A couple years ago, two of the SA's at my boutique ... the two SA's that I've dealt with the most over time, and I specifically ask for them on the phone ... really put in some effort for me.
The SA that I usually consider to be "my preferred" SA, tracked down a couple t-rexes that I wanted, that were almost sold out. This was first generation t-rexes, if I recall, and it became nearly impossible to find them. Anyway, she took two separate phone orders for me one day (assuring me I was not pestering her), and managed to find both of them at the store in NYC). Ordered them for me, accommodated my usual odd request of always wanting my stuff shipped to the boutique instead of to my house, made sure I got my email receipt ... she's always been very good to me.
Then NYC screwed up. Charged me for both t-rexes, but only sent one in the box to my boutique. When my "secondary SA" discovered this, she talked to me and got on it right away. Tracked down the second last one in the country, and ordered it from California. Then she somehow even did a return for me (without me even being in the store), to deal with the fact that NYC never sent the one they claimed to have sent. After that, my original SA came back on the scene, called NYC and poked at them to point out they'd screwed up, made sure that my "bills" were all correct, so that I was not paying for something we never received, and called California to keep track of the "replacement" one being sent out correctly. And I never even had to go into the boutique during all of this. I only went in at the very end, to pick my items up.
Traditionally, I've often taken the SA's things like candies/fruits-nut baskets/ goodies from Bath and Body Works, etc. But that time ... I would have been a mess trying to sort that out on my own. Especially when NYC claims they sent you something, and it wasn't in the box. But they sorted the entire thing, and made sure I wasn't panicking. Yes, I realize that's considered "just doing their job well", but it meant a lot to me.
So ..... I wrote a letter recounting what happened ... what both of these SA's did ... how NYC screwed up ... how these SA's then had even *more* of a goose chase on their hands, days later, trying to track down that missing item that was, by then, even *more* sold out across the country. I also emphasized that they'd always been good to me, but they really handled NYC's screw up well. (Considering NYC is supposed to be their mothership, you'd think they'd have more of a clue, but apparently not.)
I signed this letter, complete with my email address and phone number, inviting any interested parties to contact me for verification. I also included in the text of the letter, that I was giving each of the ladies a few copies, and I was *insisting* that they give them to whoever was their correct superior (I think one said she gave it to "regional manager" as one example), and that I invited anyone to contact me via phone or email to verify. Then I did exactly that ... gave them each three copies.
One of those ladies has now dropped down to part-time, by her own choice, but the other one is now manager at the store. And quite frankly, I'd like to hope that my letter helped that.
So don't be afraid to speak up.
And if you do anything like I did, just be very clear about including contact info for yourself, and saying that superiors are welcome to contact you to verify. I never got contacted, but at least that way they knew it wasn't some crazy scam.
