Have you ever received attitude from a Nordi's employee??! - YouLookFab Forum

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Have you ever received attitude from a Nordi's employee??!

Tammyb

I'm so upset. I just returned 5 things to a Nordis and the sales associate was sighing and complaining how. "I have to bring half of this stuff downstairs" about the shoes and purse. And "I have to look up each of these things individually" because I didn't bring my receipt. I should complain, right? ( I am in rha dressing room about to spend another $300, and am seriously on the fence about the purchase and complaint).

Shopping

26 replies

Latest reply was from Lisa

JAileen

Veteran

A day or two after I had called CS about a problem with a return (two items in a box, and only one of them properly credited), I received an email with a survey. I expressed my frustration in the survey, and an hour later my problem was resolved. Coincidence?

I'd probably email them my experience, because I could state the facts without emotion.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/cu....._contactus

Grey Rainbow

I've met attitude on very rare occasions -- including one salesperson who flat out refused to take a return because there was no Nordstrom sticker on the hang tag. Of course the item was an online order and arrived from a warehouse in sealed packaging; she kept insisting that a salesperson would have put a sticker on the hang tag at point of sale. It was embarrassing to stand there and be told that I was attempting to return something I bought elsewhere. Now, even though in this area Nordstrom stores have dedicated return desks with staff whose job it is to search charge records if need be, I always bring a packing slip, printed from my account if necessary.

Long story short: you should complain. Email the store manager with details. Nordstrom prides itself on customer service (despite the current issues with price adjustments and online charges). The company invests in sales force training. This would be helpful feedback to address gaps in training.

Muffin

Veteran

Good point about an email not being emotional. But if it's a complaint about an employee and not a general policy I would email the store manager if you aren't comfortable talking to them.

I'm hoping that while you've been in the fitting room this employee has had an attitude adjustment!

BrieN

Veteran

no. I've never had any issue with Nordstrom's associates. I don't imagine someone with an attitude would last very long there.

rachylou

Veteran

Ditto what Brie said. You should complain.

Staysfit

Veteran

Never had an issue, and if I did I would complain.

Anonymous

No. Every single one of my experiences with Nordstrom customer services has been stellar. I think they hire some of the best people in retail and train them very well. I really do feel special when I shop in the store. There are several individuals I am thinking of at this very moment. Shout out to them for being the best.

Runcarla

Veteran

My experience with the New Nordstroms in Toronto has been A+, and especially an amazing young SA in lingerie!

Greyscale

Veteran

I have also had consistently excellent experiences, and Nordstrom's presumably trains their SAs in how to meet their standards. So I agree that it's worth complaining to the store so that they know their standards aren't being met. Most places, I wouldn't bother but Nordstrom's does seem to pride itself on it.

Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom are in the same upscale mall near me, and the difference is night and day. I wonder how they achieve that - higher pay? More training? More selective / willing to let people go? I also don't know what the commission structure is at Nordstrom's vs other stores.

Anonymous

I have had two perfectly dreadful CS experiences with Nordstrom's, both requiring me to invest a couple of hours of time to resolve issues that were completely their fault. Once a store in another city sent to me at my address a package containing a gift intended for a complete stranger. It was the week before Xmas and their response to that problem was that I should take it to my local Nordstrom on the busiest shopping week of the year and stand in line at customer service to return it to them. After speaking to several people, we compromised on them emailing me a return label and my dropping the package to the post office. Then the store in question kept calling me to find out where it was, despite the fact it had been shipped to their distribution center with their label.
The other time they refused to honor a gift card I had purchased. I had to visit the store and show photo id and a bank statement showing that Nordstrom had received payment for the gift card about 10 days previous before they would honor it. Needless to say, that was hugely embarrassing for me and the recipient of the gift card.
For obvious reasons, I rarely shop Nordie's any more.

Tammyb

Wow Ryce - that is awful!
I have been in contact with Customer Care. I ended up seeing an email based on the advice above. They are going to send a message to the store manager.

You know, at the end of the day, I felt like I was at Macy's. The attitude was what I always receive from associates at Macy's.

K.M.

Veteran

Tammyb, so sorry about your experience. That would have completely put me off, too. Regarding these comments: "I have to bring half of this stuff downstairs" and "I have to look up each of these things individually"--my first thought was: Yeah, isn't that part of your job description?!? It would be the same as waitress saying "I have to collect all these dirty plates and balance them on a tray on my one arm and bring them back to the sweltering hot kitchen?" or a teacher going "I have to lug all these homework assignments and grade them all in my spare time and then bring them back to class" etc. ...

A part of me wants to empathize when someone might be going through a hard time or having a bad day--I don't know, cramps, physical pain, low wages, bad breakup, etc. I've certainly had days at work when I was feeling physically miserable and wished I could just be home resting, and resented not being able to do it. But you are not responsible for any of that, and shouldn't be the one hearing about it.

I'd be curious to hear about their response!

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Only issue I've ever had there was with a stylist. When I made the appointment, they asked me to fill out several pages about myself, my likes and life, what I was shopping for, etc.
My need was very straightforward--an affordable dress for my parents anniversary dinner, in natural fibers. I filled out all the other stuff, with the thought that if the appointment went well, I might want to work with the person in the future. She brought nothing that fit the bill. I had expected there to be accessories and a couple expensive pieces in an attempt to upsell, probably some pants too. I wasn't opposed to seeing those items in addition to what I specified. I also figured I'd probably have to go a bit over the limit I specified, like $10 or $20, maybe a little more if I fell in love with something and could see wearing it for other types of things as well. But she brought nothing that fit the bill. Not one thing. They were all nasty fabric, and the least expensive was over 1.5x my spending limit. When I asked her about the papers I'd filled out, she looked away and said "those things are hard to find". Well, yeah, they're hard to find. You'd have to know a store and its merchandise really well, maybe be able to pull things together from a couple different departments (nothing she had did that--there were combos from several departments, but nothing like "here are some basic pieces from a less expensive department to combine with this topper from a different department"). That's why I made an appointment with a stylist. It also really, really didn't look like she'd read the first line about what I'm like as a person, what sort of styles might suit me. Just a disaster. I suggested I could come back for another appointment (ie, give her a second chance). She pulled herself together then, looked me straight in the eye and tried to intimidate me into buying one of her fussy polyester choices. Thinking she can intimidate me made it really clear she hadn't bothered reading the dang questionnaire.

Looking back, I probably should have said something to the coordinator for the stylists.

Anonymous

Fascinating story, Fashiontern.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

So did you end up finding a suitable dress all on your own?

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Sorry if I went on a bit long.

I went to Dillard's, told the sales associate what I needed, but then I had to go pick my kid up from school before she'd gotten many out. She said she'd pull some things together for me. I was supposed to go back the next day and look, but didn't make it in. She didn't work the day after that, they all got put back, I was embarrassed that she'd done the work for nothing & didn't want to go back.

I made my first ever trip to Nordstrom Rack, told them the designer of the first dresses the Dillard's SA had pulled out that looked promising. They pulled out every single dress by that designer in my size! Several of them jumped right in, went to several different racks, made sure none in my size had been put away wrong, and brought over a dozen dresses for me to try, and a couple by similar labels. There were two I was torn between, and I eventually wore one that's black and metallic gold.

Nordstroms may be the title store, but it's got nothing on the Rack

Anonymous

I can't say I buy much from my Nordstrom Rack. I am overwhelmed by that store. It is tightly packed and everything looks askew. I think the only thing I ever bought was a gym bag. But it is a great gym bag.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Except on opening day, I've never seen a sales associate at Nordstrom Rack anywhere but the check out station. That's great service.

I would probably have gone back to Dillards and apologized, so that the SA would help me the next time too.

I've only had a bit of attitude once in the shoe department doing an old return when I didn't just take no for an answer. I asked them to get a manager, and then someone with more experience told her how to find the necessary information.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I haven't read the responses, but this is not acceptable for a Nordies SA, since Nordstrom prides themselves on customer service and they have a LOT of competition from Amazon and Zappos who are TOPS. Speak to the floor manager.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Barbara, you are right. I should've gotten over myself/my embarrassment at least enough to apologize!

There are two N Racks in my area. I think there are usually employees on the floor at both of them. Their hub is the dressing room, but they are always out putting things back or putting out new merch. I usually go to the registers, out of habit, but many of the employees carry devices like in the Apple Store, and can check you out if you pay with a card.

I've only been to one of them a few times. Last night (the next to the last night of their big sale), as I was returning a sack of bras, they were trying to keep the floor straightened out, and doing an impressive job of it. There were a few clothing items out of place, but only a couple draped over racks; clothing was in the right spot according to size, and dressing room put-backs were all caught up.

The other one, the one in this story, is where I go more often. Last time I was there was to try the fit of a shirt label I'd only seen online, so I asked where to find them. The woman who told me which rack to go to was later at the register and asked if I'd found it. She also noted that I was buying a lot of bras on clearance and hinted very clearly that although they don't officially do price adjustments, I could bring them back during the sale and repurchase them for 25% less (I was actually taking them all home to try on, only kept two).

Sterling, I do most of my shopping online, where everything is always neat. I wish items I used in my home went back where they belong the way computer files do

Barbara Diane

Veteran

That's wonderful service at the Rack. I was so excited when mine opened, but I am having so-so luck.

minimalist

Veteran

Only twice. Once was an oversight that cost me a lot of time and physical discomfort; I chose to assume the SA 1) was having a bad day, 2) hadn't understood my statement about physical limitations, 3) hadn't understood my intent to purchase immediately as soon as correct fit was established, 4) had been distracted by something of much, much higher priority. Being left in the dressing room for 35 minutes in a garment I couldn't unfasten, on a day when in the kind of pain that rules out dressing and finding the SA, isn't really a pleasant retail experience, Another customer ended up helping me; pretty embarrassing, though she was lovely about it. I expressed my frustration pretty sharply to the SA, but also told her that I wasn't going to complain to anyone else.

The other was an SA, possibly shift manager IIRC, who photographed someone I was with, and immediately posted it to her public Facebook account. She shared this with us as she was doing it, apparently expecting my friend would be flattered. When we protested and insisted she remove it, she threw a bit of a fit, claiming we were being unreasonable and insisting this store does this all the time because personal relationships with clients and I don't recall her other reasons. She seemed to very fervently feel that we were being antisocial and unreasonable, and only removed the post when my friend started looking up store manager contact info. That seemed specific to this one store, rather than Nordstrom in general.

Compared to the dozens of very positive, above and beyond service experiences, these two blips are just oddities and don't affect my feelings about Nordstrom as a whole.

NR has always been excellent.

minimalist

Veteran

One Nordstrom employee even accepted NR returns on an evening when NR had closed early for inventory. He first said, "we don't usually do this" then when I explained that NR was closed, he took care of it. That made a huge difference in my day. Wish there were a mechanism for tipping SAs like him.

bridgie

Veteran

Never, ever had a problem. I have shopped Nordie's in Jacksonville, Fla, Orlando, Cincinnai, and Charlotte, and Rack's in Jacksonville and Nashville, maybe others I don't remember now. I shop on line for the most part. Never had a problem there either

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Minimalist, it is so unfortunate that people often don't take others' word for it when told someone is in pain or can't do something! I've had one experience where I really wanted to tip a SA. My son's feet were right between boys and mens sizes, around 7 or 8, and we'd been to several stores in the mall, trying to find dress shoes for him. He hadn't wanted to go in the first place, and was getting fairly unpleasant, as tweens sometimes do. I finally had him "try out" the massage chairs at Brookstone while I went next door to Call it Spring and preselected several pairs for him. The SA agreed to work directly with him, was a little wary after my explanation, but was game. I brought my son in and hung out by the door in case I needed to step in. They had a wonderful interaction! The SA put my son at ease, my son was polite, they were both smiling and chatting. All because the boy got a little space from mama and the SA reached out to him. The store had just opened in Tampa, so I posted the photo and story to social media, saying I wished I could tip the guy.

Lisa

Veteran

Yes, I've had a problem. I once returned one pair of shoes and the associate lectured me on how I should have bought them in the store or ordered them from the store instead of online because I was taking away their business. I walked away feeling awful and guilty for ordering a pair of shoes online and having to return them. Now when I return shoes, I actually go to a different store just so I don't run into this person again. It's been at least a year, maybe longer, and I still avoid the shoe section in that Nordstrom store.