Trudy's Hallmark Shop — Local services in Kyle

This review encompasses our last several visits, from the ornament preview in July, to today, October 24, the last day of the ornament debut. The staff currently working there does not seem to care. You are not greeted as you walk in. Instead, they stand behind the counter, and watch you. Nobody offers to help, and if something is out of stock, they don't care. They blame it on shipping delays. I understand shipping delays (covid), but the manner in which they speak says they don't care. The store manager in particular, Mary Jane Martinez, was quite indifferent today, then became agitated when I was upset about the drum ornament was out of stock. (Other items have been out of stock as well, and again, she could care less, judging by her attitude.) I had tried to first get the ornament at their original debut, but it was pushed back, because of shipping delays. Fine, it happens. I go in the first day, only to find out their system is not modernized, and you have to have the actual coupon to get the card for free. Since it wasn't worth the $10 it normally is, I said I'd come back. When I was able to get back to the store, they were gone. And the manager's attitude was, "well, it's free, and it's while supplies last." In my mind, I earned that ornament, because you have to spend a certain amount of money in order to be eligible to get the free ornament later. I'm not into this, oh, you spent enough to get a free ornament, so now you have to beat everyone else out, in order to actually do so. And too bad if you don't get here quick enough. The manager did finally "apologize", which I put in quotes, because it was obvious from her attitude that she was watching the clock and could care less about the situation. I don't appreciate attitude, so she got some back. After I told her we would not be back, and we have purchased many ornaments from them (one for each member of the family every Christmas; and let's be honest, it's more like two or three per person), she said "it's just a free ornament" as if she could not understand why I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars at their store if they can't bother to (1) keep enough in stock, or offer some other reward; or (2) hire people who care (or can fake it.) There are many places to buy cute ornaments, so I guess we'll go to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or even Fredericksburg for our ornaments next year. Their products cost too much money to be treated as if I'm an inconvenience. Finally, I did not not receive a punch on my keepsake card, since we purchased another keepsake ornament. (As if you needed more proof they don't care.) My recommendation, if you want to be ignored and you like someone to be rude to you, go here. Otherwise, go...

I visited this store at noon, Saturday, April 24, 2021 with my granddaughter. She wanted a certain toy so we went straight to the display. No one greeted us or said hello. As we browsed the display I began to feel dizzy and woozy so I pulled my mask down to get some fresh air. Right away, a masked clerk with long, unkempt black hair told me to pull up my mask. He didn't ask or show any respect or courtesy. I told him I felt a bit ill and needed a few breaths to which he responded, 'if you need to breathe go outside'. There were no other customers anywhere near us so I was no threat to anyone. He never offered to help with our order or accommodate my medical exemption. And I was supposed to leave my granddaughter alone in the store? It is my understanding this store has ways to help the customer complete orders but none were offered. My granddaughter was the one who said, 'let's get out of here'. I came home and contacted corporate and they responded right away. They told me the behavior by the clerk was wrong. Anyone selling the Hallmark products has a standard of customer service they must adhere to. I guess this is what happens when you don't screen employees or care about the Hallmark brand. They took my info and were going to forward to the Kyle store. Never heard a thing. I also emailed the Houston email contact and nothing. If I may make a suggestion to stores that pretend to care about their customers and employees, take stock of your customer service. Why don't you have a guard wiping down the doors coming and going to sterilize? Why don't your employees wear 3 masks? And better yet if you aren't in the business to sell why not just shut your store down completely to avoid an illness that is 99% recoverable? Lucky for us, those toys are available elsewhere and that is where I will be taking...

I was disappointed with my visit today, which is a shame as I’ve always loved this store. In November I purchased the last two pieces of the Haunted Mansion tree set my family needed (this thing is awesome!). They were wrapped as Christmas presents, so we did not open them right away. Unfortunately, once we did, we discovered the singing heads were DOA and didn’t work. I checked my receipt and it said 90 day return or exchange policy. Cool. Today, I tried to exchange it for a working one, but was refused. They wouldn’t even look at my receipt, or discuss what I could do. This was not a cheap ornament. I was told a flat out No, and that there was a sign posted before Christmas saying they wouldn’t take returns after December. I don’t recall a sign, and wasn’t told this when I purchased or we’d have checked them before wrapping them up. I just wanted to exchange it for a working product. Poor Jennifer(?) was called to the front to help me, and looked like she’d been put through this scenario several times. I understand enforcing what her manager/store has dictated, but you sold me a broken product, and I just wanted to exchange it. Guess I’ll be going through Hallmark.com or Amazon for future purchases....