Welcome

Dennis Jones is a Jamaican-born international economist, who has lived most of the time in the UK and USA, and latterly in Guinea, west Africa. He moved back to the Caribbean in 2007. This blog contains his observations on life on this small eastern Caribbean island, as well as views on life and issues on a broader landscape, especially the Caribbean and Africa.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Still Scratching My Head

I know that odd things happen everywhere, so I am only noting an instance in case anyone else has similar experiences.

I heard today that on a recent visit to a store in Sheraton Mall last week, an acquaintance found a cleaning product she needed, and took it to the cashier for purchase: it was marked at B$13. However, the cashier said that the marked price was wrong (saying it should have been B$20), but did not know the correct price for the item, so would not sell it. Customer left without goods. Store left with merchandise and no additional revenue, but have they since determined the correct price? Part of me says that I would have left B$20 and my phone number in case I was due a refund, that way assuming the risk of being overcharged rather than the store being underpaid. I remember a law class on contracts, decades ago, that was about offer and acceptance and would have thought that my acquaintance would have been in her rights to leave B$13, take the product and leave. Maybe I misunderstood.

3 comments:

Michelle Amiee said...

Yea, my family is from Barbados, and I spent a year and half living there... the customer service is more than questionable sometimes... nevertheless, I love Barbados and I always will.

acox said...

Price marked on that product is the price the customer must pay. it is not the customer job to decide the correct price.what marked is the price. The sales person is in no doubt not well trained in customer relation. The store however is the biggest loser in that they have lost maybe a potential customer.

Dennis Jones said...

For me, the moral of the story is not about customer service simple, but how service providers perceive service 'delivery', ie what will leave the customer and the provider satisfied. Clearly, neither should have been content with the outcome of a willing buyer but an unwilling seller.