When Customer Service at Luxury Retailers Disappoints
A Cartier store on Long Island
CARTIER
Société Cartier was founded in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier in Paris and designs, distributes, and sells watches and jewelry.
A close friend needed his watch, a Tank Francaise Chronoflex, serviced and brought it to the Cartier store in Manhasset, Long Island. He was told he’d have a repair estimate in two weeks, which he received in a timely manner. The estimate was for $950 and called for completion of the watch within four to six weeks. Meanwhile, despite repeated calls enquiring about the watch’s status, the repair had not been completed three months hence.
Only when he told the saleswoman to reassemble the watch and return it in its original state did the store offer a discount on the repair and a promise to speed things along.
After all was said and done, the watch was finally returned 16 weeks after the repair estimate was approved and its case still bore scratches, despite the fact that Cartier was to have polished it as part of the service. The store took the watch back to polish it and, as compensation, added a second year to the repair warranty. At the time of publication, the store still has the watch in its possession.
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE
Saks Fifth Avenue, an American luxury department store, was founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks and is today owned by Toronto-based Hudson’s Bay Company, the oldest commercial corporation in North America.
From the cold-case files, I received a phone call from a sales manager at Saks’ flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Darrien, who informed me that in cleaning out a stockroom they found a suit of mine, brand new and tailored, from five years ago. In a very matter-of-fact manner, as if this happened every day, he said he could either send it to me or, if I didn’t want it, he would arrange for it to be donated. He brusquely demurred to transfer me or provide the manager’s name beyond “David,” and cited “store policy” as the basis for his offer of how to resolve the matter.
Fortunately, Saks has a very thoughtful director of client services, and my calls to several Saks executives resulted in a phone call from him. From the start, he seemed genuinely troubled by what had transpired, from the lost suit to the phone call. He immediately offered to do three things, namely send me the suit, have it refitted at Saks at my convenience, and give me a store credit for the full amount of my 2012 purchase, adding that there was no such policy as Darrien had cited and apologized for both having lost the suit and how Darrien handled the matter on the phone.
(Photos: Accura Media Group)
