Last Saturday was especially cold and blustery here in Chicago. After running various errands in the suburbs with Mr. Jasmine, I was cold and tired. Then he suggested a trip to Oakbrook Center, a fabulous outdoor mall in Oak Brook. Why the trip? Mr. Jasmine, the incredibly amazing man that he is, wanted to buy me my highly-coveted Manolo Blahnik wedding shoes.
I refused and refused to let him buy me the shoes until he convinced me that it would be a Christmas, birthday, and wedding present in one
Charmed and touched, we proceeded to Neiman Marcus to find the special golden heels. The shoe department was virtually empty, save for several sales associates and one other customer. I found a black version of the shoes I was looking for and asked a sales associate if there was one available in gold. She said they were sold-out but that it could be special ordered for me. I asked if I could try on the black shoe to be sure of my size and another lovely gold pair I’d found. She agreed and left.
Much, much later, she returned. She didn’t have my size in either pair, so she’d brought the closest size they had available. She disappeared to tend to the other customer while I tried the shoes on. And when I say disappeared, I mean disappeared. She didn’t come back to see how the shoes fit or whether I liked them. She didn’t see if I wanted to special order the gold pair. She completely ignored me and devoted her attention entirely to the other customer, who was buying several pairs of Manolos. The other sales associates saw that I was not being helped, but did nothing to assist me. I sat there, feeling very foolish and upset that I was receiving zero assistance. I finally decided that I would not be purchasing anything from Neiman Marcus that day and Mr. Jasmine and I left. I don’t think anyone noticed or even cared that we left the shoe department.
I was so disappointed with my experience at Neimans! Every customer should expect stellar customer service no matter where she is shopping, but Neiman Marcus is especially associated with great customer service and care. So disappointing! And I found out that my special gold Manolos are completely sold-out in my size and cannot be special ordered. So I need to find a new gold pair for my wedding day.
Do you have any frustrating wedding customer-service tales? Please share!
Oh, Miss J! I’m so sorry to hear about both the bad service and the shoes being sold out! I had a very similar bad bad BAD service experience at Cartier when I went to get my ring resized at a local upscale mall in my area. I was so angered that I called the head of customer relations, who then rectified the situation. But otherwise, I would have been left to wonder when I’d get my ring back and made to feel like a second class citizen because I didn’t feel like going to Cartier all dressed up to the nines and wearing a gazillion pounds of bling to get good service! If you’re still feeling wronged, I suggest you do the same thing– not to get anything out of it, but to let them know that their service was subpar and as a customer you feel slighted. They’ll appreciate it.
As for your shoes, have you tried eBay? I also saw them in Bergdorf in New York. Check their website! Also, Manolos tend to run really really small, so you might be a different size than you think. I had to go a whole size up in order to try on a pair!
And how wonderful of Mr. Jasmine to offer to get them for you. A true keeper!