Came to Venice on holiday with my mother, part of a group tour of Europe. We were given an hour of shopping time before leaving for Bologna. Immediately as we walked in we were greeted and helped by a sales associate by the name of Matilde. I had told her I was looking for a specific bag and she showed me right to it. My mother wanted to buy some wallets as gifts and so were shown a number of selections as we sipped on espresso that Matilde so graciously offered us. After 30 minutes of shopping we were ready to pay since we had to meet our group up at noon sharp to catch the water taxis out of Venice. I had expressed to Matilde if she could hurry the process since we were in a bit of a rush and she was so awesome about getting us out of there. However, after I swiped my credit card, the store system went down. Fifteen minutes had passed and it looked as if they couldn't do anything to get our transaction through. Freaking out that we were going to miss our group, I had so kindly told them to cancel the transaction and my mother and I made a mad dash to the taxis. As we were waiting for a taxi with our group, I got a call from Matilde! She was able to contact me based on the contact info I left behind for my tax refund form. She had stated that the system temporarily went up and that the transaction went through and she'd meet up with me to give us our items. With very little time I had I made a sprint nearby and saw Matilde out of breath from her sprint to meet me, holding our bags. I got my items and jumped into the next cab out of Venice. She texted me shortly apologizing for the inconvenience and gave me a step by step of the tax return process for the airport. I live in Los Angeles, California where customer service is so critical for businesses and I can confidently and honestly say my experience with Matilde was an example of the best customer service experience I have ever received. She went above and beyond and made sure she did everything possible to ensure that we has a positive experience despite circumstances that were out of anyone's control. After returning back to the U.S., my mother and I were talking about what a great experience that was and how we want to go back to Venice again just to shop at that Gucci store. read more