Saks Fifth Avenue — Local services in Houston

As much as I love Saks, I have to say my in-store experience fell short of the store's current 4.4 star rating. I brought my mom shopping with me this past Saturday afternoon, specifically to help pick out an evening gown for an upcoming charity gala. A saleswoman approached us almost immediately after entering the women's dress/evening wear section on the second floor, introduced herself, and proceeded to start a fitting room as soon as we had made our first selection. This is where the "good" part ends...

I don't know the standard number of customers each salesperson is expected to manage at the same time, but it was extremely apparent to my mom and I that our saleswoman was overwhelmed. She offered to bring us shoes to try on with the gowns- we waited, reminded her when she came back to "check how we were doing," and asked a third time before receiving; she offered us water, which she never brought; offered to bring us additional sizes (she brought us one), but seemingly forgot the others we had asked for... All the while there were two additional saleswomen standing right outside the fitting room area, appearing not to be assisting any customers. As our saleswoman was extremely busy, we asked one of the saleswomen if she would mind checking us out; we were told no, and to wait on our saleswoman. We waited, and eventually noticed her at the other end of the sales floor. We walked to meet her, and let her know we were ready to purchase. While walking us to the register, our saleswoman was stopped by another customer (an older woman) needing assistance. My mom and I stopped as well, expecting the saleswoman to tell the other customer she would be with her as soon as we had finished our purchase, but the saleswoman proceeded to launch into a conversation on finding different sizes, similar styles, etc.- seemingly forgetting she had just stated she would ring us up. The other customer asked the saleswoman if she was busy, as we were standing nearby, and the saleswoman assured her she wasn't... literally not more than five feet away from my mom and me! A young woman who appeared to be the elderly woman's granddaughter must have seen the situation as it unfolded, as she stepped in to ask the saleswoman to help us with our purchase first. We chatted with both women while checking out, and, while they were lovely to meet, the whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth... and when did Saks start putting you in a closet off the fitting room to check out? The saleswoman even had me enter my own information into the register! Not one to complain typically, but my entire shopping experience here has been so much lower than comparable department stores (Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, etc.).

On our way out, my mom, who needed to take medication, asked one of the two saleswomen mentioned above if she could have a bottled water, recounting how our saleswoman had offered, but didn't get a chance to bring it to us. The saleswoman didn't say anything, but let out a heavy sigh, turned, and stalked off to presumably go get one of the small waters they have in store... she returned shortly after with three- one for my mom, my husband who had chauffeured us, and myself... which was nice, but her demeanor was completely off-putting- she never said a word to us, smiled, or even made eye contact; she seemed completely irritated by my mom's request. We left immediately after.

I was relieved to have found a dress, but, if not for the time crunch, would have greatly preferred to have made my purchase elsewhere due to my poor customer service experience.

The cherry on top- when I went to hang my new dress up, I found that the security tag was still attached... guess I'll be making the trek back to the galleria to...

As I am a frequent shopper of this organization, I have never experienced this type of treatment and quite frankly am not sure I will be returning after this. Here is an overview of what took place that evening in your store:

I came inside and was never greeted by a member of your team except by Nikki and Jasha towards the end of my visit. I walked around the store for about 10 minutes looking for the Purple Brand section in the Men's department. It was after some frustration of not being able to locate it, I finally walked up to two associates who I later discovered were Petrit and Sam. I asked both of them if they could help me locate a specific item and I showed them the picture and item number on your company website. Both of them seemed to be bothered by me asking a simple question, but eventually Petrit went to get the Purple Brand jeans I was looking for.

When Petrit came back with both pairs of jeans, he was holding both of them over his arms, dragging one on the floor. Now, this is where I started to get upset. Granted these jeans are $200 and to be dragging them on the floor was both unprofessional and inappropriate. I asked him if I could see both sizes because I was unsure of which one to buy for my fiancé for our anniversary. Petrit held them up but did so with an attitude. I finally decided on which one I wanted, and he put his hand up and told me to give him a minute and made a phone call.

This is when he kind of walked away and Nikki walked up asking me if I was okay and if I was finding everything okay. I briefly explained how I was feeling, and she directed me back to Sam. Sam came and grabbed the jeans from Petrit and walked me to the register in the fitting room to ring me because I was in a hurry. I explained to her what happened with Petrit, and she of course made an excuse for him stating, "I apologize, he had to call Loss Prevention about someone trying to steal." My response to that was "that has nothing to do with me and the purchase that I am trying to make. I am a paying customer." I asked if I could speak to another manager, Sam said yes and made it sound like she called someone but then came back and said the other manager was on her meal break. I completed my purchase and was about to walk out of the door when the alarm went off.

I had to complete a walk of shame back to the Men's department where Sam, Nikki and I discovered that Sam left a sensor on my jeans. Now I am really upset, not only was I treated in my opinion like a thief or someone who had no money, but I was embarrassed. I then walked to the shoe department and asked to speak to another manager, Jasha was called and immediately came to my assistance. I spoke with her briefly and she apologized for the behavior of her peers.

If this is the type of treatment your customers have to endure, it does not give a good impression of the brand. I would rather order online and have my items...

I don't know my next steps other than calling my credit card to dispute the charge. I have been chasing my tail with this and spent (between calls and going to the Galleria) over 6 hours trying to resolve this. Originally, I was told to take the jeans to the purchasing store. This came after calling the Saks 1-800 line and them not being able to look up the order number on the email saying the jeans had arrived from a different store (on another note, I was never given a proper receipt when the jeans arrived from the Bayview store). I went to the Galleria on Saturday and no one was in the denim department at 11:15-11:50am. I went down to the Customer Care window, but the woman in there said she was new and didn't know how to help me; so, I went back upstairs and found an associate in a different department who said she would 'take the blame' and process the return. I didn't want her to get in trouble, so I left after an hour there. I called the 1-800 number again and the gentleman was able to look up my order from the email (somehow it worked this time). He told me to upload a photo of the damage so it could be assessed for a return or for Saks to pay for a seamstress to fix. I uploaded, called back a few hours later and the woman said to hold while she looked into the case. I waited on hold for 30m, then hung up. Today, 5/10, I called the 1-800 again and said if there were the same jeans in a different store, I would rather that option and return these, otherwise I would like to get these fixed. Then, the gentleman today told me my only option was for him to patch me through to the Saks Houston Galleria store as they are the only ones that can look up inventory. He also told me that the repair or return with the 1-800 was misinformation. SO what was the point of uploading the photo!?!??!?! He patches me through to the store, and guess what? No answer for over 5 minutes. The reason I am writing this out is a) cathartic because I have spent so much time with this issue and b) being in customer service myself, I cannot believe this is how a major...