O/T: American Girl Place

[Dukland]

When my family went to DL in August 2006, I really considered taking my dd, then 5, to the newly opened American Girl Place in the area. I thought that would be so fun, and a great experience. Ultimately, I decided she was a little too young, yet, and I didn't want to eat into our DL time.

Well, if you are considering going there, whether it's part of your DL trip or not, consider this 6 year old girl's experience there.

http://oneofthosehorriblemoms.blogspot.com/2007/03/fake-out.html

 

[hlbtimes2]

As the mother of a child that owns a "real" doll and a cheap Disney knock off- I can see where American girl was coming from. The hair on the $100 AG doll is much easier to style then the hair on the cheap doll. The cheap hair is one of the main reasons our disney doll never got played with.

That doesnt mean I agree with the way it was handled, just that I can see their side of it. It is an American girl doll store. They want to work on their own products.

 

[mamatojade]

How rude.

 

[earthflower]

nowhere on the website for the salon is it stated that the doll has to be an AG doll, only that it is your 'child's favorite' doll.

I am boycotting AG, I hope word gets out!

 

[tinkerbelt]

Oh, how terrible! That poor little girl! No AG for us unless the company bends over backwards to make amends.

 

[snoodledoo]

As the mother of a child that owns a "real" doll and a cheap Disney knock off- I can see where American girl was coming from. The hair on the $100 AG doll is much easier to style then the hair on the cheap doll. The cheap hair is one of the main reasons our disney doll never got played with.

That doesnt mean I agree with the way it was handled, just that I can see their side of it. It is an American girl doll store. They want to work on their own products.

I agree. I've had very positive experiences with AG and this story does not influence my opinion of the company.

My thoughts are, 1) is the mom exaggerating at all?
2) Even if the stylist did act exactly as the mom states, I don't think I would judge the entire company by her. 3) Did the mom ask for a supervisor? Maybe a supervisor would have made an exception or, at the very least, apologized for the rudeness of the stylist.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Oh, how terrible! That poor little girl! No AG for us unless the company bends over backwards to make amends.

Seems a bit harsh. Its one story, in a blog on the internet, from some one you dont know. If someone blogged that a cm was rude to them at DL would you boycott them as well?

 

[tinkerbelt]

Seems a bit harsh. Its one story, in a blog on the internet, from some one you dont know. If someone blogged that a cm was rude to them at DL would you boycott them as well?

If a CM made a little kid cry and Disney refused to make amends or even offer an apology? Yes, there's a really good chance that I would. If a company that caters to children does not know how to treat children, then I would say there is a serious issue, especially when they are charging in the ballpark of $100 for a doll.

AG is in a customer oriented business, and they need to be held accountable to their customers. I try to spend my money really carefully, and the ethics and customer service standards of a company weigh heavily into my decisions on where to purchase things.

 

[tinkerbelt]

That doesnt mean I agree with the way it was handled, just that I can see their side of it. It is an American girl doll store. They want to work on their own products.

If that's the case, then they should really put it in writing or denote it somewhere in their advertising. As of yet, I don't think anyone has been able to find any kind of official written policy that states that the AG salons will only work on AG dolls.

 

[hlbtimes2]

I'm sorry but I find great humor in the fact you would base your support of a company on ONE random blog on the internet. Remember, you can't believe everything you read!

 

[tinkerbelt]

I'm sorry but I find great humor in the fact you would base your support of a company on ONE random blog on the internet. Remember, you can't believe everything you read!

Well, let me put it to you this way then.

This story is pretty much all over the internet. A lot of people have reportedly called AG and have written emails/letters to the company regarding the story. I'm fairly certain that the powers that be at Pleasant Company are aware of the situation (or in the case that it was a non-event, they are aware that the story is out there).

Rather than issue any kind of apology or statement saying that they are sorry for any problems that this might have caused, etc., they have chosen not to respond to it. Even if it isn't true, this is the kind of thing that can really damage a company. I think that the appropriate thing to do in this situation would be to come out with some kind of statement on the issue - either something that says that they are really sorry, or something that says to our knowledge, this never happened, and we can assure you that if it ever did, we would take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation. Being proactive like that tells consumers that the company cares about it's customers. Waiting for it to slip off the radar sort of says that the customers really don't mean much more to them than the $100 that they drop on one of their dolls. Why would I want to spend that kind of money on a company that doesn't take the time to try to smooth things over for their customers? It takes 10 minutes to write a press release.

If this situation or something similar had happened at Disney, you'd better believe that Disney would have been all over it as quickly as possible with some kind of apology or a statement. It's smart customer service.

 

[labagit]

The original blog entry was on 3/16, but with the exception of 2 comments, all the comments have been since yesterday (it's still 15 minutes 'til Sunday here ) I think it's too early to say the company is non-responsive.

I agree that it sounds as if the staff member didn't handle the situation properly, however, it doesn't sound as if the mother did either. She should have considered the fact that perhaps an exclusive store deals only with their brand product. (I certainly wouldn't bring some mouse ears I bought at Dollar Tree to Disneyland expecting to get them embroidered.) She also ( or the parent supervising - I can't tell if she was there or not.) should have spoken with a manager then and there to deal with the situation and come up with a way to make the girl to feel better. I certainly understand her wanting to protect her child, but I don't think the fault for the magnitude of the problem was one-sided.

 

[challada]

Actually, (and I know I'll get flamed here) but I'm appalled by this MOTHER setting her kid up like that and then parading her child's pain (if it's real) to the rest of the world to see. Mom knew ahead of time that the doll was NOT an AG doll, she also knew she was sending her kid to an AGPlace w/something other than AG (like if I brought Bugs Bunny to Mickey Mouse to sign), and she knew her kid was asking for an AG specific SERVICE.

Now, if it was handled the way she claims, I'm sure the stylist could use some tact lessons and surely will be getting some. Truthfully, you couldn't pay me $20 to style the bad hair on the Target dolls as it would probably take twice as long and look half as nice as the wigs on the AG dolls.

There is also a question in my mind why you would want to draw so much attention to your child's pain unless you are looking for attention yourself. Unfortunately, there are adults out there who are much more interested in their own "poor me" attention than the healing of their own children.

Oh, also, I've BEEN to the original AG place...that was my daughter's birthday present/trip. I can say that customer service there was OUTSTANDING and I can't believe for one minute that it would be otherwise. Best service that I saw: they provide brothers and dads w/gameboys and a game to play while the girls do their thing...I saw every child that walked in the door get lots of special attention, whether they were a boy or a girl and whether they had armloads of AG bags or not.

 

[PlazaPavGal92]

challada, I'm not going to flame you but rather applaud you. I've never been to AG in NY but I have a couple of friends who have brought their daughters there and loved it. Yes its pricey but they saved up for it as it would be a one time deal. From a PR point of view, there's no reason to publicly make a spectacle of this situation from either side. This should be done on a one on one basis. If the mother had a problem or felt that her daughter was treated badly then maybe she should have asked for management. Her letter seemed overly dramatic but then again there are people on the internet who thrive on it just to get attention. Plus it just seemed like it was an issue with that ONE employee and not the company as a whole. I am sure when the letter gets filtered through the company that the employee will be reprimanded in some way but probably not drastically as some people would hope.

Disney is notorious for this. I should know, I'm a former CM and my husband is one as well. They provide CMs with generic scripts when it comes to guest complaints and in many cases, they are not sympathetic to your situation especially if its presented in the manner in which the woman wrote that letter in. We were trained to filter all legitimate concerns over those that were just trying to get something free (ie. ticket reimbursements, front of line passes, free meal, free something or the other).

Lastly, Mattel is the parent company of American Girl. If anyone is so upset, then maybe you should either take it up with them (they're in El Segundo, CA) or just avoid all Mattel products...Fisher Price, Hot Wheels, Barbie, etc...and even several Disney and Pixar toys.

 

[Caitsmama]

i feel for both sides.. I don't think it was handled well on either end.

Personally -- Give me Build a Bear! LOL

 

[MateasMom]

I've read about this on a couple of boards, seems to be all over the internet now. FWIW, I think mom is full of it. I'd be more inclined to believe her experiance with the hair salon if the rest of her experience didn't seem so obviously full of it.

I can totally see AG 'refusing' to style a non-AG dolls hair. As someone else said, it's an AG service, designed for an AG doll. Not only would non-AG doll hair be different (and difficult) to style, there may be some sort of liability involved. Like with watch batteries. Back when dept stores/Target type stores would change a watch battery they would only do it on a watch they had in stock....so that when they ruined it they had an exact replica to offer as a replacement. In reality I'm sure AG would have LOVED to have the girls $20, but I'm sure (if in fact they were refused) that there was some logical reason. And....assuming the mother is not completely full of it....maybe she was just feeling overly sensitive because of the situation and she 'read' alot more into the comments of the stylist and the other mothers in line (who Im sure in reality didn't even NOTICE the interaction....if you've ever been in AG place with a young girl you know your attention is just about everywhere EXCEPT the other people in the store).

We've been to L.A. and NYC AG and have recieved nothing but the best service. And we've seen PLENTY of non AG dolls sitting in the cafe, in the AG chairs. Non-AG dolls are CERTAINLY not snubbed at all in my experience.