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Saks Fifth Avenue loses a customer forever
By adamg on Sun, 12/14/2008 - 10:43pm
Apparently, workers at the Boston Saks don't realize they can't afford to blow off customers anymore.
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Comments
Clothes move around in retail stores
i RTFA... just because something was found on a particular rack doesn't mean the garment was supposed to be there. Watch at any clothing store - customers move stuff around constantly, and just hang items wherever they happen to be standing when a more-shiny thing catches their eye...
Exactly! That woman's post
Exactly! That woman's post was embarrassing. First, she obsesses about an overpriced blouse for literally weeks. Then she haggles pointlessly with a sales clerk who's only obeying her manager. THEN she posts about it as if some kind of injustice has been done? Jeez.
Problem is it sounds like it
Problem is it sounds like it was there for a while AND it was there with other blouses of the same color and style ect. I shop at a small non boutiqy store for alot of my clothing (its still a national chain though) and they are very good about things like this. I went in before Thanksgiving and found some great cloths at a very odd price so decided to pick up a few shirts that were obviously underpriced. The guy at the register looks at the cloths, rings them up and they come up full price. I told him thats not what the rack said and he grabbed a manager and we all went to go see the rack. Sure enough the entire rack was in the wrong place, and the clothing was NOT on sale. The manager sent the employee back to the register with me in tow and had him ring the clothing in under the sale price, and by the time I walked out the door everything in that area was moved and the signs were all redone (the manager had grabbed all employees on the sales floor to help him redo the whole thing before anyone else noticed.) Thats real customer service, and a competant staff, they lost about 50 bucks but Im going back after christmas to see if they made any other mistakes ;)
The blouse was there for a few weeks... On the 50% Off Rack.
Yep... This is The Missus... And I can indeed confirm that the blouse had been there, on the 50% off sales rack for a few weeks. And it wasn't just one blouse, there were at least five on the rack. So for them to say, "Oh, it's on the wrong rack" was complete crap.
I, too, need to just stay away from department stores and only shop at the boutiques.
Uh - that's not 'customer
Uh - that's not 'customer service' - it's an invitation to a form of consumer theft; you admit this yourself in your last little joke. Anyone could easily stage the sort of scene you're describing, and then hustle on over to a sales clerk and begin making demands. You were lucky you got such an indulgent manager, but you must be able to see that as a general principle, his behavior could shut his store down. I'm more and more impressed by the weird assumption of moral authority customers tend to have these days.
Um Im not sure how I could
Um Im not sure how I could possibly pull something like that off... The whole rack was in the absolute wrong spot. Are you implying that I went in with some friends, moved 1,000 pounds of clothing (were not talking ladies clothing, this was mens, and it was heavy stuff), movedthe racks, printed up sales signs and then proceeded to buy 4 shirts after all that work???
I dont believe I said I was demanding in my story, in fact since Ive shopped in this store a few times (in a few different locations) I had a feeling something was off, but hey it was the day before Thursday and the guys next door were giving away toasters or something with every tv purchase so who knows. The kid got his manager immediatly and they discussed it while I showed them where it was. I happened to be the first person to catch it, so they fixed it before it became an issue.
Having worked in retail I know how hard it can be. I also know that mistakes happen, and signs are put up in the wrong place and name brands are placed where generic brands should have went (thats what happened here.) I also know that some stores love the money their customers bring in, and others do not. I visit this place every single time I want to buy something semi nice (Im normally a Target guy myself) and do that maybe a few times a year. I choose them because they are very nice, always fix problems and have a great return policy (if Im paying extra for a shirt I expect it to fit very nicely, and if it doesnt I want to bring it back.) They respond by sending me coupons, and even send me a coupon for my birthday.
I dont believe the manager was acting as a renegade because everytime Ive had a problem they have fixed it for me, almost no questions asked. It is the store philosophy that if something is wrong you make it right, and if something is right then you keep on doing it. If expecting decent service makes me a bad guy then Im the Atila the Hun of the shopping world, I only shop at places where the staff and management are nice, pleasant and willing to make things right. Its ok to make mistakes, shit happens. This is why I dropped Eastern Bank and picked up Bank of America as my bank of choice. Eastern Bank was always blaming me for problems that were their fault while Bank of America has done things like fix bounced checks I wrote free of charge because I had transfered too much money from my checking to savings (not the cashiers fault, it was my fault) but they still listened to the story and fixed the problem.
Just luck
I think this sort of thing happens pretty frequently - it's happened to me more than once. Sometimes things are really in the wrong spot, sometimes the computer system isn't up-to-date. I think it's just luck whether you get a salesperson who gives you the discount or not.
i agree. it's the luck of
i agree. it's the luck of the draw. same thing happened to me w/saks' big sale. i was lucky enough to get a marc by marc jacobs sweater dress for 50% off a mis-tagged ticket (salesperson even acknowledged this, but said that it was policy to give me 50% off anyways since it was their mistake).
you win some, you lose some.
What planet do you shop on?
The retailers around here got all whiny and teary and bitchy about how they could just mark the racks rather than all the merchandise LIKE THE LAW SAID THEY HAD TO ... and now you are accusing consumers of theft for insisting that the stores keep to those same legal requirements? You know, the ones that the stores themselves BEGGED, PLEADED, and WHINED for?
You are a pathetic apologist for bait-and-switch and sloppy rack work. If a store puts a bunch of stuff on a rack labled 50% off, it is 50% off. No questions asked. Otherwise, it is false pricing, and there is nothing to keep stores from pulling "false sales" all over the place. The store doesn't get to change the laws or the rules they agreed to to avoid those laws, and they can always go back to marking every single damn thing like the law says if they don't like it.
I know for a fact that
I know for a fact that places like the Mens Wearhouse do just that, every single item in that damn store is labeled when there is a sale. I have never seen an item of clothing without a label on it. They also put up signs when something is for sale. They have effectivly ensured that there will not be a problem because they double mark everything (by sign and on the clothing.) They also go out of their way to redeem expired coupons and rewards points.
Im also ok with making mistakes in the sales pages. Every so often you walk into Best Buy and see an ad on the door with a correction and letter telling you the tv in the ad was the wrong tv, and they really meant TV X instead. They saw the mistake and put it in a visible location so everyone can see it. Its a gutsy move because everyone, even those who werent buying the tv, will see the mistake and think that Best Buy screwed something up, but its fessing up to the mistake before someone gets to the product and wants to buy it.
That's not true for all retailers always
Certain non-food retailers who utilize in-aisle electronic price scanner systems may not be subject to this requirement. (940 CMR 3.13(l)).
I'm guessing that this retailer has price scanners on the sales floor, as Macy's, Target and other large stores do. If not, then the complaint is accurate for this case, but still is not accurate generally.
Item pricing is *really* expensive and we should be glad for this exemption, when used properly by responsible retailers, because it saves money and gives them more flexibility to cut prices and in theory should free whatever budget they have for staffing, so that it can be spent on people who help customers. Obviously that doesn't always happen, but i'd rather have clerks available, than super-low-wage workers who spend all their time scampering around the store re-tagging items.
For my part, if i cannot easily determine the price of an item, i never buy it. But I've had more experiences like that at small shops than large ones.
Cites:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=4&L0=Hom...
the law, overseen by the AG:
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=3&L0=Ho...
I'm sorry, but you're wrong.
I'm sorry, but you're wrong. A store is not responsible for a customer putting its merchandise on the wrong rack. Don't be ridiculous - the results would be chaos. As for the earlier poster - he or she says that they "found some great cloths at a very odd price so decided to pick up a few shirts that were obviously underpriced" and then basically steamrolled management into giving them the merchandise at what they themselves knew was the wrong price. I don't know what the term for that behavior is, but I wouldn't be proud of it, and I certainly wouldn't crow about it in public! Granted, the silly shopaholic who first blogged about her little "steal" at Saks wasn't quite as pre-meditated in her actions; still, she was in the wrong, too.
Youve never shopped on Black
Youve never shopped on Black Friday or the day before Thanksgiving at these stores before have you? Prices are wild all over the place with door busters everywhere. I dont know how many times I have to say this to you but I did not move 500 pieces of clothing in order to get myself a discount on 4 shirts. The behavior is called being a smart consumer, if you see a good price you act. A real jerk would have bought even more shirts, waited a week and then would have brought back 10 of the shirts without a receipt to the store in order to exchange them for other items, the store never would have realized that the items were on sale last week because it wouldnt be in the system, and this person would have been able to get more for nothing. Plain and simple if you advertise something you have to make good on your promise.
And how!!
No wonder that poor guy working for the holiday season at the
Wal-Mart Store in Valley Stream, NY was trampled to death! There are so many people who lose control of themselves when the bargain tickets for whatever is waved at them like a red flag at a bull. They're so anxious for a sale and a bargain.
It sounds as if something was a bit fishy with Boston Saks, though.
I dont wait in line for 6
I dont wait in line for 6 hours in front of a walmart waiting for a price reduction on some tv that will only last a year anyway lol, let alone trample a guy for it. The better route to take is to check out local stores and get the good prices later on anyway. Some of the less popular stores or stores in bad geographic areas have the same types of sales or even better but since they are not Best Buy or Walmart people tend to overlook them. For instance the best place to find a great deal on a computer on Black Friday is a business district staples. Two years ago I walked in and found all sorts of heavily discounted computers and cameras, the same stuff Best Buy was selling, but without the lines and angry customers. Keep in mind that many times the ad will say minimum of ten per store on the flyer so the downtown Staples will oftentimes have just as many of Product X as the Fenway Staples which will be much busier due to its proximity to Best Buy and the college campuses.
My point though, ShadyMilkMan is
that it's precisely this kind of mentality that ultimately led up to this poor guy's death; This sort of bait and switch action on the part of managers, and many people's greedy instincts. One doesn't have to wait 6-10 hours in line outside Wal-Mart to see that this mentality exists all over the place, particularly at this time of year.
SHHHH!
Now they will all show up! Don't tell them about the free street parking at diety-deprived hours either.
Medford Staples is also overlooked, yet typically has the goods if you get there an hour before the store opens. It has a convenient DD in the same building for your early morning needs.
I'm sorry, but you can't read
If there is an entire rack of items, and the rack is labeled with a price or a discount rate, that is the price or discount rate.
You are so wedded to your little fantasy that customers are eville cheatahs that you can't even read what has been written here! No wonder you think customers must be moving entire racks of items around ... you are paranoid, insane, and illiterate!
You know, if you were truly
You know, if you were truly sure of your own ethics, you wouldn't have to resort to spewing insults. But then there's nothing like self-accusation, is there.
You know, she is using the
You know, she is using the same handle over and over and over again to make all sorts of points about all sorts of news stories. You on the other hand are not even using the same handle for this one conversation, instead your hiding behind the anon facade.
That being said have decided that Im going to stop respoding to you on this subject because your obviously just here to piss people off.
Happy Holidays and a Festivus for the rest of us
Okay - she and you are using
Okay - she and you are using anonymous handles. I am just going by "anonymous." You seem to feel there's a difference there - which, like your other arguments, doesn't make much sense. Happy Holidays to you, too.
No, you're not
"Anonymous" is another user here.
You're just anon (not verified) - one of the myriad heads of a single yammering hydra, idiotic in collective.
They are pseudo anonymous. You, however, are not.
We can at least identify who Swirly and Gareth are from post to post and topic to topic.
stephencaldwell is really a schnauzer
but he's the same schnauzer each time. See the difference?
True - you're not sure who,
True - you're not sure who, exactly, you're gratuitously insulting each time. You are, however, gratuitously insulting someone nonetheless. And the anonymity is still there. Just like taking advantage of the store is still wrong. I'm intrigued by this pile-up. Who'd have thought so many people were out there justifying ripping off stores to themselves? I guess it's a case of this new "survival panic" mentality among those who can no longer afford what they used to be able to buy.
Fascinating
Nobody's ripping off anything here, nor has anybody described or justified ripping off stores. Yet you (anonymous hydra head N) continue to insist that's what people are doing. Are you projecting? Do you have a guilty conscience?