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.
