UPDATE: Transcript added.

We called up Shannon to find out about The Wine Press policy against humiliating customers. She was very feisty. We told Keith to have his girlfriend call the manager. Actually the most part is the aspersions Shannon casts against blogs.

“Are you a journalist?
“Nope, I’m just a blogger”
“Ok! You said it all right there.”

Though it costs us getting our ass totally kicked in the conversation, we do manage the victory of stoking Shannon’s desire to speak with Keith’s girlfriend and get the situation resolved.

Previously: “How To Deal With Liquor Store Humiliating My Girlfriend?“

CONSUMERIST: Hi, I was wondering, do you guys sell Guinness Extra Stout?

SHANNON: Yes.

CONSUMERIST: You do? How much is it?

SHANNON: We don’t quote prices over the phone.

CONSUMERIST: Why not?

SHANNON: Because that’s our policy, we don’t quote prices over the phone.

CONSUMERIST: Oh, do you have a reason for that policy?

SHANNON: Uhm, that’s just our policy, that’s what the owner wants.

CONSUMERIST: Ok. Do you have a policy against humiliating customers?

SHANNON: How am I humiliating you?

CONSUMERIST: Oh no, this isn’t in reference to me. I had a friend come into your store the other day, and they were asking for Guinness Extra Stout? And they were told by an employee that not only did Guinness Extra Stout not exist, but that she was an idiot for asking?

SHANNON: I doubt we would have said that she was an idiot for asking.

CONSUMERIST: Okay, so…

SHANNON: I seriously doubt that. If you want, you can give me, you can have your friend call me if she wants. Do you know who it was that she spoke to?

CONSUMERIST: I do not, but I can get that information for you. Are you the manager?

SHANNON: One of them, yes.

CONSUMERIST: Okay, what’s your name?

SHANNON: Uh, who’s calling?

CONSUMERIST: My name is B–

SHANNON: Why don’t you give me your name?

CONSUMERIST: I’m Ben Popken.

SHANNON: Okay, when did this incident take place?

CONSUMERIST: I was told that it occurred last night.

SHANNON: By who?

CONSUMERIST: A friend of mine.

SHANNON: And did they describe who the person was helping them?

CONSUMERIST: They said it was a man.

SHANNON: Okay, why don’t you have your friend come in to talk to me or give me call, okay? I’m here all day.

CONSUMERIST: Okay, can I have your name?

SHANNON: Shannon.

CONSUMERIST: Shannon, okay. Alright, I will do so. Thank you.

SHANNON: Okay and just out of curiosity, why are you calling me and not your friend?

CONSUMERIST: Because I am an advocate for good consumer behavior and I heard his story and I was outraged on his behalf and I wanted to find out–

SHANNON: You just said it was a girl. You just said *she* came in. Now it’s a he?

CONSUMERIST: No, Shannon? My friend is a man. And his girlfriend came in to pick up some Guinness Extra Stout for him, and then my friend, who is a man, told me about what happened to his girlfriend.

SHANNON: So this is third-party information? Third-person information?

CONSUMERIST: That might be an accurate description, sure.

SHANNON: So you’re not 100% sure because you’re hearing from someone who heard from someone about an incident, correct?

CONSUMERIST: Er, that is an–

SHANNON: Are you an advocacy group? That I can look up on the web?

CONSUMERIST: Yeah, Consumerist dot com.

SHANNON: Consumerist dot com, and you run this?

CONSUMERIST: Yeah.

SHANNON: Ok! And exactly what type of web site is it?

CONSUMERIST: It’s a blog.

SHANNON: Is it a professional? Oh, it’s a blog. So it’s a private blog?

CONSUMERIST: No, it’s a public, professional blog.

SHANNON: Public professional.

CONSUMERIST: Mhmm.

SHANNON: And this is your company that you maintain on a daily basis?

CONSUMERIST: I’m an independent contractor working for the company, yeah.

SHANNON: Is it your company?

CONSUMERIST: No.

SHANNON: So I can check this out anytime?

CONSUMERIST: Yeah, Consumerist dot com, in fact your story is posted up there right now. So…

SHANNON: That’s awesome, I can’t wait to look at it. But before you go and post something like that, shouldn’t I clear it up with the person the incident took place with?

CONSUMERIST: We–

SHANNON: Rather than misinformation, from like I said, a third person?

CONSUMERIST: –we’re post–

SHANNON: You know, it’s like the telephone thing, you know, where you say one thing and it could get construed in the next conversation and the next conversation and the next conversation?

CONSUMERIST: You know, that’s definitely a possibility–

SHANNON: Shouldn’t you try and find out the facts first hand or have me find out the facts first hand before you go ahead and start publishing our name on your blog? About our bad customer service? Don’t you think that’s bad customer service that *you’ve* just committed?

CONSUMERIST: No, we’re posting an allegation, we said it was an allegation, we’re asking for people asked for, our reader asked for help with how to deal with the situation and in fact the–

SHANNON: Well why doesn’t-

CONSUMERIST: THE MODE OF ACTION, the mode of action that we advised him to take was to get in contact with you. And now I’m following up on the story.

SHANNON: Well why isn’t that person following up on it? If it If it If it was something that she feels was committed against her, why isn’t she following up on it? Why is she having someone third person follow through on it?

CONSUMERIST: Because she felt humiliated, she was brought to tears by the behavior she described–

SHANNON: Tears?! Was she in tears when she left here?

CONSUMERIST: Let me read it, let me take a second to look at her story again. Mmm… she reports being in tears after trying to call, actually she did try to call back to speak with the employee, that she had a problem with, and then she says that the employee said he was not available, and after that is when she says she was brought to tears by the humiliation she alleges.

SHANNON: Do you have the girls name and phone number that you can call and have her call and call me?

CONSUMERIST: I don’t know have I do not–

SHANNON: To talk to her about this situation.

CONSUMERIST: (sighs.) I was not sent that but what I will do is–

SHANNON: Because I think this is something that I should personally deal with with *that* person.

CONSUMERIST: Definitely, definitely. What I’m going to do, Shannon, is I’m going to forward the gist of the conversation to my friend who reported it, he’s definitely very interested in getting this resolved and tell them that they should be getting in contact with you directly.

SHANNON: Yeah yeah yeah I don’t think that you know, you’re not uncomfortable with publishing allegations third person?

CONSUMERIST: No, I’m not.

SHANNON: You’re not uncomfortable with that?

CONSUMERIST: No, I’m not.

SHANNON: You didn’t hear from the person *directly* about this incident and you’re just going to go ahead and publish this on the web? Isn’t that kind of unprofessional? And I’m not accusing you, I’m just asking you, in the situation, you don’t feel uncomfortable with pretty much conjecture right now, publishing conjecture?

CONSUMERIST: No.

SHANNON: Your’re not uncomfortable with that?

CONSUMERIST: I’m not.

SHANNON: Are you a journalist?

CONSUMERIST: I’m a blogger.

SHANNON: Are you a journalism student?

CONSUMERIST: Nope, I’m just a blogger.

SHANNON: Just a blogger? Ok!

CONSUMERIST: I’m just a blogger.

SHANNON: You’ve said it all right there.

CONSUMERIST: Yeah, but what I’m going to do is, is I’m going to follow up the story with this conversation, with how you were interested in getting the problem resolved and I’m going to put that up there–

SHANNON: Yeah! I just don’t understand why you’re calling me–

CONSUMERIST: –IT’S A DEVELOPING STORY–

SHANNON: –Why this person isn’t calling me direct.

CONSUMERIST: Well, maybe there were a little humiliated and afraid and they didn’t feel that the store was going to–

SHANNON: I’m sorry, you’re breaking up, are you on a cell phone?

CONSUMERIST: No, I’m on Skype. Maybe they didn’t feel that if you’re going to go so far as to humiliate her in the store she didn’t feel you would be so helpful when she tried to call on the phone, and she did try to call on the phone, and now we’re going to tell her that Shannon said, you know, give her a call directly, and, you know, let’s get this all figured out. If at the end of day, it turns out that this person is completely wrong, that this incident never occurred, you know, we’ll put that up there too and we’ll say this a problem, don’t send us fake, don’t send us rumors, don’t send us lies, you know?

SHANNON: Are you a–

CONSUMERSIT: We’ll follow along.

SHANNON: BU student? Is she a BU student?

CONSUMERSIT: I don’t know about her level of, where she goes…

SHANNON: I’m just trying to figure out age group, you know, I’m not asking for specifics like date of birth, or her name, because that’s, you know, you can have her call me, and that’s fine, but I wouldn’t want to put you on the spot, you know asking extremely personal questions, I’m just trying to get a feel of like the age group, is she you know, like a graduate student…?

CONSUMERIST: I’m really uncertain and I don’t know, I was just told the story, and they didn’t tell me about their background. But I’m sure maybe if she talks to you you can find out more about her, whatnot.

SHANNON: Yeah! I mean, I’m going to be here for a while, I’m not sure how long I’ll be here just because I have a doctor’s appointment, uhm uhm I’m waiting to find out about a doctor’s appointment, emergency doctor’s appointment… so if she calls and I’m not here, and she doesn’t feel comfortable with leaving a message, which, that’s fine, I understand, I will definitely be here tomorrow, tomorrow’s Friday, Friday, I will definitely be here from two o clock in the afternoon to eleven o clock at night, because I’m closing.

CONSUMERIST: Great!

SHANNON: And your name’s Ben, right?

CONSUMERIST: That’s right.

SHANNON: Okay.

CONSUMERIST: I’ll pass this along.

SHANNON: Okay, great, Ben.

CONSUMERIST: Thanks, Shannon.

SHANNON: Bye.

CONSUMERIST: Bye…

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