Summary: On Thursday, 2/19 around 2:00 PM at Dillard's NorthPark, a manager confiscated my phone, refused to come down to return it or explain why, and handled the situation in a dismissive, disrespectful way. I walked away from an intended $750-$1,000 purchase and will not return to this location.
My family and I have shopped Dillard's for decades and have spent thousands of dollars over the years at numerous Dillard's locations across the country. NorthPark has been my primary Dillard's location for years now. Over the years, I've built relationships with multiple sales associates at this store and other Dillard's locations. I came in for my normal seasonal shopping, trying on a large stack of items with full intent to purchase in the ~$750-$1,000 range. I intentionally came on a weekday afternoon because it's typically low-traffic and makes it easier to shop and try items on without being in anyone's way. The store and department were essentially empty.
I was shopping across the men's floor and had a fitting room in the Men's Big & Tall area because I have a go-to fitting room there that's larger and has a chair/bench. I was actively in the middle of trying everything on. I stepped away for a few minutes to grab a different size after telling the associate I would be right back. I left my personal belongings in the fitting room (my wallet, key fob, AirPods, my own clothes/jacket, etc.) because I was returning immediately. I was still mid-try-on and even wearing items with tags on when this happened. When I came back within about five minutes, my fitting room had been completely emptied.
I asked what happened and was told the manager, Kenny Harris, cleared it out because there were "too many clothes." Behind the register, I saw a pile of merchandise with my personal jacket literally sandwiched in the middle of it, but it was only part of what I had originally selected. I later found out another pile had been placed in a different location. This was clothing I had spent 45 minutes to an hour pulling from around the store to try on and purchase.
But my phone was gone. The associate told me the manager had confiscated my phone and had it in his pocket.
I then stood there waiting over 10 minutes for the manager to come down, return my personal property, and explain why this happened. During that time, another associate who has helped me in the past also started looking for him around the store because she also couldn't understand why a manager would confiscate a customer's phone, especially when my other personal belongings were left behind. The associate called again and was told the manager was "busy," would not come down, and that if I wanted my phone back the associate could go upstairs and get it. Think about how insane that is. I'm a paying customer, my personal items are mixed into piles behind the register, and I'm being told to go upstairs to retrieve my phone from a manager who took it.
I went upstairs with the associate. When we reached him, he appeared to be casually chatting with other employees and did not treat the situation as urgent. He handed me my phone with a quick "here," refused to discuss the situation ("nothing to talk about"), and spoke to me in a dismissive, disrespectful manner. When I asked for his last name so I could document the incident, he became visibly offended, raised his voice, and said he was the manager of the whole store. He continued to refuse any discussion, repeating that there was "nothing to talk about."
I walked back downstairs, changed back into my clothes immediately, and left, walking away from the entire purchase. Whatever their internal policy is, confiscating a customer's phone and then refusing to come down to return it or explain why is completely unacceptable. I will not be returning to this location. If you value basic customer service and professionalism, I'd recommend ordering online or choosing another location. Otherwise, shop with retailers that still prioritize service like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, or Saks. read more