Park Meadows, Denver, CO
WONDER NO MORE WHY BRICK AND MORTAR STORES ARE CLOSING?
On Memorial Day weekend we went shopping at Parks Meadows and we stumble on very shiny store called the Shoe Palace. We had never been there before to shop. WE WILL NOT BE GOING BACK.
After a quick look, we decided to purchase a Champion t-shirt brand shirt. The size of Medium was not available. However, the staff was able to retrieve one from the display.
When we were ready to check out we noticed that although there was nobody purchasing anything at that time, the store cashiers were acting confused and were not engaged. I only wanted to make my purchase and leave. This is where my frustration begins. The cashier told me he had made a mistake, that instead of charging my card he had charged the merchandise into cash or return. Or at least that is what he said. I was not sure what that meant.
So, as the cashier guy starts to play with the computer to fix the transaction. Some other associate walked up and said, "Please wait until he makes the corrections".
10 min passed by and still the cashier was struggling to make the corrections. The cashier appeared to be struggling with the register, like they had never sold an item before. It appeared that the staff lacked basic knowledge on how to use the cash register.
I had already checked my bank statement (electronically) and saw that the transaction had been made and a record of the transaction was there in the bank records. Money for the purchase had been debited from my account and credited to the Merchant. I wondered why the staff was talking about cash and what this have to do with my transaction?
Once we had been at this for about approximately 15 min a manager came and took over. During this period of time several customers have check out and I am still waiting. All of a sudden the manger leaves the store running with a bag.
While we were waiting for the cashier to fix our transaction, he also was checking out other customers. One bought a hat for 10$ and instead of leaving with his purchase, he ended up taking our bag with the 32$ shirt.
So the manager is running all over the mall (this is a big mall and crowded) to find the other customer.
As we waited I observed that there appeared to be plenty of other staff employed in this store waiting around shooting hoops and not many customers to help. Perhaps one of the associates could have left the store to find the man who had taken our purchase and the manager could have continued to help us?
We continued to wait.
At the 40 min mark, we were still dealing with the transaction and did not have our merchandise. So I finally asked if they refund my money. This had been the last Shirt in medium and we did not want to wait for the manager to find the customer who had wrongly taken the shirt. At this point we only wanted our money back and to leave.
The same cashier that we started our transaction with stated "you have to wait for the manager to come back." He could not help us. We did not feel free to leave the store as we might be accused of wrong doing or not get our money back.
I explained to him "We are getting very inpatient and hungry." So he finally started the process to refund my money. Then another associate stated "we actually have a new t-shirt in the same size." So he puts in the bag again. We should have been done.
However, we asked for the receipt. The store clerk had trouble finding the receipt as the counter is full of receipts. He did finally find the receipt.
I finally was able to complete my transaction after 50 min of trying to purchase one t-shirt and dealing with staff that appeared to be incompetent, poorly trained or indifferent.
So you wonder why stores are closing. You only need to experience what I experienced to understand. I wish I could continue supporting brick and mortar stores more often. I prefer to have hands on shopping experience (especially with clothing) However, I will now shop on AMAZON where the same t-shirt sells for $26 and no hassle. I just a click and I am done. read more