Kohl's — Local services in Matthews

I've been to many Kohl's stores before, and I used to work at one for 8 years (supervisor, Customer Service employee, POS, you name it). Before even stepping foot into this location, I knew this was not going to be a pleasant experience, but the item I needed was only in stock here.

I called to confirm that the product was in stock before I drove an hour to get there. I waited around 5-10m to get confirmation that it was from the Housewares/Shoe Dept, but was told that I needed to verify with Customer Service that I was able to buy it after I mentioned that I intended to price match Best Buy's store pricing. Note: I already had - from CS at one of the 3 other stores I called that day...wasn't sure if the policy might have been updated to exclude premium brands since I left the company. I told her that I already knew the policy and had confirmed that I could do the price match, and she then rambled on about how it might not make any difference if I planned to use Kohl's cash anyway, that the price would just end up being the same. (Ridiculously untrue - you can always use Kohl's Cash, and it will not affect the original sale price of the item. If the item is $50, and you price match it to $40 and use $10 in Kohl's cash...you're now paying $30, not $40.). I asked her what she meant by that, and she said "I...I don't know." (LOL?) She tells me I need to speak with Customer Service, and if they say I can do it, she'll put it on hold for me. I said okay, please put it on hold for me then. No response, got transferred to CS.

I felt a bit badly for the CS employee - I think she was rather young and probably a seasonal employee, but she didn't know what was going on. She put me on hold to discuss the situation with Meegan/Megan who had just walked up talking to her - who I've since identified as the rude woman I first spoke with. I tried to interject and inform her that I did my research on this, and I could bring in a printout of Best Buy's weekly ad for the Charlotte store. But unfortunately I got stuck on hold for about 12-15m while who knows what was said about me and my vacuum. She gets back on and is spouting off everything I knew already - yes, I have a local store ad for Best Buy. No, I do not plan to use any coupons (since it was a premium brand). I confirmed I could use Kohl's cash - which she agreed. So I said great, I'll be in soon and can pick it up! She said it would be on hold for me.

Unsurprisingly, the vacuum was not on hold - nor was the item on the floor for me to get. I spoke with a friendly girl at CS (Alexus) who helped track down Megan, who remembered me from our phone call an hour before. Alexus says she'll be bringing it out soon, but before she does, I'm greeted by a manager who requests to see my Best Buy ad. After she thoroughly verified on my ad that this was not an online only BB deal, she tells Alexus "She's good to bring out the Dyson". I was pretty taken aback...I'm a five foot tall, petite woman. Were they afraid I was going to run off with a vacuum nearly as big as I am? Comical to me now, but at the time I felt like I was being treated as suspicious or as a criminal. It was unbelievably awkward.

Approximately 2m later, Megan comes striding up with the vacuum in tow...and plops it down on the floor nearby - without so much as a greeting or a glance my way. Just turns around and immediately walks away. What a sour, rude woman. As someone who's been in Customer Service for 10+ years...that is not an employee I would ever want to have work for me.

Thank you to Alexus and the other friendly POS associates I encountered yesterday...but unfortunately I'll never shop at this...

—IF YOU ARE GAY, BE PREPARED FOR JUDGMENTAL, OFFHANDED AND UNCALLED FOR BEHAVIOR WHEN SHOPPING AT THE JEWELRY COUNTER IF THE OLDER LADY WITH CHIN LENGTH BROWN HAIR IS WORKING. IT MIGHT BE SMART NOT TO USE ANY TERMS OF ENDEARMENT WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER WHATSOEVER. YOU JUST MIGHT NOT GET SERVICED BY THIS SPECIFIC KHOLS SALES REP! (Oh how I wish I was kidding!)

The worst customer service experience from a sales associate in any retail store that I have ever experienced. I have never been treated in such a ridiculous and condescending manner in my life. Not to mention, I think that her actions were homophobically motivated. I was so upset that my fiancée had to take over the conversation with the manager because I felt so offended.

We are nice people. We went in to buy two watches at the buy one get one 50% off sale, watching our budget. After initially being ignored, we asked her if there were any watches in our budget and she blatantly lied to us about the watches and said that there wasn’t any watch that was in that price range in the entire store (around $50).

That was right before she accused us of STEALING the watch that we looked at and handed right back to her, as she placed it behind the counter (not in the glass case) once we looked at it. After I picked out my watch, that wasn’t in the glass case, we actually decided to buy the watch (my fiancée must’ve REALLY wanted that thing lol) so we returned to the counter and asked for her to get it back out, but the sales associate was not only unable to locate the watch we handed back a few minutes before, she accusingly told us the watch wasn’t back there anymore, so she said verbatim, “well the watch isn’t here anymore, so you must’ve walked off with it.” Both my fiancée and I told her that we did no such thing, and of course she ate her words in a disgustingly disgruntled manner when she found it behind the counter.

It is worth mentioning that my fiancée (a female) was looking at a men’s watch, and I was looking at a female watch. She had been so nasty, it made me sick to my stomach.

At this point, I wanted to walk out and not even spend our money at that store, but we asked to speak to the manager because the sales associate was treating us like trash (by the way, instead of going to get a manager, like we asked, the sales associate rudely asked “why,” but thankfully, one of the managers was stocking near us and told us that she was one) Erika, one of the managers was so, so kind and helpful. She understood our situation and went above and beyond to correct it. She is the only reason I’m giving this store one star. If it was just the sales associate, they would’ve lost good, long term business and I would’ve...

Love Kohls. I bring my Amazon returns to Kohls and it’s super easy. Same as bringing them to UPS. But when you bring your Amazon returns to Kohls they give you a 25% off your next purchase coupon to be used within the following week. Bringing these returns to Kohls instead of the closer to my house UPS option every now and again is a great excuse to take some time out of my day to shop. Lol Not always the most responsible decision but hey, it’s nice to browse and get new things. Just be sure to 1- install Kohls app and sign up for their free reward program because they ALWAYS have some sort of coupon going on. You are literally losing free money if you’re not a part of their free rewards program. I’m not talking about the credit card. Just the free one. 2- BUDGET!! & 3- make a plan/list of what you intend on looking for and buying. Don’t get swept away on everything they have to offer like I use to all the time! I save a lot of time and money having a game plan when I walk in. Also Kohls seems to have completely different prices/ sales mon-Thursday than they have Fri-Sunday. It’s best to price compare and figure out when is the best day to purchase what you’re looking for. Oh and also this is something I am finding to be true more and more stores I shop at and just recently saved $30 on a pair of black jeans at Kohls.... all I did was use the Kohls app to scan the barcode on the jeans and checked the online app price. The jeans said $60 on the tag. The sale sign had them at a percentage off at $42. The app had them at $12! When I went to check out they rang up at the store price of $42. I showed the cashier the app price and she changed it to the $12. Had I not had the app, not scanned it myself & showed the cashier, I would have spent $30 for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON! I know it’s seems crazy to scan everything you plan on purchasing on your phone prior to checkout but I’ve found this actually to be worth it! Had the same thing happen at Target on an already clearanced pair of shoes but saved $8 on them by double checking the price through...