Completely weird, off-putting experience in Soho Tiffany

[jedimaster]

I went into the store and asked to see the silver Return to Heart necklace. The SA showed it to me and when I asked to try it on, he raised an eyebrow and said "Is this for you?" I said yes. He said, this is really only for teenagers. I said, oh, is there an "adult" version? He said, "Women wear gold and diamonds"

Good to know, real women wear gold and diamonds (?!)

Needless to say I did not buy the necklace and certainly was not going to buy it from him. But seriously, except for the fact this piece looks a bit tarnish-y even in the store, is this piece really not appropriate for a grown woman? The YouTube Kate Swan wears it and she looks like a grown up to me.



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[stacy_natalie]

Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience. I didn't realize jewelry came with age limits. I say wear whatever the heck you want! SA sounds like a condescending douche. Try not to let his rude and inappropriate comments bother you. He has no reason to be snooty..... after all, he's working there, not a customer lol

 

[MsKaren]

Weird selling technique he’s got there! I’m 40 and still wear some of their silver pieces and I know a couple of ladies in their 50’s with Tiffany silver necklaces and they look lovely on them. If you like it buy it!

 

[casiecn]

That stinks that you had a bad experience especially when visiting a luxury store. I say buy the necklace if you love it (obviously not from him of course). I am 46 and I have a silver Return to Tiffany’s heart necklace with arrow toggle. I just purchased this past Feb and I love it. All ages can wear the RTT line. A side note, you should let a sales manager know what he said. It is unacceptable!

 

[foxgal]

That person needs to go back to his car salesman position!

Imho the RTT line does skew younger, but it can look great at any age. I know many “mature” women who rock it, including a wealthy investment manager friend of mine who wears the chunky RTT necklace with her suits and it looks fabulous.

And I wish people would stop thinking of silver as second-rate... it is a precious metal. I’m in my fifties and wear silver everyday, including Tiffany, because I like the color of it BETTER than gold. Tarnishing isn’t an issue with my pieces because they are worn 24/7, plus silver is easy to clean if needed.

 

[QuelleFromage]

I would seriously write a note to customer service. That's straight-up obnoxious.

 

[trunkdevil]

Catty sales people suck. You asked to try it on, it’s for yourself clearly. At no point did you ask for his (ignorant) opinion. Why is he telling you what you should be wearing? Inappropriate to say the least. I would have reported him to management.



If you love it, get it and wear it.

 

[880]

Someone else on TPF reported a similar poor customer service issue with Tiffany staff, but in London. IMO, this points to a serious issue with universal staff training and company culture. Plus, mansplaining jewelry. I’m sorry you had to deal with this. Hugs

 

[A bottle of Red]

Sales people who give their unasked 'honest opinion' which is in reality just rudeness are horrible and can really put customers off the purchase.

 

[jellyv]

Dreadful. The worst rudeness combined with blatant upselling.

 

[Bag peace]

What an odd way to try to upsell you! It's so blatantly condescending and uncalled for.
If you're comfortable doing so, please drop in and speak to a manager about this (as others have suggested) so that he doesn't take that tone with other customers. If you'd rather forget about it, I don't blame you, just shake it off and don't let him ruin your fun. He doesn't have the right.
You can wear anything you want, at any age, and nobody has the right to judge you for it. I hope you find a piece that speaks to you (from another store or from another brand) and wear it with pride!

 

[tess94]

I can’t believe he said that to you!! I’m so so shocked. I’ve never heard of Tiffany behaving in this way. I’ve visited the Orlando one, Vegas, NYC, LA and London one and they were all great experiences. You definitely need to report it because he’s potentially doing this to other women and it’s totally unacceptable. Customer service like that has no place in any industry, never mind Tiffany & Co!

 

[sdkitty]

Dreadful. The worst rudeness combined with blatant upselling.

and if the customer can't afford the gold or doesn't want it, he's losing a sale for the company

 

[ManonLC]

I am so sorry that the sales treated you rudely. Unfortunately, I had similar experience with a SA in Boston Copley store. I brought in some online order to return, and tried to browse other items. That sales person was not happy with my return (I don't quite understand this as it's an online order, nobody is losing any commission), and he said some slightly racist stuff (asking for my ethnicity and say oh you ppl love to shop during tax free weekend because you love to save etc. Well who doesn't? Otherwise why bother having a tax free weekend? ). Anyways I do not think it will hurt Tiffany to train their sales a little better to avoid INSULTING their customers.

 

[DME]

@jedimaster, I’m so sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately from what I’ve seen here and based on my own recent experiences, it seems this is the way forward for Tiffany lately. Back in July at a Vegas location (Caesar’s), I asked to see a white gold chain that retails for about $400; I was looking to replace another chain I don’t much care for on a non-Tiffany pendant I own. I already had a bad experience at the Bellagio location in April when the RTT piece I wanted to see was not in stock and the SA was snippy about it, saying he could order it if I really wanted it (I found the piece at the Caesar’s location instead, which is why I went back there to see the WG chain). I asked if I could try on the chain, which was an easy yes from the SA, but no mirror was offered, so I asked if I could walk over to the one on the wall to see how it looked. Reasonable ask, right? It’s worth noting I was leaving my Birkin on the counter and my 16-year-old with it, and we were buried pretty far in the store, so it’s not like I could easily run. And have I mentioned it was roughly $400, so cheap for Tiffany? The SA said I could, but only if he could accompany me to the mirror because that was store policy. I was flabbergasted, since this has never happened to me in any store, not just Tiffany!? I have even been encouraged to take sizable diamonds outside in the Caribbean to see them in the light, always unaccompanied (which does make me nervous, but I appreciated the trust). I mentioned to the Tiffany SA that this seemed unusual, but he brushed it off like this was their standard operating procedure. Um, no, not once in more than 20 years of shopping at Tiffany has this happened to me. Luckily I didn’t love the chain and hated that it wasn’t the more secure lobster clasp, so I could deny him a sale, but I’m not eager to return after that. Is this some new marketing strategy whereby SAs treat customers terribly so they will buy the piece - any piece - just to show the SA they can? Because that is what it felt like to me, a bit of a bullying strategy.