A price matching policy can be a great way to ensure your loyal customers don’t go to another store to save a few dollars, but some of those customers may try to abuse the policy.

What would you do if you had one customer who tried to scam the system every time he came in even though you explained it to him many times?

That is what the retail worker in this story dealt with, and it seems like the customer will never learn his lesson.

Keep reading for all the details.

No more price matching

When I started, our store did price matching to other liquor store chains and a local, state specific grocery store, amongst a couple other places.

“Josh” would come in every couple of months to get 2-4 bottles of a specific wine and price match it to Local Grocery Chain.

I have dealt with this man at least 10 times in the last year (and he was somehow always my problem) and it was the most infuriating experience each time.

People will always try to scam the system.

First Encounter: I was still new, so I was watching my coworker, whom I’ll call “Alex” deal with him.

Josh gives Alex a receipt from LGC showing the price of the wines.

Alex tells him that we’re no longer allowed to accept receipts (I assume because people were bringing in sales prices from months ago) but he’ll do it this time. In the future, he needs to just show us the price online.

Josh isn’t happy about this, but accepts it and moves on. I get to learn how to do price matching.

He thought he had a way around the rules.

Second Encounter: Josh remembers that we can’t take receipts anymore and shows us the price online.

I watch as my coworkers Alex and “Blake” explain to him that he’s not on LGC’s website but on Google, and he needs to click on what he’s pointing to to actually get in the website.

Josh doesn’t like this and insists that he’s correct.

The item he had looked up wasn’t even the same item he was trying to buy.

Arguing with customers can get old quick.

While Alex argues with Josh, just trying to get him to click onto LGC’s website, Blake just pulls up the website on our register (which is just a normal computer with our POS program on it) and is like “I got it. In the future, you should consider downloading the LGC app to make it easier.”

This man refuses to believe he’s incorrect and that Google IS LGC’s website.

Why would they give in? That is just going to encourage him to keep scamming.

He gets his price matched wine and leaves.

I’m pretty sure Alex did finally get him to click on it. I watched the whole thing happen and just bit my tongue cuz after 5 years in a different, toxic retail environment I didn’t think it was my place/appropriate to step in.

Several encounters ensue in which he shows us the app and every time he feels the need to mention that he “Can’t use receipts anymore” and that “we told him to download the app.”

Bad customers ruin good service.

Cut to a shift in management and now we cannot accept people showing us apps to get price matches (presumably because people were screenshotting sale prices or because of in-app user coupons) and now we need to look up the prices ourselves via the registers.

I’m sure that’ll go over well.

Third Encounter and every subsequent one: I’ve been there for about a half a year now and Blake no longer works the registers, working a wholesale position in the back of the store.

I have the displeasure to inform Josh as he shoves his phone in my face that we no longer accept the app and that we have to look it up ourselves.

Is he dumb or just playing dumb?

He’s flabbergasted.

I explain what I think the reasoning is behind it (screenshots) and he’s confused. “What’s a screenshot? You can do that?”

For the record, this man is at most in his 50s. He is not that old.

He then proceeds to go on and on about how we “told him he had to get the LGC app” and now we’re not honoring that???

The app is just making things more complicated.

To add insult to injury, for some strange reason no one understands, the LGC website says the wine is a dollar more than it is in the app and in store (I checked).

I get to argue with Josh every couple of months for the next year about how our policy has changed and how I don’t know why the app and the website have different prices but I have to go by what the website on my own computer says.

I’m not sure these workers WANT his family to come in.

He’s talked to every associate in the store, including the manager who’s told him at least twice herself, and he gets the same answer. And he continues to insist that this is messed up cuz “we told him to download the app” and “he tells all his friends and family” to come to us.

At this point, I don’t even put on a customer service act with him because I’m so fed up with repeating myself.

I’m sure every retail store has customers like this.

One time, Alex saw him pull into the parking lot and proclaimed “not it” before hiding in an aisle so he didn’t have to deal with him.

It was always, “As I told you last time, sir…” And this man baffled me.

“Why doesn’t he just GO to the LGC if we’re robbing him or whatever he thinks?”

Maybe he likes arguing with these workers.

No one had any clue.

In fact, one of my coworkers told me that there was an LGC closer to his house that we were to him, and he still made the drive to our store to argue about price matching.

It got to the point where he once said “Well, I’ll remember that for next time” and I almost looked him dead in the face and replied, “I look forward to having this conversation a seventh time.”

Finally! No more price matching at all.

UNTIL JULY OF THIS YEAR.

We received the BEST news. WE WERE NO LONGER DOING PRICE MATCHING. I was ecstatic and prayed that I’d be the one to tell him. And I was.

Josh comes in to get his wine. I ring him up. “Oh, and let me just pull up the LGC app that you guys told me to download…”

“I’m sorry, sir, but unfortunately we no longer price match as of two days ago.”

Maybe now he’ll go to the other store.

He was so upset.

He experienced the entire spectrum of human emotion. He went from happy to confused to sad to angry. Pretty sure he went through the stages of grief.

But finally he relented, accepting that stuff changes and at least he was getting 10% off for an in-store promotion we have.

I bet he jumped for joy at that thought.

The other day, I passed by that wine was stocking and thought, “Huh. I haven’t seen that guy in a while… Maybe he finally stopped shopping here.”

NOPE! He came in the store today and asked me about price matching.

My manager was on the register next to me, just watching me like she couldn’t believe this was happening.

You know he will ‘forget’ again.

I politely and happily told him again that we stopped price matching a few months ago.

He looked so shocked, as if he hadn’t heard this before.

But at this point, I was just so glad I was never going to have to argue with this man again that I just enjoyed the look of disappointment, of utter betrayal on this man’s face.

He refuses to accept this.

He once again tried to say something about us telling him to download LGC’s app and I politely reminded him that the last time I saw him, I informed him that if he wasn’t using the app for LGC products, he was free to delete it off his phone because we weren’t taking it anymore, ever, at all.

I had to tell him twice.

“But I told all my friends and family… I just told my two neighbors! Aww, well I guess I’ll have to tell them the prices went up at The Liquor Store.”

They didn’t, but okay. Here’s your wine. He left in a good mood, if not a little heartbroken maybe, but whatever.

He has more patience than I would, that’s for sure.

My manager praised me for handling that well and then we joked about having to have this conversation again in a couple months and that I summoned him.

To be fair, in my 6+ years of retail experience, Josh is by FAR not the worst customer I’ve had, and he’s never left the store in a huff.

By the end of 99% of the interactions I had with him, he was chipper, and only once did he get angry enough to yell.

I still dislike him though.

I can’t imagine how frustrating this would get. I’m glad I don’t work in retail.

Let’s see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about it.

Well, if that is what she wanted I guess.

This person thinks the customer might have brain issues.

He may have some type of mental health issues.

This could explain it.

There is always that one crazy customer.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.