Now that the Christmas season is over (was that a collective sigh of relief that I just heard?), it's time to take stock of our shopping and customer service experiences. The following are tales of just three of the many stores that I and my daughters paid our money to this past season.
FASHION BUG - In December, I bought two coats at two different times through their online website for my older daughters, They arrived very quickly (within 2-3 shipping days), which was awesome!
Both coats were the same style, but I bought one in black for my middle daughter and one in a silver-gray for my older daughter;
On Christmas Eve, we all get together: children, grandchildren, friends and their children, at my house. After playing, laughing, and eating together, before everyone packs it up for the night to spend Christmas Day with their family the next day, everyone gets to open ONE present. My middle daughter picked the package with the coat. When she opened it, she was happy happy, because she did not have a good winter coat. When she tried it on, it was too small, which was a disappointment, but I told her to leave it here and I would exchange it for her.
I went to the website within a couple of days to see if they had the same coat in a larger size available. They did not. I looked around the site and could not find a coat in a style that she would like at a comparable price that was the correct size.
I read their return policy, which states that shipping will be charged for a return. It also states that you can exchange or return items to a brick-and-mortar store, as long as you have your original invoice and the credit card you used to purchase the item.
The following Saturday, I rode with my older daughter (who had to return an item to a different store - tale to follow), who took me to our local Fashion Bug. I spoke to the manager and she and my daughters (my two youngest children were with me as well), looked around the store for a coat in the right size. We found one that she would like at a price slightly higher than the price I paid for the original, however, there wasn't one in the correct size.
The manager called around to a couple of other local stores for me to see if THEY had one in the correct size, but they didn't. She ended up taking the coat for a return (she told me that it would save me shipping, which was great).
End result: Although we ended up not purchasing a coat at the store, the manager impressed me so much (she walked around with us trying to find the correct size and style for a 21-year-old for at least 15 minutes, was very pleasant and very helpful), that although I've never really shopped at Fashion Bug, it will be one of my first stops for clothing from now on.
My older daughter LOVES the coat I bought for her and says it's totally warm.
TOYS 'R US - A little background: In October, my older daughter separated from her soon-to-be-ex and moved in with me in my teeny tiny apartment with her two little ones for about 3-4 weeks until she could pull together the cash and find a nice house to move into. She moved out of my house in November. She is a full-time student and mother and had been using her student loans to help pay for bills at the house she shared; however, she had just used most of her check to play catch-up on bills that had gone unpaid since her last loan. She got a job as a home health aide in November, and that small paycheck along with support from her first daughter's father, was just enough to pay bills and keep gasoline in her car, so when Christmas came around, she was very sad, because she had no money to buy presents for her children. The one thing she wanted to buy for her older daughter was a Disney Princess Magical Talking Kitchen:
My granddaughter's name is Amira, which means "princess" in Arabic, and she has tons of Disney Princess items, so this would fit right in.
I don't have very much money, but I DO stock up on giftcards that I may win throughout the year and save up my Amazon gift certificates and MyPoints so that when Christmas comes around, I have enough to get presents for everyone. My son's father sent us extra money for Christmas, so about two weeks before Christmas, I gave my daughter $100 to buy the kitchen for my granddaughter and a couple of small presents for my younger granddaughter. She called around, and the only place that had the kitchen in stock was a Toys 'R Us about 20 minutes drive from the area that we live in, so she drove out there and purchased it. Actually, all three of my girls went shopping together, taking my son with them so he could buy a present for Mommy at the mall across the street from the Toys 'R Us.
She kept the kitchen in the box until Christmas Eve so that she could put it together and stick a bow on it for her daughter to see on Christmas morning. As she was putting it together, she came to the fourth piece, which was a sink. The sink was cracked, which meant that if her daughter wanted to actually put water in it, it would just run out. Disappointed, my daughter put the pieces back into the box and just stuck a bow on the box. On Christmas morning, she explained (to a two-year-old) that she couldn't play with the kitchen yet because it had a bad piece and needed a new piece to make it work.
The Saturday of my trip to Fashion Bug, we went to the Toys 'R Us, which had a separate entrance and line for returns/exchanges. While my older daughter stood in line, my youngest daughter and I went to the area where the kitchens were and brought the very last one to the front area (by then my older daughter was at the register, digging through her purse for the receipt). My daughter couldn't find her receipt, so she went out to the car to see if it fell out there. When she came back, she still hadn't found it. She'd paid cash, so the clerk asked her for her telephone number to see if she could look it up that way - she couldn't. My daughter always gives her telephone number to the cashier when they ask for it, so apparently, the original cashier hadn't asked for it. They refused to exchange it for the EXACT same item. At the same time, I heard the customer in back being told, "it's not the exact same game, so you can't exchange it", although the customer had looked and been unable to find the exact same game (apparently, this was a gift that was bought for the wrong console type).
I explained that the store was a pretty long drive, and that all she wanted was to have a working kitchen for her daughter. (My daughter was very frustrated, because the clerk was very blah and the manager was just plain rude, so I tried to reason with them). The manager stated that if we could find the receipt, we could even return it to a different store that she named (we're multiracial, so I guess she figured that we must live on the side of town that more black people live in - I don't know).
When I got home, I wrote to Planet Feedback for my daughter (no response from Toys 'R Us yet) and also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (no response yet, but from their "F" rating, I'm not surprised).
So no more Toys 'R Us shopping for my son or for my 4 grandchildren; there are just too many other stores with the same items and better prices and service.
OVERSTOCK.COM - On how a store goes above and beyond and beyond to provide superior service.
This is a superquick synopsis:
I buy older daughter a set of starter pots and pans from Overstock for Christmas (I had gone to her house and seen the state of her mismatched, no tops for them pots and pans and just HAD to do SOMETHING, kitchen freak that I am!):
Daughter opens box a couple of days after Christmas and pulls out a pot to use, but doesn't pull them all out and put them away. A couple of days later, daughter decides to finally put them away and finds that the knob on one of the lids is broken off. Daughter calls me. I look at Overstock's return policy, which basically states that returns must be in new, unused condition and figure that I may be out of luck (remember, one of the pots has already been used), but shoot an email off to Overstock anyway to see if I can get a replacement lid and explaining the situation.
Overstock emails back: what is the model no., part no., size of pan lid fits, etc.? A couple of days later (My daughter hadn't given me the info yet on the size of the pan yet), I get a phone call from Overstock asking if I'd found the info yet (shock and awe! They actually CALLED for a follow-up!?!?). I call my daughter again and when she calls me back later, she tells me it is for one of the Dutch ovens and gives me the size. I shoot off another email to Overstock with the info. Overstock emails back that the warehouse will look for the part. A day or so later, another email from Overstock stating that they are shipping a replacement; keep what you have and don't worry about returning it, as it is not your fault it was defective, UPS tracking number included.
Really?!?! I don't have to ship everything back?! Awesome!!
Last week, I get a box from Overstock. I open it. Wow! They shipped the whole pot AND lid! Yay! Pull off the bubble wrap ... there's a pot, but no lid. So NOW we have TWO lidless Dutch ovens!!!
Another email to Overstock (very nice, because I am appreciative of the effort they are making). The second email back states: we are sorry; we can't find a replacement part in the warehouse, but we stand by our guarantee, so we are refunding your credit card.
Wow! Yay again!! The credit showed up on my account on Sunday.
Yesterday, I get another box from Overstock. Very heavy. Open it up - there's a whole 'nother set of pots and pans. Compare the tracking numbers - THIS was the replacement referred to in the earlier email that included the tracking number. Apparently, there's been some type of miscommunication; however, you can't fault Overstock for trying to make it right.
So now I have TWO sets of pots and pans (one without a lid for one of the Dutch ovens) and another Dutch oven without a lid.
I don't feel right having a credit for an item that I actually now HAVE, so I will be writing to Overstock to see if they can reimburse THEMSELVES for the extra set.
Bottom line: Overstock customer for life.
UPDATE: Right after I posted this, I shot an email off to Overstock. BOOM!!! Less than 20 MINUTES after the email, I got another phone call from them. Michelle: "Sorry for the mixups and the mistakes. Don't worry about it; keep both sets and the refund".
Overstock.com ROCKS!!!!
Peace and Blessings.
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