Horrible SA at Saks (designer shoe floor)

humpybunny

humpybunny

Member
Nov 17, 2009
168
0
#1
I wonder if anyone has had the same experience as I did.

So today, I went to Saks Fifth Ave in NYC, the designer shoe floor. I was walking around and asked a gentleman for a pair of CLs in my size. He got the smallest size out (35) but they were still too big for me. Yes, I have freakishly small feet :shucks: so anyway, I spotted another pair of CLs in the pre sale corner and went over to have a look at them. I wanted to double checked and asked him if they were on pre-sale. he looked at me and said "are you looking for sale?" I said yes and he just said "no sale here". They were obviously pre-saleing their items and some were even on sale. He practically pried the pair of shoes off my hands and put them back on the rack, then walked away. :censor:

I was so embarrassed and felt horrible. Like I was not good enough to buy the shoes there. So i just left. I shop at saks very frequently and the SAs at the ladies contemporary floor are wonderful. I don't know what's wrong with the SAs in the designer shoe department.

On the other hand, a couple of weeks ago, I was also looking at shoes and a very nice salesman approached me. I usually don't ask to try on shoes if I have no intentions of buying them. This salesperson was very nice so I know not all the SAs in that department have a bad attitude. Needless to say, I will NOT be shopping for designer shoes at Saks ever again. i can always go down the road to Bergdorfs to get my shoes. One would think they would want to be nice since they work on commission. :shrugs:
 
#2
I have found that the SA's I've dealt with at Saks in NYC have never been very helpful. I agree with you, I always go over to Bergdorfs because most of the SA's in shoes are actually pretty helpful and accomodating. They've also got a better selection too.
 
#3
There are currently no CLs or Chanels on presale at Saks. Not until mid to late June. No excuse for the rude SA howver! If you check in the CL forum reference thread, there is a trusted SA thread. I am certain several of them must be in NY.
 
#4
There's always that one bad egg. He shouldn't have embarrassed you like that!

I remember one time, I went to a store that specialized in fountain pens in Vancouver, B.C. and I was looking at the pens in the cases, and the woman working there came up to me & asked me if she could help me. I said I was just looking at the fountain pens because I've never had one and was interested in getting one.

She immediately asked me what my budget was, and I told her I'd like to keep it under $100 (since it was my first fountain pen, and I was still a university student at that time...) and she rolled her eyes and shook her head saying "you're not going to be able to get any decent fountain pen for under $200" then walked away. Uh...okay?

The store wasn't even a high-end store (there were lots of pens for under the $100 range) so I don't know where that attitude came from :huh: Needless to say, I went somewhere else to buy that fountain pen.
 
#5
NY leaves a very bad taste in my mouth for shopping, especially the Chanel Boutiques. I never made it into the Sak's shoe salon.

With that said, shopping in LA (Beverly Hills/ Roberston Ave/ The Grove) was a sheer joy? Every SA we encountered couldn't of had been more down to earth, soft approaching and sincere with their efforts...why I even had a gal at the Saks store in Beverly Hills take my hand and walked me to a woman in a different dept. whom she felt would be a better expert for the item I was looking for. If that ever happenen *even in my STL Sak's, I'd swear that I as in the twilight zone?
 
#6
susieserb said:
NY leaves a very bad taste in my mouth for shopping, especially the Chanel Boutiques. I never made it into the Sak's shoe salon.

With that said, shopping in LA (Beverly Hills/ Roberston Ave/ The Grove) was a sheer joy? Every SA we encountered couldn't of had been more down to earth, soft approaching and sincere with their efforts...why I even had a gal at the Saks store in Beverly Hills take my hand and walked me to a woman in a different dept. whom she felt would be a better expert for the item I was looking for. If that ever happenen *even in my STL Sak's, I'd swear that I as in the twilight zone?
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One thing that I've definitely noticed about LA is that they don't assume you can't spend the money even if you're dressed down. There are some exceptions of course...one time I remember a guy on Robertson sneering at my outfit and it upset me. But in general it seems like in NYC SAs are itching for confrontation, and that just ruins my experience.
 
#7
BittyMonkey said:
One thing that I've definitely noticed about LA is that they don't assume you can't spend the money even if you're dressed down. There are some exceptions of course...one time I remember a guy on Robertson sneering at my outfit and it upset me. But in general it seems like in NYC SAs are itching for confrontation, and that just ruins my experience.
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Ahhh...Welcome to New Yawk! The Guy Sounds like the Soup Nazi...No Sale For You!!!



I have mentioned here before that one of my better customers was a rather wealthy woman who showed up to the store in tattered jeans (before that was stylish) at closing time and we almost didn't let her in it was so late. We decided to and havent regretted it :smile: so appearances are misleading. Besides every part of the selling campaign is important and has its place and in many cases sale is when you become profitable.

Finally, I always laugh when sales associates are snobby. As if they are the wealthiest bunch of high end individuals simply because they work for a high end shop. Yo...You work here, I shop here.
 
#8
Tuesdays Child said:
I have mentioned here before that one of my better customers was a rather wealthy woman who showed up to the store in tattered jeans (before that was stylish) at closing time and we almost didn't let her in it was so late. We decided to and havent regretted it :smile: so appearances are misleading. Besides every part of the selling campaign is important and has its place and in many cases sale is when you become profitable.

Finally, I always laugh when sales associates are snobby. As if they are the wealthiest bunch of high end individuals simply because they work for a high end shop. Yo...You work here, I shop here.
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Lol! :lol: So true! Excellent post, TC!!

Right after grad school, I took a job at an upscale dept. store for almost a year. I couldn't believe the elitist attitudes among the SAs and toward the customers. The cosmetics/fragrance ladies were the Queen Bees, followed by handbags, apparel, shoes. If you worked in the mens or home departments, or - heaven forbid - at the customer service desk, you were at the bottom of the hierarchy. There were so many times I wanted to scream, "People, we work at a department store! No one is better than anyone else!"
 
#9
Tuesdays Child said:
Ahhh...Welcome to New Yawk! The Guy Sounds like the Soup Nazi...No Sale For You!!! .
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LOL. And that's why every time someone mentions to me that we could move to NYC, I laugh. I just can't deal. I have good self-esteem but I don't see the point in being yelled at by someone I'm trying to give money to. It's a pet peeve of mine. I refuse to beg to give a vendor or SA my money.
 
#10
HermesNewbie said:
The cosmetics/fragrance ladies were the Queen Bees, followed by handbags, apparel, shoes. If you worked in the mens or home departments, or - heaven forbid - at the customer service desk, you were at the bottom of the hierarchy.
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This is hilarious. One of my first jobs was in a department store considered high end for the area. I LOVED working in men's. I was a floater and wanted a job in men's permanently. The guys were so funny...they would come in and have no sense of color or wanted to dress to impress (usually a woman) and really ate up everything I said. They'd leave so happy.

Loved it.
 
#11
BittyMonkey said:
... The guys were so funny...they would come in and have no sense of color or wanted to dress to impress (usually a woman) and really ate up everything I said. They'd leave so happy.

Loved it.
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A topic for another time. I am a man that has been born and bred into the clothing business. In addition to the businesses we have (both Bricks and Clicks) I have a Blog on this very topic (Color Coordination and matching Men's Clothing). I am consistently horrified as to what many men think is nice and well done in dressing. Here is an example from another forum that so many members were simply fawning over. :throwup:

TBTResolveBetter1.jpg



Go Figure.
 
#13
I totally agree. I've shopped in Vegas before and the SAs were very sweet.

I spoke to one of the SAs at the contemporary clothing department at Saks and she said they're under a union so they're protected and practically can't get fired unless they're caught stealing or something.

I mean why the attitude, seriously? I mean niceness doesn't kill. Besides, we're giving you business. Even if I don't buy something the first time, I will return and eventually buy something in the future.
 
#14
Tuesdays Child said:
A topic for another time. I am a man that has been born and bred into the clothing business. In addition to the businesses we have (both Bricks and Clicks) I have a Blog on this very topic (Color Coordination and matching Men's Clothing). I am consistently horrified as to what many men think is nice and well done in dressing. Here is an example from another forum that so many members were simply fawning over. :throwup:

Go Figure.
Click to expand...

Oh, you should start a thread. Thanks for the blog. I feel like I am beating my DH around the head to dress better. Work shirts and custom suits he gets, because he is so thin (30 inch waist) and long torsoed. But getting him to dress stylishly casually is incredibly difficult.

That picture is barfaricious.
 
#15
On my hunt for Rick Owens Jackets (and an SA at Barney's telling where to go???)??? I found myself at Maxfields in LA. I've heard of it, knew it was highly expensive, but I've never been there. It's an intimidating place, concrete...menacing...bizarre rear entrance with three story cement dragon/monkey statues. I could see the "men in black," a la Prada style, grimacing SA's in the door way. I said to my sister, oh great this will be fun (not). So how stunned were we...these guys were so sweet and nice, genuinely helpful.

My theme for LA? Home of the sweetest SA's EVA! Better then the midwest even~
 
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