Monday, October 13, 2014

Department Store Adventure


A dark and dismal day for a change.. and rather chilly.. upper 50's.


Elaine had a very frustrating session at Westminster's Boscov's department store recently.  I wrote up her experience to send to Mr. Boscov, but Elaine doesn't want me to.  However, I am including it here so that any Boscov customers may read about the experience and be wary.  As you can see, Elaine had both good and bad encounters.


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A Question for Mr. Boscov






(This is a recap of my four hour adventure at Boscov's Store in Westminster, Maryland on 10/03/2014)








3:00 PM to 5:00 PM


A pleasant and helpful clerk assisted me in selecting a number of bathroom items for a bridal shower.


I paid for my selections with a personal check for around $67. In the middle of checking me out, the computer froze, and the clerk had to input all of the items again. (Personal observation... you might need a new computer system. The clerk was very frustrated with it.)


I took my selections to the gift wrapping area and another nice clerk wrapped them in a special way that was thoughtful and pleasing to me. (There, I saw a smiling cardboard Mr. Boscov, with his hand out in friendship.)






5:00 PM to 7:00 PM




Next, I took the elevator to the first floor, where I attempted to return some items. I usually purchase only Alfred Dunner clothes, but a few weeks ago, I decided to try other brands. I purchased 3 blouses, 1 by check and the other 2 by in-store credit.


I wore each of these items only once, because each shrunk to almost half of their original size, even though I followed the washing instructions. So, I brought the three items in for refunds.


I was told by a clerk that I could only get a refund on the blouse with the receipt. She was very adamant about that. Luckily, I had brought along a copy of the Sunday advertisement for Boscov's, in which a headline read.


"Refunds readily given if not satisfied. We're not happy until you smile."

This resulted in some sighing and telephone calls, apparently to management somewhere in the building.

After long consultation, it was decided that I could get a refund for the one blouse with the receipt, and a $2.99 refund for one blouse because it was still on sale in the store. There was to be no refund for the other blouse because it had been discontinued.


So, for three blouses costing about $42 when purchased, I received $9.99 in in-store credit for the defective items. I was not smiling, but did not pursue it.


Next, I picked out two suits and a sweater after squeezing through very narrow aisles in my wheelchair. I asked a clerk if I could hang them on her clothes hanger near the checkout while I looked for some other items. She said "yes". When I came back with the new items, the original items were nowhere to be seen. One of the clerks had re-stocked them.


Back I went through the aisles until I found the 3 items. I retrieved them and took them back to the clerk's area. Now my new items were gone. Restocked while I was retrieving my original items.


I told the clerk that I needed to get my newly picked items back and would she let me keep the 3 original items there again while I tried to find my new items again... yes, they had also been restocked.


Guess what... when I returned with my newly found items, the other stuff had been restocked.    Now I knew that this wasn't real life and I was in a Marx Brothers Comedy.


After another trip I got my original 3 items back and the new stuff was somehow retrieved.. and now, I could pay for the items and get some food because my stomach was in turmoil.


I gave the clerk my personal check for about $175. and it was refused. I was told first that it was a computer problem (computer again?) and then, after looking at some kind of Boscov standards sheet, that instead, it was because of identity theft safeguards. Huh? What about the check of $67 that was accepted almost three hours earlier.


My checking account contains thousands of dollars and I have never been questioned about a check before. This was extremely embarrassing and frustrating. After many more telephone calls by the clerks, I was told.. "sorry". But, instead of just leaving everything there and walking out in a huff, I managed to get someone else to use a credit card to get my purchases out of hock.


In spite of some good experiences at your store.. there was an almost overwhelming amount of bad experiences. But I'm sure this is funny and I will get lots of laughs when I mention this at my clubs. But maybe not.


So, I put my question to that smiling cardboard man named Mr. Boscov who was putting out his hand to me in friendship at the gift wrapping counter, hoping to make me smile because of a great experience in his store:


What would you do for a formerly smiling customer of Boscov's to keep her as customer?


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