OMG, Someone Fixed Their Mistake!

Holy crap. I had a customer service FAIL that totally turned out good. When does that ever happen?

On Saturday I had a fabulous day of shopping. D went out to play in the dirt (er, mud) with his Jeep and I decided to finally use a pile of gift cards and coupons I'd had accumulated up. Seriously, I had gift cards to Lord & Taylor from maybe 2 years ago. It was pouring rain and I was totally looking forward to it.

I showered, got dressed, and left the house. I drove about 45 minutes to go to the really good mall (Natick Collections--it's so good, they don't even call it a mall). I got there early, which was good because with the rain, everyone wanted to park in the garage, not the lot. I parked, entered the mall in all my fabulousness (I looked great) and began my shopping spree. I won't bore you with the details, but the numbers are as follows:

4 dresses
4 skirts
7 tops
1 pair of pants
2 pairs of earrings
a bag of loot from Bath & Body Works
and miscellaneous funness from a Target stop on the way home

Total value of merchandise (also known as regular prices): $984.57
Total after in store sales: $592.53
Total paid with coupons and gift cards: $294.93
Total cash of my own I spent: $302.56

And of that cash, I actually still had the $250 I won last month on the SuperBowl Squares, so I really only spent $52.56 (which would have less, but I broke down at Target and bought a bag of jelly beans--but I digress). So yes, I am a shopping superstar, you're jealous, bow to me, yadda, yadda. But I digress--let's get to the good stuff.

When I was at the mall, I visited Ann Taylor. I heart Ann Taylor. Great work clothes, they always fit well, good quality, classic style. I had a coupon for $25 off my entire order. I browsed around the store, tried on a few items that ended up not working and finally decided on 2 shirts. They were having a sale if you bought 2 regularly priced items, you would get 25% off your order. I did not know if that would work in conjunction with my coupon, but I figured the nice lady at the counter would tell me if it didn't.

I proceeded to the counter, handed my items to the cashier and gave her my coupon. She rang me up, and in the process, the manager comes behind the counter, sees my coupon, and takes a look. The cashier gives me my total and I say, "Did you get my coupon?" She looks at it on the desk and says, "yes." Satisfied and not paying attention, I hand her my cash and the manager and I proceed to have a conversation about how she has never seen the coupon before. I said yes, I received an email asking me to take a survey, and when I was done, I was rewarded with this coupon. That was the reason for the visit, since the coupon expired the next day. We exchanged other pleasantries and I left the store, wishing them a great day.

Seriously, I had an awesome day, what with the shopping, and the me-time, and looking fantastic. I got home, and I just had to know what I got vs. what I spent, so I pulled out my receipts. And that's when I notice it. My coupon at Ann Taylor was not applied to my order. What? That was like $25 in cash. I was so upset. That coupon was kinda what spurred the entire shopping trip. I was not going to let that ruin my awesome day.

So I called the store 7 hours after I left it. I spoke to a wonderful assistant manager, Penny, who was so upset for me. She was ready to credit my card immediately. And even though she couldn't find the coupon in the register paperwork, she said she would look through the trash. The trash!! He kindness and willingness to correct the situation floored me. Unfortunately, since I paid cash, she couldn't figure out how to fix it. She promised to talk to the manager in the morning, and they would figure out how to send me a check for the difference or give me a store credit for the value of the coupon. I couldn't have been happier with Penny.

The next morning, Penny called me to say she had spoken the Jessica, the store manager, who remembered the situation and since she wasn't working that day, would call me the next day to correct the issue. Still pleased, I thanked Penny for her help and awaited my call from Jessica.

On Monday, Jessica called me and said she there was some miscommunication at the register, because my coupon wouldn't be applicable in conjunction with the sale. But since my coupon was of greater value, she could put the difference (a whopping $3.50) on a store credit for me.

[Insert part where Ms. C. starts to get firm with who is in control of this situation here]

I explained to Jessica that there wasn't a miscommunication, there was no communication since the cashier failed to explain that the two promotions would not work together. Had she mentioned it, I would have gone back and found a 3rd item on which to use the coupon. Jessica responded with a "Yeah, I guess...um, ok. We'll I don't have the coupon code though." After a lengthy conversation where I reiterated several times how I acquired the coupon, no I do not have the code, no I do not have the link to the survey I took 3 weeks ago and no, I do not have the email that invited me to take the survey, Jessica finally said she just needed to talk to someone to get the appropriate code and would call me back that day or the next. I stayed calm and told her I looked forward to hearing from her.

She did not call back that day.

She did not call back the next day.

I had just relayed this story to some coworkers who encouraged me to call and insert the ugly side of Ms. C. into the situation when I returned to my desk to a message from Jessica. She would be happy to send me an item with the discount applied. So I called her back and in 3-5 business days I should be receiving a very cute skirt at $25 off.

Frustrating as it was at times, I am actually incredibly impressed with how the situation was rectified and they worked to make me a happy customer. Could it have been handled a little more efficiently by Jessica? Probably, but overall, I'm very happy. My work is in a customer service environment with approximately 35 women who are in their target demographic, so a lot of them women I work with wear AT clothes. So, now I'm telling all my coworkers about my experience, and I'll have a fun story to share next time we have a customer service training.

So if you haven't shopped Ann Taylor lately, check out the sales. And if you need help finding good sales, I may be available. For a fee.