Businesses say it’s a tough economy
But some have no notion of customer loyalty
I recently purchased shoes from a local store. The pair I bought didn’t suit the purpose as the zipper was too hard to manipulate, so I returned the shoes in exchage for a velcro-type shoe. The shoes I wanted were 30 euros less, so I expected a refund of 30 euros. The store has a policy: no refunds, credit only. As a long time customer, I expected they could make an exception and refund the sum. No, they insisted I can come back anytime and buy something for 30 euros. Here is why I think this is abusive.
1. What if I was passing through and don’t live in the same city? It’s an independent store, so any other store in the country will not honor the credit.
2. The credit is not valid for a purchase on Mephisto’s online store because it’s not connected, it too is independent.
3. So the customer is obliged to come back and find a product or products that are exactly 30 euros. If not, either he has to pay more money to the store, or he loses the difference.
Wouldn’t you, as a business, want do everything reasonable you can to keep customers happy? Is it unreasonable to ask for the change back? I see no excuse for this besides “It’s company policy”. I have calmy asked if they really don’t mind losing two customers who have spent hundreds at their storeover the years. I asked to contact the owner, but was refused any details. There’s a manager, but that person refused at the time of the exchange. I looked at the online catalog and found two items I could use. They totaled 30 euros. When I went back, I find that the store price is higher than the online one, so that didn’t work. I was going to be forced to give them 5 or 6 euros more. No matter what happens here, they’ve abused the confidence and loyalty their communications people thank us for.
I would have thought the brand would be concerned about such a rule, but they tell me they have no control and it’s up to the store to determine their policy. The sales person kept telling me it’s an independent store, not dependent on the Mephisto company. My answer to that is that they can do what they want, including giving me that 30 euros they owe me. It isn’t the 30 euros, and I can go buy overpriced laces, polish or whatever with that sum, but I don’t need these things.
So bottom line, it’s hard to acquire customers, but you need to work a little harder to keep them.
