Cole Haan — Local services in New York

Our experience in the store was excellent. The staff was very attentive and helped us try on multiple shoes. Since we were from out of town the store even offered to ship us our shoes at no extra cost. The trouble started after we got home and tried on our shoes again. The shoes seem too tight compared to the ones we tried on in store. Well I thought this would be something simple as a return and exchange it turned out to be much more. The national customer service number is listed at the top and bottom of the email receipt . When I called the customer service line they stated they were unable to help with a return or exchange that was purchased at a corporate retail store. The customer service agent called the New York store and spoke with an associate who is unwilling to assist me in the return. The customer service agent told me the other option was to return the shoes to my Cole Haan store. He proceeded to look up the closest Cole Haan store to me, it is four hours away. He told me I could return the shoes there. I then expressed my need to speak with a manager. National customer service manager then took my name and information and assured me that I would get a call back within two business days. On the third business day after not receiving a call I called customer service bag and again they were unhelpful in returning/exchanging the product.

On the fourth business day after calling customer service the store manager called. He was very pleasant and helpful. He offered to send me a return label sent to exchange or refund the shoes. He apologize for the delay, reporting he has been out of the office. He explained the process should’ve been very simple with a return label emailed to me for exchange or refund. Unfortunately, this is too little too late for me. I discussed with him that after this difficulty I don’t believe that I will purchase any Cole Haan products in the future. The store manager also notified me that if the Cole Haan store in Mississippi is an outlet store (which it is) I would not be able to return items purchased at a full price retail store at the outlet store for full refund. Why does national customer service not know this?

While I think the shoes are very comfortable (when we tried them on), I would not recommend you purchasing any shoes at a retain store. If you order them online after trying them on in the retail store you should not have any problem returning them as you can contact Cole Haan customer service for assistance.

Wishing this all went better and I had shoes that...

This was, hands down, one of the worst retail experiences I’ve ever had, and I don’t say this lightly. I’ve never felt compelled to leave a 1-star review in my life until now. The service at this Cole Haan store was not just inattentive, it was actively hostile.

When I approached a salesperson, he immediately cut me off and said he had other customers to help, making it clear that he didn’t care what I was going to say. Later, when I showed him a photo of a shoe from Cole Haan’s website and asked if he had it in my size, he flatly told me they didn’t have that color and walked away before I could even ask another question. When I asked if I could try a different color in the same style to figure out my sizing, he waved me off and said, “All loafers are the same. Just try whatever’s out there.” I was left digging through every display shoe, flipping them over one by one to check for sizing. They don’t have many sizes, and I was forced to be on my own.

Eventually, I approached another staff member. She used a walkie-talkie to ask for a pair to be brought out, but nothing happened. I waited and waited. It was a weekday afternoon; the store was not busy. No one came. No one followed up.

I watched other customers being served normally, while I stood there ignored. Was it because I was wearing a plain T-shirt? I genuinely began to wonder if I was being judged by appearance. I felt completely dismissed, unwelcome, and yes, discriminated against.

To those who left 5-star reviews for this location: you were lucky. Maybe you look the part. I left this store feeling deeply disrespected, almost as if I didn’t deserve help unless I looked like a high spender. I went to other stores afterward where sales staff greeted me warmly and offered help without hesitation. I was honestly shocked at how different I was treated elsewhere.

This store doesn’t just lack customer service, it fosters an atmosphere of arrogance and exclusion. I truly hope this location re-evaluates their staff, their training, and their attitude toward customers. No one should be made to feel...

The reason I’m giving out one star is because Google review don’t take negative 100. Had ABSOLUTELY WORST experience in my life at this Cole Haan location, especially salesperson, David, unempathetic and rude.

Here is a chronicle of my suffering.

On Sep 21, I made a delivery purchase at this store consisting of two items.

On Oct 5, I asked why I haven’t receive the order. The store told me they had a IT breakdown and couldn’t ship out the orders. So I patiently waited.

On Oct 21, which is ONE MONTH after the initial order date, I called the store, the salesperson say they will investigate and call me back. I couldn’t pick up the phone first time when they tried to reach me and when I returned the call, they did not pick up.

On Oct 28 I was so pissed and had to take 40 mins to commute to store to get to the bottom of this. The salesperson David said one item in my order is returned because UPS wasn’t able to deliver (please know my building had a dedicated mailroom managed by two person, NONE of my shipment to my address ever got returned before). In the end, to get out from this ordeal, I just asked for a cancellation and refund on my entire purchase.

In short, Cole Haan has wasted my precious almost 2 hour on this order. They are bad at their internal IT system and hired the most unempathetic employee. I will be forever praying for company like this to go out...