Are we using the recession as an excuse for lousy service.

[wdwfan16]

So yesterday I'm shopping at my local Macy's and I find a lovely winter coat that I have been needing for 3 years at a really good price. I purchase the coat and when the sales girl goes to wrap it up she takes it off the hanger.
I politely ask her to keep it on the hanger and she says they are no longer allowed to give away hangers. We go back and forth, very nicely she agrees that it stinks and since I use to work it retail so I didn't want to give her a hard time. I thank her, return the coat and go to customer service where I ask to speak with a manager.

Long story short, manager explains that they are in a slump due to the recession (like I don't realize it's a recession) & that this is a new policy to cut cost. I try to explain that he is losing a $200 coat sale for a $10 hanger, along with any potential good feelings I may have had about the store.

So, my question is are we accepting lousy service and lousy quality because its a recession?
My dilemia is that it really was the first coat I've seen in a few years that I loved and the price was great but it just galls me to accept lousy service.

I notice it here on the Dis. Whenever some one vents about bad food quality or a rise in prices at the world, we (I do it too) say "well it's a bad economy, every one's cutting back.

You seriously returned the perfect coat that you have been searching for 3 years over a stupid hanger? Why not use the hanger that your old coat you were replacing was hanging on. When I worked retail we kept all the hangers. We used them.

This was not a case of poor service but entitlement.

When I go shopping I never want the hangers, unless it is an item that needs to stay hung up when your transport it home. A coat is not such an item.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

So yesterday I'm shopping at my local Macy's and I find a lovely winter coat that I have been needing for 3 years at a really good price. I purchase the coat and when the sales girl goes to wrap it up she takes it off the hanger.
I politely ask her to keep it on the hanger and she says they are no longer allowed to give away hangers. We go back and forth, very nicely she agrees that it stinks and since I use to work it retail so I didn't want to give her a hard time. I thank her, return the coat and go to customer service where I ask to speak with a manager.

Long story short, manager explains that they are in a slump due to the recession (like I don't realize it's a recession) & that this is a new policy to cut cost. I try to explain that he is losing a $200 coat sale for a $10 hanger, along with any potential good feelings I may have had about the store.

So, my question is are we accepting lousy service and lousy quality because its a recession?
My dilemia is that it really was the first coat I've seen in a few years that I loved and the price was great but it just galls me to accept lousy service.

I notice it here on the Dis. Whenever some one vents about bad food quality or a rise in prices at the world, we (I do it too) say "well it's a bad economy, every one's cutting back.

I don't think it's bad service at all. If that's the stores policy then it's the stores policy and not bad customer service.

 

[vettechick99]

I'm wondering if the hanger was the special kind that coats and suits need. The bulky ones that curve around and stop the coat from getting those dents. ?

I know that if my DH went to a store and bought a pricey suit, and they wouldn't include the hanger, he would have walked out too.

 

[MsDisney23]

I hope your old coat keeps you nice and warm, sounds like it might be another three years before you find the hanger your looking for... opps. ment coat.

There's noway if I saw a coat that I really liked after looking for three years, I would pass it by due to a hanger...

 

[wdwfan16]

Yup, it's not about the hanger, it's the principal of service. The Macy's in our area, we have two within a mile of each other, are not worth shopping at. Dirty, overpriced, cheaply made merchandise and you then you have to search the stores to find a register open. I stopped going there years ago.

So how do you now that today that "Dirty, overpriced, cheaply made merchandise and you then you have to search the stores to find a register open." is still true. Maybe they remodeled, have better prices (the OP told us this), found better placed to make their merchandise and have all the registers man.

 

[mariolatry]

I want to know which which airline it was.

Northwest Airlines.

 

[wdwfan16]

Exactly! I think it was very tacky for them to not include the hanger for transportation purposes alone... they could have offered a plastic one! I would love to know how they managed to put the plastic cover over the coat without the hanger? Were they really planning on folding a $200 coat and stuffing it into a bag? Seriously? That is just tacky, poor service. Macy's makes PLENTY. It't not like OP was purchasing a shirt and requesting a wooden hanger, she was purchasing a winter coat!

I depends on what kind of coat it was. If it was a ski jacket type coat I would just stuff it into a bag.

 

[mhsjax]

You seriously returned the perfect coat that you have been searching for 3 years over a stupid hanger? Why not use the hanger that your old coat you were replacing was hanging on. When I worked retail we kept all the hangers. We used them.

This was not a case of poor service but entitlement.

When I go shopping I never want the hangers, unless it is an item that needs to stay hung up when your transport it home. A coat is not such an item.

I agree, entitlement, not buying a coat that you have wanted for 3 years because you didn't get a hanger is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. It is people like the OP that makes me refuse to work for the public. But I have to say that this one takes the cake.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My problem with retail right now is staffing levels. No matter what Kroger store I go to, they only have 3-4 checkouts open with 8 people in each line. Meijer last Saturday at 10:30 AM had 1 regular lane and 12 express lanes open. Do they not want us to buy more than 12 items?

As for the hanger issue, the clerk was doing her job, nothing more or nothing less. I have never had a problem keeping a hanger, in fact I have a bag full of clothes that I bought at Macys in my trunk with the hangers still on the items.

Given the low inventory levels and early cold weather, you may have done Macys a favor as they will likely be able to sell the coat to someone else for a higher cost than you paid for it. As a stockholder, I thank you.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Yup, it's not about the hanger, it's the principal of service. The Macy's in our area, we have two within a mile of each other, are not worth shopping at. Dirty, overpriced, cheaply made merchandise and you then you have to search the stores to find a register open. I stopped going there years ago.

I agree. Macys used to be a nice store to shop at. Now the ones that I go in once in a while are filthy and messy. They have hardly any registers open and nobody to ever help you. Why should I pay more when it is nothing more than a glorified Burlington Coat Factory? I would rather go to Lord and Taylor or Nordstroms. At least the store is clean.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I depends on what kind of coat it was. If it was a ski jacket type coat I would just stuff it into a bag.

This is true, I don't know why, I am just picturing a pea coat or the like.

...had 1 regular lane and 12 express lanes open. Do they not want us to buy more than 12 items?

Seriously! I was at Target the other day, and they had ONE regular line open, and ALL of the 10 or 12 items or less lanes open! They had three manager types standing off to the side talking about how long the line was, but do you think one of them would have stepped on a lane to make things better? No.

 

[janets]

I was just at Macy's yesterday. Mom wanted to look for a new "bed in a bag" since they were having sales and I went along to help.

Ended up looking at the misses department since I needed some new pants. Ended up getting a pair of Style & Co Jeans for $16, and 3 pairs of slacks for work. Two were Everyday Values and the other was marked down 65% so it was about $19.00.

I have found that it's mostly hit or miss at Macy's but I like they way their jeans fit and usually don't find jeans for less than $25 anyway.

The one thing that I absolutely hate about them is their coupons. I would say over 50% of the stuff you want to buy is excluded from the coupons, so you can't get the sale. Dockers, Levi's, North Face, most designers, etc.

I find that if I hit Kohl's with a coupon and a sale, I'll do much better. However, those jeans...

As for the hanger, some stores give them, others don't. I almost asked for the hangers yesterday, as I would have liked to have hangers to put these new pants, but she didn't offer and I figured I'd manage or buy some at Walmart.

Sorry you passed up the coat. I don't think it was poor service, perhaps just a business decision.

 

[sunnyday123]

So, you've needed a coat for three years, you found one you liked at a great price, and you returned it because they wouldn't give you a HANGER?!?!? That was the deal breaker?!?!?!

While I understand you were trying to make a point, I think, as the phrase goes, you cut off your nose to spite your face. It certainly wouldn't have been worth it to me. But different strokes for different folks.

I don't think this was bad service on their part at all....however, I am sure they were talking about the lady that wouldn't buy a coat because she didn't get a hanger, rolling their eyes all the while!!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I'm wondering if the hanger was the special kind that coats and suits need. The bulky ones that curve around and stop the coat from getting those dents. ?

I know that if my DH went to a store and bought a pricey suit, and they wouldn't include the hanger, he would have walked out too.

I would have an issue with them stuffing dresses into a bag without a hanger.
I guess you have to BYOH when you shop now as well as your own bags.

As far as the coat, I would let that slide because a coat is not really going to get wrinkled like a suit or an expensive dress/outfit.

If they wanted to stuff a 200+$ dress into a bag without a hanger, I would probably be pissed and consider not buying it.

 

[merryweather20]

I'm a little perplexed as to why you wanted the hanger so badly. I've bought a few things in my life where the clerk did in deed shove the hanger in my bag a long with the purchase, but I don't think that all my purchases should come with a hanger.

That they no longer have a "free hanger with purchase deal", doesn't seem like a "service" issue either. If the cashier didn't know about the items in her section, or couldn't use the cash register, that would be a service issue.

 

[eliza61]

Wait, you didn't buy the coat (that you said you've needed for 3 years) because it didn't come with a lousy hanger????

I must be really easy to please...I would have gone home and hung it up on one of the wooden hangers I already had.

One less hanger is one less piece of junk I have coming into my house.

Nope, I didn't buy the coat because for $200 I expect a wooden hanger. I wasn't about to buy a coat that they stuff in a shopping bag. I shop at Bloomings, Macys and mid range/high end stores because I expect them to go the extra little bit for customer service.
Walmart or kohl's not so much. Yep, I'm the type that will spend the extra buck for the extra service.

 

[S. C.]

When the economy gets better you will be able to have a free hanger, along with the full price you pay for the same coat. Nothing is really free!

 

[SaraJayne]

Nope, I didn't buy the coat because for $200 I expect a wooden hanger. I wasn't about to buy a coat that they stuff in a shopping bag. I shop at Bloomings, Macys and mid range/high end stores because I expect them to go the extra little bit for customer service.
Walmart or kohl's not so much. Yep, I'm the type that will spend the extra buck for the extra service.

Then it's your loss. I'm sure someone else was very happy to find that jacket without a hanger.

And I also buy high quality, expensive jackets...but I don't expect a hanger. I have decent ones at home I use. I don't expect the store to give me one.

Therein lies the difference.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

When I worked at Penney's in the mid-90s, we "under no circumstances" were to give the hangers away. The very heavy clear ones with the swivel hook, anyway; those were considered "store equipment and fixtures." I worked in the children's department and sometimes the clothes came on those thin white plastic hangers - we didn't remove those. But anything that had to be hung in the receiving/inventory stockroom on the heavy clear hangers, store policy was that all items were to be removed upon purchase and the hangers returned to receiving for re-use. No exceptions whatsoever.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think it's a good thing - most people throw them out, and I'd rather they keep their prices reasonable, and recyle hangers. However, I am surprised they wouldn't let you keep it, and lost the sale.