White House Black Market — Local services in San Mateo

Love White House Black Market, however, this is the SECOND time I drove ALL the way from SF specifically to visit this store and was treated hurrendously by the manager. Yesterday, after driving 45 mins, I arrived at 3:50 and she was locking up despite the closing time being 4pm. She waved me away w her arms. I walked away and turned around and went back to signal I realized it wasn't 4pm and she had closed early. After driving so far, I felt that was very unfair. At this point, there was another customer standing next to me, also looking baffled. The manager opened the door and immediately went into full on ghetto attack saying "I was going to open the door, but you walked away and now it's too late!" (I literally had walked away for 30 seconds before turning back.) I informed her that there was still 6 mins on the clock, and asked why she was attacking me? She said, she could see in my face that I was giving her a look. I said I was wearing a mask, how could that be? She replied she could tell by my eyes. (???) At this point, the manager barks, "I will let you in for that return, but nothing else!" Then, she walked away for a minute. I look at the other potential customer and ask her if she thought I did anything to deserve the avalanche of hot air I just received for doing nothing but standing there wanting to get in to do a return? She said no, and then when rhe manager returned the other customer said to the manager that every time she visits the store at lunchtime, it is closed, as well as the store closing daily at 4pm. All the other stores in the mall are open til 9pm. Why this one closes at 4pm? Don't know. But, all the manager needed to say was, "Hey, really sorry, we are trying to wrap up here. Is there something quick we could help you with?" Instead, she launched into full on defensive attack mode against loyal customers who were seeking a fun and positive experience from one of their favorite stores. On a previous visit, she was also very snappy and overall just "tough," energy directed at the customer. Nothing warm and friendly here, AT ALL. Honestly, I am scared to go back to this location and am really surprised #WhiteHouseBlackMarket would allow someone this unpolished in customer service and unprofessional, to operate their franchise....

Love the company and the clothes but what happened to the San Mateo store?? There is virtually no customer service at the Hillsdale mall WHBM. Today (8/13/22) was the second time in a month I had an unpleasant experience at the store - a store that used to be fantastic. No greeting when I walked in on either recent visits. No one offered to relieve me of the armful of clothes I was carrying by offering to start a dressing room for me. In fact, on my earlier visit this month after carrying an armload of clothes for a while I finally set them on the counter and told the woman working there I was going to leave them on the counter since I didn’t have a room started. The response should have been I’ll start a room for you, but instead she said ok and let the pile sit there until I started a room myself. Then once in the dressing room no one came to see if I needed another size - which I did and I had to get dressed and go out and get another size for myself. Today at around 11 am there were 2 workers - an assistant manager and a lead and both of them were too busy with their cell phones to provide any assistance to customers. Maybe it’s a management problem or maybe a lack of training, but the San Mateo WHBM has gone from a 10 to a Zero....

I am an avid shopper of WHBM, ~90% of my work wardrobe and a good portion of my casual come from this store. We recently relocated to San Mateo, however, my excitement re: having a WHBM so close by has been quickly dissipated by the extraordinarily rude staff (seemingly unheard of with this brand) and the lack of inventory. The last straw with me shopping in the Hillsdale San Mateo store was earlier this week when I needed to get another suit or two for east coast business meetings. I was wearing WHBM from head to toe, so clearly I was their target market. Not one person spoke to me, even when I was in need of help. One of the girls just stared at me! My husband even commented that although he hates having to shop with me there, at least the staff are always so pleasant - but this time, we put down what would have been close to a $500 quick sale for them and went across the hallway to Banana Republic. The only reason I give them 2 stars instead of 1 is that from time to time, a manager visits this store from another region and she is very helpful and great...