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Saturday was the day we had earmarked for registering at each of our two stores. However, Friday night, when the holiday season filled up all the parking at the movie theatre, Mr. Bubblegum suggested we get our Macy’s registering out of the way.
All in all, I must say, it was a pleasant experience. They were very accommodating, despite the odd hour at which we decided to register (is it odd? I’m not sure. We started at 7:30 on a Friday night). However, we met quite the cast of characters, not all pleasant.
Woman Who Signed Us Up - Very nice and very helpful. Was rather upset that we weren’t planning to look at fine china and insisted we do so. Gave us our free gift (w00t!) which, as she pointed out, is made by the people who make Swiss Army Knives:
Boy Who Worked In Bedding - Made me giggle. He could not have been older than 18, but he was SUPER excited to help us out. Gave us his personal towel recommendation (which, as it turns out, we had already registry-gunned!), the Hotel Collection:
Happy Former Macy’s Employee - Loved working for Macy’s so much that he was visiting the KitchenAid mixers. Congratulated us heartily on our engagement and insisted we register for an 11-cup-Cuisinart. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that need is already filled in our apartment, so we shot at it (we can delete it online later):
Mean Worker-Lady - This is still pretty surreal to me. When we were looking at kitchen appliances, we took a minute to pause in front of toasters (I want a red toaster SLASH toaster oven like the one I saw online at Target but at Macy’s. I could only find a red toaster or a non-red toaster oven). As we discussed our toasting options, a sales woman came up to us and the following conversation took place:
Sales Woman: “Are you all set?”
Us: “Yep, thanks.”
SW: “Hey, I need to borrow that for a second. I need it.” *points to registry gun*
Us: *stunned into silence, hand her registry gun*
SW: “Thanks.” *fiddles with it, turning to walk away* “Are you looking to price check something?”
Us: *bewildered* “No, we’re registering.”
SW: “OH you’re REGISTERING. Okay, sorry, I just wasn’t sure what you were doing with that. It’s just that it has special codes, so…”
Me: *put off and pissed off* “So, were you trying to take it away from us?” *fake laugh*
SW: *fake laugh in return* “Sorry!” *hands back registry gun*
Minutes pass. We are now looking at barware. SW approaches us again, this time a bit further from her desk.
SW: “So, is there something in particular that I can help you find?”
Mr. BG: “What? No, we’re good.”
SW: “Did you print off their registry or…?”
Mr. BG: “No, we’re making our registry!”
SW: “OH you’re MAKING IT. Sorry!” *walks away*
Okay, so I get it. You don’t want a couple of crazies running around with a price-check gun that they found on a shelf somewhere (lest we become privy to the “special codes”). But you work in the cookware department. How are you unfamiliar with the concept of registering?! Were it not for everyone else we had met that night, I would have put down the gun, closed out the registry, and never turned back.
Any other registry horror stories?
haha, I’m ambivalent about Macy’s so far. We too were given the “look” when I said no fine china. Also I have every “big ticket item” except cookware, and the lady actually tried to convince me to get a different color KitchenAid Mixer, one that would remind of us of the wedding. Ummmm yeah right. Other than that the stuff has stayed in stock, the ladies seem to be helpful, but sometimes clueless about finding something out of stock. (Told my grandma that doesn’t have a credit card that the only way she could buy a non-store model flute set was to open a macy’s account)
No comments about Macy’s (I found that their higher prices didn’t make up for their better selection on some items), but wanted to add that we also began our registry at about 7 PM on a Friday night!
No offense, but I hardly think that one incompetent employee counts as a HORROR story. That would be something along the lines of Mean Worker Lady accidentally knocks over three sets of fine china, blames it on you, and makes you pay for it!
That bag is a heck of a lot nicer than the plastic, smelly one they gave my guy and I. I had to lug a neon green tote around while we scanned, and the fumes coming off of the cheap plastic were giving me a headache. I don’t know what possessed me to keep the dang thing (now, I’d just tell them to take it back). Must have been that whole “I’m getting something for free” complex that came with my engagement.
Wow, you must usually be really lucky w/ customer service b/c in my experience, that one lady being a bit odd is not a horror story. She sounds more like a dingbat than actually mean…..you were clearly in the right and once she finally got it she saw that too. Yes, it took her longer than it should have to “get it” but still….
I am curious about this toaster slash toaster oven! That sounds like a really neat appliance!
What is with the looks you get not wanting china? I got my grandmother’s china, and no I don’t think I will need a whole new set to go with it. If you think that is bad, try telling them you don’t drink, so you won’t be needing wine glasses. It’s like I was speaking Russian to her.
That story makes me laugh! And on a side note, those hotel collection towels are our favorites!
lol what a funny story miss bg! (probably not at the time though!) i have yet to register but had no idea you got free stuff!
I wonder if the existence of the one lady might be explained away by temporary holiday help…?
My FI and I first registered at Kohl’s. Kohl’s has only been around for a couple years in Washington state, but you’d think they’d train their employees on how to get a registry started!
It took 4 saleswomen and a store manager to find the binder with the directions on how to program our scanner. Then, after walking around and scanning things for 2 hours, we followed our printed directions for closing out the registry and took our scanner back to the customer service desk. This time, it took another 4 saleswomen, an intern and the manager to figure out how to get the scanner to download into the computer. While they were earnestly following their binder-instructions, I noticed that the computer they were downloading into was frozen. Nothing would happen when they clicked a mouse or tried to type something. Being a computer person, I tried to tell them, at least 3 times, that the computer was frozen and would need to be restarted. Finally, someone listened and tried to turn the silly thing off. Of course, they only turned off the monitor because the actual computer was in a locked box below the workstation! As I tried to, kindly, point this out, they put the scanner in it’s “download cradle” and pressed a button. Nothing happened…or so we thought. When everybody finally figured out that the computer was still frozen, they restarted it correctly only to find that all the information that was on our registry scanner had been downloaded into the frozen-computer-oblivion and was erased. So, three hours and nine employees later, we had absolutely nothing to show for it…except a 20% discount on our next purchase (as a thank you for our understanding).
My fiance and I decided that we could be mad about it, but, when all was said and done, the experience itself was fun (except the end, of course) and, while we weren’t going to go right out and scan everything all over again, it was good to know that we already had a lot of stuff figured out…even if it had been erased!
When I went in a few days later to scan our items in again, I was told that this wasn’t the first time they’d “accidentally” erased a registry. The last time it happened, the bride-to-be told her fiance to go get a beer and wait for her. She then took the sales manager around and made her write down every single item that had been erased (SKU number and all). Then, she stood over the manager as they were manually entered into the computer registry. Obviously, she took it a little harder than I did!
Haha, your story made me laugh!
Here’s an FYI about your Macy’s Registry and their “Rewards Program” which kind of pissed us off… so you know that you are supposed to get 10% back from any purchases made with your Macy’s card, and 5% of purchases made by guests off your registry. Fabulous, right?
Well, we ended up returning a large portion of items that we received from our registry and got store credit. When we made the returns, they also took away our 5% rewards!! I would understand this if they gave us a cash/check refund, but since we got store credit, we are STILL spending the money there… why take away our reward! BOOO!
My best friend, in whose wedding this fall I was maid of honor, was registered at Macy’s. I bought her several items off her registry, plus one item not from her registry, from macys.com.
Since she lives 7 states away from me, I had everything shipped straight to her house. Macy’s doesn’t show you the address when you’re shipping, it just says you can ship the gift straight to the bride and groom’s registered address. Great, right? Well, when they registered, they lived in an apartment; but after getting engaged, they bought a house and moved in about eight months before the wedding.
When I got my email receipt for her gift, I noticed that her old address was the shipping address! I called her to tell her about it, and she said she had tried changing her address with them a couple times, but for some reason it never “took”. But she said her old apartment complex had been forwarding her packages, so don’t worry about it.
This worked out fine until it came time for the one non-registry item to ship (I bought 5 or 6 things off the registry and they shipped in 3 or 4 separate shipments due to in-stock availability.) The last item STILL shipped to her OLD address, and in this case, instead of forwarding it, she got a notification that it had been sent to her old address and ACCEPTED by someone! When she called to tell them about this, they said they would send a truck to pick it up and bring it to her new address. She said she doubted they’d be able to track down this package which had clearly been claimed by someone and wanted to know how long she should wait before she called them AGAIN to find out where her gift was.
The gifts were purchased in early October. The wedding was in late October. It is now Dec 18 and she is still missing the pie plate I bought her.
The best part of all this, is that SOMEHOW in the changing of her address, they somehow (I have NO idea how) changed her registered email address and replaced it with mine. So I was getting her gift shipping notifications.
Not the WORST that could happen, but a definite annoyance. Luckily it was me, her best friend, who was getting her emails, instead of a co-worker or second-cousin or some other random person who’d bought something off her registry.
I registered at Macy’s and I thought it was total crap!!! Firstly, the customer service lady who took our information BEGGED us to give her an “Exceptional” on the email survey and told us that it is directly linked to her performance rating. When it came around to the email survey, I felt so uncomfortable that I felt obligated to give her an Exceptional, even though she was just normal/average! My FI told me to just answer honestly but I got a little worried that since it was directly linked to our registry, it obviously is not private and she would know it was me who gave her a less than exceptional rating.
ANYWAY, three times in ten minutes she talked about how important registering for China and Waterford crystal is for our wedding. When I explained that we have heirloom china and won’t be needing to register, she basically pouted and ignored me, saying that “everyone will want to buy you china, so you should still register for a pattern”. Once again I felt uncomfortable. After I was finished scanning items, she told me she noticed that I didn’t go into the China department and that I only stuck to the cookware section. I was just really put off by the whole experience and a few days later, I took everything off my registry and registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond. They had the exact same items for the same price or less, and they will refund your gifts in cash. Yes, I got that Macy’s bag, but it’s just a tote bag and I already have hundreds of them. I wouldn’t recommend Macy’s to anyone.
Wow, mine was definitely not a horror story! At the time, I was horrified, but it’s nothing compared to having to redo your registry or not being able to change your address!! Craziness!
I love those towels! I don’t think the “mean worker-lady” is mean at all. She at least apologized. She’s just a bit on the not-so-smart end.
[...] …But really, it was over a month ago that we started our registry… [...]
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Mrs. Bubblegum, Exeter, NH Age and Occupation: 24, Actuarial Analyst Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Ressearch & Development Engagement Date: February 9, 2007 Wedding Date: May 2008 Blogging Since: November 2, 2007 Venue: Dunegrass Golf Club About Me: I can be summed up by the four things I love most: kitties, cheese, math, and Mr. Bubblegum. I am knee-deep in DIY projects to keep wedding costs low but quality high for the special day when I get to marry my bestest friend.
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