Farmers Newmarket — Local services in Waitematā

Very Rude Customer Service at Farmers (Kiehl’s Counter)

I had a very bad experience today at the Farmers store on 13/07/2025 at 10:56am. I went there to buy some Kiehl’s products. The counter was unattended, so I waited for around 7 minutes. A lady from the Lancôme counter, named Jing, saw me waiting the whole time. She wasn’t helping any customers,just chatting with her colleague, but she didn’t come over to offer any help.

Eventually, I asked her if she could assist me. She gave me a very cold look and said the Kiehl’s counter would only open at 11:15am. I asked nicely if I could just buy what I needed before that time, since the store was already open from 10am or even earlier. Her answer was rude and dismissive, like I was bothering her. If there are limited hours for that counter, it should be clearly stated.

I also asked her if she could check the stock for a product I couldn’t find on the shelf. She did it, but with a bad attitude, rolling her eyes and acting like I was wasting her time. She didn’t offer any testers or product advice, and when I was ready to pay, she first took out a nice Kiehl’s bag for my items, then changed it to a plain Farmers bag for no reason — it felt very passive-aggressive.

When I politely said that she didn’t need to be rude, she completely lost it. She raised her voice, got defensive, and said she didn’t know anything about the brand. I told her she shouldn’t speak to me like that. She then yelled loudly and walked off. Her behaviour was aggressive, unprofessional, and made me feel very uncomfortable.

I came to the store just to spend money and buy products I like. I did not expect to be treated so badly. This is not how customers should be treated. I want to know what actions Farmers and Kiehl’s will take about this. I left the store feeling upset and disrespected.

I want to know which actions farmers is going to...

I visited Farmers recently to return a t-shirt that didn’t fit. The first rep, Aruna, was clear in her communication and explained my options. Because it was a sale item, a refund wasn’t possible, but she let me know I could either receive store credit or exchange it for another piece. Since the size I wanted wasn’t available, I opted for store credit.

While browsing the sale rack, I picked out some more items. At checkout, one sweater from the sale rack scanned at $55.99. I had seen a lower price on the tag, but when another rep said it wasn’t a sale item, I wasn’t so sure anymore. What struck me as odd was that he came from behind the counter to the customer side to check the product, which felt unusual and left me second-guessing the situation.

What added to the confusion was being told that, since the gift card had already been swiped, the sweater couldn’t be removed from the transaction. Another staff member even suggested the manager could be called to sort it out, but the rep assisting me insisted it wasn’t possible. This was especially confusing because if the sweater truly wasn’t a sale item, then it should have been eligible for a refund — as I was told only sale items were excluded — or at the very least could have been removed from the transaction, since I hadn’t completed payment yet.

In the end, I opted for store credit, but the process felt inconsistent and left me uncomfortable. I’ve visited Farmers many times before and usually had great experiences with the reps, but this particular visit felt off.

My feedback: more consistent staff training and clearer communication would go a long way in avoiding confusion, ensuring customers feel confident about store policies, and creating a more positive...

This was a crucial day, bra shopping for my 15-year-old. They're incredibly body sensitive at this age, so for her to agree to a proper fitting was somewhat of a coup. Back in the day, a department store such as Farmers was where you'd go for first-class personal service and only a few years ago you'd find more than one fitting specialist- not on this day, nor any day thereafter it would seem, a thing of the past it would seem, gaggles of adolescent girls would have to go without, doomed to ill-fitting, shapeless and supportless bras for eternity, but surely anyone in the lingere department could be of some aid? Nope, no staff in lingere at all. Now, I was bearing in mind that Covid had now fully immersed itself in the community and that many, many places were short of hands, but it wasn't just lingere; it was the entire store. It's a two-level shop, and there were three servers for the whole place. The fact that two of them hung out together chatting when shoppers all over the store were unaided was appalling; these two young accented women were un-smiling, unhelpful, unfriendly, and arrogant. In my opinion Farmer's should never have opened the store that day, it's bloody terrible customer service, I think shoppers would have understood the closure, but as per usual, big business cares more about cash than customers. I, for one, have no intention of returning; everything sold in this shop can be bought elsewhere, and as for the bra, I'll be spending my money in a shop where the staff and owners realise that they are paid by...