You know, not often do I very vocally voice my opinion, which would be shocking because I do blog for Sassy Bitches ;) But I try to hold my tongue, and I try to always handle situations diplomatically. Then there are occasions in which I fail miserably.
Customer service is paramount to me. I have pretty strong opinions about it. I feel, if you make a conscious choice to open a business, then you better realize that customer service will make you or break you. If you make a conscious decision to work in the customer service field, then you better not give me attitude or act like it is paining you to go to work every day. There are many jobs that you can find in which you won't have to deal with people (Ask me, I have one). Don't go work in customer service if you are just going to be an ass. Oh yeah...I'm hot over this one, people. Better buckle up.
My birthday was yesterday, and as a gift Brian gave me a beautiful Pandora bracelet. Sadly, while I am not a tiny person, I do have the most freakishly small wrists ever. So your typical wrist apparel will not do. Watches always have to have many links taken out, and bracelets almost never fit. Lucky for me, Pandora recognizes this and has many different size options. So when I received my bracelet and it was a bit too large, I recalled the conversations I had had with Pandora representatives who made it clear that
A. Pandora has lifetime warranties on their jewelry.
B. If you ever need replacement or exchange, all you need to do is go to a store that is an authorized Pandora dealer and they will always exchange/replace for you, without a hassle.
Two guesses what happened when I walked in to my neighborhood Jared store (an authorized Pandora dealer) to have my bracelet exchanged. They wanted a receipt. Well, as I explained to them that it was a gift, and that my soon to be hubby could have shopped at any store within a 3 state radius, thank you long distance relationship, it is not likely that I could provide them with one nor was I willing to call him at work to figure it out. She honestly wanted to know where he could have POTENTIALLY purchased the bracelet so that she could search the database of every damn store to locate his receipt. For "inventory" purposes. Really? I am going to trade you my brand new bracelet for another brand new bracelet in a smaller size, which I received as a gift, and was told that such things would not be an issue, and you need to go to all of this trouble to find a stock number? Are you serious right now?
I suspect it is not often that we women walk into a jewelery store and just buy ourselves a gift. And Jared is, sadly, probably one of the most well known names in jewelery these days (can I say how sick I am of those stupid commercials at this point?). Yet you chose to make exchanging a gift a major ordeal? I think I could have gotten into the White House easier than I could have exchanged this damn bracelet.
I am not entirely unreasonable. I understand that if I had walked in there and wanted $50 for my bracelet, that would be a whole different story. But to just exchange one for a properly sized one doesn't, in my humble opinion, need to be this complex. Not to mention, its not the effing hope diamond here, its a damn bracelet.
I am sure you can imagine the vocal level, and now that I recall, probably quite colorful language tossed in for good measure that was used to explain my displeasure. This was only carried to an increased level when, after calling another associate over for assistance, I was told that "I HAD to understand." No. I really don't HAVE to do anything. And seriously woman, not a wise idea to follow me as I head out of the door talking about "Ma'am you are really being unreasonable, you really do have to understand." I cheerfully (ok, maybe not so cheerfully) let her know that the only thing I needed to understand was that their customer service sucked and what SHE needed to understand was how much business Jared just lost when I walked out the door.
That just wasn't enough for me. I was very upset about this (see I don't do this often, so when I do, I do it properly). So I drafted a very wordy (shocker) letter to the corporate headquarters to let them know of my extreme displeasure. I received a response similar to the one I received from the store about how they needed the receipt information for stock purposes.
Look. It is a $50 bracelet. One that Pandora limits the sale of to certain stores. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that it is a Pandora bracelet and certainly if your associates can't figure out their own inventory to know that they sell this item, I think you have bigger problems than this irate customer.
Sadly, I did not keep the original wordy communication that I shared with them. But what I did do was save my final response to Jared for your entertainment pleasure. Happily I share this with you. And I remind you, don't shop at Jared. You know you will always remember this blog and how vehomently I feel about this if you even step in the store. There are other amazing places to buy Pandora (oh, that reminds me. A lovely little shop called Penelope will be exchanging my bracelet for me. Let me know if you want their number). Jared really needs to get their crap together, because sadly I can refer you to many who have had major frustrations with their return/exchange policies. Don't believe me? Google that shit. Seriously.
Here you go, I hope you enjoy :)
"No worries, I actually contacted a competitor who was more than willing to help me out with exchanging my gift for the proper size, as I was told by the Pandora company itself that I should be able to do. You can rest assured that not only was I told by this jeweler that she had heard a similar complaint more than once, but additionally I have shared my story via a status update to more than 300+ Facebook friends, many of whom gladly shared information with their friends. Interestingly, many of those who responded indicated that they had received equally crappy customer service. I will spend as much time as possible telling anyone who will listen of my experience and persuading them to shop at the competitor's stores rather than to ever shop a Jared again. Social media is a powerful tool in advertising, wouldn't you agree? It is a shame, I am sure this will not be my only Pandora bracelet, as well as charm purchase to be made."
Thursday, October 13, 2011
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