B&M store question/opinion wanted - a bit long....a bit of venting

[exoticisabella]

So, after much thought and many posts later I finally

realized that I love my diamond (THANKS GOG!

), love my bands but don''t love my setting. I went back to the B&M store where I had bought my first setting (the one in the pic) to see if they had something else that I loved. Well, I did fall in love tonight, with a beautiful solitaire setting, tapered cathedral look, all one solid piece and the prongs are the double prong looking things Prong example. Plus it fit right into my budget! Budget of $450 for the setting and this one is $320. The sad part is that the customer service was horrible. The guy who helped me look at the setting seemed so disconnected, didn''t try to even make small talk and was frustrated with me when I told him that I had to transfer money from my online banking account into my checking account (I do this so I can''t overspend or purchase on a whim) and asked him if he could write down the item number for me. He then said that "we don''t order the same item twice" and didn''t even look at me. Then when I asked him if it came in yellow gold he looked in the case and said, "I don''t see one"...not I''ll call on it or let me find out

. I put a deposit on the ring to hold it but I feel so bad for doing it. Like even though it''s only $320 it''s still my $320

. I''m going to go back and talk to the sales manager, possibly ask for my deposit back as I felt like this whole transaction was "just business" to them

. On the bright side I can''t wait for the morning so that I can go down to Winfields before they close out the storefront and see if they have anything

. Finally, I want to be as nice as possible to the other store in explaining my expierence and asking for my money back - to me this should be a learning expierence for the store and maybe it''s time for them to offer more customer service training for the staff? Any thoughts/ideas are always appriciated!

 

[kenny]

Maybe they don't like you because you bought your diamond online.
Maybe they see this as something that harms their business.
Maybe they treated you badly hoping you'd just go away - not you personally, but the whole online problem as B&Ms must see it.

AFAIC if this is true they are sticking their head in the sand.
A $320 sale is better than no sale.

 

[miraclesrule]

Isabella, your experience reminded me of when I was hiring a design expert to help me with my house. I needed someone to help me pick out flooring (tile, wood or carpet), wall colors, and window treatments (blinds, curtains, etc).

One girl showed up and she wanted to lift ceilings and bust down walls. I had to remind her that I had already done to the inside what I could do and that I wanted to limit our business to the decor aspect. She butt heads with my contractor and when she would show me carpet samples that I liked, I discovered it would cost me 6K to carpet a 20x12 room. I said "Please remember my budget. Does it look like I would even want to spend that kind of money to carpet a small room?" She said "Oh well, I guess I will have to use different vendors than I do for my clients in North County"

I told her that I am sure she didn''t mean that to sound like it did. I may not be rich and my little 1350 sq foot house is small, but it''s mine and I deserve the same respect as a client who has a 3500 sq foot house in a posh part of town. I was naive and trusting and of course paid in full in advance. Dumb, dumb, dumb. It was an expensive lesson and I never did get anything useful from it. But I think it''s disgusting when professional salespeople treat a client as less worthy due to the cost of the transaction. It''s not a person I want to do business with...ever.

So what if your business was only $320? It shouldn''t matter if it''s $320 or $32000. Service is service. I don''t think they deserve your business. There are many vendors and business people who make you feel special even though you are married to Donald Trump. Give them your business. Those are the ones who deserve it.

 

[stone-cold11]

Just wanted to say, WOW, you are so lucky to be in the same city as Wink.