Today I went to the Dynamite location at Place D'Orleans in Ottawa with my husband and 2 kids who are 2 and 4 years of age. I was returning a blouse that I purchased on December 23rd, 2013. What should have been a simple 5 minute return, it ended up being an hour of waiting. My debit card was defrauded a couple of days after I purchased the blouse so I was issued a new card with a new number. My new debit card did not match the number on the receipt and I was told that I could not get my money back. By chance I still had my old debit card in my purse that matched the number on the receipt. I asked for a manager who was the supervisor on duty. She told me that I could only do an exchange or get my refund on a gift card. I was told that if I wanted my money back I would have had to go to my bank and get proof that the purchase was made on the same account as my new debit card and that I needed proof that I have changed my debit card. They basically wanted to send me on a wild goose chase with my family. The associate and the supervisor were very adamant in providing the stock response of "It's Dynamites policy and it's for your own protection". I understand that there are policies in place to protect the company and the customer but a little common sense and customer service can go a long way. I could not accept that, only because the money was going back to the same account that the purchase was made on and I had physical proof that I was confirming my identity with my old debit card. The store manager, LAURA POTHIER, was on an hour lunch. I was willing to stay and wait for the store manager. During the hour that I was waiting LAURA POTHIER came back into the store to get her coat to go for a cigarette. As she was leaving the store passing me she told the employee that I could only get a store credit or an exchange. LAURA POTHIER came back from her cigarette and went to the back room without even acknowledging me. The cashier received an intercom message saying that the store manager is still on her lunch and she will not be back for another 20 minutes. I waited for that 20 minutes and realized that there was a customer service number on the back of the receipt. I called customer service and explained to the rep and quickly she asked to talk to an associate. The associate was able to return my money onto my new debit account right away. I don't understand why someone with such a high authority was not able to authorize a simple transaction OR ask me to call customer service to complete the return. Obviously talking to customer service this situation happens frequently but talking to the associates in the store this never happens and that there was no solution to this situation. What bothers me the most is that LAURA POTHIER did not once acknowledge me or want to talk to me. She was probably 10 feet away from me and didn't want to take 5 minutes of her time to explain to me my options. She had her employees take the heat of the situation. I have worked in retail for 12 years and 10 years of my retail experience I was a manager. With my experience working in retail, customer service is key to success. As a store manager, LAURA POTHIER, needs to lead by example. She basically is showing her employees that it is acceptable to ignore customers and customer service is not an important role in the retail business. I'm not looking for an apology of any type but waiting in the store with my family for an hour warrants some type of acknowledgement that the lack of customer service was given. read more
