I have noticed that customer service has gone down since I worked in retail, but here I experienced the worst attitude and "service" I ever have in my life. My friend and I entered the store and were basically ignored - no greeting at all. There were two people there, who were clearly employees, and basically ignored people. When I had a question, one of them was semi helpful, but when we found the item my friend was interested in had only one left in the store, on the mannequin, she did not offer to check the size (the very least she could have done) or check another store. When we asked for another size in another item, the other "associate" said "they're over there," and pointed across the store - no effort to assist us in getting the item. The store was in terrible condition, there was clothing piled all over the dressing rooms, and the associates were clearly more interested in socializing than they were in doing their job.
Nevertheless, we were going to purchase a couple of items - I ended up getting charged $5 more for the same item than my friend, and when I brought back to both receipts to ask about it. She immediately got defensive and even more rude than she was before. I told her if there was not going to be parity in the prices, I wanted to return my item. She kept talking (loudly, and over me) about how she had no power to do anything, blah blah. I asked for her name and the manager. She kept talking over me. I once again asked for her name and the manager. She finally told me the manager was "right there," and I turned to see someone standing there - the manager had apparently been watching her associate yelling at me and did not do anything about it. I tried to speak with the manager, and the associate kept yelling over me - I could not even hear myself, much less the manager hearing me. I finally told the associate to shut up, and then she went ballistic. She was yelling all sorts of things. Unbelievable.
I finally got to talk to the manager, and the person was yelling ACROSS THE STORE at me. I told the manager this was unacceptable, and that when I worked in customer service (for 20 years) I would have been fired IMMEDIATELY if I had yelled at a customer. She told me she could not do that and offered to send me coupons. I told her she was crazy if she thought I was ever going to shop at that store again. I once again asked what sort of disciplinary action she was going to take, and she said she would have someone call me.
In my day, and I am not very old, I would have been immediately terminated and walked out the door if I had spoken to a customer like that, much less YELLED at the person! What on Earth has "customer service" come to in this day and age when associates, whose job is to help customers, are allowed to yell at customers with no recourse? I will absolutely NEVER shop there again, and may never shop at Loft again, if they have the kinds of policies that allow for this kind of behavior. I had customers in my face, calling me names, swearing at me and I never, ever would have treated them the way I was treated at this location. read more