Would you purchase from an unresponsive SA?

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hazeltt

hazeltt

O.G.
Nov 24, 2008
2,274
1
#1
I am currently in the process of purchasing a particular pair from an SA overseas. I have contacted her through e-mail a number of times and it seems that she is quite unresponsive. On some occasions, she would respond in one or two hours but sometimes she just wouldn't reply at all. Just to clarify, she is very sweet and kind but the fact that I can't always get a hold of her puts me off. I understand that they haven't received the shipment yet but I think they should still be responding to my e-mails.

On the bright side, I did manage to find the same pair at another boutique (and it's currently available!) but it would cost me $200 more. And it would also make me feel guilty for purchasing it somewhere else because I feel like I'm betraying her and wasting her time. The SA that I have been working with at this boutique is very responsive but for the reasons I mentioned makes me confused as to what to do.
 
#3
My rules for dealing with sales associates that are rude/blow me off/don't give me quality customer service are as follows:

The CLs I want must be...

1. Not readily available elsewhere, are super hard to find, sold out, limited edition or released in one size runs.

2. Are on sale, cheaper or have a favorable exchange rate if I purchase from this particular store/this particular SA.

3. Guaranteed to be mine, will FOR SURE be held for me, will be reserved for me, etc.

Luckily, I have dealt with only one or two SAs that have given me less than basic customer service. I know they work hard for a living, often depend on commissions, have tons of people calling them, are VERY busy and so on, but we also work hard and pay a lot of money for these beauties on our feet.

Sometimes you just have to grin and bare it to get the shoes you want. Otherwise, give your business to someone else. Ultimately, your shopping experiece ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE should be a positive one. How you get that positive experience, be it a great SA or just the fact that you ultimately got your shoes, is up to you. There were one or two times that I had to deal with really snobby and rude SAs in order to score some of my UHG but in the end I was like "Thanks for my shizzzles bizznatch!":lolots: Tell us what you do in the end!

By the way, she could just be really busy and getting back to you when she can.
 
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#5
What you're describing isn't "unresponsive" to me but more that you're not a priority. Would I still give my business to that SA? Not if I had other options. That said, is proving a point worth $200 to YOU? I'm fairly certain you've already asked this and if you're asking this again, I think you're trying to just convince yourself to go for the more expensive but readily available pair. So what's stopping you? :graucho: Because what if the shoes to store B come in and are sold to someone else while the SA is MIA?
 
#6
SchnauzerCrazy said:
What you're describing isn't "unresponsive" to me but more that you're not a priority. Would I still give my business to that SA? Not if I had other options. That said, is proving a point worth $200 to YOU? I'm fairly certain you've already asked this and if you're asking this again, I think you're trying to just convince yourself to go for the more expensive but readily available pair. So what's stopping you? :graucho: Because what if the shoes to store B come in and are sold to someone else while the SA is MIA?
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I think you make a good point about how I'm trying to convince myself because I certainly am doing so. My ultimate worry is that either the boutique will receive the shoe and the SA will not contact me or the boutique will not receive the shipment at all. This has happened before and I really don't want to miss out on this pair. The other boutique has it readily available and the last pair in my size. It seems that the Europe boutiques are the last to receive this style which I don't get because everywhere else received them already. I don't own money tree so $200 is still of a quantifiable sum to me but I don't know if I can rely on this SA.
 
#7
hazeltt said:
I think you make a good point about how I'm trying to convince myself because I certainly am doing so. My ultimate worry is that either the boutique will receive the shoe and the SA will not contact me or the boutique will not receive the shipment at all. This has happened before and I really don't want to miss out on this pair. The other boutique has it readily available and the last pair in my size. It seems that the Europe boutiques are the last to receive this style which I don't get because everywhere else received them already. I don't own money tree so $200 is still of a quantifiable sum to me but I don't know if I can rely on this SA.
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In that case, it comes down to how bad you want it. Is it something you can't sleep without because if so, then I'd buy it. I don't regret buying the several pairs I purchased at full retail because I wanted them so badly... even if they later went on sale. I didn't want to risk missing out. Is this that important to you? If so, I'd do it and try not to find out if that other boutique gets it so that you don't feel bad afterward :p
 
#8
if i had other options, no. i have had many, many experiences with SA's who are unresponsive. example: during the NM sales, i texted my SA and he wrote back "im on vacation for the next few days.not that i dont want your business, but im just really busy with other stuff".. WTF? so i just found them somewhere else. and then i had an SA at barneys send me a list of stuff she thought i would like, and when i emailed her back my order it was silence. crickets. i sent it three times and called and NOTHING. so i found all the shoes i wanted from other places where at least the service was better
 
#9
Vixxen said:
Ultimately, your shopping experience ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE should be a positive one.
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I feel this way as well. If it's worth it to you to get the extra savings, then try and get the SA to assist you.

But when spending a good amount of money on something, I don't want to have to play games or beg for attention. The other day I was planning to purchase a fragrance and was standing at the counter. The only SA in the area was in a conversation on the phone and refused to acknowledge that I was standing there or even pause to find someone to assist me. I walked away and purchased the item online instead.

I like to reward SAs that help me by continuing to do business with them and recommending them to others. I don't plan to put money in the pockets of those who don't help, but that's just me :D
 
#12
Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate it! I think throughout this "journey" of purchasing CLs, I have been pretty lucky with the SAs that I've dealt with. If I encountered an unresponsive SA, I would simply take my business elsewhere because the pairs I've wanted in the past aren't as rare as this one. ;)

SC - I honestly don't know if it's worth the $200 to me. I don't exactly lose sleep over it but I know that if I miss out on it, I would be pretty upset. I am content with my current collection and it would be absolutely amazing if I scored this last pair I hope to get to round off my collection, but if I don't it's not the end of the world.

chanel*liz - I'm so sorry to hear about your experiences with the SAs at the department stores. That response you got from the NM SA is just unacceptable. I tend to stick to the SAs that other tPFers recommend here to avoid all the bad customer service. :p

marbella8 - I don't think boutiques do price matches. And plus these are two boutiques in different countries with different currencies so I don't think that would be possible.
 
#13
I wouldn't purchase from an unresponsive SA.

I've had one pretty negative CL shopping experience at Barney's this time around (a pair of my CLs got lost, because they were shipped to an incomplete address, and the refund is taking forever -and hardly any communication from the SA throughout, except to say "don't worry, it will work out") and although it hasn't put me off purchasing CLs through charge-sends, it has really made me wary about purchasing from less-than-completely-responsive SAs.

My reasoning is that -if the SA is less-than-responsive at/before point-of-sale (where you would assume that they have the greatest incentive to be responsive), they are probably going to be even less responsive if something goes wrong in the shipping/payment process, after the sale has been closed.

Of course, this is just my personal experience, but I would prefer to work with SAs who I feel I can trust, and I am more inclined to trust SAs who are consistently prompt and communicative.
 
#14
If she is sweet and attentive when she does respond, it sounds like maybe she just isn't very organized and perhaps your correspondences are being somehow lost in the shuffle.

I would buy the shoes from her. :yes:
 
#15
jenaywins said:
If she is sweet and attentive when she does respond, it sounds like maybe she just isn't very organized and perhaps your correspondences are being somehow lost in the shuffle.

I would buy the shoes from her. :yes:
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I agree with Jenay
Plus, if you are calling Paris, they are very busy. When I was there last year, they hardly had time to answer phones people walk in the store non stop.
Sounds to me that you just may want the shoes now, if that's case. Be safe and buy them...
 
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