Nordstrom — Local services in San Diego

If I could give less than one star I would, as they say. I brought my aunt into the store yesterday as she is terminally ill with cancer and wanted to pick out a necklace to wear for her final viewing. This was a very difficult day for us, to say the least. It was filled with a lot of bitter sweet moments and fond memories we shared during lunch. We entered the store by the makeup and walked towards the jewelry section. There were several woman standing around who worked there, but not one asked us if we needed any help or approached us. Several times we had to ask someone if they worked there and when they said yes, they seemed anything but willing to help us. My aunt had several questions about different pieces and when she asked one women to open up a glass container containing a necklace she was interested in purchasing, the woman said she didn't know where the key was. At one point I saw my aunt's eyes start to water as I knew she had hoped this would be a meaningful experience, but instead felt the extreme disrespect and lack of care or interest by every single woman there working. All they were doing was talking to one another and starring at us, a few times whispering and looking our way, perhaps of my aunts appearance who is very obviously battling a life threatening illness. I picked up a pair of earrings and was looking at them and asked someone named Margo if the earrings also came in silver to which she replied. "I don't know, but no one wants those so I'm getting ready to send them down to Nordstrom Rack if you want to save me the time." Oddly this made me not want them either, thinking perhaps their was a default with them and being unsure what she meant by this. At the end of our time there (about 30 minutes total), we left without purchasing anything. My aunt had set aside a few thousand dollars for this shopping trip and had hoped to also find some matching earrings and an outfit to be buried in. Our trip to Nordstrom that afternoon could have been something I remembered for the rest of my life with fondness, but instead due solely to the judgmental, snobbish attitudes of all the women who worked there, it was a memory I would like to soon forget. I will never, ever step foot back in this store again or any Nordstrom for that matter, or purchase online. If this is how this franchise wants to be known, it's not somewhere I want to support. To every woman who worked in that department yesterday, you should be ashamed of yourself. You know who you are and you know how you treated us, and I wouldn't wish such poor, disrespected, rude behavior to anyone in your own families, especially someone with just weeks left to live. You could have made in positive difference in someone’s lives, but instead you choose to act as though you couldn't be bothered and you were better than. You're not, and at the end of the day we are mostly the sum of how you make...

Customer service is nonexistent if you’re Black unfortunately. They’ll either hover and follow you, but will not ask if you need help. Or they’ll go out of their way to help white customers, even if I’m standing at the counter holding hundreds of dollars worth of clothing waiting to purchase my items. This has been consistent for a few years of me regularly shopping at this location, and I sincerely thought I was imagining things at first.

It wasn’t until I mentioned these situations to a white friend who was with me on one occasion, that I realized that this is an unfortunate element to the experience here. He noticed the difference in treatment and service as well. In fact, they proactively helped him TWICE, while it took me about 10 minutes to get someone to check a size for a Ted Baker polo I wanted.

My visit today was no different. No help at all, but at least 5 different associates folding, and laughing amongst themselves instead of politely checking in with me. No biggie, it happens. But several times, the same associates stopped to have a conversation with an older white couple, who were just standing around drinking coffee, and now forming a circle in the men’s wear department. No products in hand, but chatting with the staff(up to about 3 at one point) while Im looking for sizes on the racks.

When I finally found a shirt I liked, I went to the register to purchase my shirt. No one was at the register, but several were around it. Finally, an associate named Marcia went behind the register and began talking to her coworker. I stood there waiting expectantly but didn’t even get a greeting. After a while i politely asked if I can purchase the shirt, to which Marcia replied: “Oh I didn’t realize you were looking to buy, I thought you were just standing there waiting for someone.” Standing there waiting for someone, while looking directly at the two individuals behind the register…Convenient.

But I didn’t even buy the shirt anyways, because although it was on the 60% off rack, Marcia informed me that it’s “UP TO 60% off.” Another convenient moment. When I pointed to the handwritten sales price that looked to say $47, Marcia explained that she thought it was $47 too, but it’s actually $97. “It looks like a 4 but in reality it’s actually a 9. Sorry about that”.

Well strike 3 for me I guess. So much for my Nordstroms batting average 😂😂

I hope changes are made. You can’t change a person’s implicit bias. If they think white customers are more beneficial to their commission bottom line than Black customers, then that’s just unfortunately the way it’s always going to be for these individuals. HOWEVER, some basic customer service training wouldn’t hurt, because the customer experience they consistently provide is absolutely ATROCIOUS.

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This has to be the most pretentious and rude Nordys I've ever visited. What happened to their stellar customer service? When did profiling, and dare I speculate racism, creep into their employees? We were shopping for a Gucci bracelet. We called the store to make sure they had it before making the 2 hour journey. The person on the phone was friendly and confirmed they had it, so we headed their immediately. On our way, we ordered it online for pick-up to make sure we secured the bracelet. When we walked through the jewelry department, we were NEVER approached by anyone. Despite making eye contact with ALL of the "not with another customer" employees. We were simply ignored. We purposely got in their personal space, to force a hello , or how can I help you...nothing. Maybe my brown skin was a few shades too dark for their liking? They were all Caucasian and would only acknowledge other Caucasian or Asain customers. Because they are the ones with money to spend? Maybe I wasn't dressed in enough designer brands? It made me sick to my stomach. We decided to go upstairs to the online pickup spot to see if by chance they had pulled it in the last few hours. After waiting in line, the guy there told us to go to the adjacent cash register and that employee could help look it up for us. There was a man she was helping so we got in line. Another person got in line behind us and we waited. Once she was done with the man, the man and employee walked away. We thought she was helping him grab something or show him something but time ticked away. I went to go look to see where she went and if she was coming back. She was gone!!! She left us in line without saying a word! Were we that repulsive? We felt invisible. Another employee, from another department (high fashion?), asked if we needed help. Finally!!! We are seen! Someone cares!!! Here name was Meriam, and she was our hero. We told her our story. She was VERY apologetic. She went above and beyond to help us. She had us sit comfortably in her area, gave us water, and hunted down our order for us. She was amazing and is what I've grown accustomed to know as a Nordstrom employee. She is the example. She told us they didn't have a Customer Service Department because it was every employee's job to ensure the highest level of customer service...but it appears she is the ONLY one that got the memo and should...