I usually don’t do this, but in this case, I had to say
something publicly because I am so disappointed in a company that I’ve had a
long, seemingly happy relationship with for years.
Here’s the situation: last week, I bought a pair of $80
shoes that were as kick ass as could be. I didn’t think about how close it was
to “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday”. In any case, I bought those bad boys and
wore them a day later, of course getting compliments on them everywhere I went
(even if just to CVS). I just so happened to look online for any upcoming Cyber
Monday deals and I thought, well let’s see what Zara has to offer; low and
behold, I found those same shoes on sale for $50! “Ok, customer service isn’t
open this late, so I’ll call in the morning”, I thought. That’s important
because later they will say that since it’s ‘sold out’ online and in the stores
that they can’t do anything about it. How the hell was I supposed to get this
resolved in the middle of the night?
Well, when it came time to call Zara, not only was I
transferred 5 times between customer service, corporate and the Santa Monica
store (because apparently one doesn’t have control over the other and vice
versa – I call bullshit), but they told me that their systems were not set up
for a price adjustment. Now, I could have been a complete bitch and just
cleaned the bottoms off of the shoes (because they had been worn), put them
back in their box with their tags (because I do save tags for a few weeks in case
of something like this) and marched right into the store, taken them back then
rebought them. But it just wasn’t worth my time. Instead, I thought being the
‘great’ company I thought they were, they would make an exception for this
loyal customer and credit me back the measly $30. You know what they told me?
After ‘reviewing the situation’, they called me back and said ‘The only thing
we can do to resolve this situation is have you send the shoes back to the
online store for a full refund’. Umm, how is that resolving the situation in
the slightest? You want me to TAKE BACK an item I wanted? THAT’S your solution?
Of course I asked for a manager multiple times; and guess what…none
available…shock. That’s when I took to
writing about it, because I’m tired of big companies treating us little people
like shit. $30 bucks to Zara isn’t shit compared to what that $30 means to me.
But even that’s beside the point.
As women, we develop relationships with our favorite brands.
Hell, I just endorsed Zara after someone asked me on my blog about where to get
a particular kind of pant. But when something as small as a $30 credit could
have resolved this situation, it’s also $30 that causes a situation as big as
this that could make me as a loyal customer feel betrayed, just like in a
relationship. And that’s what it is (well, was)…a relationship between loyal
customer and company brand. However, as in any relationship, sometimes there is
a situation where the other party shows you their true colors.
Now, this is going to be a bad breakup, because like most of
those, you usually go back for a late-night booty call hoping they will prove
you wrong. So I may have the urge to shop there again, but I will try hard as
hell not to go back to a place that has wronged me, not over something so
small.
You know what, maybe this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have
been as thoughtless as to buy ANYTHING right before Black Friday. But I did,
and for that I take responsibility. But I also know, after having worked in
retail for 5 years, that a company can do MANY things to ‘makeup’ to a customer
how they ‘wronged’ him/her. But Zara didn’t even try with me. They basically
gave me a “fuck off” response. What about a ‘20% coupon off your next purchase’
or a ‘$10 off coupon’ – shit, I would have been happy with that and that wasn’t
even half of what I was asking for back. But you live and you learn. Thanks
Zara for proving to me how wrong I was about you.
