Mini Chapter with the Customer: Ticket Donation

A customer walked-in to our counter today and asked for a tax receipt for the tickets that he’d supposedly donated...

Customer: I wasn’t able to attend this show (on April 6th), I’ve donated the tickets back to you and would like to get a tax receipt for my donation.
Me: Alright, please hold on for a moment while I take a look at your account.

I logged into the his account and found a comment left by a co-worker who had previously helped him with his ticket donation. The comment stated that he had called on April 26th, 20 days after the performance, and had asked for his unused tickets to be donated for a tax receipt in return. Before I go on further, here’s a point-form explanation on how ticket donations work:

• You have to be a subscriber (this customer is one, so that’s a good sign).
• As all sales are final, your ticket(s) cannot be refunded. However, if you are unable to attend a performance, you have the option of donating your ticket(s) back to our organization. We would then release your seat(s) to be re-sold to the general public, by which you would be issued a tax receipt for regardless of the outcome of the re-sale.
• Ticket donations can be arranged up until 48 hours before the start of the performance (however, there have been cases where we allowed customers to donate their tickets up until minutes before the show starts. This just goes to show how accommodating and empathetic we are).
• Ticket donations cannot be arranged after the performance has ended (as this would be no different from giving someone an expired ‘all you can eat for free’ coupon at the Sheraton).
• All of the above information (except for the ones in parentheses) are written in a more formal and polite tone, printed in black and white under the Important Subscriber Information section located in the middle-page-spread of our Subscriber Handbook, which all subscribers receive in a package together with their season tickets and free gift coupons in their mail. These information are also posted on our website.

My co-worker’s comment also mentioned that the customer had made him called our manager to arrange for the ticket donation since he (my co-worker) did not have the authority to do so, BY WHICH our manager replied with an unshakable, definite ‘NO’ due to an obvious reason - he was donating us tickets to a performance that has ended 20 days ago. Our manager was kind enough to offer him missed-performance-replacement tickets to one of the remaining shows of the season, but he didn’t take the offer. Furthermore, he walked into our Customer Service Centre months after he made that call, lied to me that he’d donated his tickets and asked for a tax receipt as if it was all legitimated, which was clearly not the case.

Me: Thank you for waiting. I believe that you called us sometime in April after your performance has ended to arrange for the ticket donation?
Customer: That’s right.
Me: Thank you. You must have been informed then that ticket donations could not be arranged after the performance has ended because you would be donating tickets that could no longer be used.
Customer: No, nobody told me that.
Me: (Li-ar~) There is a note left in your account by my co-worker who helped you over the phone in April. He contacted our manager to see if we could find a way to arrange the ticket donation for you, but it wasn’t possible. As a result, we offered you the option of a missed-performance-replacement.
Customer: You can tell your co-worker, I told him that I didn’t want any replacement.
Me: Yes, he had written that down in the comment. Unfortunately, you had not donated your tickets. Ticket donations must be arranged in advance before the start of the show and we cannot process ticket donations for past performances. I regret to inform you that we cannot issue you a tax receipt for these tickets.
Customer: Tell me, how else could I have gotten the tax receipt since I didn’t attend the show.
Me: You would need to call us by latest, 48 hours prior to the performance, to arrange for the ticket donation. We do need a window period to re-sell the tickets.
Customer: But I was in Florida 2 days before the show and my wife and I didn’t know if we would be attending it. I thought I made that very clear over the phone.
Me: (Buddy, I’m not your mom. T’s your problem for double booking your vacation with your performance and, on top of that, being indecisive with your schedule and unwise with your money. Worst of all, you tried to make it look like this was my fault. I'd smack you at your behind and barred you from supper if I were your mom!) I regret to inform you that ticket donations can only be arranged before the start of the performance. After the performance, the tickets carry no value and therefore could not be accepted as a donation.
Customer: Are you giving me my tax receipt or not.
Me: (Dude, you cannot get a tax receipt without making a valid donation prior, that would be FRAUD-ulent) I'm afraid that it cannot be done.

He grabbed his tickets and charged right out of the door.

I hate to have customers leaving us in an unpleasant state, but in cases like this when the line is crossed, one has to be as firm and diplomatic as one can. Not all customers are ‘always right,’ some of them can be boldly unreasonable in order to get what they want.