Contrast my experience that I posted yesterday with DSW Shoes with the one that I had last evening at Ralphs Supermarket. The customer in front of me in line brought in a gift card she had bought for her month for a certain chain of theatres. Turns out there aren't any theatres of that particular chain near her mom's house. The customer wanted to know if she could exchange the gift card for one from another theatre that Ralphs also carried. Doesn't seem that difficult. But the manager and clerk both expected trouble from the cash register on this one. They said that gift cards are difficult and there are certain rules that surround it. Sure enough, the register rejected the transaction. The customer was very polite and said not to worry about it. She would find a use for the gift card previously purchased. So, the Ralphs clerk pulled out her purse and handed the customer $25, the cost of the gift card, and bought it off of her. You should have seen the face of the customer. Do you think that she will be going to anywhere but Ralphs next time she needs groceries? I was completely impressed with the way the clerk handled that. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the clerk's name, but you can trust me that I'll be going back to Ralph's and when I do, I'll look for that clerk's name and when I do get it, I'll be letting management know, probably even a letter to corporate and how pleased I am with their employees. Actions like that need to be recognized.

Labels: dsw, marketing, ralphs