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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect to be able to make a purchase at closing time.

760 replies

NK493efc93X1277dd3d6d4 · 23/07/2017 01:27

I was in Laura Ashley today just before closing looking to buy a picture, The assistant showed me the display item which was still marked up at full price and then went over to the tills to check the sale price for me.

Yes I'd like to buy it I replied - only to be told that sorry you can't do that today as the tills are closed now. I checked my phone, bang on 6pm, closing time. I queried this as I have never come across this before. I have been in plenty of shops that advise customers to go to the tills at closing time, but none who refuse to make a sale on the dot of closing.

I said as much to the assistant who looked apologetic and consulted senior assistant. The tills close themselves down at 6pm she advised me. if you want to buy it you'll have to come back in the morning. Don't worry the sale is on until Monday.

Is it unreasonable to expect to complete a purchase when I am already in the shop at closing time?

OP posts:
kali110 · 25/07/2017 00:30

No wonder you hate some customers so much as they are treating you and customers badly.
You mean the customers that come in at closing expecting to buy something when the store is shut?
Yes, can't think why staff would hate that Grin

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 25/07/2017 00:31

It's not the companies being shit; it's entitled customers thinking they can do whatever they want (and complain when they don't get their unreasonable way) just because they have money to spend.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 25/07/2017 00:34

Ha ha 😂 The shop that put up this sign is genius Grin

To expect to be able to make a purchase at closing time.
gandalf456 · 25/07/2017 00:35

Id love this in our shop

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 25/07/2017 00:37

Yes, it seems some customers forget Grin

Stephgr8 · 25/07/2017 00:59

You are certainly not unreasonable. It is Laura Ashley and the unhelpful staff member who are unreasonable. I would write to their head office - they are a business and should serve customers who are in the shop waiting to pay even if the clock has ticked past official closing time.

strawberrisc · 25/07/2017 01:07

RibenaMonsoon

We once had a guy who wanted to return something he bought over 2 years ago and when we explained that the returns policy was 30 days and refused to return it he went outside, started shouting about how crap the company was and shat on tje item and threw it back in store. (Im not joking!!)

What the fuck did he shit on? Please tell me it was a toaster! Grin

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 25/07/2017 01:55

the unhelpful staff member

How were they unhelpful? There wasn't anything else they could do.

MissSeventies · 25/07/2017 01:59

Nope not being unreasonable. Worst type of Mumsnet thread. For what it is worth I once worked in retail and have experienced the closing time customer who comes in tries on half the shop and buys nothing, adding half an hour of unpaid overtime to your day. The place I worked for, national chain, never paid for this. I often worked alone and did 58 hour weeks because there was not enough staff i.e. they would not hire any more. I was never paid a penny of overtime.

Still I don't think OP is being unreasonable here. She was in the store while it was still open, was in the process of making a purchase and told to come back tomorrow.She is not being unreasonable to think that is not on.

coconuttella · 25/07/2017 07:06

Still I don't think OP is being unreasonable here. She was in the store while it was still open, was in the process of making a purchase and told to come back tomorrow.She is not being unreasonable to think that is not on

Exactly... So many retail workers on here seem to want conflate the OP with the shopper who comes in at closing and spends half an hour swanning about, demonstrating the thinly veiled contempt they have for their customers! You can tend to tell those shops where shop assistants have this attitude. They're not the shops I tend to go in unless I can avoid it, which presumably is a good thing for those assistants who dislike customers, but hardly good for business or their jobs ultimately.

Milkshakebelly · 25/07/2017 07:16

I work in a supermarket and I absolutely HATE this type of customer. Come in 5 mins before closing, fill their baskets and then proceed to go as slowly as possible to pack their shopping. The staff don't get paid anytime after closing - so we all work for free. Why can't people just come in at normal hours - the shop has been open all day!!!!! All the staff have got families and lives to go home to!

oblada · 25/07/2017 07:35

Just to say: I don't think OP is unreasonable and the policy is odd. For what it's worth I know a bit of Laura Ashley's HR policy and they struggle to keep staff. Maybe that's why they try to automate as much as possible, because they can't keep good and well trained staff and rely on newbies a lot. A weird practice but in the context of LA I can see why.

oblada · 25/07/2017 07:38

As for people moaning about customers coming in at the end; if you are on NMW you can and should insist on being paid extra if you stay extra. Otherwise it's just like other jobs, you often have to put in some extra time which is not 'directly paid' to finish the work. That's life and how well you are treated in that respect is down to your employer and NOT the customers' fault. If the customer was not walking in (at closing time or otherwise) you would not have a job.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 07:48

coconuttella

I went to bed and missed your post

Do not put me in with your view of SA that switch off tills and walk off while i customer is stood there

I cannot think of any post of mine that has given you the view that i have ever or will ever do that

All the way through the thread i have been sympathetic to the OPs frustration

It was a throwaway comment following vales

And for all your 'can you imagine ' quotes ...we are all customers too

And going back to the OP

THE TILLS SWITCHED OFF...even the OP says the SA was sorry

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 07:53

Oh and while i am here

For some of the other posters on here

Can you use the word some...

Some SA are bad at customer service

Some customers are dreadful

Its very easy..saves comments like 'you hate customers'

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 07:55

steph

The staff member was not being unhelpful

But yes, complain to head office about the companies or managements procedures

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 07:57

you can tend to tell those shops where shop assistants have this attitude. They're not the shops I tend to go in unless I can avoid it

Are you adding insult to injury here coco or do you mean individual shops

For example you might not go to LA is manchester but you would in liverpool

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 07:58

I just got up and am sitting here with a coffee

Can anyone tell?

coconuttella · 25/07/2017 08:00

Rufus

I don't blame the SA in this case - clearly she had no option and was apologetic, and I accept that many SA's do not have the disdainful attitude of many on this thread.... The fault here imo is with Laura Ashley for having such a rigid system, and for not paying staff for the brief period between the store closing and all business underway at closing time having been completed.

coconuttella · 25/07/2017 08:03

Rufus

If I go to a shopping centre and the general ambiance is one of disinterested and distracted SAs then I'm less likely to return...

PumpkinSpiceEverything · 25/07/2017 08:08

And people wonder why the high street is dying, when shops shut at 6pm. Smh.

coconuttella · 25/07/2017 08:11

As online shopping expands, High Street retail is less and less transactional and more and more about the experience.... if the High Steer don't wake up to this then it will die.

slipperlove · 25/07/2017 08:12

YANBU
The business is shooting itself in the foot.
I have to admit I'm a last minute shopper. I'm not alone. Car park half full at Tesco at 4pm Sunday closing. I heard two members of staff saying they were paid until 4.30pm. No one should be expected to work unpaid.
If you can't actually go in and shop until 6pm change the stated open hours to 5.45 or whatever. So annoying to get to a shop 5 or 10 minutes before closing, know exactly what you want and not be allowed in. And don't start to serve someone without letting them know the cut-off point. Grrrr.
Another thing that annoys me is a departure time for a train and a warning that the doors to the train "may be locked sixty seconds prior". To me that train has gone. For much of my life I've caught most trains in the last 30 seconds.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 25/07/2017 08:18

So annoying to get to a shop 5 or 10 minutes before closing, know exactly what you want and not be allowed in. And don't start to serve someone

Thats never happened to me...does it happen to you frequently? You shoud definitely complain to head office about shuts shutting 10 minutes early

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 25/07/2017 08:50

which presumably is a good thing for those assistants who dislike customers, but hardly good for business or their jobs ultimately.

Oh they'll survive without you Wink You're not integral; so sorry to say.