Posted on behalf of my wife and her friend:
Grudgingly returned to the shop after an upsetting, extremely disappointing experience last year with my friend who was looking for a mother of the bride outfit. This was purchased but after less than 24 hours was returned as she decided it wasn't quite the right colour for her.
As noted in previous reviews with important dress decisions for special occasions people can change their minds, however the shops policy of no refunds and only a credit note left my friend devastated and visibly upset in the shop.
The refund policy is displayed on a wall tucked away behind the cash point in very small writing. To read it you would need to ask the assistants to step aside from their till in order to read the policy. However, we were told on the day of return, it is also noted on the receipt by which time you have made your purchase and it is too late!
We pointed out at no time leading up to the purchase did anyone mention the returns policy. Many other high street stores and independent stores do point this out at the point of sale. We think that with such an important, emotional and expensive purchase this should be made clear verbally! We could not believe this was an unusual situation judging by the thickness of the credit notebook that was produced. The manager was called but was cold and uncaring. Sticking by the policy despite my friend's extreme distress. As pointed out by my friend, for her it was a once in a lifetime purchase and she will never need to buy a dress like this again, so a credit note was of no use to her! At that point I offered to buy the credit note off her.
So, returning somewhat hesitantly on Friday this year with another friend for moral support, in order to use the credit note, it was extremely disappointing to see the refund policy still tucked away not clearly visible. To compound matters we were served grudgingly by an arrogant, unfriendly assistant. We were dressed for the weather after our train journey from Edinburgh and possibly we were being judged by this particular assistant (as previous reviews have commented on). Whilst I tried on two dresses the assistant did not engage with my friend at all making my friend feel very unwelcome and uncomfortable.
We then went to the other shop, the assistants here were very friendly but we returned to the MOB shop to complete the purchase. At this point we had four assistants squashed into the small point of sale area trying to pack the items up which was quite intimidating for us. When I produced the credit note which covered the cost exactly of both items (which was quite considerable), nothing was said about the comment my friend added to the credit note last year!
So main learning points for Molly Brown:
* Your returns policy at the point of sale should be seen clearly by the customers - so move it and point it out verbally pre-sale!
* Some assistants clearly need some training
* Do not judge your customers buying potential by their appearance. You will lose sales.
Supposedly you are family run but your customer service is very poor, there are times when rules can be relaxed. The experience my friend had was dreadful and it is too late for you to redeem yourselves, but I do hope this does
not happen to any other potential customer. read more
