10/5/2022
Today's Lululemon Fiasco
After the previous bad encounters at the Boca Raton Lululemon, I tried to get my wife to stop buying from them. In fact, my wife, a 62-year-old petite woman was deemed a safety hazard to the Boca Raton store. However, they said it was ok if she shopped in their other locations. Guess she isn't a hazard to them. Go figure.
The products are overpriced and much of their goods are made from polyester, a petroleum-based product. Their marketing team must be great and persuasive to get the vegan, environmental loving public to buy their clothes that are made from petroleum.
On another front, how many skin cancer protective products do they have? As a melanoma survivor, I think that this is a market that they are missing or don't care about.
So, my wife has been to other Lululemon stores in West Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Cincinnati and Orlando since she was banned from the Boca location, and they all treated her extremely well and seemed to like her. Is it her or the Boca location? The manager from Cincinnati gave my wife her card and told her to call if she needed anything.
She was looking for these pants called Add Flare Crop with slits. They were released recently and have been selling out of most of the colors. My wife ordered some but not in the colors she really wanted. The other day, at the West Palm Beach location, they helped her look online and she ordered the ones she wanted, Meanwhile, 4 pair in "merlot" and "plum" arrived at my doorstep. With the other ones on the way, I thought I would return these to our local Boca store. We could only return 3 pair, since my wife was wearing the forth.
I walked into the store and approached the register area where one person was ringing up a customer and the other one was looking at her cell phone. She put the phone down and said she would assist me. I gave her the pants that were in the plastic bags they were packed in. She ripped the bags open and scanned the QR code on the tag. According to her, it said the pants were purchased on 7/7. I don't believe these pants had been released to the public that long ago. I know they were just delivered the other day. She asked if I had the receipt or order number. The information was on my wife's phone. The Associate said she could give me a gift card. I hesitantly said OK. Then she said the system would not let her do it. I asked to speak to a manager, and she said she was the manager. Seems like these stores have a lot of managers. Anyway, she would not help me, the customer in any way, blaming the company's rules. She took no responsibility. Some leader!
So, I left the store, angry that they had screwed us over once again. I met up with my wife who showed me the order number on her email from the company. It said the pants were purchased on 9/22/2022. Today is 10/5/2022. How did she get July? Was the QR code wrong or was she lying because she saw on the cash register computer that my wife was exiled from that store?
I walked back to the store and found her near the front of the store ready to leave. I showed her my wife's phone email with the order number and purchase date. She refused to help us. She told us that we would have to drive to another store. Nice way to treat someone who spends thousands of dollars on your clothing. I kept asking how she can deny what she was seeing in the email. I begged her to do the right thing. She kept refusing, saying that I was not allowed in the store. I made it clear that the nasty letter that Lululemon sent was specifically sent to my wife and not me. She said our behavior was the issue. My wife had an issue. I never had any altercation with them. I tried to get something purchased and they ordered the wrong size and then tried to return it. I was never singled out. I said my wife had gotten mad because they screwed up her order, order. She said she was there. I have never seen her before today. I was there that day, was she? I don't know but somehow, I doubt it. If she was there, she avoided the conflict, just like a good manager should...not.
Now the manager, said I was not allowed in the store. I started asking who her supervisor was. I asked again and again. She wouldn't tell me but finally, she said she would refund the price of the pants if I promised not to come into the Boca Raton store again. Why wouldn't she tell me her supervisor's name? What was she scared of? Me, not coming to that store. That is not an issue, I hate that store and want to see it closed. However, if my wife has something to return...
She refunded my money, which earlier, she had said was not possible to do. Is lying to the customer part of Manager Training 101?
I am now home venting in this letter. It is hard to find good service today and I understand that customers are not always easy to deal with. What ever happened to management as shown in books like In Search of Excellence? read more