11.10.02
November 09, 2002
Dear Mr. Whalen,
I wish that I could tell you that I am writing this letter to express a good will towards some department in your store, but in fact am writing to do the exact opposite.
On Wednesday , October 16, at around 4pm, I went to the Iowa City Younkers shoe department, to see if someone there would be able to track down some shoes for me.
The shoes in question, Nine West (Cloud Nine) Odyssey half-boots in black, size 7.5, are from last season, but Brianna P., a very nice girl from the IC store, did some investigating and managed to locate three pairs, all of them at your store. I was told that they were on clearance for $14.99, and I expressed interest in purchasing all three of them, as this was a spectacular deal, and I love the shoes.
Brianna called your store's shoe department, and told the girl that answered the phone exactly what I needed from your store. Brianna was then asked to hold on for a minute, and was then put on hold for at least five minutes. During this interval , Brianna informed me that it sounded as if the girl on the other end of the line was carrying on a personal, non-work-related conversation.
When the girl from your store got back on the line, she asked Brianna to repeat what she had wanted, which Brianna did in explicit detail, specifically mentioning that they were either clearance or red-dot items, and then put Brianna back on hold.
After several more minutes, the girl got back on the phone to tell Brianna that she couldn't find the shoes in the stock room. Brianna then politely suggested that they could probably be found in an area where red dot or clearance items might be stored separately, and was again put on hold while the girl looked.
Several more minutes later, the girl got back on the line and told Brianna that the shoes were, "Somewhere on the dock in a box, I don't know where." and that seemed to be as willing as this girl was to help.
Brianna took my name, address, phone number, and charge number, and promised to see what she could do further to help me out, and I left the store.
The following day, at around 2pm, I spoke to Jennifer R., the manager of the shoe department at the IC Younkers, about the shoe situation, and she promised to call your store and sort it out. She did call, and apparently was put through pretty much the same rigmarole that Brianna had experienced the previous day, again being told that the shoes were somewhere on the dock in the box.
Now, I can appreciate that your store is infinitely larger than the store in Iowa City. And I can appreciate that your store probably has a zillion times more stock sitting around in stock rooms and on the dock than the Iowa City store has sold in this fiscal year. However, considering quality, service, and integrity are three of the four cornerstones upon which this store was founded, I find it absolutely disappointing that in these intervening 22 hours, not only did the girl from your store neglect to take down any information about the potential transaction, but that she didn't act upon it herself, or at least tell someone else about it, so that they might have done something useful.
I completely understand that it definitely would have been a huge effort to root around through large boxes of several hundred pairs of boots, in order to locate the three pairs that I want, but that is exactly what service is all about -- working to please customers, no matter how unreasonable or cranky they might happen to come across.
But at the very least, I would have expected that Jennifer R. would have called your store and been told something along the lines of, "Yes, we haven't yet located the shoes in question, as there are many pairs to search through, but once we find them, we will set them aside and contact you as soon as possible. Or, instead, we can do a charge-send for your customer, if you would like to give us her address and account information. Either way, we are sorry for the inconvenience to both you and the customer." Jennifer shouldn't have had talk to the regional shoe person visiting the store that weekend, in order to get some sort of answer about the status of shoes on the dock, nor should she have had to depend on the vague promise that while there were many shoes on said dock, these three pairs would eventually be located and, in some unexplained manner, find their way to my feet.
Perhaps this is the point where I should mention that I work at the Iowa City Younkers, which is almost completely irrelevant. The reason I mention it is that I work with these people almost everyday and see them bend over backwards to help the public, to the best of their abilities, no matter how busy or overworked they happen to be at the time. I have seen girls behind the Clinique counter call other stores to inquire about curtains for a customer. I have seen people in the home department track down elusive pillow shams for little old ladies that can't themselves travel to find them.
And perhaps I should mention that the persons being dealt with at your store had no idea that I was a fellow employee, not that this should be a factor in the quality of service I receive. Unfortunately, a lot of time, employees in stores don't get quite the attention or assistance that random strangers with money get in the same stores. As far as the associates working in your store's shoe department were concerned, I was a random stranger with big piles of money to burn on lots and lots of shoes.
In dealing with other companies, I am not inclined to give business to the ones that treat their clientele poorly. If I weren't an employee of Saks Inc., and were some random customer basing my shopping concerns solely upon this incident, I would most likely give my future business to the competition. Based on my own experiences with stores like Dillards, Robinson-May, and Von Maur, I have noticed that they seem to value customer service over sitting around and chatting with coworkers and friends, and actually do appear to be willing to go the extra mile to ensure repeat business. (About the customer service at Saks Fifth Avenue, in downtown Chicago, I shall remain silent, except to say that you could have a heart attack in the middle of the store, and no one would take notice of you long enough to summon help unless you were visibly wearing a Burberry overcoat and scarf, Prada shoes, or toting a YSL handbag.)
I wanted to bring this abortive shoe shopping incident to your attention because I know that Valley West is considered an important store in this chain, and I figured that you might like to know about problems in areas of your store. But for me, what it really boils down to is that I do still want the three pairs of shoes, and hope that they haven't already been located and sold or sent elsewhere.
Probably the thing that bothers me the most about this whole situation is feeling like I've been blown off by your store. And I am at least equally irritated that should these shoes somehow magically arrive at my house as I write this letter, they will still have been rung up too late to receive the extra associate discount that was available on Thursday, October 17, when I actually wanted to buy the shoes in the first place. Clearly, if I work for Younkers, I am not made out of money, and even an extra 20% off of 3 x $14.99 helps.
I would appreciate it very much if you could look into this, or at least have someone else look into it for you, as I would like to replace my old shoes as soon as possible. And if they could be conveniently located and rung up either the 15th or 16th of this month, for that extra associate discount, things would be even sweeter.
The shoe department at the Iowa City store should still have my charge information, and my address has been cleverly provided at the beginning of this letter. I can also be reached at either the number provided, or within the confines of the Younkers Salon, where I seem to be more often than not.
I don't know if your store would prefer to do a charge-send, or simply transfer the stock to Iowa City, but whichever is faster would be the better of the two options .
I feel almost like I should apologize for railing against your store, but I have been mulling this over in my head since the 17th of last month. Since no one in the Iowa City Younkers' shoe department has heard anything new with regards to this matter, I decided it was time to take action, and voice my complaints and concerns . I also pondered whether or not to bring this up with the management of my own store, but since they haven't displeased me, and I am writing this as a consumer and not as an employee, I felt that they weren't really involved enough to require indignant mail -- besides, I always have the option of complaining to them in person.
Thank you for your patience in wading through all of the rambling, and I hope to hear something positive sometime soon from you and/or your store.
Sincerely,
Kristen Lxxxx
What's in your head?