Horrendous experience @ Cartier boutique

[Mima86]

Hi all, would like your advice on a recent experience at a flagship boutique.

I went in to get my love bracelet engraved and the SA seemed unfriendly and cold. I ignored her attitude and just proceeded with what I went in for. My initials are T.B. And when I asked for this on my bracelet the SA laughed out loud and compared me to the infectious disease TB. Needless to say I felt humiliated (even though I had no reason to) and hurriedly left the store.
Fast forward a few weeks, bracelet took longer than expected but eventually they call me to collect and I explain that I live in another city as I did when booking the piece in. Was told this was no problem and they could just post to me. Anyway, the SA who called me was again rude and repeatedly kept pronouncing my name incorrectly. Again, I was mortified, but just just ignored it. She then confirmed they could post the bracelet to me but asked me to tell her my address on the call. I declined to confirm my address over the phone for fear of misspelling and also knew they had my details on their systems already so didn’t want to go through the pain of phonetically spelling everything out! I told her to check their systems and she got annoyed and short tempered and said she was v busy. At this point I wasn’t taking any more rudeness so insisted she find my details. She then went on to their systems and presumably searched by my surname and then started quoting the names (of people who shared my surnames) and full addresses of two other Cartier customers. At this point I was simply astonished at the lack of care and customer services so I asked her to stop and pointed out That she had just breached GDPR. Her response was that she was trying to ‘help’ me.
Few days later I receive my bracelet back but on the package my name was so badly misspelt that I wondered if she had used the name of another customer. I was confused because the documentation that accompanied my bracelet seemed to have the correct details. I asked this lady twice to send the details of Cartier customer service but she simply did not.
I then went online and raised a formal complaint for a few reasons but namely the fact they had breached the data of two other customers and I was concerned that this may happen to me but more importantly that I felt bullied/discriminated against because my surname is very obviously non-white. I felt this kind of rude behaviour and facetious comments would not have happened if I were a white lady with a surname like smith. That said my surname is five letters and phonetically pronounced just as it is spelt.
Anyway after my complaint, I received a call from store manager who simply apologised but provided no explanation on any of what had happened and instead as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ invited me to the store again to ‘view some pieces’. Last I checked Cartier was a jewellery shop where people go to view jewellery so how exactly is this a gesture of goodwill? Also, I thought it was a rather insensitive gesture to be honest...
I then asked to escalate the matter and then received a call from Their head of customer service. I explained in no uncertain terms how upset I was at this treatment and a simple apology would not be satisfactory - I wanted them to investigate the incidents fully and then come back with an explanation. Customer service lady then writes back week later saying she had looked in to it and apologised. Once again providing no explanation for the data breach or even acknowledging the nasty comment about my initials. She offers to send me an unsolicited gift which I declined to accept without knowing what it was because I didn’t want to accept anything from them without a full and proper acknowledgment and explanation for my negative experience. I felt accepting a gift would have meant I accepted their cavalier handling of the situation and imply it was okay to treat customer this way, especially because I felt there was a racial undertone to how I was treated. She refused to tell me what she was sending even though I explained the above and instead coyly said she wanted me to have the pleasure of opening it. Forward a few days and generic letter of apology arrived with a Cartier travel pouch as the ‘gift’. I was outraged, first of all at the lack of attention in the letter and then the so called gift that I wanted sleazy to have had the pleasure of opening! Though this was my first purchase with Cartier, My family and I own many of their pieces and have worn their jewellery with pride for generations therefore I was v familiar with this gift... it was a freebie pouch that they give out with purchases. I know this because my mother has several of these that they give her for free. I am no super annoyed and will send back the gift but want advice on how I escalate this further because I believe these incidents are quite serious - I mean they could
Potentially be fined by the ICO if I report them. Please share your honest thoughts. Thanks.

 

[A1aGypsy]

I think you should take your business elsewhere. And, if you must and if you truly believe this was a breach and are honestly worried about your information then you should contact them, ask them to remove your information from their system and then report them if you think you must.

It doesn’t sound like you received great service but you received three apologies. That is all they owe you. Depending on where you live, the law likely prohibits them from telling you about any employment discipline action that are taken. I’m not sure what else you want from them? What do you mean the letter lacked attention?

Also, I wouldn’t have sent you the bracelet without you giving me the address directly. Too much can go wrong with relying on the system. You could have moved, or, as you noted, mixing up clients.

And they sent you something as an apology. Just because it was not a pricy item doesn’t mean it was meant as a snub. Those things are hot commodities for a lot of people. You’ll find posts around here of people trying to get one and not being able to.

 

[Mima86]

The letter lacked any explanation for what had happened and was very much a blanket apology for a bad experience. There was no mention of why any of it happened but instead they said no offence was meant - I take issue with this because the very meaning of a facetious comment like that is to cause offence. You simply do not laugh at or make fun of someone’s name. Not bothered about what action was taken with employees per se re GDPR but instead, I believe they should have provided an explanation on their so called investigation ie was this deemed to be a breach to them and if so did they notify the other two customers whose details they gave out to me? I believe under gdpr, they are obligated to do so. I also believe they are obligated under the consumer right acts to give me this info given it directly impacts me.

I’m in the UK. I know you say I have received three apologies but they are very generic and haven’t really delved into why I was so offended in the first place - because I felt personally attacked. That is what I am so cross about. Have already asked them to remove my details but I don’t think this prevents future data breaches for others!

 

[honeypeach]

@Mima86 I'm so sorry to hear this.
I had read your entire post, I got to say, thank god they didn't make any engraving mistakes!
Usually I don't really care about SA's attitudes etc, because I will "punish" them by going to another SA instead.
However, I haven't have any after-sale experiences, but I hope it would be more pleasant than what you had experienced.
Leaking personal data of other customer is serious, You and I could potentially be the victim of fraud just because some SAs carelessly handle the sensitive information.
I trust the brands and companies like Hermes, Chanel, LV, Cartier etc when I filled in my details at purchase and update them on a timely manner if there's any changes.
This information is not for their employees to toy around with.
Please update me with the outcome of this matter.

 

[Mima86]

I think you should take your business elsewhere. And, if you must and if you truly believe this was a breach and are honestly worried about your information then you should contact them, ask them to remove your information from their system and then report them if you think you must.

It doesn’t sound like you received great service but you received three apologies. That is all they owe you. Depending on where you live, the law likely prohibits them from telling you about any employment discipline action that are taken. I’m not sure what else you want from them? What do you mean the letter lacked attention?

Also, I wouldn’t have sent you the bracelet without you giving me the address directly. Too much can go wrong with relying on the system. You could have moved, or, as you noted, mixing up clients.

And they sent you something as an apology. Just because it was not a pricy item doesn’t mean it was meant as a snub. Those things are hot commodities for a lot of people. You’ll find posts around here of people trying to get one and not being able to.

To be honest, the reason I was so annoyed about the gift is that I explicitly asked them not to send me anything so this was purely unsolicited and she kept coyly referring to this ‘gift’. I understand what you mean about it being a hot commodity for some but I really did not care to receive any kind of a kind for them, just an acknowledgment and a genuine mortified apology, not a generic one! I think that’s the least I deserve...

Also I disagree that I should have had to quote my address on the phone - they called me. They obviously should have had all my details at this point and it would have been highly unlikely that I would have moved house in the four week period between sending in my bracelet for engraving and receiving it back. This was pure and utter laziness on the SAs part.

 

[Mima86]

@Mima86 I'm so sorry to hear this.
I had read your entire post, I got to say, thank god they didn't make any engraving mistakes!
Usually I don't really care about SA's attitudes etc, because I will "punish" them by going to another SA instead.
However, I haven't have any after-sale experiences, but I hope it would be more pleasant than what you had experienced.
Leaking personal data of other customer is serious, You and I could potentially be the victim of fraud just because some SAs carelessly handle the sensitive information.
I trust the brands and companies like Hermes, Chanel, LV, Cartier etc when I filled in my details at purchase and update them on a timely manner if there's any changes.
This information is not for their employees to toy around with.
Please update me with the outcome of this matter.

Thank you! I agree, the consequences of this kind of breach can be serious and lead to fraud and stolen identity etc and that’s what makes me so mad about their cavalier approach. I think the next step is to report to the ICO and just leave it with them to take action because I feel like I am going around in circles with their incompetent staff

 

[GoStanford]

I empathize with you and am sorry to read about your experience. I hope sharing what you went through here helps to dissipate the negative feeling those interactions generated, especially since you have special pieces/a family history of supporting Cartier. I do feel the SA crossed the line by making personal comments about your name/initials, something never pleasant, let alone the sharing of other people's personal info. I am glad you raised your concerns to their customer service over the phone.

I would suggest writing a letter on paper and mailing it to the director of customer service (or equivalent title) for the geographic area where you are located. I imagine letters on paper are not that common any longer, and I hope it will be read and taken seriously, and perhaps will lead to some training for their sales team on avoiding these types of statements and making customers feel comfortable.

Some years ago, I had a couple of negative name-related interactions in medical offices, and in both cases I mentioned the experience in my post-visit survey in the hopes it would lead to some positive changes in the front office communication. I don't know if it did, but I felt I had done my best to communicate my discomfort.

 

[ani108]

I'm sorry you had a negative experience shopping, it's never fun. There are patterns I notice with these stories of negative experiences, the first is that people wait till they get home and try to contact customer service at a later date because they were left with a bitter taste in their mouth and the second is the automatic response of "I'm never shopping there again" (not saying that's what you said in your story but just mentioning it here anyways).

You don't have to keep dealing with the SA you're dealing with at the store - the best solution to solving your problem is to build the courage to deal with it in the moment - the second an SA laughs at me about my surname or comparing it to TB I would have directly told them that a) I did not find it amusing and b) would like them to bring their manager over to speak to me immediately. Either request another SA and explain to the manager why, or in many cases the manager will deal with you directly and take over the SA's job to ensure you don't get a negative experience.

To relay my second point above, I shop at Cartier because I love their pieces. I could care less if I got it online or through a store, and would never let a rotten SA dissuade me from shopping there again, but of course having a pleasant SA does make the experience lovely from the get go.

You can go to the store 15 mins apart and have a different world of experience, I'm lucky to live 5 minutes away from a Cartier boutique and I notice the days where it's so busy that I can walk in and browse and not be greeted by anyone, and other times where the second I walk in and conversing with an SA I'm escorted to a private area and served while looking at pieces at my leisure (and I've yet to purchase anything from this Cartier by my house, I've bought my pieces from the previous cities I've lived in and other cities I visit regularly).

My tip is to find an SA and befriend them, there will absolutely be one person working there that you can get along with - I've befriended 2 SA's and a Store Manager around the world, and one tries to give me anything and everything I ask for - once I asked for a ring pouch cause and she literally came back with 4 pouches and just tossed them in my bag - while the store I visited where I befriended the manager I was asking a random SA for a trinity cord string and she came back with it in a wide long pouch that I've never seen before to "store it" - this could have either been because she was super nice or because she saw me talking to the manager before - I really don't know.

My point is, try out different stores, try out different times, try out different SA's, you'll find your match, you just got a really rotten egg this time

 

[Mima86]

I'm sorry you had a negative experience shopping, it's never fun. There are patterns I notice with these stories of negative experiences, the first is that people wait till they get home and try to contact customer service at a later date because they were left with a bitter taste in their mouth and the second is the automatic response of "I'm never shopping there again" (not saying that's what you said in your story but just mentioning it here anyways).

You don't have to keep dealing with the SA you're dealing with at the store - the best solution to solving your problem is to build the courage to deal with it in the moment - the second an SA laughs at me about my surname or comparing it to TB I would have directly told them that a) I did not find it amusing and b) would like them to bring their manager over to speak to me immediately. Either request another SA and explain to the manager why, or in many cases the manager will deal with you directly and take over the SA's job to ensure you don't get a negative experience.

To relay my second point above, I shop at Cartier because I love their pieces. I could care less if I got it online or through a store, and would never let a rotten SA dissuade me from shopping there again, but of course having a pleasant SA does make the experience lovely from the get go.

You can go to the store 15 mins apart and have a different world of experience, I'm lucky to live 5 minutes away from a Cartier boutique and I notice the days where it's so busy that I can walk in and browse and not be greeted by anyone, and other times where the second I walk in and conversing with an SA I'm escorted to a private area and served while looking at pieces at my leisure (and I've yet to purchase anything from this Cartier by my house, I've bought my pieces from the previous cities I've lived in and other cities I visit regularly).

My tip is to find an SA and befriend them, there will absolutely be one person working there that you can get along with - I've befriended 2 SA's and a Store Manager around the world, and one tries to give me anything and everything I ask for - once I asked for a ring pouch cause and she literally came back with 4 pouches and just tossed them in my bag - while the store I visited where I befriended the manager I was asking a random SA for a trinity cord string and she came back with it in a wide long pouch that I've never seen before to "store it" - this could have either been because she was super nice or because she saw me talking to the manager before - I really don't know.

My point is, try out different stores, try out different times, try out different SA's, you'll find your match, you just got a really rotten egg this time

Hmmmm. I think you may have missed my point slightly... I just wanted advice on possible further escalation. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the courage to speak up at the time, I just simply couldn’t be bothered and did not want to bring attention to myself in a busy store on a Saturday afternoon. That is nothing to do with not being assertive because believe me, I am more than capable of speaking up if I need too. What bothered me is that I had several negative incidents. If the first thing had just happened and the rest of my experience was fine, I too perhaps would have just put it down to a horrible SA and not bothered to have raised a formal complaint. On this occasion I felt it was too serious not to, especially with what followed. I think it’s important to highlight that no everyone will feel like they can or want to speak up and ask for a manager. This isn’t about courage, one may just want to avoid confrontation.

As you correctly say, I didn’t say that I would stop shopping there but depending on the outcome of this, that may change. Yes I love the jewellery but in future I may wish not to give my money to a company who treats customers so disrespectfully and breaches their personal data - that is an infringing of my rights as a consumer. I guess it comes down to principles really and what one stands for. Also, as a big jewellery wearer I have several other pieces of beautiful jewellery so if I stopped shopping at Cartier, I doubt it would have a negative impact on me.

There is also the second issue of the data breach which is v serious especially post the new GDPR that came in earlier this year. Personally, I don’t want my data shared like this.

 

[the_black_tie_diyer]

Hi!

Escalating your case with Cartier/ Richemont SA: Write a letter (real letter, not e-mail) to current Cartier CEO: Cyrille Vigneron

Contact information can be found here: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=321153510&privcapId=877159

On the issue of GDPR, if you want to escalate this, too - file a formal complaint with your countries or states appointed commissioner/representative.

However, I will say that doing so might - in the end - have consequences for that very employee you talked to and I'm also sure that she did not mean any harm to you (or the other 2 customers she accidentally "outed")

Overall I fail to see any actual/factual harm done in this case. And that's why I personally would refrain from pushing an issue to the point where actual harm/ real life consequences will be inevitable. And I would like to humbly suggest you reflect over this once more/ give it another thought before you take any of the two as next step.

How you weigh the severeness of the various details of your experience and handle this from here is solely at your discretion, obviously.


If I was you, I had accepted the store manager's invite and I'm pretty sure he/she would have made sure it was worth your valuable time. They certainly would have not had you stand at a counter to look at some jewelry pieces. That was his/her way of telling you: "We would like to welcome you back at our store to make up for what you felt was inappropriate behavior/ wrongful handling of your request and we want to let you know you're a valued customer and very welcome at Cartier - anytime." while keeping face/ and not getting your hopes up to high (on what would happen) which otherwise would have lead to another case of disappointment.

I'm also pretty sure that beside another personal apology he/she would have elaborated a little more in depth on your concerns in private.

You'd probably would have had a great time.

EDIT: I just realized the link I gave you might not show you the intended information, so I added a screenshot:

Picture/Content copyright by Bloomberg:


Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[limom]

OMG. What more than three apologies is needed?????
The sales person was rude. She/he was most likely spoken too. What more is necessary?
Enjoy your beautiful bracelet already and move on.

 

[Mima86]

OMG. What more than three apologies is needed?????
The sales person was rude. She/he was most likely spoken too. What more is necessary?
Enjoy your beautiful bracelet already and move on.

Not sure if you misread or can not read but there was a data breach which they are obliged to investigate properly...you may have heard of a global regulation that came in to effect this year to protect consumers from breaches like this? I was impacted by an American Express/ British airways data breach last year where my account was impacted and it took weeks to get my funds back. That was the impact of a data breach so rightly so I’m pretty annoyed about this.

Also not sure if you have experienced discriminatory behaviour but by suggesting I ‘move on and enjoy my bracelet’ you have trivialised a serious matter. Shame on you.

 

[Mima86]

Hi!

Escalating your case with Cartier/ Richemont SA: Write a letter (real letter, not e-mail) to current Cartier CEO: Cyrille Vigneron

Contact information can be found here: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=321153510&privcapId=877159

On the issue of GDPR, if you want to escalate this, too - file a formal complaint with your countries or states appointed commissioner/representative.

However, I will say that doing so might - in the end - have consequences for that very employee you talked to and I'm also sure that she did not mean any harm to you (or the other 2 customers she accidentally "outed")

Overall I fail to see any actual/factual harm done in this case. And that's why I personally would refrain from pushing an issue to the point where actual harm/ real life consequences will be inevitable. And I would like to humbly suggest you reflect over this once more/ give it another thought before you take any of the two as next step.

How you weigh the severeness of the various details of your experience and handle this from here is solely at your discretion, obviously.


If I was you, I had accepted the store manager's invite and I'm pretty sure he/she would have made sure it was worth your valuable time. They certainly would have not had you stand at a counter to look at some jewelry pieces. That was his/her way of telling you: "We would like to welcome you back at our store to make up for what you felt was inappropriate behavior/ wrongful handling of your request and we want to let you know you're a valued customer and very welcome at Cartier - anytime." while keeping face/ and not getting your hopes up to high (on what would happen) which otherwise would have lead to another case of disappointment.

I'm also pretty sure that beside another personal apology he/she would have elaborated a little more in depth on your concerns in private.

You'd probably would have had a great time.

EDIT: I just realized the link I gave you might not show you the intended information, so I added a screenshot:

Picture/Content copyright by Bloomberg:
View attachment 4475666

Kind regards,
Oliver

Thanks for this. Very useful indeed.

To be honest, if I were to have spoken to one of my clients like this I would probably (and rightly) get fired too. Regardless of industry I think there needs to a standard of customer service which obviously hasn’t been met here.

The governing body in the UK is the ICO. I happen to know quite a bit about this stuff having been exposed to a breach which led to fraud and also cover it heavily in my day job in finance.
I agree if I had taken up their invitation, they would have rolled out the red carpet, but I simply didn’t want to return to the store so it’s not a massive loss to me.

 

[the_black_tie_diyer]

I will say that I don't agree with you. IMHO its lots of smoke, but no fire - so to speak. Nothing someone should loose his/her job over.

If you don't want to have anything to do with that store in future anyway, simply let it go.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Aimee3]

OMG. What more than three apologies is needed?????
The sales person was rude. She/he was most likely spoken too. What more is necessary?
Enjoy your beautiful bracelet already and move on.

I agree with Limon. As for the “data breach” you yourself say you refused to give her your address. The SA needed to confirm which was your address since there were other people with your same last name. If you had given her this information like she asked, she wouldn’t have had to weed through the list with you.
You wouldn’t have been happy if she sent your bracelet to the wrong address!