I try to shop small: in New York retailers have to pay high rents, and incur all sorts of expenses that online retailers do not. So when I needed a tote bag for travel I decided to go to Tumi in Soho.
The store was having a sale on a particular model that I liked. However they were out of the black, which was the color I wanted. The sales associate offered to have it ordered however I needed it sooner. He kindly offered to call another store for me which he did. They had one at their Madison Avenue shop. I asked for the cross street. He gave me the cross street - however when I arrived at the location it was off by ten blocks.
I then called the Madison avenue store for the correct directions. I also asked if the store was on the east or west side of the street. I was told it was the east side.
The black tote I wanted was indeed at the Madison avenue shop - which is on the west side of Madison avenue, for anyone who is interested - however it was NOT on sale. I wish I'd known this before I'd gone uptown however the sales associate in Soho either did not know or did not think to tell me.
I was not happy however I'd already invested the morning so I bought the bag. However it was a lot of money and I was having major buyer's remorse.
Back at the Soho shop a few days later, a nice young woman sales associate accepted the return. She printed out the return price for the bag I'd gotten on Madison avenue and the new one on one receipt, and I took home a tote on sale but in a color I really didn't like. A few days later online I found the exact Tumi bag I wanted in a much nicer color at a lower price online.
I took the second bag to return to the Soho store.
I can imagine that a customer who keeps changing her mind is a pain. I don't like being that way but at the end of the day, customer service is for all customers. I was not trying to cheat anybody and I had not used the bag or soiled it in any way. I simply wanted to return it for the money I'd spent and I was well within the 30 day return period.
Neither of the original sales associates I'd met the first two times was there. A third young woman said she'd process the return for me, however she said she could only refund the difference between the two bags, not the full amount. Why? Because the prior sales woman had given me a single receipt. Her exact words were, "we couldn't accept this return even if we wanted to." She gave me an 800 number to call if I wasn't happy.
I asked why I was being penailzed for her fellow sales associate not giving me two separate receipts. I asked to see the manager. He didn't have any better ideas. I explained that in my opinion the line of luggage that will replace a bag that someone has had for years with a brand new one would be able to facilitate a return from a single receipt. They both looked at me helplessly so I called the 800 number, in front of them. It was the wrong number: it was the repairs number not the returns number. I demanded the returns number. They did not have it. Finally I said I wasn't leaving until they could find someone who could get me a better answer. The manager did some malarkey pretending I'd bought some product and then returning it to the store, in a procedure that I really did not understand, said that the other woman who'd just told me it couldn't be done was new.
I don't even really blame the sales associates for all of this. They were all young, and clearly inexperienced. Somebody should have trained them to tell people which items are on sale, which are not, how to handle a return, and for that matter, the other addresses of their other stores and what their exact locations are. Sure, I could have used an app on my phone, but this is Tumi, famed for their customer service and their quality. If I have to figure it all out myself I might as well save the money. Which I did. I bought the bag on line and that was that. read more