Archived OPU/myGO

[GSAguy]

So at least half of the phone calls we get for GS I would say are guests wanting to extend their pick up time frame. Usually letting the guest know that they will get an email with the option to extend it a day will do the trick, but every now and then, the guest will ask it to be extended for several days (a lot of our guests drive long distances to get here, my store and another store 40 miles away are the only Targets around for 100+ miles.)

I've asked my GSTL and ETL GE and the only solution is to have the guest call Target.com GS. Today this happened so I passed along the info to the guest and a few minutes later, a Target.com TM called the store to ask me to extend the OPU for the guest? I had never had that happen before, and didn't know what to say other than we aren't able to do that with the access we have to orders at the store. We have the ability to cancel orders so you would think that we would be able to extend the cut off date for the guests. Any suggestions?

 

[Leo47]

We get this a lot too and honestly it says in the email “pick up before this date” and if the guest knows they won’t be able to get it they should just cancel and redo it. And I would not listen to some random “target.com” person telling me to hold it longer. Once the order is cancelled it no longer “belongs” to the guest and it’s just reshop. And we can’t hold any reshop past close. Store policy

 

[GSAguy]

Thanks... I didn't think so but figured I'd throw it out there. It's just one of those things that are practically impossible to explain to a guest without them thinking you're either lazy or a prick. Some are understanding, others can't comprehend that they can't call a Target store to get the deadline extended for their Target.com order.

Yeah, it wasn't a productive phone call to say the least. lol. After some back and forth about how we weren't able to do that at the store, I finally said to her "Ok, if you could tell me how to do it I would be glad to, but nobody here is aware of this ability so it will be great to finally know the secret."

She hung up on me...

 

[Bethy]

Thanks... I didn't think so but figured I'd throw it out there. It's just one of those things that are practically impossible to explain to a guest without them thinking you're either lazy or a prick. Some are understanding, others can't comprehend that they can't call a Target store to get the deadline extended for their Target.com order.

Yeah, it wasn't a productive phone call to say the least. lol. After some back and forth about how we weren't able to do that at the store, I finally said to her "Ok, if you could tell me how to do it I would be glad to, but nobody here is aware of this ability so it will be great to finally know the secret."

She hung up on me...

Have gotten this issue a few times as well. Is there really no answer to give the person on the phone other than to go online and extend for a day?
Would I be out of line by cancelling their OPU order and putting their item on hold at GS? (Assuming it’s a small item and they want to pick I up in a couple days). Seems like an easy way to “make it right”, but I still have no idea how things work...

 

[Leo47]

Have gotten this issue a few times as well. Is there really no answer to give the person on the phone other than to go online and extend for a day?
Would I be out of line by cancelling their OPU order and putting their item on hold at GS? (Assuming it’s a small item and they want to pick I up in a couple days). Seems like an easy way to “make it right”, but I still have no idea how things work...

The way you suggested is the only thing we could do but we are not allowed to do that which is the problem. Absolutely no items can be held overnight, no exceptions, even with a note on it. (this may be ASANTS though?)

 

[GSAguy]

Have gotten this issue a few times as well. Is there really no answer to give the person on the phone other than to go online and extend for a day?
Would I be out of line by cancelling their OPU order and putting their item on hold at GS? (Assuming it’s a small item and they want to pick I up in a couple days). Seems like an easy way to “make it right”, but I still have no idea how things work...

That's definitely something I've considered, but per policy, we can only hold something for one day. Personally I wouldn't mind doing that for someone, but I would hate for them to come pick it up when I wasn't there to learn that it had been put back because they didn't come get it in 24 hours. Odds are, we have the item in the store on a shelf, but what if we don't? I don't want to make an unpleasant situation worse for a guest.

 

[Bethy]

The way you suggested is the only thing we could do but we are not allowed to do that which is the problem. Absolutely no items can be held overnight, no exceptions, even with a note on it. (this may be ASANTS though?)

Ouch!
Think our official policy might be 24hrs, but we can write a note and extend it an extra day...

 

[GSAguy]

The way you suggested is the only thing we could do but we are not allowed to do that which is the problem. Absolutely no items can be held overnight, no exceptions, even with a note on it. (this may be ASANTS though?)

Very true. At our store, we will hold items for guests for 24 hours, with the exception of clearance items which we will never hold.

 

[TM2]

I'd make it right for the guest, and put a note on the item saying to hold it until the given date/time, then reshop it. Depends on the culture of your store, but now that we're no longer in Q4 you should have enough physical space at the service desk. If somebody gives you a hard time about it you can easily speak it it as saving the sale, plus a Target.com TM asked you to do it.

 

[Bosch]

Have gotten this issue a few times as well. Is there really no answer to give the person on the phone other than to go online and extend for a day?
Would I be out of line by cancelling their OPU order and putting their item on hold at GS? (Assuming it’s a small item and they want to pick I up in a couple days). Seems like an easy way to “make it right”, but I still have no idea how things work...

Do not do this, we are really not supposed to be putting items on hold anymore because of OPU and SFS if you want the item order it. When you cancel the order and put it on hold you also drop it back into inventory making that item available for SFS and other OPU orders which then have to be cancelled since the item you have put on hold aka we know its there but can't take it. So there is no saving the sale since you just forced us to cancel another one so the store gains nothing.

 

[NKG]

The TM's who work at Guest Relations know nothing about how Target stores work. We had a situation where guest wanted my old store to do something that wasn't possible but they said we could. The LOD was like okay tell me how and Ill resolve the issue but they couldn't.

 

[Bethy]

Do not do this, we are really not supposed to be putting items on hold anymore because of OPU and SFS if you want the item order it. When you cancel the order and put it on hold you also drop it back into inventory making that item available for SFS and other OPU orders which then have to be cancelled since the item you have put on hold aka we know its there but can't take it. So there is no saving the sale since you just forced us to cancel another one so the store gains nothing.

Thanks, was not thinking about this part of the issue! For online-only items though, if I tell them to just cancel their OPU order and place a new one, that will result in us getting a second of the item we don’t carry shipped in, right? With the first one getting marked down “as-is”?

Totally get your point about inventory, just sucks it’s such a silly system that we can’t override the OPU hold time. Or even offer to ship it to them instead and reprocess as a SFS order or something.

 

[GSAguy]

Agreed. Trying to hold the item for the guest after it’s cancelled will potentially create all sorts of mishaps.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

@GSAguy you did the right thing by asking "target.com" how to extend the hold. my guess is it probably was fake.

guests in the email they recieve saying ready for pickup have the option of extending it one day. beyond that, nothing we or anyone can do.

 

[IWishIKnew]

I feel like if there is a guest relations department they should be able to maybe do things that stores can't--like they have access to extend to the deadline for OPU, so maybe the call the store and make sure you have space or something and say they're extending the deadline until x day so it doesn't get put back that would be fine.

But what's the point of guest relations if all they'll do is what the guest did and ask you to do it (which you can't)? If guest relations can't actually help the stores with this stuff then they should be the last line of defense to say "no, sorry, the system won't allow stores to do that and there's no way for us to override it, but here's what you should do instead and we'll send you a $5 gift card for the inconvenience" or whatever they would do to "make it right".

 

[CeeCee]

How exactly does a guest extend their order? I was trying to help someone over the phone to do this and they swore they didn’t see this option and asked if it had to be done from a computer and not from their phone. I need step-by-step “for dummies” instructions since I have never done it before. Because I know I’ll get this question again. Thanks!

 

[IWishIKnew]

I don't think they can, which is the issue.

Moral of the story to guests is: don't order something for pick-up in-store until you know you will be able to get there in a few days. If you aren't going to be able to get to the store, order it for delivery.

However, sometimes shit happens, though, and you order stuff with plans to be in town on a certain day or whatever but then the car breaks down or the kids get sick or a snowstorm hits and you need a few extra days. Theoretically it should be easy enough to just cancel and re-order, but what about things that are now out of stock (except for the one in your order)? How long does it take the system to recognize that items from an order are now in-stock after an order is cancelled? If it's right away, no harm, no foul, but I suspect Target.com does not update instantly.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

How exactly does a guest extend their order? I was trying to help someone over the phone to do this and they swore they didn’t see this option and asked if it had to be done from a computer and not from their phone. I need step-by-step “for dummies” instructions since I have never done it before. Because I know I’ll get this question again. Thanks!

On the email they get there’s literally a link they click that says extend pickup by 24 hours or something.

I feel like if there is a guest relations department they should be able to maybe do things that stores can't--like they have access to extend to the deadline for OPU, so maybe the call the store and make sure you have space or something and say they're extending the deadline until x day so it doesn't get put back that would be fine.

But what's the point of guest relations if all they'll do is what the guest did and ask you to do it (which you can't)? If guest relations can't actually help the stores with this stuff then they should be the last line of defense to say "no, sorry, the system won't allow stores to do that and there's no way for us to override it, but here's what you should do instead and we'll send you a $5 gift card for the inconvenience" or whatever they would do to "make it right".

They basically just give the guest a GC. That’s it.

 

[SFSFun]

Have gotten this issue a few times as well. Is there really no answer to give the person on the phone other than to go online and extend for a day?
Would I be out of line by cancelling their OPU order and putting their item on hold at GS? (Assuming it’s a small item and they want to pick I up in a couple days). Seems like an easy way to “make it right”, but I still have no idea how things work...

Check with the GSTL before agreeing to that, because it's probably against your normal hold policy. At my store, they generally will agree to hold it for another day or two if the guest is nice about it. They GSTL will put a note on the item so when it goes RTS we know to move the item over to the regular guest hold area instead of putting it in reshop.

The way you suggested is the only thing we could do but we are not allowed to do that which is the problem. Absolutely no items can be held overnight, no exceptions, even with a note on it. (this may be ASANTS though?)

That's an asants thing. Our policy is 1 hour max.

 

[PackAndCry]

I think what happens a lot is that t.com vastly overestimates the shipping times to the store (probably because of SFS), the item arrives before t.com told the guest it should, then they get their "your order is about to expire" email before they thought the item would even be in the store, so they panic. The easiest solution would be for Spot to have the item not go RTS until 2 days after the estimated delivery date or 2 days after the actual delivery date, whichever is later, but I doubt they'll do that.

 

[GSAguy]

I think what happens a lot is that t.com vastly overestimates the shipping times to the store (probably because of SFS), the item arrives before t.com told the guest it should, then they get their "your order is about to expire" email before they thought the item would even be in the store, so they panic. The easiest solution would be for Spot to have the item not go RTS until 2 days after the estimated delivery date or 2 days after the actual delivery date, whichever is later, but I doubt they'll do that.

I've heard that from guests several times "I didn't think my order was gonna be there until xx/xx."

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

I think what happens a lot is that t.com vastly overestimates the shipping times to the store (probably because of SFS), the item arrives before t.com told the guest it should, then they get their "your order is about to expire" email before they thought the item would even be in the store, so they panic. The easiest solution would be for Spot to have the item not go RTS until 2 days after the estimated delivery date or 2 days after the actual delivery date, whichever is later, but I doubt they'll do that.

I've heard that from guests several times "I didn't think my order was gonna be there until xx/xx."

i'm pretty sure T.com vastly overestimates the date and sticks with it, some items stay longer than 2 days.

 

[PackAndCry]

i'm pretty sure T.com vastly overestimates the date and sticks with it, some items stay longer than 2 days.

From personal experience, I don't think it does. Or maybe it only sometimes does. Ever seen all the complaints on Spot's FB page that say their item was cancelled because they didn't pick it up before it arrived? I'm 99% sure that's why- they didn't expect it to arrive so they didn't check their email, and it got cancelled before the estimated delivery date.

 

[Bosch]

From personal experience, I don't think it does. Or maybe it only sometimes does. Ever seen all the complaints on Spot's FB page that say their item was cancelled because they didn't pick it up before it arrived? I'm 99% sure that's why- they didn't expect it to arrive so they didn't check their email, and it got cancelled before the estimated delivery date.

That is on them, "oh we sent you an e-mail that your order was here and you ignored it? Not our fault."

No holds you want it come in and buy it or reorder it.

 

[SFSFun]

i'm pretty sure T.com vastly overestimates the date and sticks with it, some items stay longer than 2 days.

Orders can stay longer if there is still more items on the way. I've had OPUs in hold for over a week because there was multiple STS packages on the way from the same order.