Customer service at Auchan - It's all about the money?

Had to buy a TV set yesterday at Auchan. Once I paid for the thing at the cashier, I had to go line up at Customer Service to get my warranty plan signed by someone -- without this the warranty would not be valid.

So I lined up and waited in the line for warranties. The other line was for returns and complaints, and there was a lot of people there with a lot of problems. One of the elder ladies was complaining that she bought two cookies and they were not with cottage cheese but poppy seed. The customer service representative explained that the cottage cheese was inside the dough, baked into the cookies. Well, said the lady, the cookies were more expensive than indicated, too. The label said HUF 40 (ca. $0.25) but they cost HUF 60 (ca. $0.30). Oh my god! was my reaction to this. Standing in line for 20 minutes to fight for $0.05! And making other people behind you wait because of your $0.05.

But the other person behind her was not much better. A man complained about ham rolls. He wanted to buy 2 but he got 3, and he did not intend to pay for the 3rd one. Ah, said the customer service representative, this was the buy 2 and get the 3rd for free deal. But I only wanted to buy 2, said the man. Yes, but you got the third one for free, said the customer service representative. Once the man realized that he was not charged for the extra roll of ham, he was OK with the third roll.

So standing in line there at Auchan was a real eye-opener. This is really not about money because you cannot possible be upset about paying an extra $0.05 for a cookie. This must be about attention which people began missing in these mega-stores.