Unbelieavable dimwit at the garage
Discussion
I've just mailed the following letter to the head office of a very large fuel retailer:
Dear Sirs,
Today I visited your esteemed service station at XXXXXXXXX.
I filled my car with about £30 of petrol and I then bought a few items from the shop, so my bill totalled about £35. I gave my credit card to the gentleman at the till - and then he asked me to tell him my PIN number. Somewhat taken aback, I said that it was private and that I should tap in the numbers on the little keyboard thingie. He then said “that’s not what I’ve been told” – I think it was his first day on the job! Expecting him to acknowledge the error I was gobsmacked when he said that if I refuse to pay the money (by telling him my PIN) then he’d have to report the incident to the police and that they have CCTV evidence of myself and my car. At first I thought he was joking, but then I realised he was dead serious.
Fortunately, for my sake, a queue had begun to form and other customers were reinforcing my (correct) position. He then made a phone call to someone - his boss I presume – following which he allowed the transaction to continue in the correct way. I have a couple of points:
1) Clearly the chap had no training and there was no supervisor on site.
2) It’s fair to say that the gentleman’s “people skills” were non existent. There was no apology to me, despite the fact that I was right and he threatened to report me to the police.
I thought you might be interested in some constructive customer feedback, hence this letter. In the meantime, I think it’s fair to say that I won’t be frequenting that particular garage in the near future.
Lastly, I will say that the Ginsters Pasty and Twix bar were most satisfying – even more so in the knowledge that I am free to consume them without the fear of a lengthy custodial sentence.
I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Best regards….
Dear Sirs,
Today I visited your esteemed service station at XXXXXXXXX.
I filled my car with about £30 of petrol and I then bought a few items from the shop, so my bill totalled about £35. I gave my credit card to the gentleman at the till - and then he asked me to tell him my PIN number. Somewhat taken aback, I said that it was private and that I should tap in the numbers on the little keyboard thingie. He then said “that’s not what I’ve been told” – I think it was his first day on the job! Expecting him to acknowledge the error I was gobsmacked when he said that if I refuse to pay the money (by telling him my PIN) then he’d have to report the incident to the police and that they have CCTV evidence of myself and my car. At first I thought he was joking, but then I realised he was dead serious.
Fortunately, for my sake, a queue had begun to form and other customers were reinforcing my (correct) position. He then made a phone call to someone - his boss I presume – following which he allowed the transaction to continue in the correct way. I have a couple of points:
1) Clearly the chap had no training and there was no supervisor on site.
2) It’s fair to say that the gentleman’s “people skills” were non existent. There was no apology to me, despite the fact that I was right and he threatened to report me to the police.
I thought you might be interested in some constructive customer feedback, hence this letter. In the meantime, I think it’s fair to say that I won’t be frequenting that particular garage in the near future.
Lastly, I will say that the Ginsters Pasty and Twix bar were most satisfying – even more so in the knowledge that I am free to consume them without the fear of a lengthy custodial sentence.
I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Best regards….
Wonder then what would have happened if you were the only customer...say late at night, didn't have the cash, were not able to persuade him otherwise........
You would have had no alternative but to leave and he call the police....
Then I wonder what would have happened.......
....YP
You would have had no alternative but to leave and he call the police....
Then I wonder what would have happened.......
....YPyellow peril said:
Wonder then what would have happened if you were the only customer...say late at night, didn't have the cash, were not able to persuade him otherwise........
You would have had no alternative but to leave and he call the police....
Then I wonder what would have happened.......
Yeah, I can just see him explaining everything to the police in great detail, about how this customer refused to give me his PIN number. I think it's fair to say that the police would probably err on the side of caution and not throw me in a cell overnight!
Excellent!!
I have actually had the police called when I left my wallet in my office then filled up. The illiterate girl couldn't spell half of the word when filling out the form then called the cops, because apparently I could have sotlen my car. The chap next to her kept saying that I was in every other day and that he'd recognise the TVR anywhere, but she inisited on calling the bib, who turned up asked which car is yours. I pointed at the Tiv, where do I live and then said it was fine.
I have actually had the police called when I left my wallet in my office then filled up. The illiterate girl couldn't spell half of the word when filling out the form then called the cops, because apparently I could have sotlen my car. The chap next to her kept saying that I was in every other day and that he'd recognise the TVR anywhere, but she inisited on calling the bib, who turned up asked which car is yours. I pointed at the Tiv, where do I live and then said it was fine.
tiger said:
I think if I had to write that letter I may have used the words attemted fraud 
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/fraud/preventionadvice/plasticcardfraud.html
Trust me, this guy was far too thick to be trying anything like that! Where do they dig these employees up from?
I think if I had to write that letter I may have used the words attemted fraud
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/fraud/preventionadvice/plasticcardfraud.html
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/fraud/preventionadvice/plasticcardfraud.html
Had a similar thing when Chip and PIN cards were new. I still had an old non chip and PIN enabled card, although it did have a chip in it. The monkey at the petrol station cash-desk insisted that it must be a chip & PIN card because it had a chip and refused to put it through normally so I could sign. I argued for some time and in the end gave up and had to pay with another card that was Chip and PIN enabled. Looking back on it and the guy’s general demeanour, I think he was jealous of the car I was driving and just wanted to cause some aggro. Either way, BP hasn’t been getting so much business from me since then.
I used to get this all the time at Elf/Total stations with my fuel card. I had the card enabled for all goods and services, which includes fuel and food.
"All together?"
"Yes"
"You can only use this card for fuel"
"I can use it for everything actually"
"No, its fuel only"
"No, read the card..."
"Oh right, sorry, usually its fuel only"
"Its my company, and if I want a Magnum and 60 litres of Diesel, I'll have them"
"All together?"
"Yes"
"You can only use this card for fuel"
"I can use it for everything actually"
"No, its fuel only"
"No, read the card..."
"Oh right, sorry, usually its fuel only"
"Its my company, and if I want a Magnum and 60 litres of Diesel, I'll have them"
When I told the wife about the garage fiasco, she told me that when she was recently at a local convenience store paying for some stuff on Switch, the lady behind the till asked "would you like cash-back?". My wife said, "no thank you" and the lady replied "that's just as well because we don't do it!"
How the hell these people are left in charge of money beats me.
How the hell these people are left in charge of money beats me.
parrot of doom said:
I used to get this all the time at Elf/Total stations with my fuel card. I had the card enabled for all goods and services, which includes fuel and food.
"All together?"
"Yes"
"You can only use this card for fuel"
"I can use it for everything actually"
"No, its fuel only"
"No, read the card..."
"Oh right, sorry, usually its fuel only"
"Its my company, and if I want a Magnum and 60 litres of Diesel, I'll have them"
I had a phone call from our Fleet Manager not so long back, to tell me that a fraudulent transaction had been logged on my fuel card (valid for fuel and oil): someone had apparently purchased 3,600 litres of Mobil 1 Synthetic oil from a service station on the A1.
'Er, no, that was me, actually. But it was 4 litres of Mobil 1 at £36.00'
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