On the opposite side of that, I once had a customer try to take a swing at me when I couldn't sign in their laptop for warranty repair after they had shattered the screen and spilled beer on it (and, I later found out, urinated on it while drunk).

Violence is not the answer!

I've also had problems with Radio Shack returns before!

Some of their items cannot be returned. The problem is that they don't tell you which items cannot be returned (at least the one I went to didn't), nor did they put any kind of sticker on the shelves. They do, however, have little words ON THE RECEIPT saying "This item cannot be returned..."

Basically no one would know that an item cannot be returned until AFTER they buy it...

Love the picture!

I smell lawsuit for radio shack.

There's got to be more to this story. Did the customer say anything to provoke him? Does the employee have a history of mental instability or is he going through a really rough time right now.

Not that there's any excuse for his behavior, I'd just be interested to find out more details.

Oh and kudos on the awesome pic with the post, Punch-out was awesome back in the day.

great pic to go with this post. i still have that game!

Wow some people just snap. I want to know if the OP was still able to return his merchandise.

@dragonfire81: maybe the salesman is just an a-hole, thats not too far-fetched in today's world

HELPFUL CLERK - "Sir, I told you several times we aren't taking that brick you thought was a computer back as a return. It's your problem now."

UNRULY CUSTOMER - "Can I please speak with your manager?"

HELPFUL CLERK - "Sure, the manager is RIGHT HERE, and here's his assistant...POW! Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

I've been to that exact location before. They told me that my uhf ANTENNA (not a tuner, VCR, television, but an antenna) would not work after the DTV switch.

I wonder what would have happened if he refused to give his phone number?

Poor Boxcar Joe. He only wanted to speak to a manager.

@Liam Kinkaid: Knife in the kidneys.

Curious.

As a former Radio Shack employee, I can tell you that store managers and employees are empowered to (and encouraged to) take care of any issue under the $50 threshold with a cash refund regardless of reciept, purchase date or anything else.

Under $100 dollars they are empowered (and, again, encouraged) to take care of you with either cash with a receipt or gift card without (again, regardless of purchase date).

Under $500 dollars you will have to clear it with the district manager if you don't have a receipt, but you should still at least get a gift card.

Also, if you do give them your name when you purchase it (yes, you will get the catalog in your mail for a period as a result of giving out your name, even if they tell you otherwise), they can look up your receipt online and take care of you that way.

@dragonfire81: I don't care if the customer told the dude to punch him, you don't punch your employers.

@WiglyWorm: Well, I assume the employee has issues and therefore doesn't care about these policies and rather, just wanted to punch some guy in the face.

I don't know, the guy looks more like Pizza Pasta than Mike Tyson to me... you be the judge:

If the employee would have used an RC-robot to hit the consumer, I'd have given him brownie points. As it is, he needs to find a job at the local Tap Out store.

@Radi0logy:
dangit I am so fail at linking images here. well here is the url at least

[i40.tinypic.com]

@dragonfire81: Why don't you visit that location, try to return something and report back to us?

@blazinrebel: If that is how it went down, then that is AWESOME!

They use the same training video as PopCopy, apparently.

I think all customer service debates should be done this way. Survival of the fittest ya know?

Official Radio Shack policy dictates that if returns come through the door, beat the shit out of the customer until they run. Then, they'll know not to fuck with Radio Shack.

Signed,

CEO

@WiglyWorm: you mean you don't have to give them your name, address, phone number, birth date, mother's maiden name, blood type, cheek swab, sexual preference, favorite color, first born son?

They got furious with me when I decline.

@darkjedi26: Certainly. I don't consider myself litigious, but getting punched in the face by a retail employee at a place where I shop... yeah, I would sue.

@Liam Kinkaid: lol, WIN!

". . . And my *left* fist is named 'District Manager.' You want to speak to him?"

@Trai_Dep: Call me an optimist, but I think that all Consumerist disputes could be easily solved with a heated game of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robots.

@darkjedi26: A suit against the individual, yes, but it would likely be difficult to trigger employer liability - unless there's a tacit understanding when it comes to customer service that punching customers in the face is alright.

The first rule about Radio Shack Customer Service is that you don't talk about Radio Shack Customer Service.

The first rule of Radio Shack. You don't talk about returning items.

The second rule of Radio Shack. You don't talk about returning items.

working at radio shack was easily the worst job i ever had, the lies to us and the ones they wanted us to tell the customers resulted in me walking out after about a week.

"You've got questions, we've got a mean left hook."

@Kaellorian: One might argue Radio Shack was negligent by hiring a lunatic to handle customer service.

@ArmyCats: Sounds like you bought an item off the shelf (and it was the last one they had in stock). That's the employees fault for not telling you. Granted, he probably didn't want to loose the sale. But yeah everything in the store is returnable save for certain floor models that they sell "as is".

@darkjedi26: Why? This isn't a radio shack approved tactic. It's impossible for radio shack to prevent an employee from committing a crime on the job. The only person here who should be liable is the guy who threw the punch.

@ArmyCats:
I've found that certain stores stock certain items. If the store is franchised, and they don't stock the item, then you can't return the item there.

I had a nice chat with an owner/manager about this once, where he told me that if I were to return a certain iPod FM transmitter to his store, he'd have to pay me and then get in his car and drive to the corporate-owned location a few miles away to actually get any money back for it.

Thank you, come again.

@Radi0logy: He's definitely Pizza Pasta.

And now he's going to be paste.

@dragonfire81: "Can I speak to a manager"

Very provoking.

Reminds me of this one roid-rage specimen in a bar in Newport, RI once. We had one person, who didn't have an ID with him, with our party. He was over the age limit, just couldn't prove it. The bouncer wouldn't let us in...no biggie. We asked to speak to the manager, in case he'd make an exception. The bouncer almost mugged us. Followed us outside, started ripping his shirt off. I kid you not.

@Trai_Dep: Do you mean, have the guy hold still while the employee uses the control to maneuver the robot to "punch" him, or do you mean the employee grabs the robot by the legs and smashes it into the customer's face?

@josquin021: Alright, that story is a little bit false. It sounds like he was using an analogy. The way it actually works is he sends it to corporate, and corporate reimburses him. He would have a very difficult time returning it to an actual corporate store since they can't accept returns from franchises (they're systems and our systems don't talk to eachother).

You are, however, correct in that some stores only stock certain items. Because they're such small stores (the one I worked at a few years ago was 1000Sq Feet) they stock what sells in that area. The store was in an area for older people, so we stocked one copy of Grand Theft Auto IV when it came out. While other stores stocked 30 copies. We also didn't sell many TVs so we typically only had the floor model in stock. It all depends on where the store is located.

Oh, also, the online in-store stock checker lies on everything except Wii stock. Just something that always drove me nuts.

@ArmyCats:

That's a violation of Visa's terms of service and every time someone's tried to pull it on me I end up with a refund AND I get to keep whatever it was I was trying to return in the first place.

@WiglyWorm: Are they also empowered (and again encouraged) to punch customers in the face?

@tc4b: I'm old school. Don't sue: hit him back. Hard.

@Corporate_guy: I'd say it would depend on several factors. Did this guy have a record of losing his temper? Does he have a record of any sort? If he has a record, or has a history of losing his temper, I'd say Radio Shack could be held liable for hiring a known lunatic.

We don't know that, of course, but if I was the person who got punched, you better believe I would try to find that out, and not just assume Radio Shack didn't know.

@SpruceStreetPhil: Clearly, this guy is an asshole. I think that what dragonfire81 is getting at is that the facts of the story leave WAY too much to the imagination. I'd be remiss to start speculating motives of course, but there are a lot of details missing.

The mugshot makes me imagine that this guy smells like rotted onions, sweat, and dumpster juice.

@Pixelantes Anonymous: I'd have called the cops!

Recently I was in charge of like, 50 volunteers for a big event which included serving booze. One of our volunteers got drunk on the job (no no no!) so we kicked her out. Then she tried to come back to sneak more alcohol, so one of our other volunteers told her to leave. And then she punched him (the drunk girl). Thankfully the dude thought it was hilarious.

@Trai_Dep: And then YOU would get sued or tossed in jail.

@tc4b: both of those options sound AWESOME