1 /5 Caro Wilber: I’m at a loss for words for the experience my mom and I had at the Lake George outlets store. The feeling we walked away with was unacceptable! This is a long one so buckle up . . .
My mom has an invisible disability, but she doesn’t let it stop her, and has developed tricks to help. Even so, she is unstable on her feet and cannot stand for a long amount of time. Because of this we always share a dressing room and have never been questioned (at any store) when we ask to share the handicap dressing room. But in this instance the AE associate was extremely hesitant to give us the room. My mother told her that we do this all the time, to which she replied “OK, but If someone comes in a wheelchair, you will be kicked out of the room.” What?! We felt frustrated and dismissed by the interaction. After try-on, I asked to speak to a store manager. Instead a key holder came, who happened to be the same associate that gave us our dressing room. I explained our situation & frustrations-outlining the general bad customer service and the skeptical ADA practices- and told her this was a a good learning lesson. Her response was “you have the right to feel the way you do”. She never apologized in any way or even acknowledged our frustration. She was completely tone-deaf. Feeling completely unheard & disregarded, I asked another associate for the District Manager’s (DM) contact information. This request caused quite a commotion, and suddenly the Store Manager (SM) shows up. She gave a bunch of excuses for the policy to ‘kick us out if someone in a wheelchair needs it’ and doesn’t let us get a word in to explain why we are so upset. Until this point my Mom had remained quiet, but was now trying to tell the SM something and was actually shut down and told to wait so the SM could give more excuses and tell us how seriously she takes ADA. When my Mom finally got to speak she outlined our issues because they were clearly misunderstanding why we were so frustrated: (1) the experience at the dressing room was inappropriate, and exclusive - not every disability includes a wheelchair! (2) the conversation with the key holder was unacceptable. The lack of concern, apology or caring was a customer service failure, but to also disregard questions to ADA practices as ‘your feelings’?! Completely unacceptable.
The SM was uncomfortable giving me her District Manager’s contact information, so she gave me the (very) general 1-800 number. I made my complaint and was told I couldn’t talk to the DM, but they would forward them my message. It was over 2 weeks since this experience, and I just received an auto-reply, generic email saying they would take my complaint under consideration. I never heard a word from the DM. Needless to say, I am fuming.
On top of this, we had also placed an additional complaint with the customer service line because they double-charged us for a pair of jeans and overcharged us for a sale item resulting in just under $80 owed us. In the initial call we were told they could refund us without having to return to the store, which we appreciated for obvious reasons. A week later we got an email that they confirmed the overcharges and could issue an eCredit. We emailed back that we wanted our money back since it was the stores error and that we have no plans to shop there going forward. It’s been a week and no response. I guess we’re going back to the store after all.
I am extremely disappointed and have discussed this store and the response we have received since we made this complaint, to the point where we will not support this brand!
