New York & Company – another company that doesn’t know the meaning of customer service

I’ve been a fan of New York & Company for a long time. I freely admit I probably bought several thousand dollars’ worth of clothes from this company – both online and in various stores. The clothes are fairly well made and inexpensive, as well as nicely suited for office wear.

That’s why I’m supremely disappointed to report that New York & Company will not see a penny more of my money. Ever. Again.

I don’t know what it is with modern companies that don’t understand the meaning of customer service, but as far as I’m concerned, this is getting old. My one resolution for the new year is to ensure that I only shop at places that understand and honor that concept, and that I expose every last crappy company that doesn’t.

New York & Company is one of those.

On Black Friday, Teeny and Redhead decided to head to New York & Company at Tyson’s Corner to pick up a few gifts. I won’t even get into the shitstorm this caused, as they decided to head out at 0300 hrs. without mentioning it to mom. Beside the point…

After having bought some Christmas gifts and unpacking their bags, they realized that not only had the New York & Company sales associate forgotten to remove a security tag from one of Teeny’s purchases, but also that a $50 gift card that they bought and paid for was completely missing from the bag.

They realized it was Black Friday at 3 am, and the sales person was obviously tired, as she had given them the wrong change as well at the time of the purchase, so they weren’t too upset.  They just figured they would stop by and get another card.

A couple of weeks later, we stopped by the store together. Teeny explained the situation and presented her receipt. The security tag was removed. However, it appeared that the manager either didn’t know how to trace the gift card, or just didn’t believe my daughter when she said she never received the card! She told her she would look into the situation and to contact her in two days.

It has now been more than a month, and she STILL hasn’t gotten a new card or her money back! How difficult is it to trace a gift card and see if it was used – especially since she has the receipt and knows exactly when the purchase was made??? She called the store and was informed that they have no other information for her.

Essentially, she lost that money thanks to a tired or incompetent sales clerk, and nothing has been done about it to date!

This is appalling in any case, but even more unconscionable in this one, since Teeny is a minor and has a part time job where she works very hard. This was the first time she was able to buy presents for her family with her own money – money that she has earned, and thanks to this incompetence, she essentially LOST $50!

I emailed the above story to customer service as well as the comments section on NY&C’s website.

I got two replies – one asking for the sales receipt number, transaction number, etc. - information that the incompetent manager at the store already had, because she allegedly photocopied Teeny’s receipt – and the following from their customer service monkeys:

On Dec 22, 2012, at 18:16, “Michael Z.” <service@nyandcompany.com> wrote:

Dear Nicki,

Thank you for contacting http://www.nyandcompany.com.

We greatly appreciate your feedback.  We strive to provide an excellent shopping experience for each customer and constantly look for ways to improve.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and have forwarded your concern to our Retail Customer Service Department.  If you prefer to talk to someone in that department, please call (800) 723-5333.  You will need to choose option 2, then option 2.

You’ll find we’re always adding new products and offers, so please stop by http://www.nyandcompany.com again soon.  We appreciate your patronage.

Sincerely,

JoHari

NY&CO Customer Service
1-800-961-9906

Yeah, I’m thinking your appreciation of my “patronage” ain’t all that hot after this fiasco, but I decided to wait and see. After a few days of complete inaction, I sent them this:

— Original Message —
From: Nicki Fellenzer <n****@comcast.net>
Received: 12/24/12 6:51:17 PM EST
To: “Michael Z.” <service@nyandcompany.com>
Subject: Re: gift card

Well. It’s Christmas tomorrow and my daughter had to go out and buy another gift card just to make up for this screw up. She lost $50 thanks to this, and all I’ve gotten so far is a runaround including having to give information I have already provided about the receipt, which the manager of the store supposedly made a photocopy of.

This is absolutely inexcusable!

All those thousands I’ve spent at your stores and online? They will be spent elsewhere. I’m absolutely disgusted with the lack of action on this.

The “customer service” monkeys are obviously illiterate, or are trained to reply to every mail in the same manner:

Dear Nicki,

Thank you for contacting http://www.nyandcompany.com.

We greatly appreciate your feedback.  We strive to provide an excellent shopping experience for each customer and constantly look for ways to improve.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and have forwarded your concern to our Retail Customer Service Department.  Please allow additional time for a response.

You’ll find we’re always adding new products and offers, so please stop by http://www.nyandcompany.com again soon.  We appreciate your patronage.

Sincerely,
Lakeya

NY&CO Customer Service
1-800-961-9906

You appreciate my patronage, eh? Well, if you do, you’ve just lost it jackasses. After allowing for “additional time,” my final response to them was the following today:

As of today, I still have not heard anything about this gift card.

This was the store’s mistake. They failed to put the card in the bag at the time of purchase, and that was just ONE of the errors that was committed that day!

And yet, I have to go through all this rigamarole just to get a new card?

I am done with you. I am done with your company. And I promise you I will ensure that everyone I know, as well as all my blog readers are made aware of this issue!

You have lost a loyal customer. I hope you’re happy.

So here’s my advice to you: Shop elsewhere. This company obviously doesn’t give a damn about its customers, and while $50 is probably not a whole lot to them, it’s quite a bit to my daughter, who earned it, and for the first time in her life was able to get gifts for her loved ones with money she earned herself.

I’m sure New York & Company won’t go bankrupt from my publicizing this sole incident, but I can certainly ensure that everyone I know makes an informed choice about where to spend their hard-earned dollars.

Dear Celebricunts!

Go fuck yourselves. With chainsaws.

You are hypocrites.

You have armed guards and gated communities.

You make millions from the same violence you claim to condemn.

You demand a “plan,” without having any concept of the history and fundamental ideals of this nation – without respecting the rights of individuals – without understanding what you demand.

The lot of you are stupid, ignorant, uninformed and pathetic.

You are opportunistic swine, using your celebrity, fortune and influence to encourage politicians to gain more power at everyone else’s expense.

You don’t understand what you are demanding, and you don’t care, because the lot of you are insulated, spoiled children.

When you stop making profits off violence, you can start talking about demanding a plan. But for now, you can just shut the fuck up.

The. End.

 

Get well soon

I don’t agree with Hillary Clinton on practically anything, but that doesn’t mean I’m callous. I do wish her a speedy recovery. A blood clot is nothing to mess with or joke about.

And honestly, I’m in no mood to deal with conspiracy theory assholes who claim this is nothing but a plot to prevent her from testifying about Benghazi. So if you’re here to do that, go away.

Get well soon, Madame Secretary.

The. End.

Year in Review – 2012 was… interesting

This year is about to end, and I’m not sure what to make of it. I still live in Arlington with Rob, Teeny and the Redhead. We still have two attention-whoring cats. We no longer have a hedgehog, but we do have a large, slobbering, farting dog!

I still love my job. I find it mentally challenging and stimulating. I love this house. I love my kids. I love Rob.  We have established a comfortable routine together. The kids adore Rob and think he’s the coolest thing since ice cream (ice cream they pilfer freely before he can grab some for himself). They have food fights at the table. They chase one another around the house and wrestle. They all make me smile.

I didn’t blog about guns too much in the beginning of the year. There were other things going on – primaries, in particular, occupied my time – mostly because I couldn’t believe the mass amount of stupid in the field of candidates we were forced to tolerate. To be sure, there were some things with which I agreed on all ends of the spectrum, but aside from Gary Johnson, I didn’t see anyone I could even remotely stomach in the White House. Our friend Ken Vaughn had decided to run for Congress, but in the end establishment “moderates” won out, and… well….

In February, we lost one of our own – Maj. Bob Marchanti, with whom I deployed to Kosovo in 2007, was killed in Afghanistan. I was filled with incredible rage for most of that month, and much of my writing reflected this anger that month. I look back on it now, and cringe a bit at how pissed off I was! This was exacerbated by fiscal issues, as I was trying to refinance the house – a most annoying and infuriating experience – and pay the bills, while my darling ex informed me that he was too poor to pay the bills he was required to pay by our divorce agreement, and asked me to take over those payments.

In March, I expended some electrons ridiculing the circus surrounding Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, in particular, the theatrics of the CBC and Frederica Wilson’s unbelievable choice in hats!

I turned 41 in April. Did you know that? I don’t feel old. I feel great.

In May, Rob and I went on our annual vacation to Las Vegas. We got much needed rest, and Gary Johnson got a much deserved presidential nomination from the Libertarian Party. WIN all around! Rob and I continued to point out why Ken Vaughn is a different candidate – a candidate Virginia’s 11th district should have voted for in the June primaries – but to no avail.

June primaries came and went. Establishment candidates swept on both sides of the political aisle. We had a huge storm that temporarily turned Arlington into a third world shithole and made the Redhead temporarily believe in the Zombie apocalypse.  June was the month I also installed a DONATE button. I hated to do that, but my bills were getting out of control, and my ex not only swindled me out of $7700, but also refused to help pay for his kids’ medical and dental expenses. Ya gotta love that!

July was awesome! In July we adopted Tucker – a big, drooling, slobbering, furry, loveable Teddy Bear of a Saint Bernard. He quickly became part of the family, and we quickly learned to leave the room whenever he passed gas. There was also a shooting in an Aurora, CO movie theater that set the wheels in motion for another assault weapons ban – because (SAY IT WITH ME!) we NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE! We also discovered that the media are assholes for trying their damnest to connect the Aurora slaughter to “right wing” violence and the TEA Party. OK – not really a revelation. More of a confirmation about what we already knew.

August was the month of election coverage, where frothing fundamentalist fruitcake Todd Akin tanked not only his candidacy, but also the candidacy of Richard Mourdock, who is also a social conservative, but not nearly as batshit crazy as Akin, who saw it fit to question the legitimacy of rape victims’ claims, because apparently, according to this renowned medical expert, the body has a way of rejecting babies conceived in situations of “legitimate rape.” Akin refused to go away, much like a bad case of the herp, which made Mourdock’s comments about pregnancy – even one that is a result of rape – being God’s will, sound much crazier than what it actually was.

The stupid came out really strong in September with Hollytwits initiating a campaign for the current president and Republicans wondering why a) they still can’t get anyone other than SOCONS and NEOCONS to get excited about their candidates, and why there were dancing vaginas at their August convention. In the meantime, our Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans got slaughtered in another September 11 terrorist attack that the administration claimed wasn’t really terrorism, but Muslim butthurt over some obscure movie that no one had ever heard of until a bunch of animals killed our Ambassador and the administration decided to blame the movie even though Libyans tagged this as terrorism like hours after it happened. Um.. yeah. Oh, and I did a CNN interview on current politics. That was fun.

October was… meh. The third debate between Obama and Romney was dull. I took a trip to Europe and somehow managed to avoid the Superstorm that pummeled the East Coast in which a tree apparently fell on our house, but managed to cause no damage whatsoever

We had Elections in November where President Obama won another term, and the Republicans were left scratching their heads about what went wrong. The CIA Director’s penis was in the news.  A lot.  And I discovered that no matter what I say or do, I’m a racist, because I don’t support the current administration’s policies. Oh well.

Now it’s December, and the worst, most hideous slaughter in recent history took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School . And as most of us grieved and wept, gun-grabbing assholes exploited the murder of children to push their political agendas.

So get ready for 2013, people! It’s going to be quite the ride!

Happy New Year!

New battle in 2013

If you thought your Second Amendment rights were secure in the aftermath of Heller and McDonald, you’re sadly mistaken. A new battle is coming and it’s going to be a doozy. It will be you against the gun grabbers. It will be you against the media. It will be you against the politicians. And your President has fired the first shot on Meet the Press this morning.

“I’m going to be putting forward a package and I’m going to be putting my full weight behind it,” said Obama in an interview aired on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I’m going to be making an argument to the American people about why this is important and why we have to do everything we can to make sure that something like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary does not happen again.”

While we would all love to do something to make sure that the massacre at Sandy Hook is never repeated, I cannot imagine anything that the federal government can do will be effective.

“Something fundamental in America has to change. And all of us have to do some soul searching, including me as president, that we allow a situation in which 20 precious small children are getting gunned down in a classroom,” Obama said in a taped interview with Meet The Press host David Gregory. “And I’ve been very clear that an assault rifle ban, banning these high capacity clips, background checks — that there are a set of issues that I have historically supported and will continue to support.”

First of all, people who don’t know the difference between a magazine and a clip, have no business legislating either one out of existence.

Second, we already have background checks, which will do nothing to stop someone who steals firearms from friends or family members, like Adam Lanza, or acquires them through straw purchases, like William Spengler, who shot firefighters on Christmas Eve and like Harris and Klebold in Columbine.

“I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools,” he said. “And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”

I don’t know very many Americans who believe that putting more guns in schools will somehow “solve our problem.” I haven’t heard anyone propose this as a panacea. Would it help? Probably. And I’m not talking about turning our schools into armed camps. I’m talking about restoring the right of responsible, trained Americans who are willing and able to properly use their firearms to carry their tools of self defense in schools. Many teachers are former military. They have the training and the ability to take that responsibility. Many states have training requirements before one is issued a concealed carry permit. So why not?

Armed citizens stop violent thugs nearly every day in this country. For every story reported in the news about a self-defense case, hundreds more go unreported and unexamined. Most of these cases do not involve a shooting. Merely brandishing a gun is enough – and that doesn’t make the news. So why not?

Armed citizens and students have stopped rampaging madmen before. Joel Myrick in Pearl, MS stopped a teenaged gunman and prevented him from claiming more victims. Students at the Appalachian School of Law stopped another rampaging lunatic after they ran to their cars and got their firearms. So why not?

There would be no force and no obligation. Those who work in schools and are willing to help, would be allowed to do so. Why not?

No one is saying this would stop armed lunatics every time, but it would give the victims a fighting chance. So why not?

Paranoid hoplophobes will start their mass howls of protest, and politicians would react – with proposed limitations on the rights of people who committed no crime. And they are committed – dedicated to ensuring that they consolidate power in their own hands. They are determined to shove another ban down our throats, and they are ready, willing and able to fight.

Are you?