Express — Local services in Tampa

Dear Express Customer Service Team,

I am writing to express my deep disappointment regarding an unfortunate experience I had today at your International Plaza store in Tampa, FL.

I have been a loyal Express customer for over 10 years and have always enjoyed shopping with your brand. However, during my visit today, I was treated very poorly by the manager on duty, who I believe is an African American woman. Her attitude towards me was extremely unprofessional and discourteous.

It appeared that she was anxious to leave for the day, and when I politely said, “It’s okay, if you would like to leave, another associate can assist me,” she responded with unexpected hostility. She returned to me with a furious tone, stating that her demeanor and behavior were simply “her face” and “her way of treating customers.”

As a customer making a purchase, I did not expect to be treated in such an unprofessional and disrespectful manner. I left the store feeling extremely disappointed and disheartened.

In a time when many customers prefer online shopping and brick-and-mortar locations are struggling to maintain foot traffic, I would expect that in-person shoppers would be valued and treated with the utmost respect. Experiences like the one I had today only discourage loyal customers like myself from visiting your stores in the future.

I sincerely hope that this feedback reaches the appropriate parties at the corporate level and that steps are taken to address this issue. No customer should ever be made to feel unwelcome or mistreated when supporting a brand they have been loyal to for years.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing back from...

UPDATE 11/21/22 - Thank you so much! I did reach out to the phone number and was very fortunate to speak with a supervisor by the name of Jordan. He already went through my account and validated what I was trying to portray to the agent and he even went through the documents that I submitted that the agent requested and never reviewed. For that I thank you and greatly appreciated the assistance from an individual that I thought had customer service etiquette.

11/17/22 - I have been utterly disappointed on the way that Expresses customer online services have conducted business. I started placing my orders online with that being said prompt the company to send me coupons in the mail. In October I received a coupon that states $10.00 Express Cash with any purchases, I kept telling them its like a flyer prompting me to buy something and that I would get it in 4-6 weeks. It seems as if none of the call center people knew of it and was making me out to be a liar. so i emailed what i had with and the Person by the name of Joms just hung up on me after telling me that i had already used the coupon code and what did i want pretty much. I had to explain to him there is no coupon code its a flyer your company provide that says buy this in this time frame and in turn you will get this. i was highly disgusted and appalled for speaking to me in such a manner when you can clearly pull my order history to see the money that i have spent with this company over the years. I will come back and address this if i hear back from someone within the company that's not utterly rude and nasty to there customers. Please and thank you for your time...

This is not a critique on this specific store, but rather company policy.

They have a no exception to their 30-day return policy, including in the cases of natural disasters such as the 2 recent hurricanes that affected the Tampa Bay area. The 30-days are calendar days regardless if the store is open or closed. So what that means is if the store decides to open 15/30 days, then you now only have 15 days to return. Keep in mind, you might have lost your house, your car, you might have to physically fight somebody to get gas, or defy local governemnt orders to enter an evacuation zone, but yes you still need to return your purchase within the return window, regardless if the store is open to accept it. Express is begging its costumer base to prioritize them and risk their life to return their items with absolutely no regard for any real world challenges its customers. The best part is, if you show up to their store to return an item and they are closed (due to a natural disaster) they won’t even honor that. How can we be responsible for your management and your decision to close your store, esp when you expect us to be responsible to return your product in your arbitrary timeframe?

Bottom line. Make sure you like what you buy, because you will need to cut off your arm and leg to try to return it. You know lots of other retailers, esp in this mall, actually offer fair return policies that account for times of crisis. Thank you for shedding light on how this corporation values profit...