When Inventory Is More Important Than Customers

Two weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to try an air card so that I wouldn't have to find a wi-fi hotspot for my internet needs. I was going out of town on a couple of trips, so it made sense. I talked with the sales guy at AT&T and Sprint.

I decided to go with Sprint. They have a location about 1 1/2 miles from my house. Prices were the same as AT&T, but Sprint was where I ended up. When I was at Sprint, they said they didn't have a card in stock and I would have to go downtown to pick it up... about 10 miles away.

No problem... I was actually going right past the location about 15 minutes later.

I picked up the card and for the most part, it worked fine.

There was one area on my travels it didn't work (I am pretty sure the AT&T card works) so I decided to take them up on the offer of returning the card within their 30 day time return policy.

When I went in, the sales guy told me that I would have to take it back to the store where I picked it up... the store he sent me to because he didn't have it in stock before.

"But I bought it from this store. You put it into the computer for me. You sold me the card," I said.

When I told him that didn't make any sense, he told me, "It is our policy because it is how we keep our inventory straight."

I pointed out that if I had not picked it up myself, he would have done it for me and then I could return to the store here, but that didn't make a difference.

So, at least in this case, a happy inventory management system is far more important than a happy customer.

With that said, I don't think that I'll recommend Sprint anytime soon.