MUJI Fifth Avenue — Local services in New York

Half star if possible ! The service in Muji Fifth Avenue is definitely the worst service I ever seen. I never saw a staff treated customers in such a rude way in this whole country and other countries.

On November 24, 2023 I went to Muji on 475 5th Avenue in Manhattan. I told a staff there I would like to buy an air humidifier. She got me an humidifier and I bought it. It is a white and small humidifier. When I tested it at home, I found the water vapor coming out from the humidifier doesn't go far at all -- it can humidify only a very small area around the opening of the humidifier. So after couple minutes, I turned it off, poured the water out, not covered it and waited it to dry by itself , folded and tied its cable carefully with hard string as is. After the humidifier was completely dry, I put everything back to box just as its original.

2 days later on November 27, I went to the same location, took a similar but bigger humidifier from their closet and put it the cashier desk, and then took out the smaller humidifier from my bag, and told them I would like to exchange the smaller humidifier to this bigger humidifier, and I would paid the price difference. I showed her the receipt as she told. The staff in the cashier desk said she needed to test the smaller humidifier taken out from my bag, and then she opened its box, took the humidifier out, went somewhere to get water and came back to cashier desk and tested it. After a while, she said :" It works very well, so you cannot exchange or return it. Only if it doesn't work, you can exchange." However, they HAD NEVER told me before that customers are NOT allowed to exchange or return it if it works. And then she said :" Because you used it, you cannot return." However, she just used it herself. Based on what she said, she cannot give the item that she used to me. And then she asked :" Did you add oil to it? " I told her :"No. I did not." I never used oil with humidifier. After that she still insisted that it cannot be exchanged or returned.

Then she called her manager and told her manager on the phone :"A customer wants to exchange a humidifier. I told her it cannot be exchanged because it works very well when I just tested it".

After her manager arrived, I explained to her again patiently that this humidifier cannot humidify as I hoped because the water vapor cannot go far and cannot reach a person's face. What the manager said really shocked me. She said:" It is NOT a humidifier. It is a diffuser. Therefore it can NOT humidify. Only this time I allow you to exchange, but I can NOT provide you any warranty for the new one. You cannot come back even the new one has any quality problems." She was yelling when she said this. At that moment I didn't want to exchange anymore, so I told them I just wanted to return it. She said very loudly with her eyes staring at me coldly:" You cannot return it." Then I realized it is just wasting time to talk with these 2 persons. So I had to put the humidifier back into box, hold it with my hands, and left there without exchanging nor returning. But I really don't want to see this humidifier because it just recalls me their terrible attitude to a customer in Muji.

In fact, on the receipt of this "diffuser" and other items that I bought from Muji at the same time that day, it says : " Return Policy: Merchandise may be returned or exchanged at any MUJI USA store location within 30 days from the purchase date on the receipt. MUJI Holiday Return Policy: For all purchases made between November 13th, 2023 and December 31st, 2023 returns and exchanges will be accepted through January 31st, 2024. "

Below is the picture of this receipt. I read this receipt when I got home after this unexpected experience. What it boils down to is that they lie to customers at will. These 2 staffs did not show a little bit respect from beginning to end.

I had trusted Muji before, however, this experience tells Muji is actually not the kind of store as I thought.

I hope this review can help people avoid the same...

A very unpleasant, deceptive and disrespectful shopping experience at MUJI. On August 12, 2023, I came to the MU JI store located at 475 5th Ave in Manhattan, New York to purchase goods. After paying the bill, I picked up the bill and saw that the price of the first product was $24.9 . But the price on the shelf of the product was $19.9. I raised questions at that time, but the casher（JiaZ) immediately argued that it must be wrong! I immediately asked her to follow me to the shelves to check the prices. But when she saw that the price on the shelf was $19.9, she still refused to admit that she was wrong, and she was still looking for various excuses to say that someone had put the wrong clothes. The same material, how could it be misplaced?". We went back to the cashier and this time a young man with glasses (AntonvP) came out and without asking me any questions just said they were right about the price I was charged! In order to prove that I was right, I took him to the shelf to check the price again. When he saw that the price was $19.9, he was still there, making all kinds of excuses to try to sift their faults. In this way, I was in front of the cashier, and because of their "mistake" I was delayed for about half an hour, and they couldn't find any excuses, and finally refunded overcharged me $5. I took this refund receipt and asked the cashier (AntonvP) “Because of your mistakes, I was delayed for about half an hour, and I ran back and forth to the shelves several times for this. don’t you think you should apologize to me”?The cashier (AntonvP) refused rudely and coldly saying: “no necessary !”A male cashier next to me also interrupted and said to me: "There are a lot of people queuing up behind"! Means let me leave as soon as possible.

I am so angry to be treated with such rudeness and disrespect! It was the "mistake" of your MUJI staff, which wasted half an hour of my time. The price on the shelf is clearly marked at $19.9. Why did you charge me $24.9? After being discovered by me, they also found various reasons and excuses to shirk responsibility.

I don’t know how many customers who didn’t read the receipts were deceived by you and overcharged by $5. Is this kind of dishonesty the purpose of your MUJI’s service to customers? That man (AntonvP) knowing that he was wrong, not only did not apologize to the customer, but also had such a bad attitude, is he worthy of continuing to work in the store? Customers come to your store to purchase based on their trust in your store, not to spend money and be insulted! Finally when I went to that shelf again, they removed the $19.9 price, but they forgot that I had a refund receipt to prove it. I hope that everyone will also check the receipt after purchasing things in the future, so as not to be overcharged by them...

March 26, 2023, around 3pm Summary: Verbal harassment: Cashier (name: Avano B) kept asking me how Muji works - preventing me from purchasing. I’m a customer, not an employee and never worked for Muji before.

I went to cashier to buy a sale item. I asked if I can use 10% coupon. He said coupon can’t be used on sale items.

I’m ready to pay now without the 10% coupon.

He asked to see coupon. Then he asked if I subscribed to emails recently to get coupon. I said no but I keep receiving coupon email but never used it. He said this is first time he sees this. Why is Muji sending me the coupon over and over again? I said it might be a marketing scheme. He repeats that he’s never seen this before and asks again, why am I receiving coupon over and over again? I said it might be a marketing scheme but I don’t know He asked again, why are you receiving multiple coupon emails? I finally said, I don’t know. All I know is I keep receiving them. He asks again, no one receives coupon email over and over again. Why are you receiving them? At this point, I just want to pay. I don’t work for Muji. I don’t know why he’s hassling me so much about the way Muji newsletter system works. So I said, I don’t know why the system keeps sending me reminders to use my coupon. It’s only after he forced us to have the same conversation multiple times where he asked the same question and I gave the same answer over and over again before I was allowed to pay. This lasted on repeat for 5 minutes.

Can corporate please tell employees to not ask customers how the store that they work for work? I’m not an employee at Muji and I’m definitely not the person who programmed how often the email promotions are sent out with a reminder that you still have a coupon. If he wants to know more about coupon reminders, can he ask his questions to corporate? Being forced into some interrogation like this has been a very bad experience and definitely makes me not want to return. I was ready to pay - isn’t that enough? Why do businesses make it so hard for the customer to pay? I’m literally ready to give you my money but was held up by a five minute interrogation on why Muji works the way it does.

I’m now considering to return the item I bought just so that I don’t support businesses that harass me like this (if it’s possible to return...