Sometimes customer service in NYC’s fashion retail stores is almost as frustrating as the many bugs and Mosquitos lining up to drain your blood!! However it differs from store to store, the high end and more expensive stores tend to be more accommodating and offer more assistance, while stores like ‘Forever 21’, H&M or ‘Zara’ offer little or no assistance at all. The reason for this is very simple. There are far too many customers in the lower-end, more affordable stores which makes it difficult for the store staff to offer personal assistance.
This can take some getting used to if like me, you are travelling from places that take pride in providing excellent customer service. For example, during a visit to the W34th Street Forever 21 store, I fell in love with a pair of shoes that were on a mannequin in an in-store visual display, and since I could not see them anywhere on the shop floor, I located a member of staff. This alone should have been fairly easy but it took a long time to find someone that actually worked at this store, and when I finally did the staff member simply said ‘those must be the last pair’ in a dismissive ‘you’re bothering me’ attitude and that was the end of it.
Contrastingly, I went into Bottega Veneta on Fifth Avenue, the staff were so welcoming, although this was clearly due to the fact that this brand is high end, so therefore it was not crammed to up the ceiling with shoppers. To my delight, upon entering I was greeted with seemingly genuine smiles and as I perused the shop, another member of staff approached me after I had politely declined three earlier attempts of assistance. What made the difference in this store was the way in which the staff appeared as if they genuinely wanted to assist me, unlike busier stores in locations such as W34th street and Times Square, where if you’re lucky you’d be approached by a member of staff who is most likely to disappear the first chance he/she gets.
The woman who approached me in Bottega Veneta’s Women’s Bags department politely offered to give me a tour of the shop and to show me ‘her’ favourite bags. This was in a very natural and friendly manner so I had no reason to decline. While we went around the shop, she asked me lots of questions about myself and the type of things I like in a bag, she showed me several bags, two of which matched me perfectly. The way she presented them to me was an art in itself, in fact so much so that I even considered buying the beautiful ‘Roma’ bag that I had completely fallen in love with!. Priced at only $3,520 it would definitely leave a huge dent in my already practically empty bank account! This was one of the best customer service I have ever received, I felt valued as a customer and I would have definitely bought that bag right there and then. I still might…
Moon Coated 