Complaint Review: Target Stores - Panama City Florida

When I saw this report last week, I made copies and posted them to Tarbutt HQ and the local store LOD. Today when I was in the store I stopped by CnonS on the way out. There were 3 employees behind the desk and 2 customers and I mentioned that I had come to this site and looked up PC in the search and found that this Tarbutt was reported on the badbusinessbureau.com site. The male clerk said "It was probably for our refund policy!" (Tarbutt has the worst return policy of ANY retail store!) I told him that was not the reason, that it was because one of their Pharmacy giving a customer some BS. I told them they might want to look it up on the site. If I think of it, next time I am in I will drop half a dozen copies of the OP around the store. As you might have noticed I do not like Tarbutt.

Mark writes: I told a customer on Friday that his tire was going low and that I could look at it for him. He blew me off because the weekend was his playtime. Last night, Sunday, 8:30 PM, he's banging on my shop door wanting to fix his tire because, "I have to work in the morning." I fixed it today, Monday, right before closing time. He's probrably still complaining about my "lousy service." I'm not trying to start another controversy, or dispute or agree with the OP, at all. But wow, what a fabulous, real-life illustration of EXACTLY how people will create their own problems, ignore THAT fact, and complain far and wide, without assuming any responsibility. This DOES apply in Customer Service issues. You have to recognize how YOU were behaving to the errant service employee, too. It's not just all on them. You do get back what you give out. And, YES, there ARE nasty, rotten service people who behave that way, regardless of how they are treated. But, I don't believe there are as many of them as portrayed. It's not infrequent that a business WILL offer to correct a situation, but it's not EXACTLY what the customer wants, or offered in the fashion the customer deems correct, and therefore a claim of a bad business arises. Consumers vehemently disavowing any responsibility on their part seems to be an American addiction. There's a quote by Mark Twain that seems to sum it up, in one sentence. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Thanks for the post, Mark, really great, down-to-earth insight.

Mark writes: I told a customer on Friday that his tire was going low and that I could look at it for him. He blew me off because the weekend was his playtime. Last night, Sunday, 8:30 PM, he's banging on my shop door wanting to fix his tire because, "I have to work in the morning." I fixed it today, Monday, right before closing time. He's probrably still complaining about my "lousy service." I'm not trying to start another controversy, or dispute or agree with the OP, at all. But wow, what a fabulous, real-life illustration of EXACTLY how people will create their own problems, ignore THAT fact, and complain far and wide, without assuming any responsibility. This DOES apply in Customer Service issues. You have to recognize how YOU were behaving to the errant service employee, too. It's not just all on them. You do get back what you give out. And, YES, there ARE nasty, rotten service people who behave that way, regardless of how they are treated. But, I don't believe there are as many of them as portrayed. It's not infrequent that a business WILL offer to correct a situation, but it's not EXACTLY what the customer wants, or offered in the fashion the customer deems correct, and therefore a claim of a bad business arises. Consumers vehemently disavowing any responsibility on their part seems to be an American addiction. There's a quote by Mark Twain that seems to sum it up, in one sentence. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Thanks for the post, Mark, really great, down-to-earth insight.

Mark writes: I told a customer on Friday that his tire was going low and that I could look at it for him. He blew me off because the weekend was his playtime. Last night, Sunday, 8:30 PM, he's banging on my shop door wanting to fix his tire because, "I have to work in the morning." I fixed it today, Monday, right before closing time. He's probrably still complaining about my "lousy service." I'm not trying to start another controversy, or dispute or agree with the OP, at all. But wow, what a fabulous, real-life illustration of EXACTLY how people will create their own problems, ignore THAT fact, and complain far and wide, without assuming any responsibility. This DOES apply in Customer Service issues. You have to recognize how YOU were behaving to the errant service employee, too. It's not just all on them. You do get back what you give out. And, YES, there ARE nasty, rotten service people who behave that way, regardless of how they are treated. But, I don't believe there are as many of them as portrayed. It's not infrequent that a business WILL offer to correct a situation, but it's not EXACTLY what the customer wants, or offered in the fashion the customer deems correct, and therefore a claim of a bad business arises. Consumers vehemently disavowing any responsibility on their part seems to be an American addiction. There's a quote by Mark Twain that seems to sum it up, in one sentence. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Thanks for the post, Mark, really great, down-to-earth insight.

Mark writes: I told a customer on Friday that his tire was going low and that I could look at it for him. He blew me off because the weekend was his playtime. Last night, Sunday, 8:30 PM, he's banging on my shop door wanting to fix his tire because, "I have to work in the morning." I fixed it today, Monday, right before closing time. He's probrably still complaining about my "lousy service." I'm not trying to start another controversy, or dispute or agree with the OP, at all. But wow, what a fabulous, real-life illustration of EXACTLY how people will create their own problems, ignore THAT fact, and complain far and wide, without assuming any responsibility. This DOES apply in Customer Service issues. You have to recognize how YOU were behaving to the errant service employee, too. It's not just all on them. You do get back what you give out. And, YES, there ARE nasty, rotten service people who behave that way, regardless of how they are treated. But, I don't believe there are as many of them as portrayed. It's not infrequent that a business WILL offer to correct a situation, but it's not EXACTLY what the customer wants, or offered in the fashion the customer deems correct, and therefore a claim of a bad business arises. Consumers vehemently disavowing any responsibility on their part seems to be an American addiction. There's a quote by Mark Twain that seems to sum it up, in one sentence. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Thanks for the post, Mark, really great, down-to-earth insight.

If it's not important enough for you to take care of during normal business hours, then it will not create an emergency situation for me. I'll give an example. I told a customer on Friday that his tire was going low and that I could look at it for him. He blew me off because the weekend was his playtime. Last night, Sunday, 8:30 PM, he's banging on my shop door wanting to fix his tire because, "I have to work in the morning." I fixed it today, Monday, right before closing time. He's probrably still complaining about my "lousy service."

I called as many numbers as I could at the Corporate headquarters this morning. Guess what? Every one of the recordings told me to call back during normal business hours. I was also given the option of leaving a message, which would be heard by someone, during normal business hours. Just to keep the calls on topic, I limited my attempts to the GE Healthcare division. It appears GE does close, and thus proves my point. As for contract work being done at all hours of the day/night...no duh! It is also written into the contract, and the workers do NOT work constantly. If the contract calls for the job to take 5 days to complate on site, each and every worker is not required to remain awake and going that extra mile for the entire 120 hours. He/she will work his/her shift on the project, and "clock out". Nice try. Try again. The Pharmacy was closed, as it was past their scheduled hours of operation. The Store Manager has no control over that at all, and the Pharmacist has no reason to buck the system. Corporate sets the rules, and the Pharmacist has to follow them. Would I be upset if it happened to me? Nope. Want to know why? Because I would have sat and waited for my RX to be filled. Or, if it was past closing time(or even close to it), I would have gone to another Pharmacy with longer hours. A little advance planning works, every time it's tried.

The company is called General Electric... Most respected in the USA Most respected in Europe GE Aircraft Engines has 70% of the commercial engine market GE Energy has 70% of the power generation market GE Transportation has 70% of the heavy locomotive market.. See a pattern here? And why should this be so? When the customer has a problem, a very capable team with authority to execute will resolve that problem, and they in turn will have tremendous support whenever they request it. The ACoE needed some older generators rewound at the Hartwell Dam. The units were pulled, sent to Schnectady, rewound, and returned to Hartwell and reinstalled in weeks. And note that a 'small' generator can weigh over 300,000 pounds and a 'medium' generator can weigh over 500,000 pounds. Sometimes the team members will pull some ungodly hours at a customer site, but this gets the customer back into business quickly. We are talking big money here. Down time costs for power plants, airliners, railroad systems and so on could otherwise become huge. Field costs can become telephone numbers with $ in front if on-site execution is inadequate. Contracts for new plants will usually have liquidated damages of $50,000/day (or more) if there should be a comissioning delay. The Company does not like to see anyone causing LD's. This sets the tone for everything else. Quite a bit larger problem than Target. Quite a few more people involved in customer service and support. And no clock watchers. Thanks to Chairman Jack 10% of employees are marked 'Least Effective' every year, and anyone who is ranked 'Least Effective' twice is gone. New people are hired with a process intended to select ever better people, so the 'performance bar' is forever being raised. Who told Alice that "if you want to stay in one place here you have to run as fast as you can, and if you want to move ahead you have to run that much faster"? Of course some other companies have had a few problems that GE has never had. Like a gas turbine in Germany that tossed its rotor which made an entire power plant disappear... the aftermath looked like Hamburg after the Allied bomber raids on U-boat production.

"had (a) not initially ignored your wife, and (b)laughed about her afterwards. I'm in the customer service business, and looking customers in the eye and talking to them as human beings goes a long way. John" THANK YOU. Now that someone finally understands. I won't be responding again. Thanks Again for putting it so well. Had nothing to do with security or time or any of that crap. We are talking minutes and seconds here. A simple "I'm sorry Ma'am but we are closed and we not allowed to give you a script" . Would have gone along way. And that they had the extremely poor taste to laugh at my wife's misfortune. It was how civilized people behaved ,was the point. If my employees did that they would be looking for work. Thanks Again. I said my peace. Accept it or reject it. Have a nice holiday season. I will because I wont be shopping at Targets in Panama City, Florida. Ron

How do you know that the pharmacy workers were "laughing at your wife"? Did they make comments specifically about your wife, or were they just laughing in general? I'd say there's a high likelihood that they were simply laughing, NOT about your wife but just in a comraderie sort of way. After all, there's a lot that goes on during a long day at the pharmacy, and believe it or not, NOT ALL of it is centered around YOU.

Ron- Don't get wound up by some of these "rebuttals". I understand why the Target pharmacy couldn't service you after closing, as explained by one of the suggestions/comments here. But I bet you would have NEVER written this complaint if the Target pharmacy employees had (a) not initially ignored your wife, and (b)laughed about her afterwards. I'm in the customer service business, and looking customers in the eye and talking to them as human beings goes a long way.

Interesting debate going on here... I would like to add the following: 1. It is never wise for a store to re-open after it has closed for the day. Nor should it accept customer before business hours (I understand the pharmacy is inside the store, but hear me out). It is a simple security issue. This would be a perfect opportunity to commit a crime. Think about it- a store lets someone in after they are closed. The door is locked behind them so no other customer is going to come in. Being after hours, traffic in the parking lot is also sparse. Some employees may have already left for the day leaving minimal staff to close. This could leave the store and it's employees vulnerable to harm. Big time. I belive the same is true to a degree for a dept. in a store. 2. As an earlier rebuttal states, where do you draw the line? Previous point aside, how long after you closed should you continue to take customers? 10 mins? 45 mins? 2 hours? Customer service is great and expected, but come on, lets be reasonable. 3. Remember, it is CORPORATE that decides the business hours of it's locations. Business hours are business hours. Is there a 24 hour pharmacy near you?

"I am retired from a very well respected, very sizeable company, and clock-watching when a customer had a problem simply did not happen there. If one of our people were more interested in watching the clock than taking care of the customer's needs, I garantee it would only happen once." Please name this Company that never closed. It was obviously open 24/365.

They would seem to be very poor choices for a Customer Service job. And these chaps should note that word, "SERVICE". If Target staff were still there as OP described they were, they should have performed what they are there for, PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! You two should understand that I have had BANKS accomodate me. Target will, also. Or Corporate will hear about it. I am sure that Corporate would then correct the situation. I do not get mad, but I do get even. I am retired from a very well respected, very sizeable company, and clock-watching when a customer had a problem simply did not happen there. If one of our people were more interested in watching the clock than taking care of the customer's needs, I garantee it would only happen once.

They would seem to be very poor choices for a Customer Service job. And these chaps should note that word, "SERVICE". If Target staff were still there as OP described they were, they should have performed what they are there for, PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! You two should understand that I have had BANKS accomodate me. Target will, also. Or Corporate will hear about it. I am sure that Corporate would then correct the situation. I do not get mad, but I do get even. I am retired from a very well respected, very sizeable company, and clock-watching when a customer had a problem simply did not happen there. If one of our people were more interested in watching the clock than taking care of the customer's needs, I garantee it would only happen once.

They would seem to be very poor choices for a Customer Service job. And these chaps should note that word, "SERVICE". If Target staff were still there as OP described they were, they should have performed what they are there for, PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! You two should understand that I have had BANKS accomodate me. Target will, also. Or Corporate will hear about it. I am sure that Corporate would then correct the situation. I do not get mad, but I do get even. I am retired from a very well respected, very sizeable company, and clock-watching when a customer had a problem simply did not happen there. If one of our people were more interested in watching the clock than taking care of the customer's needs, I garantee it would only happen once.

They would seem to be very poor choices for a Customer Service job. And these chaps should note that word, "SERVICE". If Target staff were still there as OP described they were, they should have performed what they are there for, PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! You two should understand that I have had BANKS accomodate me. Target will, also. Or Corporate will hear about it. I am sure that Corporate would then correct the situation. I do not get mad, but I do get even. I am retired from a very well respected, very sizeable company, and clock-watching when a customer had a problem simply did not happen there. If one of our people were more interested in watching the clock than taking care of the customer's needs, I garantee it would only happen once.

Your whole "it was how they treated us" complaint holds no ground. The Target pharmacy is there to fill your prescription in a reasonable amount of time, and answer any questions you may have (provided, of course, that you arrive to the pharmacy when they are open). They are no way required to "treat" you any which way, other than maybe extend a "thank you" or "come again." It is unfortunate that you wanted Target to bend over backwards, break all their rules and feel sorry for you. That is NOT what they are there to do!

I will answer this once. I can see that SOME people just don't get it. It was not the fact that the medicine was not filled. It was how staff treated us. And there total lack of compassion. I dont know where you live but in Panama City Florida , Targets pharmacy close at 6:PM On Sunday. With this kind of surgery when you run out of your pain meds You don't wait till Monday to get them. NUFF SAID

1) There is no time stated as to when the scrip was dropped off. This was apparently done for a reason. I'd be willing to bet that the "patient" was discharged well in advance of the 9:00pm closing time. 2) The pity story was injected to deflect from what the actual problem is as well as try to get people on their side. In all reality-it is irrelevent to the story. 3) They returned to get the scrip AFTER CLOSING. Where is there ANY obligation to wait on anyone AFTER YOUR STORE HAS CLOSED? Where is the line drawn (5 mins? 6? 10? 15? stores never ever closing?) to satisfy self absorbed asses who think that EVERYONE is at their beckoning call? If the "poor customer service" people weren't so enveloped in providing actual customer service to those that had the respect to do business within the stores actual hours of operation, as well as their duties related to closing the store, these employess wouldn't have even still been there-trying to get out and get home to their own families. What would the OP have complained about then? That the store closed on time and how dare they?

Some medical situations are extremely unnerving, and can cause those directly involved to be far far less than perfect in their execution. Pain is a great distractor as is, for example, having had your spouse suffer a stroke or other serious medical situation. Furthermore, since the Target staff were still on hand they should have cut these people enough slack to fill their script. There is no excuse for this. If Corporate were contacted, I do believe some people would undergo career adjustments. One day, Peter, you will also walk this road and your borish attitude may well haunt you.

It is rather discriminatory of you to generalize "young people" as being of poor customer service standards. I personally find the younger workers to be much more help than the older, cantankerous types who moan and groan about their aches and pains all day rather than offer good service. Furthermore, my previous comment still holds true. Why on earth would this man wait until late at night to pick up the prescription if it were so incredibly necessary for his wife? One would think if it were so important he would have taken the script to the pharmacy as soon as the doctor gave it to him, and WAITED for it to be filled -- not return many hours later just moments before closing time!

It is rather discriminatory of you to generalize "young people" as being of poor customer service standards. I personally find the younger workers to be much more help than the older, cantankerous types who moan and groan about their aches and pains all day rather than offer good service. Furthermore, my previous comment still holds true. Why on earth would this man wait until late at night to pick up the prescription if it were so incredibly necessary for his wife? One would think if it were so important he would have taken the script to the pharmacy as soon as the doctor gave it to him, and WAITED for it to be filled -- not return many hours later just moments before closing time!

It is rather discriminatory of you to generalize "young people" as being of poor customer service standards. I personally find the younger workers to be much more help than the older, cantankerous types who moan and groan about their aches and pains all day rather than offer good service. Furthermore, my previous comment still holds true. Why on earth would this man wait until late at night to pick up the prescription if it were so incredibly necessary for his wife? One would think if it were so important he would have taken the script to the pharmacy as soon as the doctor gave it to him, and WAITED for it to be filled -- not return many hours later just moments before closing time!

It is rather discriminatory of you to generalize "young people" as being of poor customer service standards. I personally find the younger workers to be much more help than the older, cantankerous types who moan and groan about their aches and pains all day rather than offer good service. Furthermore, my previous comment still holds true. Why on earth would this man wait until late at night to pick up the prescription if it were so incredibly necessary for his wife? One would think if it were so important he would have taken the script to the pharmacy as soon as the doctor gave it to him, and WAITED for it to be filled -- not return many hours later just moments before closing time!

If they accepted the prescription they should fill it at that time or let you know that it could not be filled before they closed and you could come back tomorrow. That way the consumer would have the choice to go elsewhere. The response from the other consumer is callous and not entirely forthright. It only takes a few minutes to fill the prescription; the majority of the time it takes is required to check insurance policies and what is covered. All which the cashier can do! I think the consumer who issued the complaint has a valid point which is related to customer service not whether or not the consumer had ample time to make it there after her appointment. That is not the issue and besides there are numerous reasons for getting there at that hour. The s\customer service provided in this situation sounds terrible. Cashiers and customer service people now do not seem to have a brain cell in their head. The problem could have been diffused if the cashier could have used common sense and asked or told the lady (the consumer) that they would be closing soon and they would not be able to fill her request that evening' or better yet, if the cashier could have been sympathetic and said we will be closing soon, I will see if the pharmacist can fill you your order for you before we close'. However, both resolutions suggested take consideration, reasoning and foresight, all of which customer service people seem to lack now a days. Mainly because the work force is so young I believe.

The Target pharmacy closes at 9 pm NATIONWIDE. What time was your wife's doctor's appointment when she was given the prescription? Assuming that it was during normal business hours, you had ample time to get to the Target pharmacy before closing time. If your wife was in so much pain as you claim, you would have not waited until well into the evening to get the prescription filled. Alleging that you were there "four minutes" to spare means nothing, as your wristwatch could have been four minutes slow for all we know. At any rate, it takes more than four minutes to fill a prescription, AND it must be filled by a licensed/registered pharmacist -- not the cashier of whom you spoke.