Hey Everyone!
Have you ever experienced feeling cheated/ insulted as you walked into a store for shopping? Or has the attendant ever left you feeling indebted for burning a hole through your pocket! Duh, wake up, do not keep quite towards such injustice.
Well I have to share one of my worse experiences ever at the Inglot Store (India, Bandra). So this Friday I had gone to Inglot and purchased a Freedom eye shadow palette and refills. Since the Billing Machine was not functioning properly, the Bill came out blank and I was not issued any manual bill. The store attendant (Female) told me that I can carry the payment slip for any future exchange. Happy and Assured ( Big Mistake Alert!: Don’t trust so easily) I left to hunt down Lakme White Eyeliner
(Budget Friendly and Better Pigmentation). Despite my Lakme and Inglot Shopping I was not content (Typical shopaholic me) and I left to seek Inglot again for few more Eyeshadows and Shimmer!
The second time same female attendant gave a Manual Bill to me and I left for home, feeling happy. When I reached home I realized I may not wear one of the colors I had purchased and took too much of silver! I decided to go back and get another color instead of ‘electric blue’. I was astonished by the change in body language and behavior of the same female attendant, the very next day. I was struck with a wave of extreme arrogance and rudeness as I got told off.
I have a few key points that pinched me the most:
Female Attendant: I told you clearly yesterday itself that we will not exchange (her arms crossed).
Me: So are you suggesting that I am Lying? why don’t you show me the exchange/ return policy? I will not utter a word.
Another Attendant: We do not keep our policies documented, its mostly verbal.(Alert: A Good Brands has not documented its return/ exchange policy! Okay, now that’s very fishy!)
Me: I have been to other cosmetic stores as well like MAC, the attendants are very polite and patient compared to you. In fact the exchange policies are better.
Female Attendant: Why don’t you shop in Mac only, how dare you insult Inglot! (Okay, so by this time I knew that I will escalate the matter)
Me: I want to speak to your Manager/ Area Manager.
Female Attendant: I was not supposed to give the 6th eye shadow to you since you purchased the palette of 5, yet I did!
Me: I feel indebted since you paid for it using my card.
At this point I was exhausted with the endless argument and offended but I had to fight for my right! The product was neither used nor on sale. After, what seemed an eternity, the female attendant called up the area manager and started blasting a piece of superficial truth with hint of lies. When I asked I wanted to speak to the Manager myself, they told me off saying ‘if you wish to speak to the manager, come back to the store tomorrow’.
I left the store, came back home, spoke to my guy who soothed me down. Posted the complaint on twitter, facebook and marked the Email to Inglot international. Next day, I spoke to few people I knew who worked under major brands (you make friends when you are a shopaholic and have fixed attendants you can rely on). Since, I did not catch the female’s name, I called at the Bandra store next day and asked for her name (The one I had an argument with). To my surprise and much dismay, the same male attendant told me they had a ‘No Name Disclosing Policy’ (So now I felt evidently queer over the dispute). I had to get through the higher management somehow, hence, I ended up calling up another branch for the same brand. The Female attendant at the Kurla branch was really considerate and heard my story patiently. I requested her to help me get touch with the Manager and to my utter amazement I got a call within 5 minutes. I narrated my side of the story to the area manager who in turn apologized and help me exchange (Never Back down easily).
Funnily enough, it turns out that the ‘No Exchange’ Policy/ No policies documented/ No names to be disclosed policies turned out to be an utter lie.
I did not escalate the issue for one eye shadow, its merely INR 400, but for my rights. If I am paying for a product and I am nice to the attendants that does not mean they can take me for a ride and lie to me.
Lesson: Don’t let anyone fool you easily. When its wrong, it is wrong and there are times when we should act instead of letting go.
The question that arose, in the end, was if I would go back to Inglot! My answer is Yes! I will… because the products are amazing and it was not the fault of the company. However, I hope they take care of such situations as I may never take the same road again.
Wishing you a happy and safe shopping!
Xoxo!
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