How do YOU handle refunds / requests?

[mojorhino]

I saw this image in the gallery & thought it would be great intro into the subject

Apparently Cheetos are like crack

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/flamin-hot-cheetos-banned-california-new-mexico_n_1974131.html

 

About a year & a half ago the manager of one of my locations came up to me one day me & said that I needed to fix the machine because alot of items were getting stuck & he was going to have me pull the machine if I did not fix it.  This was fhe first I had heard of this matter & nobody from the locaion had ever told me about any problems with the machine even thought my & phone # were clearly printed on a label taped to the inside front of the machine.  He was pretty mad at the time & the locaton was kind of small (20-30 employees) so rather irritate him further.  I told him that I could put in a different newer machine to help aleviate the problem.  A few days later I pulled the machine (AP7600 five wide) & put in a smaller (USI 3014 four wide machine). 

 

A week after that he came up to me again & said the new USI machine was doing the same thing.  I asked him what selections were doing it & he could not tell me.  I asked him what were the names of the people who were having problems & he could not tell me.  I asked him what he wanted me to do about & he could not tell me.  I told him that I could put product pushers on the items that were getting stuck but that would aeviate some of the problems but I needed to know what the items were & he could not tell me. I asked him if there was anything else I could do & he still did not have an answer.  At that point I told him that I had to know specifics for me to do anything about it.  One of the ladies who worked in the office had been listening to our conversation & she said that she would put a sign on the machine & at that point I told them I would be back in a week & correct any issues once I knew the facts & left.

 

I came back the following week & this sign was on the machine (it was blank of course at that time)

What I have doing since then at this location only, is while servicing the machine if I see a name on the list I get the money they claim to have lost (no questions asked) & give that person a refund then test that selection multiple times to make sure that it vends properly & make any adjustments if needed, such as adding product pushers or moving that item to a different spiral if it's just not working properly.  If you look at the actual list there are only 7 items for a period of a year for a machine that was "getting stuck all the time".  My point is that people typically exagerate the problems & typically blow them out of proportion then when you ask them what they want you to do about they only give you negative feedback or don't even have an answer.

 

So today I decided to try something new to help aleviate any angry customers & put this form on all of my snack machines.

 

This way I can handle any problems, honor any reasonable requests or give a reason to any person making an unreasonable request as to why I cant get them what they want & tell them myself directly.

 

Everyone . . . .Please post how you handle refunds and or special requests, as well as any good and or bad stories you have from honoring or not honoring any special requests.

[moondog]

I saw this image in the gallery & thought it would be great intro into the subject

Apparently Cheetos are like crack

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/flamin-hot-cheetos-banned-california-new-mexico_n_1974131.html

 

About a year & a half ago the manager of one of my locations came up to me one day me & said that I needed to fix the machine because alot of items were getting stuck & he was going to have me pull the machine if I did not fix it.  This was fhe first I had heard of this matter & nobody from the locaion had ever told me about any problems with the machine even thought my & phone # were clearly printed on a label taped to the inside front of the machine.  He was pretty mad at the time & the locaton was kind of small (20-30 employees) so rather irritate him further.  I told him that I could put in a different newer machine to help aleviate the problem.  A few days later I pulled the machine (AP7600 five wide) & put in a smaller (USI 3014 four wide machine). 

 

A week after that he came up to me again & said the new USI machine was doing the same thing.  I asked him what selections were doing it & he could not tell me.  I asked him what were the names of the people who were having problems & he could not tell me.  I asked him what he wanted me to do about & he could not tell me.  I told him that I could put product pushers on the items that were getting stuck but that would aeviate some of the problems but I needed to know what the items were & he could not tell me. I asked him if there was anything else I could do & he still did not have an answer.  At that point I told him that I had to know specifics for me to do anything about it.  One of the ladies who worked in the office had been listening to our conversation & she said that she would put a sign on the machine & at that point I told them I would be back in a week & correct any issues once I knew the facts & left.

 

I came back the following week & this sign was on the machine (it was blank of course at that time)

What I have doing since then at this location only, is while servicing the machine if I see a name on the list I get the money they claim to have lost (no questions asked) & give that person a refund then test that selection multiple times to make sure that it vends properly & make any adjustments if needed, such as adding product pushers or moving that item to a different spiral if it's just not working properly.  If you look at the actual list there are only 7 items for a period of a year for a machine that was "getting stuck all the time".  My point is that people typically exagerate the problems & typically blow them out of proportion then when you ask them what they want you to do about they only give you negative feedback or don't even have an answer.

 

So today I decided to try something new to help aleviate any angry customers & put this form on all of my snack machines.

 

This way I can handle any problems, honor any reasonable requests or give a reason to any person making an unreasonable request as to why I cant get them what they want & tell them myself directly.

 

Everyone . . . .Please post how you handle refunds and or special requests, as well as any good and or bad stories you have from honoring or not honoring any special requests.

I use a magnetic clip and hang a form similar to yours on the side of the snack machine (or whatever side is most convenient)  Once a month I bring in small coin envelopes I get from Staples, write the person's name and refund amount on the envelope and give all the refunds along with the list to the account contact and put out a new form.

[CajunCandy]

Yes, It is crazy what some people will come up with about a vending machine.

 

Just yesterday I received a call from my large used car lot about my machine stealing .75 from a customer, and wanted me to come right now to reimburse them! I ask if she could just give the person the money out of their pocket and I would gladly give them the money I owed them. The person just hung up on me!!

 

On the machine I have a sign that states (This car lot is not responsible for any money lost in this machine.) But I gladly pay back if any money is lost in machine, if they ask inside about refunds.

 

mike

[Maddog3632]

Its my first account but I learned from the guy I was going to buy from that you should leave 10 bucks with the main office person for them to refund from, it is good customer service from what I can see.  The lady today at the new location was super excited  to have an envelope with money to refund people.

[ruff84]

Cabel....... lol someone that illiterate is probably not a person you want to mess with.

[AngryChris]

Fortunately, I have good relationships with most of my customers.  They usually just write a sticky note on my machine with refunds.  Just today, I had 3 sticky notes on one of my vending machines.  This was a GOOD sign because it IMMEDIATELY told me that it was a problem I could reproduce easily (and probably fix) on a national refreshtron.

 

The FIRST thing I did was open the machine and check the coin mech.  Sure enough, I could tell that the top part of the coin mech was not closed all the way.  Without even looking into it, I took the top off and started shaking it until all of the change (including the 50-cent piece) came out.

 

I put the coin mech back together, grabbed took all of the change with me to the receptionist, and put the money on the table with all of the refund sticky notes.

 

Problem solved in about 2 minutes.

 

Now this other recent issue with a guy complaining about a few selections sold out and a few selections ALMOST out of date... I would honestly PREFER another vendor take that account over.  THEY can deal with that guy.  I have better things to do, like make an actual profit than to deal with unreasonable customers.

[mojorhino]

Yes, It is crazy what some people will come up with about a vending machine.

 

Just yesterday I received a call from my large used car lot about my machine stealing .75 from a customer, and wanted me to come right now to reimburse them! I ask if she could just give the person the money out of their pocket and I would gladly give them the money I owed them. The person just hung up on me!!

 

On the machine I have a sign that states (This car lot is not responsible for any money lost in this machine.) But I gladly pay back if any money is lost in machine, if they ask inside about refunds.

 

mike

 

Suggestion

 

I had a similar scenario happen to me recently as well, but handled it a just a little bit differently. 

 

I have a machine at a national tire store chain & one of their customers called me directly because she had gotten a package of out of date Oreos & she was pissed.   She said that she asked one of the employees for a refund & they told her they couldn't do anything about it advised her to call me.  I was out of town at the time but she demanded that I drive down there & give her 75 cents or she was going to report me to the city.  Prior to this I already had a given the store manager a bank bag with about $10 in change for refunds, however the manager was not there & the store employee did not know where it was.  I thought about it for a moment then asked her to let me speak to the employee & told him that he could have the Oreos if he wanted them because they were unopened & most likely still good.  I also asked him if he could help me out & give her 75 cents I would reimburse him + give him something free the next time I serviced the machine.  He did & I gave him his money back plus a free soda the next time I saw him.  A few weeks later he quit working there. 

 

Fast forward about 6 months.  A female called because they wanted a machine for their apartment complex.  So I go to talk to her about putting in pop machine & the guy from the tire store is there & the lady is his wife.    He said that he liked the way I handled that situation & referred her to me & I put in a machine & it is doing over $500 per month.

 

One more thing to mention regarding out of date product. When purchasing snacks always look at the dates before purchasing them.   I had just purchased the Oreos from Sams about a week or two earlier & they were very close to being out of date when I got them but I had failed to notice the short dates, so by the time I actually placed them in the machine they were out of date. 

[AngryChris]

Suggestion

 

I had a similar scenario happen to me recently as well, but handled it a just a little bit differently. 

 

I have a machine at a national tire store chain & one of their customers called me directly because she had gotten a package of out of date Oreos & she was pissed.   She said that she asked one of the employees for a refund & they told her they couldn't do anything about it advised her to call me.  I was out of town at the time but she demanded that I drive down there & give her 75 cents or she was going to report me to the city.  Prior to this I already had a given the store manager a bank bag with about $10 in change for refunds, however the manager was not there & the store employee did not know where it was.  I thought about it for a moment then asked her to let me speak to the employee & told him that he could have the Oreos if he wanted them because they were unopened & most likely still good.  I also asked him if he could help me out & give her 75 cents I would reimburse him + give him something free the next time I serviced the machine.  He did & I gave him his money back plus a free soda the next time I saw him.  A few weeks later he quit working there. 

 

Fast forward about 6 months.  A female called because they wanted a machine for their apartment complex.  So I go to talk to her about putting in pop machine & the guy from the tire store is there & the lady is his wife.    He said that he liked the way I handled that situation & referred her to me & I put in a machine & it is doing over $500 per month.

 

One more thing to mention regarding out of date product. When purchasing snacks always look at the dates before purchasing them.   I had just purchased the Oreos from Sams about a week or two earlier & they were very close to being out of date when I got them but I had failed to notice the short dates, so by the time I actually placed them in the machine they were out of date. 

 

That sucks.  I ALWAYS check dates of chips and pastries at sam's club.  Sometimes you get 2 months on chips, sometimes you get as little as 1 week!  I see the frito-lay guy in there all the time so I guess it's a problem with frito-lay and not sam's.  But hey, we don't always have time to check the dates on EVERYthing we buy.  It would be nice if this wasn't an issue.

[CajunCandy]

Suggestion

 

I had a similar scenario happen to me recently as well, but handled it a just a little bit differently. 

 

I have a machine at a national tire store chain & one of their customers called me directly because she had gotten a package of out of date Oreos & she was pissed.   She said that she asked one of the employees for a refund & they told her they couldn't do anything about it advised her to call me.  I was out of town at the time but she demanded that I drive down there & give her 75 cents or she was going to report me to the city.  Prior to this I already had a given the store manager a bank bag with about $10 in change for refunds, however the manager was not there & the store employee did not know where it was.  I thought about it for a moment then asked her to let me speak to the employee & told him that he could have the Oreos if he wanted them because they were unopened & most likely still good.  I also asked him if he could help me out & give her 75 cents I would reimburse him + give him something free the next time I serviced the machine.  He did & I gave him his money back plus a free soda the next time I saw him.  A few weeks later he quit working there. 

 

Fast forward about 6 months.  A female called because they wanted a machine for their apartment complex.  So I go to talk to her about putting in pop machine & the guy from the tire store is there & the lady is his wife.    He said that he liked the way I handled that situation & referred her to me & I put in a machine & it is doing over $500 per month.

 

One more thing to mention regarding out of date product. When purchasing snacks always look at the dates before purchasing them.   I had just purchased the Oreos from Sams about a week or two earlier & they were very close to being out of date when I got them but I had failed to notice the short dates, so by the time I actually placed them in the machine they were out of date. 

I hear you mojorhino.

 

Every-time I service my snack machine there I take turns giving out a free snack to the employees. This person who hung up on me had her fair share of chips or a free drink. That is why I don't understand the rude call from her. I will not find out till Tuesday.

 

Now on expired products, the last 16.9 oz bottles of Coke I bought  was expired off the shelf, it was brought to my attention by one of the girls at up upholstery shop. She said the coke tasted a little flat, sure enough out of date1 I did not slow down and look at date on bottle.

Took bottles back and got refunded by store.  As AngryCris said! always check date on product no matter what your buying for the machines!

 

mike

[jerry1973]

I have  had pretty good luck so far by not issuing money refunds, but giving out the product they claimed to have lost. I also keep an eye out for the same person over and over. When its the same person, and everyone else seems to not have a problem with the machine, I will talk to the management about it and that has fixed the problem for me in the past. By giving lost product instead of cash, you are:

 

1st... showing them that they are not going to be able to get free money from you

2nd... if a bag of chips cost you .23 and you sell them for .75 then you are refunding .23 and not .75

 

I am all for being fair, but as we all know, there are a lot of people who will try and cheat you any way they can. I have yet to have a complaint or a problem about this policy.

[AngryChris]

I have  had pretty good luck so far by not issuing money refunds, but giving out the product they claimed to have lost. I also keep an eye out for the same person over and over. When its the same person, and everyone else seems to not have a problem with the machine, I will talk to the management about it and that has fixed the problem for me in the past. By giving lost product instead of cash, you are:

 

1st... showing them that they are not going to be able to get free money from you

2nd... if a bag of chips cost you .23 and you sell them for .75 then you are refunding .23 and not .75

 

I am all for being fair, but as we all know, there are a lot of people who will try and cheat you any way they can. I have yet to have a complaint or a problem about this policy.

 

I get them the money.  All I ever ask is that they tell me what happened.  As much as we probably all know that some people just try to take advantage (aka: steal), it's not worth losing a good account over.  I used to service an account where the MANAGER would steal from the company I worked for at the time.  She would claim that she lost money EVERY week for the SAME thing.  I had always suspected her of doing it.. but this situation just made me laugh....

 

Manager:  Your machine stole my money again.

Me:  Oh, how much did you lose?

Manager:  2.00.  *blah blah blah*

Me:  What happened?

Manager:  That damn pop machine stole my money!  It didn't give change or anything!

Me:  Okay, when did it happen?

Manager:  It happened just before you got here, about 5 minutes ago.

Me:  Was it change or bills?

Manager:  I put 2 dollars in that machine and it stole all of it!

 

I opened the machine and checked the bill box.  Guess what!?  There were NO bills.  It turns out, the coin-mech hadn't been working properly since the last visit and it kicked off the validator.

 

Me:  There are no bills in here.

Manager:  I'm calling your boss.

 

We lost that account that same day lol.  I told my boss about it and he thought it was funny.  That account probably made $60/week but this lady called 3x/week for the stupidest reasons.  She called one time because the GLASSFRONT SODA MACHINE was down to ONLY THREE BOTTLES of COKE ZERO!  She wanted everything stocked 100% or she would call in.  I also told her that the machine only had three bottles last week, and the week before that, because it wasn't selling.  She didn't care.

[TKK]

Lol this reminds me of the call I got last week. Some dude everytime I service the apartment complex tells me it took his money. Last time he said he lost $4 and that the chips would just not fall. I said if he tried dif chips he said yes. I told him I could give him the 4 chips but that next time hed have to call it in for a refund. Go back and same thing, this time saying it took $6. 3 for snacks 3 for Cokes. I asked him to explain exactly what happened. He said it was Dr pepper and the 50c wonka fundips I sell. So I told him you tried fun dips 6 Times before u decided to stop? And why didnt u call it in? I said sorry but I can give u 1 soda and 1 fundip. I checked the Machine all was well. Fundips were sold out. I kbew already this thug was just conning me out. Damn this is alot of typing w a phone lol. Anyways he calls me hey bro I lost 7 in ur machine yesterday. Your machines.suck and I need my money. I said thanx for the call ill b there in 3hrs. I went all was well. He meets me there with his 5yr old. Says I was buying my son a soda and he wouldnt stop crying. The kid was saying the Machine took all of my dads money, I saw him put almost 100 dollars haha. So I tell him dude why would u try 12 vends if rhe first 5 dont work! Then he says well one came out after the 7th. So I tell him was it coins or bills. He says I put a 5 a 1 and 4 quarters. Then I open the Machine infront of him and say sir, this Machine doesnt accept 5s. He says ur calling me a liar?! Infront of my son!? I said well it doesn't take 5s here ill go through the bills there will be no 5s. He looks mad and red lol and then he says well I bet the 5s go to another compartment. I tell him sir I will not b able to refund tou anymore so u can.buy at your own risk as.no one has complained. He grabs his son and walks off, and the best part....I hear the son say, it didn't work daddy mom told you.

[snack dude]

i buy small envelopes and a plastic holder from staples, i have instructions on how to fill out the envelopes

I have found that if they have to write their name the refunds request go down alot. since i tell people that we keep records of who we give refunds to and know when people are not being truthful.(i.e. the same names keep popping up).

I also have the person who tells me and i quote "Hey dog, i lost five bucks in that machine last week"

In which I look at the person as deadpan as I can and reply " You know most people stop at two"

I then will ask them their name and explain that I will check it out and after I determine that there is a legit problem I will send the refund though their supervisor. 9 out of 10 times they say "nevermind" or I was just joking.

There are some customers that I have had since I started and if they ask for a refund i give it to them no questions asked.

I always try to error your on the side of the customer so use your best judgement.

[AngryChris]

i buy small envelopes and a plastic holder from staples, i have instructions on how to fill out the envelopes

I have found that if they have to write their name the refunds request go down alot. since i tell people that we keep records of who we give refunds to and know when people are not being truthful.(i.e. the same names keep popping up).

I also have the person who tells me and i quote "Hey dog, i lost five bucks in that machine last week"

In which I look at the person as deadpan as I can and reply " You know most people stop at two"

I then will ask them their name and explain that I will check it out and after I determine that there is a legit problem I will send the refund though their supervisor. 9 out of 10 times they say "nevermind" or I was just joking.

There are some customers that I have had since I started and if they ask for a refund i give it to them no questions asked.

I always try to error your on the side of the customer so use your best judgement.

 

I have had customers who have come up to me saying that the machine took a nickel from them.  I have actually given them the product they wanted AND gave them a dollar and told them that their next purchase was on me.  They absolutely love me and they would through a FIT if anyone was messing with my machines or being dishonest.  It's not who you know... wait... yes, yes it is!

[mojorhino]

Update:  This seems to be working well for me . . .

• If people lose money & if they write it down they get their refund when I service the machine.  

The requests portion seems to even have worked also

• Took out Diet coke which wasn't selling & put in Orange Crush which is selling
• Bud Light / Sam Adams? ( I guess there's always got to be some smart golpher. . . at least at this location)
• Put in various varieties of Frito-Lays chips which are selling
• Put in chocolate donuts which are selling (I have tried them at this location in the past & they didn't sell)
• Just put in Root Beer on Saturday & I will have to see now it does
• My sales are up at this location at least 25% but I am not sure if it is due to the sign & the changes, employee turnover or just coincidence?

I think I am going to have to modify the form slightly so that people can fill it out correctly.

 

Also I guess you can please everyone or some people like to complain

• Anything that isn't stale?  -  I check the machine weekly & this time I only found one item that just expired a couple of days earlier. 
• Lower prices? - My prices are at least 5 to 10 % lower than other vendors in my area & substantially lower than local convenience store prices.

[arkhusker]

I try to establish refund policy with the account when I acquire it, letting them help me decide what works best for them. This seems to be appreciated from managements view. I will do sticky notes, cash at the receptionist, lists, and walk ups when I am there. I pretty much have a guaranteed refund policy, cash or product. Yes, I get taken once in awhile but I don't let it stop. I get the joker or the guy that says a lost $5 (I tell him if I find a five in it, i'll give it back, though I do have some that take fives most people don't use a $5) I have thought about going beyond what was lost. No that I know it has been successful for you, AngryChris, I will give this further consideration.

mojorhino, for the cracker that asks for beer, tell him you'll gladly put it in when he fronts you the $10,000 for the fine you'll have to pay when you get caught putting beer in a vending machine. That usually takes care of that! 

[mission vending]

I saw this image in the gallery & thought it would be great intro into the subject

Apparently Cheetos are like crack

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/flamin-hot-cheetos-banned-california-new-mexico_n_1974131.html

 

About a year & a half ago the manager of one of my locations came up to me one day me & said that I needed to fix the machine because alot of items were getting stuck & he was going to have me pull the machine if I did not fix it.  This was fhe first I had heard of this matter & nobody from the locaion had ever told me about any problems with the machine even thought my & phone # were clearly printed on a label taped to the inside front of the machine.  He was pretty mad at the time & the locaton was kind of small (20-30 employees) so rather irritate him further.  I told him that I could put in a different newer machine to help aleviate the problem.  A few days later I pulled the machine (AP7600 five wide) & put in a smaller (USI 3014 four wide machine). 

 

A week after that he came up to me again & said the new USI machine was doing the same thing.  I asked him what selections were doing it & he could not tell me.  I asked him what were the names of the people who were having problems & he could not tell me.  I asked him what he wanted me to do about & he could not tell me.  I told him that I could put product pushers on the items that were getting stuck but that would aeviate some of the problems but I needed to know what the items were & he could not tell me. I asked him if there was anything else I could do & he still did not have an answer.  At that point I told him that I had to know specifics for me to do anything about it.  One of the ladies who worked in the office had been listening to our conversation & she said that she would put a sign on the machine & at that point I told them I would be back in a week & correct any issues once I knew the facts & left.

 

I came back the following week & this sign was on the machine (it was blank of course at that time)

What I have doing since then at this location only, is while servicing the machine if I see a name on the list I get the money they claim to have lost (no questions asked) & give that person a refund then test that selection multiple times to make sure that it vends properly & make any adjustments if needed, such as adding product pushers or moving that item to a different spiral if it's just not working properly.  If you look at the actual list there are only 7 items for a period of a year for a machine that was "getting stuck all the time".  My point is that people typically exagerate the problems & typically blow them out of proportion then when you ask them what they want you to do about they only give you negative feedback or don't even have an answer.

 

So today I decided to try something new to help aleviate any angry customers & put this form on all of my snack machines.

 

This way I can handle any problems, honor any reasonable requests or give a reason to any person making an unreasonable request as to why I cant get them what they want & tell them myself directly.

 

Everyone . . . .Please post how you handle refunds and or special requests, as well as any good and or bad stories you have from honoring or not honoring any special requests.

 

I handle refunds and requests any way my customers want me to   As long as they are happy I'm happy.

 

Have had all of the same stories, I usually just smile and give them a refund or the item, there is no telling when someone that claims they lost money is also a decision maker. Giving away a few items once in a while in the name of good customer service is just part of the business.

[dogcow]

I leave a sheet similar to the OP and a roll of quarters. I am sure I get beat here and there

but generally it works well.