K&G Fashion Superstore — Attraction in Thornton Township

I visited the Lansing store on Friday, September 9th, 2016 to purchase a tuxedo for an upcoming major event I was going to be presenting at (in large part because I had a 20% off coupon which was only good for that weekend). Upon entering the suit department, it was particularly tough to gain assistance, and once I did, the representative informed me she did not work in the suit department so she could not assist, and that she was frustrated that the suit department wasn't organized properly. After several minutes of simply hunting around myself, I discovered that the tuxedo which I was most interested in wasn't available in my size, so I left.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the Orland Park store before the end of the weekend, but I was able to make it on Tuesday, September 13th, 2016 (just four days before my presentation before 400 people at Malcolm X College mind you). The representative at the Orland Park store was fantastic, helping me locate all of the items I needed, which came to a total of approximately $230.00. Since it was Tuesday, my coupon had already expired, and because I was the one who procrastinated, I did not even so much as inquire about having them honor it (despite the fact that the Lansing store was out of stock on the items I would have purchased that evening when the coupon was valid). Nonetheless, I kept all of the items in the packaging under the expectation that if by chance I received another coupon prior to that Saturday, I would simply exchange the items so as to take advantage of the discount coupon (if I received one that is).

As fate would have it, I did in fact receive a 20% off discount coupon via my email, so I decided I was going to go to the Lansing location to exchange the items and take advantage of the discount I missed out on due to their lack of inventory and ineffective customer service. Because I was preparing for my presentation the next day, I wasn't able to make it to the Lansing store until roughly 7:30pm. After waiting approximately five minutes to have the acting manager, Tracy, perform the exchange, she instantly asked me why I wanted to return the items?

I explained to her that I love the items, to which she cut me off and said, don't say love, because if you loved them, you would be returning them, to which I replied, I don't want to return them, I simply want to exchange them so I can take advantage of the 20% coupon I received. She then informed me that the coupon was only valid on same day purchases, to which I informed her I understood, which was why I kept all of the items in the packaging so I could simply return them and then immediately repurchase them so as to not violate the details of the coupon which I fully understood (having worked in Retail for approximately 15 years).

She then informed me that I would have to go out to the shelves and grab each of the items all over again, because once she returned those items, she would not put them back on the floor until the store had closed. I explained to her that I couldn't go back out to the shelves and retrieve those items, because they didn't have them to begin with, to which she was unsympathetic of my plight. I then explained to her that I really needed those items, and that I could not believe she was going to be so callous that she would not allow me to purchase the items again, but instead force me to go to Orland Park once more despite having already forced me to do so on account of the lack of inventory and customer service. Her response was, "oh well"!

At this point, I was furious, and wanted to leave everything returned without purchasing anything from K&G ever again, but unfortunately I had the biggest presentation of my life the next morning at 10:00am, and I couldn't afford to not repurchase what I knew would represent me and the office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds as best as possible. Accordingly, after returning all of the items, I dropped off my daughter and significant other at home so they could get something to eat, while I then...

This truly was my go to place. I'd even brought out of town guests - both family and friends to K&G ...so what changed ?

Customer Service...I received a sales notification that men's suits were BOGO free , and JA men's dress shirts were BOGO half off on May 31st • I responded to the promotion and made a significant purchase, showed the cashier my K&G text, when given the total cost I thought it was a bit higher than my estimation - went home and combed through my receipt and found we were $39 apart • unable to specifically see why - I went back to the store with my receipt and purchase...after a couple of the cashiers had gone through everything, it was determined that the suits I'd purchased were not part of the BOGO Free promo • I then pointed them to my K&G text - showing that it said nothing whatsoever about only certain suits were part of the promotion, yet it did specify that only the JA dress shirts were what was BOGO half off ( point being: Why Specify The Shirts But Not The Suits ). I was advised to contact Customer Service, but was not told of any difficulty in reaching them - 1st call I made I was on the phone about 45min or more - Never Speaking To Anyone ! • the 2nd attempt a few days later was the same. I did a review afterwards and a Rep responded by giving me a link or email address for K&G Customer Service asking me to tell them a little more about my circumstances...there was difficulty here as well, but not as bad, unfortunately though - The Results Are The Same. I guess if one never encounters a problem - that's Great...but if one does, I hope their experience does not match/mirror mine. For me Customer Service is Critical and Key. It shows The Business Standing By Its Products ,as well as its words , and that The Business Cares About Its Clientele/Customers.

The final result was an apology and a statement saying they could not override my charges...which my final response was : I never asked for an override but rather that K&G would honor their word.

( things are alright...until...

I really don't like to shop at this K&G location because I have found more than a few of the store associates in need of intensive customer service training (And that is putting it VERY nicely). Sunday, December 24th, I went against my better judgement and stopped in. Point of disgust: The fitting room. Not because it was unclean, but because of the conversation had by four store employees who had congregated at the fitting room to talk really badly about customers in the store and one of their co-workers who was not present that day (Summer, honey, I now know ALL of your business; from your wisdom tooth woes, to the drama with the man you met at a club who has another woman). Like the true female dogs that they were, they talked about this poor girl's business, mocked her (imitating the way she talks and her mannerisms), and laughed at her misfortune, all easily within earshot of ANYONE who was within 20 feet. While I was standing there shaking my head at them as I prepared to go into the fitting room, these four 'women' completely DOGGED their coworker named Summer, and it was HORRIBLE. You would think that they would have had enough courtesy or at least 'common' sense to refrain from talking about her in the presence of customers, but I got the impression that, somehow, they thought this was entertaining. It was not. It was, however, in incredibly poor taste, unprofessional, and common. Common behavior of females of a particular color palette toward one another. Behavior that is of great embarrassment, destructive, divisive, and so very sad. I will be writing a letter to the corporate office as there is ALWAYS a noticeable lack of best business practices among many of the employees whenever I visit this location. Bad job 'ladies.' Really,...