We had a very unpleasant experience at this Clarks location, which was surprising because my…read morehusband and I are long-time, loyal Clarks customers. We travel frequently and are strong fans of Clarks shoes. Whenever we see a Clarks store, especially at outlets, we always make time to stop by. This was our first visit to this particular store.
The issue was the interaction at checkout. The lady at the cashier was so rude. I had already selected two pairs of shoes and was ready to purchase. At checkout, the cashier asked for an email ID. I politely clarified, "Not a phone number, right?" Her response was to raise her voice and sharply repeat, "EMAIL ID!"
We are careful about sharing our personal data. We know we already have a Clarks account. My husband checked his email and could not find any messages from Clarks, and when our email address was entered, the system could not locate it. The system then prompted us to create a new account.
I tried to clarify again, asking whether the system was now requesting a phone number since our email address could not be found. Instead of listening, she continued repeating "EMAIL ID!" in an increasingly rude and loud tone.
What upset us most was not just the tone, but the lack of respect. It felt as though she assumed we did not understand English, which is not true. We both speak and understand English fluently. No customer should ever be looked down upon because of accent, appearance, or background.
There were many professional and respectful ways this situation could have been handled, such as:
"Yes, ma'am, we use email only, not phone numbers."
"I'm sorry, our database is local. If your account was created at another Clarks store, it may not appear here, and a new account would be required."
If opening a new account is required, customers should be clearly informed and given a choice. We chose not to create a new account because we already have one with other Clarks stores. If Clarks does not have a centralized database, this is something the company should seriously consider improving.
Customers have the right to protect their personal data and to ask questions. Not all customers who ask questions struggle with English. Many are simply cautious about privacy. Personal data should never be demanded as if it is unimportant.
This experience left us disappointed and disrespected. We hope Clarks will provide better training in customer service, communication, data privacy, and cultural sensitivity at this location.