Neiman Marcus — Local services in Palo Alto

A friend of mine had a long career with Neiman's and has since retired. They told me of some horror stories about how they treat their employees and it appears that this strategy has now manifested in a glaring lack of service and accountability. Obviously the sale to Saks did not make anything better.

I wish I read the other recent reviews before making a purchase. Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, even Macy's now have higher customer ratings on Google than Neiman's - amazing really to think about given how Neiman's positions itself in the market. Regardless of anything they do from this point forward, I will not give them a second chance. There are too many alternatives and the perceived risk doing business with Neiman's is not worth any potential benefits.

My terrible experience is with Neiman’s online and subsequently at the Palo Alto store. Usually I don’t give reviews and I’m pretty lenient to give a second chance. But after reading the experience of others, I decided to give Neiman's this last parting gift of feedback: sell the Neiman's brand to salvage the highest value. Sell it to an operator who is an expert in customer service. In this current state, the Neiman's business trajectory is utter failure. See the countless reviews of longtime customers who are leaving, and customers like me that would rather pay to not deal with Neiman's.

I purchased an item online. The online store sent the wrong item color and wrong size, 2 mistakes in one fell swoop. It was going to cost me ~$10 to exchange it via mail. Since I wanted some additional items, and given the major screw up with the online store, I decided to visit a store to get things squared away without any more issues.

I live close to the SF store but drove down to PA to avoid the crowds. The PA store was empty but customer service was terrible and slow. It took me hounding multiple staff over ~30 minutes until a salesperson agreed to help. When I did find a salesperson they were under trained and had no idea what I was looking for. They showed me only cheap, Neiman-branded items despite my specific requests.

Instead of exchanging my item, and very frustrated, I returned it and went next door to the designer’s store where I received exceptional customer service and spent about 4x what I was originally planning. The designer salesperson knew what I wanted and was willing to show it to me. Furthermore, I see the value in paying a bit more to save time chasing down discounts (and salespeople) and dealing with incompetent online order fulfillment.

The online store can’t fill an order correctly and then they essentially hold you hostage in-store by refusing to help with an exchange. The sales people are lazy and slow. I would gladly pay more elsewhere.

And Neiman's formulated online replies are comical. I think your "investigation" needs to go much broader than my single...

Update-I see Isabel now and have had two facials from her that surpass the guerlain ones. She is the best of best and truly cares about your skin and experience. She’ll spend time assessing your needs and will give you an awesome facial afterwards. It’s such a delightful experience and could not Recommend her enough. Joumana at the Estee lauder counter is the cherry on top of this visit. She’ll show you all the products but not pressure you into buying . However, you do leave with some key purchases that are well worth it as you immediately see the results. I couldn’t be happier and my skin agrees.

I’ve been a loyal client at Guerlain and always look forward to my appointments with Susie—she’s absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, today’s experience was extremely disappointing.

I had a facial scheduled for today, which I rushed to make on time, only to be told upon arrival that I wasn’t even on the books. Not only was today’s appointment mishandled, but I was also informed by Kim who mind you had booked my June appointment that she initiated that my upcoming facial in June wasn’t correctly booked either. This wasn’t a simple scheduling mishap—it was clear there was a complete lack of accountability. No one took ownership of the mistake or offered a solution beyond a shrug and a “sorry not sure what happened.” The guerlain representative was on site today as well and busy selling me products until he found out I wasn’t on The books, Then I was invincible. Pathetic!

Today was also supposed to be a special event with Aaron, which I was initially excited about. I did get my makeup done, but even that felt like an afterthought. Guerlain is known for its skincare, not makeup, and unfortunately, that showed.

I left feeling frustrated and undervalued. As someone who has always had a high regard for Guerlain’s service and standards, this experience fell far short. I hope this feedback is taken seriously so other clients don’t face the same disappointment. It’s not the service I expect for guerlain or neimans. The makeup was nothing spectacular either. A waste of my time and day! I went to the estee lauder counter after and was treated with more grace and kindness! I still haven’t heard from Kim or Susie and...

I have been coming to this Neiman’s for years but today I had a very bad experience that makes me never want to come back. Today I came into buy a refill of my foundation from the clair de peau make up counter. The sales lady was helping another lady when I got there, which I understood, but then 15 mins passed with me just standing there without her acknowledging me. She could have literally just called another sales associate over to help me.

25 mins go by with me just standing there and she finally finished up with her first customer and apologized to me. I told her the product I needed and then the lady said "the brand does not make these anymore, we don't have any but let me check". I asked why the product was out in the display case if they don't make it anymore. She said "they just don't".

While she tried searching for the product, I went on to the Nordstrom app on my phone where I saw that they literally had the same product. I told her kindly, "it's fine you don't have to keep looking, I found it on the Nordstrom's site". The lady turned really rude, scoffed, and said "good luck with that, I already told you the brand is not making this foundation anymore". I snapped back and said "no need to be rude, if the brand didn't sell this then why is it in stock on Nordstrom's site and available for next day shipping as well?"

Horrible experience, a waste of time, and rude and uninformed sales associate who has no idea about the brand she is literally in charge of selling. Neiman Marcus is supposed to be a high end store with service to match instead I wasted 30 mins of my time and was met with service that I would expect at a 7/11.

PS: the manager responded to this review telling me to email them about my experience. I emailed them and they never responded to my email. lol just demonstrated how poor their...