Did The BODY SHOP assistant manager just rip me off?

YIB

Hello, I hope it's ok to post this here as I'm looking for some advice!

I can't quite decide what I should do about my experience today in the shop

As some of you may know from the numerous BodyShop thread, I love their products and have spent hundreds of pounds online and some in-store. I've also got a LYB discount card.

My birthday is this month so I received my £5 voucher by e-mail and I also asked for products from the body shop as gifts as I like their products. I bought myself and received a lot of different things but I wanted to exchange a few of the items as they were either the wrong colour or not something I use. I know it says it's ok to exchange products for equal value in-store but I still went in earlier today to explain the situation and ask if it was ok, and I was told that it was. So I returned with the products I wanted to exchange. The lady on the floor had no problem helping me choose replacements.

The assistant manager then took over and gave me attitude and sarcastic comments. I picked out the things I wanted to exchange and bought couple of extra things to use my voucher on. As I gave her my card, I expected she'd take my discount off of the products I was buying, but she didn't!

Now when I was sold the card in-store the girl specifcally said that I even get the discount when I choose my birthday gift as one of the perks! So either the manager ripped me off or the girl lied to me, which is it? :mad:

Aside from the sarcastic comments and attitude she even treated the products aggressively. While they were all on the counter she used her arm to aggressively swipe them off the counter in one movement!! The lady at the till beside was also offered a sample from the basket of mini body butter for free, but I wasn't. Are only some people entitled to these??

After all that I felt bad and uncomfortable for actually exchanging the products so I appologised for the trouble and she went on to sarcastically say: 'that's fine, nothing wrong with getting what YOU want' and sneered at me! :eek:

I've never been treated like that before in the body shop and was quite surprised. If they actually have a problem with exchanging gifts that aren't quite right then why is it in their policy?

Any opinions?


YIB

kazwookie

Report her direct to head office.

What poor customer service.

Traceym

That is appalling behaviour from a shop assistant, never mind an assistant manager.
I would contact the head office immediately and tell them what you have told us, also informing them of the branch and the time you were there so they can identify the offensive staff member and take action. Tell them you are a regualr shopper there and how this experience has made you feel, especially as you requested presents from their store when in fact you could have gone anywhere for the gifts.
I hope you get some satisfaction and that the 'snooty' individual gets her comeuppance.
Please keep us posted what happens.

jenniewb

I've had issues with the Body Shop in the past (nothing like you though!) and I wrote a letter to the customer service department who were very helpful and sorted everything to my benefit and also wrote me a polite letter back again.

I'd second the complaint to customer services- making sure you describe the lady who was out of order rather then just leaving a name as there could be more then one person of that name there. Adding features makes it easier for them to find the person who served you.

Sooler

It’s about time the retail sector was rid of these sort of people, they’re clearly not cut out for the job, they should be removed or retrained – the public shouldn’t be faced with them.
Write to head office, say as a long standing customer on this occasion you were sadly disappointed at the quality of service, horrified that the company is paying the person who is doing them a disservice in damaging their reputation, spoiling their customer experience, and jeopardising future and continued custom.
Say you will have to consider any future visits with caution and trepidation as you no longer have confidence in being able to enter that store with any expectation of service in a courteous manner.

hermum

As all the others say, report. What is it with SOME shop assistants you would think that in these uncertain times job wise that they would be treating each & every customer with a little more respect. I don't want bowing & scraping but a pleasant smile & helpful attitude not only makes the customer enjoy the visit to the shop but would no doubt make the assistants job a little happier.
I've boycotted several shops over the years & I know that it doesn't mean anything to them but it does make me feel a little better.

paulwf

hermum wrote: »

As all the others say, report. What is it with SOME shop assistants you would think that in these uncertain times job wise that they would be treating each & every customer with a little more respect. I don't want bowing & scraping but a pleasant smile & helpful attitude not only makes the customer enjoy the visit to the shop but would no doubt make the assistants job a little happier.
I've boycotted several shops over the years & I know that it doesn't mean anything to them but it does make me feel a little better.

Firstly everybody has a bad day now and then...at times it can be hard to hide it from the public, perhaps the customer before was rude or she is having problems with staff or problems at home. I'm quite good at putting on a "PR smile" but not everyone else is.

Secondly retail work in general is mostly not much above minimum wage and assistant managers can get a lot of extra responsibility for not much extra pay. Hours can be reasonably unsociable with weekend and bank holiday working routine, and there can be a lot of flexibility demanded such as working a short shift one day and a very long one the next. That means retail is rarely going to attract the best employees.

Thirdly Body Shop do have a bit of a reputation for demanding a lot from their managers. I'm not sure what bonus structure there is but I expect it isn't enough for them to really care passionately about their customers. Most of their profits are going to a corporation, it's not like a sole trader where every customer is money going in your pocket.

I do think retail staff should have respect for customers...it's basic human decency. The realist in me though knows that unless you increase wages from £12K to £20K for a customer assistant and make the hours 9-5 Mon-Fri rather than crazy retail hours you're always going to get a few rogue staff. Thankfully most customer assistants ARE polite and friendly, but we have to face it that a lot of the good ones will leave retail for better jobs elsewhere.

greenpixie_2

did you get everything together?

becuase if you were trying to get the discount on the refunds as well then this would not be possible, because the person who had bought it for you could of done that himself.

I know that this is nothing to do with the customer service, i would be e-mailing the head office if i were you. Even if she is having a bad day she should not take it out on you.

YIB

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

With regards to her having a bad day, yes I did consider it, which is why I don't just snap back at people and I do give them a chance to treat me with the same courtesy and respect. I was more than friendly with her, just as I was with the other assistants that responded by chatting to me, smiling, helping me, etc.

If her day is 'that' bad then she should take the day off or do work that doesn't have to interact with customers so much, I don't know! TBH if she's not happy with her job because of pay, unsociable hours, etc. then tbh maybe she should work in a different type of job! Even if she is just doing it for the money, she should still have to do her job right. She's not the only one that dislikes her job!!! If she can't do it right then I'm sure someone else with manners will be willing to take her place!
Even when I worked at a supermarket a few years ago I still managed to be decent to people, and that's definitely not a job that keeps you in good spirits! I don't expect her to be over the top wanting to be my best friend and rolling out a red carpet... just be a decent human being with some level of respect for me as a customer. TBH I think the only reason people like her get away with being nasty when they feel like it is because we've all let them get away with it, as if it was acceptable behaviour. Maybe if we had higher standards and stuck to them, customers might get treated a little better... in my opinion.
No wonder people buy things online more and more, hardly worth going into shops with assistants constantly in bad moods or power trips.

greenpixie, good point I was aware of that though. I basically went in to exchange products for similar ones rather than 'cashing it in' and then choosing new things, i.e., a foundation in colour 02 for one in 03, mango bodybutter for a satsuma, makeup sponge for a headband... I did that first then while choosing the replacements I got a couple of other things to use my voucher on, which came to more than £5 but as these were MY purchases I thought and have a LYB card I should get the discount, at least on the item that the £5 voucher didn't even cover!

I have written a letter and going to post it tomorrow. Not sure how long they'll take to get back to me or what I expect but I'll let you all know how it turns out. Thank you for your thoughts and advice!! It's at least nice to know I'm not being OTT.

professoryaffle_3

No excuse for the bad service and attitude, however I don't think you get the birthday gift and the LYB discount together , so say you chose to spend the £% on a £12 body butter they wouldn't take off the 10% then the £5 instore ,you'd have to choose your gift, get the £5 value then your other items would have to be a seprate transaction and you'd get the LYB discount also some stores are franchises and a law unto itself with how how they choose to honour the discounts /offers etc.

As for the attitude of the SA, as I said no excuse, however refunds /exhanges do come out of their shop budgets/affect stock levels and I must admit it is a bit of a heartsink moment when someone comes in wanting to exchange/refund a load of stuff, but she should not let that effect how she acts to customers, first rule of retail is paint on that smile.

YIB

I can understand that, that is fair enough and is why I made sure to act extra nice and even come in beforehand to ask if they were OK with it! If it affects them so negatively that they feel the need to put off the customer from ever coming in again then they shouldn't have it as part of their policy. That way I can ask for people to buy me gifts from places that won't give me so much hassle if they choose the wrong thing.

I can relate because I worked in a fairly high class restaurant as a waitress, and as difficult as it was to bring food back by picky customers or what have you, I'd still have to do it with a smile and not sneer and make sarcastic comments or throw a plate of food in front of them, it's the restaurant's policy whether they accept 'returns' or not and it's my job to follow it through with some decency and manners! If I didn't, I probably wouldn't get a tip and I wouldn't have been employed for very long! She's meant to be an assistant manager, it makes the company look that much worse.

When I was sold the card in that same branch I was told that one of the perks is I get the discount on my birthday gift as well as sale items and full-priced items. So I want to know why she either lied to me or the SA didn't deduct the discount.

Secondly, I bought a £5 item plus another item in the same transaction, so surely the second item should have at least got the discount? If this isn't the case then she could've let me do a seperate transaction!

I don't work for them so I don't know what all their rules and policies are by heart, I have to go by what I am told. So if she doesn't want to communicate properly with me then I won't know any better.