Retailers and their customer service - good and bad.

[Arkady]

In regards to the shadowing thing, I do not think someone your age going into such a store is a regular occurrence -- par for the course, no?

[round]

In regards to the shadowing thing, I do not think someone your age going into such a store is a regular occurrence -- par for the course, no?

I doubt it is a common occurrence, but both times I went in I was dressed in carpe, ph and the like. Despite my age I've never had the same shadowing and rudeness at any other high end store. I think the problem has less to do with my age, and more to do with the store and its environment.

[gregor]

As far as the security system, they do have a very large man as a security guard

sounds like serpentine

[Nickefuge]

In regards to the shadowing thing, I do not think someone your age going into such a store is a regular occurrence -- par for the course, no?

I think it helps to hire one or two "young" SAs to take the pressure off of younger clientele. A local store that carries some of our beloved brands did so and it’s definitely more pleasant to deal with someone who’s around your age.

[fncyths]

This is the golden rule : pay attention!!!! :

Try this next time, introduce yourself and tell them it is your first time visiting and you've heard great things about their shop. As them about their buying philosophy and bring up a few brands that you are particularly interested in. Ice broken, guards usually come down quickly after that, and the experience tends to be very good from here on out.

...it's quite likely the folks working in them are members of our community here, interested in the same types of things as us. Embrace that....it will go a long way.

All it takes to break the ice is to just say hi, and voice the purpose of your visit. Most people appreciate the gesture and will go out of their way to make the experience pleasant.

What I've observed in extreme annoyance is a gang of kids rushing in, gushing over the latest 'steez' and then IG'ing the hell out of it to broadcast and validate their imbecility.

round- since I gather you still might be shitting green and with the blessing of a heavy purse, find the one SA that you like and start off by shopping with them. I love the English girl at IF and prefer to shop with her than the grumpy old queen who's been there for years

At the end of the day it doesn't matter who you're with or even what you're wearing - a dick is a dick - and if you come across like one in anyway - you'll be sternly dismissed ...

Happy Shopping

[round]

I'll make sure to introduce myself if I go back, I don't know what I could've done to come off as a dick though, I smiled at the employees, didn't knock anything over, hung the two things I tried on back up where they were originally..

The overall atmosphere of the store seems to be very judgemental and pompous, I suppose it is one of those stores where if they like how you look, they will be courteous, and if not, then they couldn't give a fuck. Ill stop cluttering up this thread with IF talks, thanks to everyone.

[the breaks]

I find it a bit strange that you would have to "woo" a shop to get friendly treatment but oh well.

[TriggerDiscipline]

nah nah let's chill out here defending If, it doesn't matter what you're wearing they are hands down the worst service I've ever gotten in America. I went with my girlfriend during the summer and not a single hello or anything basically was just left to my own devices and was straight up ignored by the SAs, It's funny to me how they have Japanese staff and give zero of the service that is expected. culture shock over this considering how we are treated everywhere including Idol and bbs that we had visited prior, the lovely lady at POTN hooked us up with water without even asking, but if was a serious disaster, I don't understand why anyone would support that store. I was having a full fledged conversation in Japanese in front of the SA saying how we are getting zero service and in Japan this would never happen and we got ignored and I'm 100 percent positive this person understood what we were talking about. atelier was also very friendly and if I had the time to visit zam barrett, there is hospitality there like no other, so with all these options what is the point?

[TriggerDiscipline]

also about POTN they have some serious shadowing but it actually didn't bother me for some reason too much because the guy didn't talk at all.

[round]

atelier was also very friendly and if I had the time to visit zam barrett, there is hospitality there like no other, so with all these options what is the point?

my point exactly, it sucks because I love to go see elena dawson in person, but I really just feel weird when I enter IF, Atelier employees are always lovely, Hotoveli is AMAZING, especially Nancy.

[Law]

I went with my girlfriend during the summer and not a single hello or anything basically was just left to my own devices and was straight up ignored by the SAs

That actually sounds like a good thing to be honest. Far better than being shadowed or having an overzealous and friendly clerk gunning you for a sale.

[TriggerDiscipline]

depends on what kind of level of service you want, here in Japan I like having an SA with me to talk to about collections, CCP speculation, construction, design inspiration, talks with the designer, personal friendly talk, etc. I expect to be greeted by the store when I walk in (atelier took this a level further by knowing who I was) and I expect to be shown what they have that could interest me or something Idk, it's like walking into someone's curated space, you have a more compelling experience and learn more about something if your SA has that level of expertise.

the issue for me is when I know more than the SAs, that's not fun for me.

[TriggerDiscipline]

depends on what kind of level of service you want, here in Japan I like having an SA with me to talk to about collections, CCP speculation, construction, design inspiration, talks with the designer, personal friendly talk, etc. I expect to be greeted by the store when I walk in (atelier took this a level further by knowing who I was) and I expect to be shown what they have that could interest me or something Idk, it's like walking into someone's curated space, you have a more compelling experience and learn more about something if your SA has that level of expertise.

the issue for me is when I know more than the SAs, that's not fun for me.

if you ask anyone here in Japan In the industry, if you're running a B&M it's not about customer satisfaction but moving your customers in a deep or emotional matter, it's going the extra mile or doing something to make your experience that much better, and there's several real ways of doing this, for example there are stores that send me personalized letters, hold on to things on a whim for me just to see it because the owner or whoever was there thought it would be perfect for me, or call me to invite me to preorder events or parties or whatever they are holding, doing stuff like this allows them to develop personal relationships with their customers (in this case me) , on the other hand there are other stores that I just walk in and look at another rack for about 5 minutes and then walk out and I do this seasonally, I always thank them before I leave and greet when I walk in so it's not like there isn't an attitude or coldness from my side for them to feel weird about engaging in conversation it's just people don't really care that much to make a sale or anything.

Idol and BBSNY also send me emails and details and it's nice to read the emails.

seven Helsinki was very considerate to me last week when I ordered for them and they helped me with my order + hand written note in the box with zero problems and easy everything..

as for LNCC I ordered something 12days ago and it was shipped a couple hours ago and by the way it's going I'll probably recieve it in February but we will see.

[dji]

re: LN-CC the we allow up to 30 days to issue a refund after processing it in the warehouse is all kinds of bullshit..

[Thirteen]

TriggerDiscipline I fully agree with you on LN-CC. They could definitely use a speed upgrade on their "processing" time. I don't know if this is only true during their 'sale period' or if it is the case all the time. I'm still patiently waiting for my tracking number from them placed on Jan 6th.

Along with this same topic, Svmoscow also seems to be mighty slow when it comes to "processing" time. I'm still here unsure if my order from last week has been shipped out or not because their website details don't show me anything.

But I feel that since the stuff I'm purchasing is so heavily discounted I'll excuse the above mentioned retailers for the long wait time (even though it really shouldn't justify it).