Saturday, April 25, 2009

Prince of Wales?

Work was very busy today. My boss left early and stated that I would receive a huge bonus if sales hit X amount. Not impossible, but difficult. After he left, sales were inching towards that amount.

A guy called several times throughout the day interested in a certain high dollar bicycle. He talked to me, talked to my boss, etc. Finally at closing time, he called back and stated that if he paid over the phone for high dollar bike, could his friend pick it up? I told him that if his friend could be at the store in 10-15 minutes, I would have the bike ready for him. I explained that I needed him to hurry because I had an engagement to get to. Phone guy paid for the bike and I asked one of our mechanics to stay late to check the bike over to make sure it was ready to go. As I am collecting information from phone guy, he explained that his friend lived in town and was going to bring high dollar bike to him on his airplane next week. He gave me his phone number and address. When I typed in his zip code, it didn't bring up his city as it normally does. I asked him what city he lived in. He said "Prince of Wales." I asked him where that was. He explained that it was right off the coast. I still didn't know what he was talking about, but I continued on with the sale. I hung up the phone and pulled up the daily report. So close to X amount that I could probably talk my boss into the bonus. The phone rang 10 minutes later. Phone guy reported that his friend showed up, knocked on the door, and no one answered. I told him that we were here waiting and to make sure his friend went to the correct store. Phone guy hung up and immediately called back. Turns out that he went to the bicycle website, typed in his friend's zip code, and it brought up "Zoom Bike Store," not my store. But the key part to the story is that the phone number for "Zoom Bike Store" was OUR phone number! The guy never caught any of the signs; the area code or the fact that we say the name of our store when we answer the phone. Guess where "Zoom Bike Store" is? Petersburg, Alaska! I returned the guy's money, left the store super bummed, and arrived at my engagement late. At least I had a funny excuse!

No comments:

Post a Comment