[Psylocke]

I didn't realize how stupid I sounded for generalizing like this until I re-read what I wrote. Sorry Of course not all SAs in German designer boutiques are rude, but I've definitely perceived some of them as being especially bad when it comes to disrespecting their customers rather than helping them. Zürich actually has some boutiques with very snobbish staff too, though.

[lucy92]

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.

i would google the owner of the store or manager and give them a call and say you received abusive treatment based on appearance or national origin (i'm not sure if you are from germany or not) i would say you expect a call back and you may be alerting the media shortly.

[MissyJG]

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.

omg that so reminded me of the movie Pretty Woman where they say the same thing. And even if you were dressed like a sh*t, they still can't treat you like that.

[Chanelcouture09]

Like Eddie/Jennifer Saunders says in Ab Fab 'You only work in a shop, drop the attitude'.

This is how bad I am with customer services, I went into WHSmiths to pick up a copy of Vogue Italia (it was September last year, I think) and a boyband was in store that day signing their calendars and where Vogue Italia was in the store was closed off to customers so I asked a member of staff (who happened to be a supervisor) if they could get me an issue, they went to get it for me and I waited 20-30 minutes and she didn't return and two members of staff walked past me and said 'She's probably got distracted... by something shiny or something, I'd give up if I were you' and laughed in my face. I have a very hot temper so I stormed out of the store and rushed home and put a complaint in with the store manager (I rang him 3 times) at the treatment I received from three members of staff, he apologized and gave me that copy of Vogue Italia for free, so complaining and asking for something in return from a store from the treatment you've received is nothing to them, a £9 magazine is nothing in comparison to a store like that, but the Manager went onto the CCTV to check and my story added up, plus they know I spend a fortune in their store every month and I did, very cheekily remind him of that.

I've had that many problems with Selfridges, their products and their services that after complaining to their head office they invited me to have lunch with their store manager who apologized for my continued displeasure at their service (trust me it was A LOT of things) and during the lunched she asked me if there was anything that she could personally assist me in getting a hold of, gave me a store gift card and a free lunch and she said if I had any further problems with anything in store to personally call her to assist me.

I find that story above about Jany Richard absolutely disgusting, at the way that member of staff went out of their way to approach you after you finished shopping and fair play to you, but I personally wouldn't of been so nice to her, I just find it absolutely insulting.

I also had another similar experience in HMV the other day whilst buying some DVDs, usually I buy them online but since I was out I thought I'd see if they were in store, so I asked a girl who was stood with another member of staff if they had this certain DVD in stock and the other member of staff butts into my conversation and says 'I'll check for you now' very abruptly, she tells me there is one left in stock and how much it was, I said 'so... can you tell me where it is ?' she said 'it's under H' and I replied 'and where is that ?' she said 'the store goes in Alphabetical order... so it's under H, find your way around' and pointed me into the direction, she wasn't doing anything except talking to her friend and then she served me to my items, snatching them out of my hands and when it came to me paying, she snatched the money out of my grasp, practically throwing my purchases at me with the receipt and then asking me if I needed a bag, I said 'no, you're alright I wouldn't want to put you out in finding me one, thank you'.

[HeatherAnne]

Park and Bond (online)

Keep pretending my item is in stock, then sticking an expensive item I'm not ordering in my cart. When I take that expensive item I'm not trying to order out and go to checkout my item is suddenly back out of stock. WTF?!

[PeanutLeigh]

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm not the type of person who complains often or tries to take advantage of a company etc. For example, I've never once in my life sent a meal back at a restaurant and I barely ever make returns. With that said, I only call customer service when I feel I've been completely cheated as a customer which is very rare.

I have never had such a horrible experience with customer service in my entire life. At such a luxury brand I would expect so much more, but I was sadly mistaken. The ladies I spoke with on the phone were very sarcastic and didn't seem to care about my situation whatsoever. So, let's start from the beginning…

My boyfriend proposed to me about 2 years ago and being an excited bride to be I jumped the gun and bought the $845 Christian Louboutin Hyper Prive pumps in white from CL's online store. Unfortunately things with my boyfriend didn't work out and a wedding never occurred. Since it was too late to return them, I figured I'd keep them and hopefully sometime in the future I'd be able to wear them. So in my closet, in the dust bags & box they sat for the last 2 years. Last week I had a friend over to get ready for a night out. As we stood in my shoe closet admiring my collection, she asked if I still had the CL wedding shoes. I opened the box to show her and was horrified to see the toe and sole had turned orange. Upon closer inspection it looks as though this is glue. Right away I took pictures and emailed the Louboutin customer service department. Being such a high end brand I wasn't at all worried and figured they would fix or replace them no problem.

I received a phone call about 2 days ago from a CL customer service rep in New York and she explained to me that since it's been over 2 years there is nothing they can do. I explained to her that the shoes have never been worn and even sent her pictures of the bottoms which are in mint condition. I was then told that even though they are in brand new condition this is not a mistake on their end, the product is not defective, and nothing can be done. She then asked, "how have they been stored?" I told her they've been in the dust bags & box in my closet, etc….

This is the part that really upset me. She told me that their shoes should never be stored in the dust bags and box for over 2 years. Really?! On the Christian Louboutin website it says word for word "Store your products in the Christian Louboutin dust bag provided to you when not in use." She replies "I shouldn't have to tell every customer not to keep them in the box for over 2 years, it's common knowledge that they need to be taken out once in a while to be aired out." At this point I couldn't even believe this was happening. I kept telling her they were stored as directed and never even been touched since I got them. Then she said "well I don't know, maybe your house has a lot of moisture. For all I know these could have been stored in a leaky attic." Seriously? I don't even have a "leaky" attic and if I did why on earth would I put an expensive pair of shoes up there?

This went on back and forth for about 25 minutes where I spoke to the rep and her supervisor, who were both extremely condescending and rude. I felt like she was almost laughing at me under her breath, I wish I could have recorded this conversation because it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. They kept saying this isn't their fault/problem and this is the normal "WEAR & TEAR" of the product. Normal wear and tear? They've never been WORN!! I kept fighting that something like this shouldn't happen for the price I paid etc. I asked if this happened to you wouldn't you be upset? and she said, "Yes but I wouldn't call and complain after 2 years, what do you want us to do?" I told her I don't want a refund I just want the shoes to be fixed or a new pair of the same style.

She explained that based off the pictures they probably can't be repaired but they can be dyed a different color. Again, I told her over and over that I don't want a different color all I want is for my WHITE shoes to be white, not orange. I was told there is absolutely no way they'd send over a new pair. She kept suggesting that I send them in to be dyed a different color by their preferred shoe cobbler. I don't want this done but I figured I'd ask if the cost to do so would be covered by them and of course she said the shipping costs bot ways and cost to dye the fabric would be out of my pocket.

I don't even know where to begin. This is extremely frustrating because in my past experience with customer service if a product of such a high price is faulty or breaks after it's never even been used the company will fix it and if it cannot be fixed they will replace it. So in this case where the shoes can't be fixed they should offer to replace them, not suggest I pay to have them dyed! I don't want them dyed, I just want the WHITE shoes that I paid hundreds of dollars for. Is that so much to ask for? I'm not only angry that they refuse to replace a product that is clearly faulty, but on top of that they were SO RUDE. I feel cheated

Please tell me if I'm being ridiculous or not because they made it seem like I'm being a complete crazy person. When I worked in retail years ago I was taught that the customer is always right. Does that not apply anymore?

Please take a look at the pictures I've attached - it's even worse in person.

[KissMiss]

I am really sorry to hear about that. I know you said yoy are not a sort of person who complains but sometimes when things get to outregous you certainly should. I would advise tweeting about that. Unfrotunately, I had to in the past and it worked. Suddenly, they become very sweet and caring. Sadly, sometimes staff at designers shops think that by being sale persons they basically run the company. i would definitely tweet about it and obviously tag their official tweeter account.

[Morphe]

I agree, get the info out there. Twitter, product review boards, facebook etc.

[lucy92]

wow, those shoes are unwearable!

so why did the glue turn orange? did it oxidize somehow? did they even explain the chemical process? are these leather or some other material?

and how much does dying usually cost? did they say?

i also agree youve got to get this out there....

this reminds me when i was in nyc dining at a place owned by a chef that had michelin stars at other establishments.

i ordered mussels and the mussels were GIGANTIC. i couldn't bring myself to eat them - but i didnt send them back or say anything to the server.

the next week after i read a review in the NY times on the restaurant calling the mussels i ordered "franken-mussels" and saying they were inedible.

so a lesson learned - i should have complained.

hope it works out well for you.

[fashionista-ta]

sorry to hear that, peanut

i assume the bags are red and the dye has transferred, right?

tweeting is a great idea. post your story everywhere Louboutins are discussed. i hear that american customer service is unknown in europe ...

personally i'd go for a different style if offered that you could wear now ... but these are your shoes & you should get what you want.

maybe they'll stop recommending keeping the shoes in the bags ...

i had a similar experience with ethan allen when a piece of furniture broke. i will certainly never buy from them again ...

[PeanutLeigh]

Thanks for the replies everyone! It's actually the glue I think - I'm definitely going to keep on calling and I'll keep you posted with what happens!

[PeanutLeigh]

I'm so glad you agree! They didn't really explain anything because they said they have never seen anything like this happen before. They are white satin and the inside has some light blue leather. They said they'd see how much it would cost to have them dyed and get back to me (let's see if they actually call me back) - I laughed when I read your "franken-mussels" comment haha!! Definitely learned our lessons the hard way

[PeanutLeigh]

I tweeted the CL official account but haven't heard anything back yet! Crossing my fingers

[fashionista-ta]

^ well, if you don't hear back, maybe you'll have to tweet again ... tweet tweet!!!

[plain.jane]

did you drop them an email?.. maybe you can tell them if there's no response within a certain time, you will post on their facebook/other social media. so everyone will read about it :P