[pinksatin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desi I have plastered over 50 signs up before. Still people are surprised that it is 25% off all clearance when they get to the registers.

Yes! This is exactly why. You'd be surprised how many people don't read at all and they are surprised and thankful when you let them know about something that's plastered all over the store. And then when I get to a customer who says "Yeah, I know I saw it on the signs". I just say "oh great! it's nice that you noticed them. Most people don't read them."

And at BR, the name collecting about who helped you doesn't earn money for the associates. It used to but they've changed that and the store just sells as a team. They can track productivity though, so if someone has really low sales, they can get coaching or talk to them about why they aren't helping anyone or recognize people who are good sellers and engage with customers but there is not much purpose for it anymore. The only thing you earn money from individually (aside from wages) is how many banana cards you open. And I know that can be annoying for customers who don't want one but it is our job to talk to you about it so I just force myself to talk about it because it is my responsibility to do my job you know?

[Judleberry]

I have had a few bad experiences in a row in the House of Fraser department store here in the UK.

First time it was the last day of those 2 day sale events where most brands have 20-30% off. I wanted a pair of Sam Edelman heels in a size 2.5 UK. It went like this:

Me: Hello, may i please try these in a size 2.5?
SA: Em, they don't go down smaller than a 3.
Me: I have another pair of these shoes in a size 2.5, could you please double check?
SA: Em, they might do them, but we never have them.
Me: Oh right, I actually bought them here, but OK, would you please be able to check if another store has them?
SA: Our stock checking system is actually down at the minute, maybe you could come back later?
Me: I wouldn't be able to come back later as I need to get back to work...
SA: Well you could leave your details and we could call you when the system comes back up, or you could phone in later and see if it is back up?
Me: Yes OK, I'll leave my details and if you could give me a call that would be great, thanks.
SA: Em, well, we might be really busy later so i can't guarantee that anyone would be able to call you.

Seriously, why offer then?! The next time, a week later, went back in for the same shoes (now back up to full price, *sob* ). I pick up the one on display, which is a size 3:

Me: Would I be able to try these or order these in a 2.5?
SA: They don't go down smaller than a 4.
Me: Oh, em, these are a 3...
SA: Em, well, em (etc), the smallest size we have in the actual store is a size 4.
Me: (thinking she had misunderstood) Ah no, sorry, this actual shoe is a size 3, so they must go down a bit smaller than a 4?
SA: Em no, sorry.

My God. At that point I just gave up. These shoes are just not meant to be mine

[XxpinktinksxX]

^thats terrible. You should put in a complaint about both occasions. I honestly don't know how people like that can keep their jobs, so rude.

[sundaymorning]

I have had bad experience in House of Fraser too Judleberry
Debenhams (British dept store too!) have been crap to me of recent!
With my case in Debenhams, I was aiming to buy YSL Touché Eclat in the beauty dept and there was no one around to help until i spotted a sales assistant from the Clarins beauty counter. Now im unsure if these people work on comission or not with each beauty brand (they prob do!) but the service i got was shocking.
I aksed her if she could help me, her reply was to not even look up at me from her desk which had paper-work on it and after about 2 minute silence she said; give me just a moment.
a further minute later she went round to the YSL counter and grabbed the shade i asked for and out it on her desk and i politley said, oh im going to pay by card. her reply to this was; well, put it in the machine then (the chip and pin machine)
!!!!!!!!!
awful!

[fashionista-ta]

^ I hate it when you really need something, and then you get that kind of 'help.' I would have told her, 'You know what, never mind--this is the kind of service I like to reward by taking my business elsewhere' and gotten it someplace else Nothing needs to be concealed or brightened more than she needed to be told off

[sundaymorning]

i know, i should've told her exactly what you said!
dang!

[kasper!]

Roger Vivier Hong Kong IFC Mall

The SAs are chatting all the times and they never sells! I've heard complaints from 4 different peoples, and more would be heard I suppose.

[Judleberry]

I have a further update on my House of Fraser nightmare pursuit of these Sam Edelman heels!

It's now the end of season sale, in I go and they have a pair of size 3s left on the rack in the sale bit. I tried them on and decided I am going to have to get a 3 if I'm going to get them at all and just have to have them be a bit too big. I ask to try on the other one.

Few minutes later the lady comes up with the left shoe and I try them both on. Now, once they are on my feet you can blatantly tell one is really faded, stretched and dirty from being out on the shop floor all this time. One was really vibrant turquoise, the other was faded and around the edges what looked like fake tan had stained it. I said to the lady that one was really faded and a bit dirty and and she said "Hmmm, I can maybe take an extra 10% off", I didn't really want 10% off, I just wanted 2 matching shoes! So I asked her if she could check if any other store had them in a 3 or preferably a 2, she went to check and came back and said "this is the very last pair in the whole company, so it will need to be these ones, are you taking them?". So I just said no thanks.

Came home and set to work on finding them online. Found them on a little independent shoe shop, same price and in a size 2! Brand new and never tried on, lovely snug fit. Chuffed to bits

2 weeks later, I'm in HOFs again, mozying round the shoe bit, and what do I see? The shoes on the sale rack in a size 3, and on the rack below them, another pair in a size 2 I was so mad! They had them all this time!!!

I looked around for a manager to tell, just so they know how bad the staff are, but there wasn't anyone about that looked like they'd care.

I just wish there were some other decent shoe shops in Glasgow so I never had to set foot in there again.

Plus, there are too many Benefit make up stalls etc that want to plaster half your face in make-up and badger you to buy all their products.

I feel better now I've got that off my chest, thanks! xx

[lucy92]

US retailers can usually print out at the register exactly what stores have each item. can UK retailers do that? i would ask for the actual paper next time.

[Judleberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucy92 US retailers can usually print out at the register exactly what stores have each item. can UK retailers do that? i would ask for the actual paper next time.

Most stores can, yes. But sometimes I wonder if HOF tell you they don't have them because they just can't be bothered checking. They often just tell you to check the website, but the website doesn't have any of the good brands.

Some other stores are happy to print out a list with phone numbers and even call and order it for you, it's all sales for the same company at the end of the day, so it's in their best interests.

[Kenzofanatic]

The worst happened to me at Jany Richard in Stuttgart, Germany (it's a store which sells Missoni, Thierry Mugler, Versace, Ferré and so on). There are two floors, one for the women and the basement is a smaller one for men. It was the first time I was there and I didn't find the way to the men's clothes. So I asked that woman, after she finished chattering with some customers where I could find the men's clothes.
After she eyeballed me several times she answered: "I'm quite sure we doesn't have anything here which matches you" (I definitely wasn't dressed badly or poorly this day).
I answered: "I think I can decide much better on my own, whether your clothes are my cup of tea or not".
After that she allowed me to enter the seperated (by a chain!) floor for men's clothes. Another sales assistant (maybe his husband, I'm not sure) helped there and he was super kind, I tried on Missoni trousers, but unfortunately they were too big. So I decided not to buy anything.
Going up the stairs I saw that the woman SA still stood there and waited for me.
After that she said in such an arrogant way: "I told you that we don't have anything which matches you and your purse" (one have to say that I wore a Prada coat that day).
I answered: "It isn't my purse that doesn't fit, although I think it's kind of brazen to sell Versace collections from two years ago for the original price. It's more the size of the clothes which doesn't fit. I couldn't know that your typical customer is an overweight Lady Gaga-fan" (because of Formichetti at MUGLER and his collaborations with her). After that I said friendly "have a nice day" and left the store.

I can't understand how SA can treat potential customers like that. When they are in rush one can say: Okay, they are stressed, then sometimes some answers are a bit rude even they didn't mean it that way. BUT I have to say that I rarely see anyone there in this store Apparently they don't get in financial trouble to treat customers like that.

[Jinadaze]

^ OMG, that's hardly believable.

[fashionista-ta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenzofanatic The worst happened to me at Jany Richard in Stuttgart, Germany (it's a store which sells Missoni, Thierry Mugler, Versace, Ferré and so on). There are two floors, one for the women and the basement is a smaller one for men. It was the first time I was there and I didn't find the way to the men's clothes. So I asked that woman, after she finished chattering with some customers where I could find the men's clothes. After she eyeballed me several times she answered: "I'm quite sure we doesn't have anything here which matches you" (I definitely wasn't dressed badly or poorly this day). I answered: "I think I can decide much better on my own, whether your clothes are my cup of tea or not". After that she allowed me to enter the seperated (by a chain!) floor for men's clothes. Another sales assistant (maybe his husband, I'm not sure) helped there and he was super kind, I tried on Missoni trousers, but unfortunately they were too big. So I decided not to buy anything. Going up the stairs I saw that the woman SA still stood there and waited for me. After that she said in such an arrogant way: "I told you that we don't have anything which matches you and your purse" (one have to say that I wore a Prada coat that day). I answered: "It isn't my purse that doesn't fit, although I think it's kind of brazen to sell Versace collections from two years ago for the original price. It's more the size of the clothes which doesn't fit. I couldn't know that your typical customer is an overweight Lady Gaga-fan" (because of Formichetti at MUGLER and his collaborations with her). After that I said friendly "have a nice day" and left the store. I can't understand how SA can treat potential customers like that. When they are in rush one can say: Okay, they are stressed, then sometimes some answers are a bit rude even they didn't mean it that way. BUT I have to say that I rarely see anyone there in this store Apparently they don't get in financial trouble to treat customers like that.

Love the way you gave it back to her

That seems to be the in your face version of the way a lot of SAs treat people they don't think can afford to shop in the store. I remember the look on the face of an SA in Neiman's shoe dept (the absolute worst, snob central) who hadn't helped me when I then bought a quite expensive pair of shoes from the SA who did. Priceless.

Hello ... I'm not there to impress them ... they are there to help me.

Judleberry, just wanted to note the 2s could have been a return ... but the SA certainly sounds much less than a prize.

[Psylocke]

Whoa, Kenzofanatic is it just me or are SAs in boutiques in Germany particularly snobby and rude? I've had some bad experiences there, too. I think I wrote about the 'lovely' () people at Theresa in Munich on a previous page or in another thread.

And Judleberry, I hate when SAs are too lazy to check and would rather give you wrong infos instead of looking something up!

I haven't gone shopping a lot and have been successfully avoiding all stores with bad service lately. But on a positive note, I could not believe how nice and helpful the SAs in boutiques in Antwerp were! None of them were obtrusive but they were definitely there to help. Especially loved the sweet woman in the Rundholz store who went above and beyond in assisting me, as well as the ladies at the Ann Demeulemeester store. I looked really terrible since I was semi-backpacking, wearing my chucks, my hair was un-kept and I looked anything but chic but everyone was sweet and not for a second did I ever feel like anyone there was looking down on me or anything.

[Kenzofanatic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psylocke Whoa, Kenzofanatic is it just me or are SAs in boutiques in Germany particularly snobby and rude? I've had some bad experiences there, too. I think I wrote about the 'lovely' () people at Theresa in Munich on a previous page or in another thread.

Not everyone, but the worst experiences I had in Germany, that's true. It's much better in Zürich, even Tom Ford and Prada SA are super kind also towards the younger generation. One day my mum and I went to one Isetan store in Tokyo, my mum wore trekking clothes because we were hiking that day. I've never experienced such an amazing SA team which not only helped with the correct size and so on. But they also talked to each other what could fit my mum's taste. At the same time one didn't have the feeling that they just wanted to sell every piece to her, but thinking twice what she could wear and what not. I think in Germany nearly no SA would treat you that kindly and especially not when you are wearing hiking clothes