Malcontent: Browns Fashion Online Store/27 South Molton Street, London, UK
Sometimes we make the mistake of
walking into a store, that sells everyday, albeit beautiful items, at
ridiculous prices, and expect to be treated with respect! It seems that
customer respect is a hugely lacking in today's retail universe.
This is a story of what happens when
a store starts believing its own hype and becomes too cool to service its
imperfect, average customer. Makes me want to cry!
The below e-mail correspondence
speaks volumes on its own.
This is the e-mail I received today,
November 6th 2012!
"Dear Ms. Z,
We require some further information from you
because your Visa has not passed our address checks. Please see below that your
house number and zip code has not been confirmed as matching that of the
entered card-
Kind regards,
Ms. X
Browns Online Sales & Security"
Browns Online Sales & Security"
My reply explaining the background story:
"Dear Browns Team,
This is not the first time I've had the displeasure of dealing with your incompetent customer service. I have actually visited your store in September 2012 and bought a mouse grey Balenciaga handbag. After giving the shop assistant my AMEX card, issued in my maiden name Z, she proceeded to charge the card and I signed the receipt. She then asked me for an I.D which I promptly gave her. The photo I.D. was written out in 'different European Alphabet.' After looking at it for a few minutes, rather than admit that she could not read it, which really was not my issue, she turned around and said, "Sorry, but we only sell Balenciaga bags for cash!" It took me a couple of seconds to recover from the shock and the sheer ridiculousness of this statement! And all this, AFTER I have already signed my AMEX slip and given it back! This had to be the most incompetent and unprofessional customer service I have ever experienced in a store selling luxury brands. If it were not for the very much appreciated intervention of Ms. Y, this shopping trip would have finished very differently. I swore to myself that I would not shop at Browns again. Until last night that is. Unfortunately, I needed a pair of pointed red suede pumps, and the Manola Blahnik BB pumps in red suede were sold out everywhere, and the only website with red pointed suede pumps, was yours. So I proceeded, albeit reluctantly, to order a pair of Gianvito Rossi red shoes, using my Visa card in my married name, Ms. Z and an address in Z- town where I have been living for 15 years. I regularly shop at netaporter.com, mytheresa.com and stylebop.com, and a number of other reputable websites which operate in the 21st century, and I have never been asked to verify my address before. I fully support internet security, but find it, again, very unprofessional to ask me for a copy of my passport to buy a pair shoes, AFTER you have already charged my credit card, yet again!
Browns team, please do yourself a favour and sort out your user unfriendly site, and please, treat your customers with some respect. Further, I request that you send me a confirmation of the cancellation of this order, and I ask to be removed from your mailing list immediately. I can forgive one customer service indiscretion and label it a mistake. The second one is inexcusable.
This is not the first time I've had the displeasure of dealing with your incompetent customer service. I have actually visited your store in September 2012 and bought a mouse grey Balenciaga handbag. After giving the shop assistant my AMEX card, issued in my maiden name Z, she proceeded to charge the card and I signed the receipt. She then asked me for an I.D which I promptly gave her. The photo I.D. was written out in 'different European Alphabet.' After looking at it for a few minutes, rather than admit that she could not read it, which really was not my issue, she turned around and said, "Sorry, but we only sell Balenciaga bags for cash!" It took me a couple of seconds to recover from the shock and the sheer ridiculousness of this statement! And all this, AFTER I have already signed my AMEX slip and given it back! This had to be the most incompetent and unprofessional customer service I have ever experienced in a store selling luxury brands. If it were not for the very much appreciated intervention of Ms. Y, this shopping trip would have finished very differently. I swore to myself that I would not shop at Browns again. Until last night that is. Unfortunately, I needed a pair of pointed red suede pumps, and the Manola Blahnik BB pumps in red suede were sold out everywhere, and the only website with red pointed suede pumps, was yours. So I proceeded, albeit reluctantly, to order a pair of Gianvito Rossi red shoes, using my Visa card in my married name, Ms. Z and an address in Z- town where I have been living for 15 years. I regularly shop at netaporter.com, mytheresa.com and stylebop.com, and a number of other reputable websites which operate in the 21st century, and I have never been asked to verify my address before. I fully support internet security, but find it, again, very unprofessional to ask me for a copy of my passport to buy a pair shoes, AFTER you have already charged my credit card, yet again!
Browns team, please do yourself a favour and sort out your user unfriendly site, and please, treat your customers with some respect. Further, I request that you send me a confirmation of the cancellation of this order, and I ask to be removed from your mailing list immediately. I can forgive one customer service indiscretion and label it a mistake. The second one is inexcusable.
Kind regards,
Ms. Z"
This e-mail exchange was followed by a telephone conversation from Ms. X of the Browns online store team, talking over me while telling me; that she only works with a team of fifteen people; that her team is much smaller than any of the other online stores I mentioned in my e-mail; that she is sorry I feel victimized; that I have already made up my mind that Browns is awful; that I should understand the Browns online policy before getting upset; that I should stop talking so I could listen to her; and the ABSOLUTE icing on the cake, Ms. X speaking to her colleague while on the phone with me, and saying "Please send HER that e-mail, that we wrote!"
This e-mail of course being, the ONE thing I initially requested from the Browns online store team, which was purely a confirmation of the cancellation of my order.
My telephone exchange with Ms. X, made me conclude two things:
Firstly, that I should be super careful when hiring people for my own company, making sure that they have decent manners, are treated well on their jobs and treat their customers well in return.
Secondly, Ms. X must be very overworked to be this short tempered!
Fashion should be FUN & BEAUTIFUL!!
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