SHOPPING HELL: No-Vey to go

By Mark Scheinbaum
Special to Newsroom Panama

WHEN the manager of the Novey hardware store on Avenida Balboa started screaming in my face and covering her name badge so I could not jot down her name, I knew yesterday’s attempt to exchange a coffee maker marked a sad or hilarious low point in a nation known for zero customer service.

               Thursday afternoon (May 23) after work, I walked into my nearby Novey with the original plastic Novey bag (I had thrown out the box) and a leaky 4-cup Oster coffee maker that I had purchased five days earlier for $23. The soggy receipt and a soggy stamped “Paid” one year manufacturer’s warrantee card were in the bag.

               After explaining that on Day Four, that morning, the machine started hissing and smoking, water would not pump and coffee would not brew, I handed them the receipts. While they were deciding what to do I went upstairs, picked out a more expensive model from another manufacturer. And returned to say I would happily pay the difference in cash.
               “You don’t have the manager’s permission to exchange this,” the customer service clerk said. She then called over the manager who proceeded to tell me that first I had to go to their mechanical center in MultiPlaza Mall; leave the coffee maker approximately three weeks; if they determined I did not cause the damage within a week after that they would tell me if I get a partial credit, full refund, or right of exchange.
               I had spent more than a thousand bucks in this Novey in three weeks, for furnishings and small appliances for my nearby apartment, and was shocked that, as I told the manager “the name Novey apparently means nothing.”
               She indicated, “No, you mean nothing because you did not purchase an extended warrantee.” I explained that five days does not require any warrantee. It is a manufacturer’s defect that Novey will be paid for. I also said I had the same little compact coffee brewer in my office in Panama for about eight years until it died of exactly the same thermostat related problem.
               At that point I said, “Just write me a note that you will not exchange or return this, sign it with your name, I will file a complaint with Novey top management and I will just leave.” She said with “un Never. Never!”
               With that I threw the soggy receipt at the clerk, decided to write off the 23 bucks to my own stupidity and walked out.
               I started purchasing things in Panama more than 40 years ago, when Sears was in town and their name was gold. An exchange was pleasant and easy.
               A few years ago almost the same scenario played out at the Do It Center near Super Kosher in Paitilla where a brand new floor fan burned out within a week of purchase. Not only was there no refund or exchange, but the manager kept trying to get his “boy” to shove the fan back out the store and load it back into my car. I refused to let it out of the store, and again had no use for a broken fan and left it with the store to be repaired or credited or put back in inventory for some other sucker.
               Ok, I got this off my chest, and each of you will tell a friend and eventually someone at Novey will restate store policy and say their policy is to try to repair every piece of cheap Chinese crap they sell for the sake of the customer..when in reality it is the way to assure never having a cent of negative cash flow. Refund nothing. Exchange nothing. Credit nothing. A few customers go away mad, but our margins improve. But there is actually a moral to the story:
               Just in the past few years a few smart entrepreneurs have become the counter culture of retailing in Panama. I have found Rodelaag on TransIstmica helpful, polite, eager to please and make things right.
               Also deeply discounted and funky Saks department store in El Dorado sells some schlock and some treasures but smothers customers both on the sales floor and the ample registers with polite service and helpful delivery to the parking lot and your car. The staff introduces themselves and will work with you to find price and quality levels you want.
               Ditto for the entire Conway chain, especially the anchor store at Multi Centro Mall. Clean and efficient, with surprisingly competitive prices and a staff that actually knows their inventory.
               These are the exceptions. The saddest part of this whole Novey story is that very few readers would even raise an eyebrow in surprise. As for me, convenience does not trump respect and service. My new view of Novey will be the expert advice of that great shopping champ, Roberto Duran: no mas!
Mark Scheinbaum Is a financial planner and teacher who first came to Panama in 1973 as a newsman for United Press International.