Where do you shop?

PIRG WHERE DO YOU SHOP?

Have you been shopping in Trinidad & Tobago and seen these INSULTIVE and Puerile Signs by UNEDUCATED RETAILERS?

1. DELIGHTFUL TO HOLD BUT IF BROKEN CONSIDER SOLD

2. YOU BREAK, YOU BUY

3. NO TOUCHING

4. NO READING (BOOKSTORES)

5. NO SITTING (FURNITURE STORES)

6. WE CHARGE A RESTOCKING “FEE”

7. NO REFUNDS

8. ALL SALES FINAL

9. FEES CHARGED ON CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS

IF YOU DO, ABSOLUTELY DON’T BUY THERE! PERIOD!

BE AN EDUCATED CONSUMER! DON’T PAY A RETAILER WHO EVIDENTLY ONLY WANTS YOUR “PROFIT” TO INSULT YOUR INTELLIGENCE.

IT IS YOU RIGHT AS A BUYER TO TOUCH ANY PRODUCT BEFORE YOU BUY.

IT IS YOUR RIGHT AS A BUYER TO BROWSE AND PERUSE A BOOK BEFORE YOU BUY.

IT IS YOUR RIGHT AS A BUYER TO SIT ON A CHAIR BEFORE YOU BUY.

AND CERTAINLY, AN EDUCATED RETAILER CAN TRUST YOU NOT TO WILFULLY BREAK ANYTHING IN THEIR STORE.

IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO AN UNCONDITIONAL REFUND IF, THE PRODUCT YOU PURCHASED FAILS TO WORK PROPERLY.

UNLESS A “RESTOCKING FEE CHARGE” IS VIVIDLY POSTED AT THE POINT OF PAYMENT, AND PRINTED ON YOUR SALES INVOICE, THUS CREATING A SILENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN SELLER & BUYER, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO RETURN A PRODUCT FOR THE FULL PURCHASE PRICE IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED.

IT IS PETTY & PREDATORY FOR ANY RETAILER TO CHARGE YOU A “FEE” (USUALLY 3 TO 5%) TO ACCEPT YOUR PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD. THIS IS ALSO AGAINST THE RULES OF THE RETAILER’S PROCESSOR AND YOU SHOULD REPORT IT PRINTED AT THE BOTTOM ON THE CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION RECEIPT. AN EDUCATED RETAILER WOULD WILLINGLY ACCEPT YOUR CARD KNOWING HIS PROFITS (EVEN DURING A SALE) ALREADY COVERS HIS PROCESING FEE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PAYING YOUR PROCESSOR 3 TO 5% TO MOVE DEAD STOCK AND GIVE YOU CASH?

Good Retailing is about Trust and building Consumer Confidence which, could never be achieved by uneducated retailers blatantly choosing to subtly tell the customer “I DON’T TRUST YOU” and “ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME IS GETTING YOUR MONEY”.

Almost 99.9% of retailers buy products they have no idea how it was made and its possibility of defects and malfunctions, but once they take your money it’s like you are under interrogation when you lodge a complaint and if after much haggling they finally decide to give a refund, they are dishonest enough to demand you pay a “restocking fee’ which can range from 10 to 20% of the cost price you already paid. A few years ago, a young Mother working as a Cashier at Emdads on Charlotte Street had her life so violently cut short by an aggrieved customer who the previous day purchased a pen for $1.00 and returned it the following day complaining the pen was not writing. Following instructions from her Boss as is the case with many workers who carry out their employers “instructions” without the conscience of it being wrong or right, this Cashier refused to either exchange the non-writing pen and/OR give the customer a refund, prompting him to pull a cutlass and dealt her several fatal blows. AN UNTIMELY DEATH FOR A PEN COSTING A MERE $1.00 & A RETAILER’S PAROCHIAL VISION BLINDLY EXECUTED BY ITS EMPLOYEE.

FAIR & SQUARE IN CHAGUANAS SOLD AN IRONING BOARD WHICH WAS DEFECTIVE. THE CUSTOMER RETURNED IT WITH THE INVOICE 2 DAYS LATER ONLY TO BE INSULTED BY THE STORE’S “SUPERVISOR” “WE SELL LOTS OF THIS AND DON’T HAVE RETURNS”. THE WORLD KNOWS THE DEFECTS AND SUBSTANDARD DUE TO MASS PRODUCTION OF GOODS ORIGINATING FROM CHINA, BUT THIS EMPLOYEE, EVIDENTLY IS TRAINED TO VIEW THE CUSTOMER RETURNING A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT JUST PAID FOR, AS “THE ENEMY”, FORGETTING QUITE CONVENIENTLY ABOUT THE PURCHASER’S MONEY THEY ALREADY RECEIVED. THEN A “MANAGER” ON HEARING THE COMMOTION CAME OUT TO SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE EMPLOYEE AND THE STORE’S “POLICY” AND IT WAS ONLY WHEN THE CUSTOMER, QUITE UNDERSTANDABLY BECAME FURIOUS & ABUSIVE AT BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY THIS UNSCRUPULOUS RETAILER THAT THEY ACQUIESCE TO GIVE A REFUND, ALBEIT BECOMING DISHONEST TO DEMAND A 20% “RESTOCKING FEE” INEVITABLY COMPELLING THE AGGRIEVED CUSTOMER TO LEAVE THEM WITH BOTH THE DEFECTIVE IRONING BOARD AND HIS MONEY. THIS IS THE PAROCHIAL VISION OF MANY AN UNEDUCATED, UNSCRUPULOUS, AND AT TIMES BLATANTLY DISHONEST RETAILER.