For many years, I thought of Macys as a very good store. I occasionally experienced horrible service, but the many positives outweighed those few experiences.
Yesterday, an Ala Moana store manager named Richard sang out to me in a taunting voice , "well enjoy your your free thing!!!" after I tried to give him feedback about unusually horrible customer service at the Shiseido counter.
Actually, I have mainly experienced excellent service. For this reason, I believed that store management cared about customer service and would appreciate knowing how they can improve.
What I realized was that since the rude and incompetent Shiseido employee was not processing a computerized transaction (and therefore Richard knew that Macys would not contact me to complete a service survey), he wanted to let me know how much he really didn't care.
Another thing I learned was that it can be incredibly difficult to even locate a manager at this store if you need one.
So although I have been very fortunate to have experienced excellent customer service at this store, I now realize that it must be due to individual employee motivation but definitely not from management.
Incidentally, the reason I was there was because the Shiseido employees pressured me to buy some products I didn't urgently want or need, and kept saying " just 37.00 more and you will get the Camellia Club gift". Because they had always been very nice and clearly wanted sales, I bought products I could easily get anywhere else at any time. SEVERAL MONTHS passed before I received a call that my product was ready for pick up. When I got to the store, there was only one woman behind the counter. She was facing her computer screen and turned away from the customers. She stood that way, DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and never looking up from the screen for a full five minutes. She wasn't even interacting with the customer I presume she was helping. Two customers arrived behind me and she never looked up or reacted. I finally asked her " excuse me, is there anyone who can help us?"She looked up briefly to say , "I'm the only one" and immediately resumed her trance in front of her register.
Realizing she had no intention of getting help or of expediting herself, I went upstairs and completed a transaction. By the time I got down again, the lady was still catatonic in front of her screen, still "helping" the same customer!
I asked the employee at the Chanel counter how to speak with a manager and she pleasantly referred me to some Clinique employees who located "Richard". While I was waiting for Richard, one of the Clinique ladies offered to get the item I came for. It took her about 30 seconds, and she was completely professional and personable.
Richard appeared very bored as I explained that the Shiseido service was very poor. When he realized that the fuss was over a "free" item, he became very dismissive and actually TAUNTED, "I hope you enjoy your free thing!!"
Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Von Maur, Neiman Marcus, and probably many more online retailers offer better inventory, promos, and fast shipping than Macy's. It's a pity that Richard and his incompetent employee don't appreciate that.
It's more of a pity that the management of the store cares nothing about basic customer service.
However, the experience makes me appreciate much more that the excellent employees must be motivated from within themselves and I respect them very much. read more