Bass Pro adventures

[Rich Stern]

I've had so many problems with service at BPS recently, I'm beginning to wonder if they have my Outdoor Rewards card flagged for "special treatment" in order to chase me off.



Today's adventure was another checkout SNAFU. Bought a couple of fishing rod holders and some primers. Total $32.60. I had a couple of gift cards left over from Xmas and birthday, so I used them. The lady at the register rings them through, tells me I owe her ten cents after all is said and done. It's been quite a while since I used the cards, so I have no idea what the balance was. I pay up the ten cents and out the door I go.



On the way to the car, I notice the receipt says my remaining gift card balances were $0 and $53.25. But she kept both cards. WTF?



Make a u-turn, back to the customer service counter. Service line was mercifully short today. Sure enough, BPS rep says the cashier did it wrong and they owe me $53.25. Ten minutes later, I'm on my way again.



One thing that is becoming obvious to me, whether it's BPS or anywhere else, you simply cannot place your faith in the modern UPC driven cash register systems. It's still garbage-in, garbage-out. I suspect many people walk out the door having paid too much for stuff and never realize it.



Check your gift card balances before ringing out. Check your receipt. Check that you have everything you paid for.

 

[byron cooley]

I had the same thing happen to me at Sports Authority last week. I thought I still had $77.00 left on a gift card. I purchased $21.00 worth of lures and was told that I needed to pay an 85 cent ballance. I caught on right away and called a manager over to verify. The manager noticed the cashiers purse open under the register with gift cards in it. Turned out the cashier was bull****ting customers that thier card was empty and dropping them into her purse to use the ballance at another store. Now that girl has no more job.:angry:

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Rich,



I was talking to my wife about this just the other night. It seems like I either do the parking lot turn around like you did or I get home and have to go back. It really doesn't matter what store it is, they are all messing up.



Uncle Billy

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

It's no wonder BPS has some problems. After spending a lot of time in so many of their stores and watching how much inventory goes out the doors in a day, I'm amazed they can keep the shelves stocked!! Also keep in mind, this is high volume retail work and it is very, very hard to keep staff employed let alone trained. Considering the circumstances, they do a pretty good job and like others have said, it's your money....keep your eye on it. I always check receipts, etc., no matter where I go.



TOXIC

 

[Rich Stern]

Byron, now that you mention it, I may have been getting scammed. Reviewing the receipt, there is nothing to indicate I owed 10 cents after application of the gift cards.



Think about it: The cashier says you owe a small amount of cash, under a buck. The cash drawer gets positive, but only by a very small amount. The customer is giving so little cash that they don't think about it, unless they knew the gift card balance beforehand. If the cashier gets caught by the customer, the cashier simply claims a mistake at the register ("hit the wrong key"). The only way to effectively catch them is the way you did, by involving a manager. They're stealing a gift card with money still on it, which is a theft from the customer, not the store, and they are much more likely to get away with.



Wow.

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Toxic - you talk about all the inventory going out the door. That's just the staff stealing it. Can you imagine the stuff that is sold legitimately that goes out the door. The vast majority of inventory and money that is lost is from pilferage by the employees. They think that they are owed something. The BPS shops for me (Hampton and Baltimore) are too far to drive so I do all my shopping on-line and the occassional trip to Gander Mountain in Fredericksburg and some sale items at Dicks!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I have seen the inside of the security setup in the BPS stores. I'll wager not a lot get's out the door. Some always will, but they have a good system.



TOXIC

 

[Ken Neeley]

Tox,

I worked there for almost 4 years......the Shrink at our store averaged 200K per year, and that was in the bottom 20%.

 

[Mini]

Rich you probably nailed it. I know the guy that runs all the Loss and Prevention....he should look into this.



Mini