Where do I even start with this ?...
LONG READ AHEAD:
TLDR: manager is condescending and belittles me because I didn't like my pet portrait from Marc Jacob's, and asks for my astrology sign to justify her claim that I am a "perfectionist"
Worst customer service experience I have ever had.
The manager of this soho branch is just awful. Came here to get a pet portrait, was working with a sales associate Paulina who was very very nice. She was patient and kind and let me free roam without hovering. She let me try different bags and when I had finally decided on the bag I wanted, I asked her if I could make an appointment to come in and get a pet portrait and buy the bag that day. Paulina said yes not a problem, and helped me make a reservation for the appointment. I thought to myself, "great, that was nice & easy & ill
come back on the day of the appointment,"then comes the manager Nafeesa. She says to me in a condescending tone "you're going to come back day of and purchase the bag?" I reply "yes" she then proceeds to give me attitude, looking left and right and goes "okayyyyyy" in a condescending manner. I am initially surprised by this interaction and asked her "is there a problem?" She then goes on this whole 5 minute rant about how if I purchase the purse now I won't need to come in 10-15 minutes earlier for the appointment and if I miss my time slot there's nothing she can do to help & how others have missed their time slot and she has to deal with telling them the bad news and not Paulina, (essentially saying Paulina always does this cause she doesn't get the grunt work) and if I purchase the bag now I won't need to be present for the drawing of the picture, etc. etc. I chalk up this interaction to her having grievances from past customers giving her problems, so to appease everyone I purchase the bag and tell them ok I won't come to the appointment, and I'll send Paulina the picture of my pup.
Just leaving that first interaction me and my friends felt like the manager was 1) belittling her employee in front of customers 2) being condescending to customers 3) ranting about customers to customers ??
But whatever we continue our day of shopping in soho and things seem fine, I email Paulina, appointment handled, then comes the picture of my dog. Yes it's a cute drawing but from my initial thought I did not like it, cause it didn't look like my dog.
Then it just gets worse...
I go in a couple days later to pick up the bag. I tell nafeesa, who is at the store, about my issues with the bag & the portrait. Being very nice I tell her "unfortunately I don't like this image drawn because I don't think it looks like the picture I provided" she proceeds to tell me "OMGG, no one has ever not liked it, this is the first issue I've ever run into" and asks me what's wrong with the picture. I tell her my initial issues with the image and she responds by asking me what my astrological sign was. I was taken aback and frankly appalled, how could a manager of a big brand store in the middle of soho, lack this much tact. Obviously feeling defensive I say my sign & ask her why she asked- she then doubles down and tells me it's because she thinks I'm a perfectionist and that this is an artist drawing a picture not a copy machine. At this point, I am simply left in awe. I got defensive and told her that If I paid close to $4-500 for a bag and the sole purpose was to get a pet portrait, & I'm not happy with it I'm going to express it, she gives me a smirk and tells me verbatim "honey a lot of people spend money in here."
I am just so shocked at how insensitive and rude the MANAGER of this store is.
In the end I had to self regulate, keep calm and get the bag fixed. So I expressed my concerns, wrote it on a piece of paper like she asked, she had me then read these notes to another sales associate so we can "all be on the same page" and they shipped over the bag with the new drawing which was much better.
But that's not to say all is resolved, I left with a very bitter taste in my mouth for the whole Marc Jacob's brand and will 1000% not be coming back.
I cannot support a brand that lets MANAGERS belittle their customers. If i express nicely it's not to my liking, I don't expect the MANAGER of the store to gaslight me and make me feel bad for voicing my opinion. read more