Fucking Department Store Morons......

The BBQ Pit
1

So I found this really nice men’s suit in Bloomingdales. It was 30% off which was a stroke of luck. Only problem is, they did not have my size. “No problem” says the clerk, “I’ll call around and find one for you from another store. You’ll have to give them your credit card number to purchase it and they will ship it to our store for you to pick up and alter if necessary. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Great! I’m happy and I leave the store to await my call. A day goes by. Two days. Three. Fourth day, I get tired of waiting and call the store. My sales clerk picks up the phone:

Me: Hello, I was in your store a few days ago looking to purchase a suit. You took down my name and number and promised to call me the next day to let me know the status.

Clerk: Oh yes. We don’t have the suit in your size but other stores do.

Me: (Ummm, okay, keep your cool). Great! Have you asked the other store to hold my size for me?

Clerk: Um, no sir. You did not give me your credit card number.

Me: (still in the zone). You told me I’d have to give the credit card number to the store that has the suit in order for them to ship it to your store.

Clerk: Well, yes…

Me: Okay, then can I have the store number so that I can call and reserve the suit and pay for it.

Clerk: Uhhh, I don’t know which store has the suit…

Me: (starting to simmer) I thought you just said that your others stores have the suit in my size?

Clerk: Well, they have the suits but I don’t know if they have your size.

Me: (really keeping the lid on it now) So you didn’t actually call any stores to check for my size. Why did you take my name and number and promise to call me if you had no intentions of following up?

Clerk: Uh, because the sale had ended the day after you came to the store.

Me: You told me in the dressing room in the presence of my wife that the sale would go on for another week.

Clerk: Well, they don’t always tell us when the sales will end.

Me: Well why did you tell me the sale would last another week? Besides, why are you assuming that I would not want the suit at regular price? Furthermore, I’m certain Bloomingdales will honour the sale price since I would have purchased they suite on the spot had you had my size.

Clerk: No sir. They won’t.

Me: (about to take a life) So you never actually tried to look for the suit. You expected me to just give you my credit card number for no apparent reason. You never intended to call me and as a result of your failure to do your job you’ve made me miss the sale. And now you tell me that even if you do find my suit you will not honour the sale price. Do I have that right?!.. Get me the manager please…
Fortunately the manager turned out to be great and very helpful. She promised to honour the sale price even if it took them several weeks to locate the suit in my size. They would even contact the supplier if necessary.

What has happened to pride in you work and service quality? Why do I need to go through this aggrevation and get the manager involved when it could all have been avoided if the clerk had just done her bloody job.

2

at this kind of shit. My sympathy

One time I was looking at suit on sale. I had been off work for a couple of days and hadn’t shaved and was in my scruffy off work clothes and couldn’t get anyone to help me. I found the manager and told him I wasn’t happy with the way I was being treated and it so happened a woman he standing next to hime the district manager so I had half the staff at my beck and call (including the manager) while the district manager watched. Oh sweet revenge, a dish best served cold.

3

I was also shopping for a suit at Bloomingdales, and was being somewhat helped by a sales associate. I tried on one suit I really liked, but it didn’t fit properly, so I left and went to a competitor to check out their selection. I was shown the exact same suit in a 44 instead of a 46 and it fit perfectly. The woman at Bloomies didn’t even offer to look for the smaller size suit, but the sales associate at Nordstrom took one look at me and said “You’re a size 44, let’s look right over here.”
They got the sale, and when I told them the suit was $50 less at Bloomies, they immediately gave me the same price without asking for proof or checking on it.
Excellent service.

4

You got that right Ivar. Nordstrom’s has always had excellent service. No question returns, always well stocked, prices marked correctly and an outstanding sales staff. Hmmm, maybe I’ll go work there on the weekends so I can get the employee discount. :wink:

5

See, I never have problems like this at K-Mart. I guess being broke does have certain advantages. :slight_smile: Hell, even if I was rich I’d still buy my clothes there. Something about the concept of being “in style” always seemed so vacuous(sp?) to me.

6

[slight hijack]

No accident, that. My sister, who took a Fashion Management BA, showed me a book she read for her classes written about the store called The Nordstrom Way. Essentially it stated that from the beginning the management realised that the best way to succeed in the department store business, since most US department stores sell largely the same products at largely the same price, was to offer the best customer support. The whole book was an outline of how they did that.

[/slight hijack]

7

Whoops, forgot to post the on-topic part. (aha will kill me.) Bloomingdale’s treats its customers like pricks because they know they can get away with it. They can because (a) “Bloomingdale’s” is such a well-known name that people will shop there for the name, and (b), well, see point (a). They don’t need to try. Simple as that.

If you want a UK example, try Harrod’s or Selfridge’s.

8

I went to Men’s Warehouse to buy a suit. (I don’t like to wear suits, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money at a “name” store.) They had the suit I wanted, but it was too big. I left my name and number, and the woman who was helping me said she would go to another store on her way to work to pick up the one that fit me. She didn’t just have it sent. She went to pick it up.

I liked that.