh.... So I begin to tell her I'm looking for a wave of Marvel Minimates which are 2 packs of 2 inch tall figures that are located in the Miscellaneous Hero/Character aisle with the Mario, video game, tv character, Marvel and DC figures, and the ones I'm looking for a a Spiderman/Lizard pack and a Magik/Warlock pack. These were released a while ago and have yet to see anything from this wave on the shelves......and Oh, I have the SKU/UPC information if you could just look them up and see if they are in stock, I got this info from your website so I know they are available. After this whole description, she asks, "Are they Marvel.....DC figures, Can you tell me what characters....???"

So basically, she didn't listen to a word I said.

At this point, neither of them has asked me for the item information to look up and the woman I ALWAYS talk to about this stuff starts telling me how if I don't see what I'm looking for on the shelf it is more than likely all they have available. I tell her I have seen the exact same items on the shelves since before Christmas and I know this because I am in this store at least twice a week for this kind of stuff..... I Know what you have, I know what could be on the shelf......I'm asking you if you have any in the back so that I don't have to make yet another trip to this store and continue looking for the same thing in a few days.

She begins to tell me that it is going to be inventory time REAL soon and once they get all that done, they will start to get new stuff in. Oh and to check above the shelves on top of them to see if what I am looking for is up there......cause if it is, she will gladly climb up there and get what I want from up there.

So let me get this straight.....you are NOT going to look this stuff up for me and make this whole conversation end a LOT more quickly, you are telling me NOTHING new has come into this store since Christmas and that I have to look on the very top of the shelves where i know for a FACT, they do not store minimates up there because every time I go there I DO look to see if there is a case of new minimates just sitting up there and I NEVER see anything. AND the fact that it seems like I know your inventory better than you do.

I then thank them for what little time they gave me and headed out the door, steaming.

SO.......Monroeville, Pennsylvania Toys R Us store..........you have just lost a customer because I refuse to deal with this crap EVERY single time I stop by.

Thanks for nothing.

-----------------------------------

But thank you to all who took the time to read my rant.

I feel kind of better now.

Also thinking of sending this tale to TRU and letting them know my frustration.

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Honest suggestion? jot down the skn number before you go to the store. Keep it in your wallet, something. Instead of asking "Do you have Minimates" hand them the 6 digit code and say "Look this up for me please". Take their thinking out of the process and use them as a computer interface. They will then tell you what/if they have any on the floor.

Seriously, dumb it down by 10,000. They forget you 2 seconds later. Stop wasting your time and energy and only give the the vital information: the number and the words "Here, look this up."

EDIT: HOLY CRAP YOUR AVATAR MOVES!!!! If you'll excuse me I need to clean up after wetting myself in fear.

Edited by TM2 Dinobot
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I agree with what TM2 suggested. Also make sure you catch the names of the people who are absolutely not helpful at all and if you do buy anything there do the customer survey on your receipt and mention them by name and explain how they did not satisfy you. The district manager sees those surveys and if someone is mentioned by name, for good or bad they notice.

Its hard to find an employee who knows what they are doing. I have a few old friends at the one nearest me and they know what they're doing. But that store never got this wave in. I called the store that is half hour+ drive south from here and that morning girl had no clue what I was talking about and then after she "looked" said they didn't have the ones I was looking for. I knew from my sources at the other store that the location there had 7 the other day then got a case of 12 in. Their computer said 19 were in stock. So that night called guy looked and found cannonball/shatterstar. I asked him to check their bay, since it could be back there and not worked out yet. He tried to give me some BS that the 19 number meant all the different minimates like ghostbusters, bsg ect. I had to correct him and tell him how Toysrus SKU numbers worked. He checked and said he found the Magik/Warlock and held them until I got there.

But yeah I would have lost it when she started going on about what the item was in what happened to you and just told her to check the damn SKU number.

Another piece of advice is to avoid the service desk people and maybe head over to the electronics department. Since they usually have a computer over there and I find that they are usually more helpful than the service desk.

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That was really my whole point, I DID have all the SKU/UPC codes of the ones I wanted and I DID ask them to look them up.....quite a few times during the conversation, it just seemed like, as always with this TRU, that no one wanted to do any work.

Now granted, I'm not talking about ALL TRU stores, I have gone to one that is about an hour from here and the people I have spoken with there were tremendous help! The one manager was walking the sales floor with their inventory gun and actually looked up everything I was looking for from there. And the one back home always has plenty of sales people walking around asking if you need any assistance. This was more of a public service announcement regarding this store and to stay away from it if possible.

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Exactly, one would think as much time I spend there asking for the same things over and over, they would know who I am and make sure I don't even waste my time.

The worst part about this store is that it seems like the only people I can ever find are at the checkouts, customer service or occasionally in Video games.

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if you go during the day time they only keep people at the cash registers with one person floating about.

I always lead with the SKU though. That is all the info that they need. Just call ahead and ask if they have it to save you an empty trip.

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I would agree that the best way is to just go up and ask them to look up the item # without even mentioning what it is. That has worked best for me. I also go to the Electronics department as opposed to the main service desk and have better luck that way as well. I also have found the people who know what they are doing and try to find them when I have a question so that I don't waste my time with some clueless newbie.

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