Macy's — Local services in San Rafael

I'd give no stars if I could. I had one of the worst shopping experiences of my life at the Northgate Macy's last week. I had to walk through the store to conduct some business elsewhere in the mall. The jewelry section drew me in as I can't resist sparkle. I found a pair of hoop earrings with incredible sparkle. They were only silverplate but they dazzled me and at $25 the price seemed right. I went searching for a jewelry sales associate to ring me up.

Macy's has apparently become a customer service wasteland. The store was all but deserted, with few other customers in sight and no associates readily identifiable. Eventually I found one hovering near a woman who was browsing fine jewelry, and asked her where I could ring up. She told me she was the only jewelry associate and she was "helping" the other customer, so I could either wait or find someone else. I asked where I'd find someone else. She said, "if you can find anyone in cosmetics, they might help you." How encouraging.

I should clarify that there was no exchange of words, ever, between the woman who was browsing and the jewelry associate, that I saw or heard. And I lingered in the area, hopefully, for a couple more minutes. The browsing woman was doing exactly that: browsing. She wasn't asking to be shown anything or making any demands on the associate's time or attention whatsoever. But she was browsing gold and diamonds, so clearly the associate had decided that the potential of making a "big" sale (and accompanying commission?) far outweighed any benefit of ringing up my $25 purchase.

As I walked away, there was still no interaction whatsoever between those two women. There were no associates in cosmetics. It was a ghost town. The whole store is just eerie and unsettling.

At this point I seriously considered putting down the earrings and leaving, but what can I say? I was smitten. After crossing probably half a football field's worth of store, I found a register where an associate was finishing up with another customer. I stood nearby and approached when that transaction was complete. I smiled and said a friendly hello - I was just so relieved to find any living creature at that point, especially one with the power to complete my sale. In response, the associate - and I mean this very literally - GRUNTED at me. She did not even grunt out a word. It was just a straight up grunt. The transaction was completed without anything further said by me, and without anything at all said by her. Because grunting is not language.

I had to walk back through jewelry to exit the store. The browsing woman was still silently browsing and the associate was still staring at her with the avidity of my pug watching me eat. But at least I had my gorgeous sparkly earrings - a sweet little late holiday gift from me to me. Fast forward to a couple of days later. I was putting them in and I dropped one on the floor. Let me paint a very clear picture. I did not drop it out of a 3rd story window. I did not hurl it across the room in a fit of anger. It simply slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor, as happens sometimes.

When I picked it up, it was to find that five - FIVE - crystals had fallen out. They're quite small and I was only able to find four of them. So even had I glued the crystals back in, which was my first thought, the earring would have been imperfect. I hadn't kept the receipt or the packaging because they were purchased for me and I already knew I liked them. There's no way to recoup my money. I threw them away in disgust.

Honestly? I feel like I've been scammed. I feel like a prize sucker that was taken for a ride, given how hard I had to work in order to throw my money away on jewelry that turned out to be cheaper junk than what comes out of gumball machines.

Shame on Macy's. I'm glad it's empty all the time. I'll NEVER buy another thing there. Macy's is a moldering dinosaur that needs to just go ahead and finish going extinct. When the Northgate Macy's inevitably closes, a cancer will be removed from my...

My mom wanted a 100% cotton robe. So what that translates to is not just a tag that says 100% cotton, it has to be a certain type of cotton, Egyptian, Turkish, Organic would really add a better "you know what I like score". Exhausted after work I head to Macy's or Nordstrom because they do hold a level quality. So I stop at Macy's(Terra Linda) due to convenience. I find robes. My mother would use these thin, ugly, hard feeling robes to wipe up spills or likewise. Every step hurts my back even more and I'm not finding anything that will do, and I am really finding everything I like and I mean everything! So I'm approaching the corner of the tiled walkway and what do I see... Robe corner,,, I look, I touch, so far so good.... I access it up and down, it has passed on all areas. The price tag, what does it demand of me, well thank -+"+"';:+* $200.00!!!!!!!! Black Friday kicked that price tag right out the door. I got it for a whoooooooping $67.00. It turned out to be the high quality, thick yet soft to the tough nice robe my mom needed. There's always something for...

It seems every time I go to Macy's these days, it's an unpleasant experience because they are so understaffed and the existing staff seem so miserable. Customer service is horrible if you can find a salesperson. Today I stopped by the perfume section to pick up cologne, knew exactly what I wanted, found the counter where this cologne was, and waited. And waited. And waited. There were no staff in sight. When a staff person finally walked by me, twice, he looked straight at me but didn't say a word, didn't nod or indicate he knew his job involved helping customers. I finally flagged someone else down and he told me to wait at a counter at the other end of the store, where I found the same jerk. I told him what I wanted and he didn't know if they had it, but I said "you do, it's where you saw me before.". So we walked across the store to that counter. He was miserable, rude and less than helpful the whole time. I've decided to avoid Macy's - it's...