Bad LYS Experience--a little long

General Knitting
1

Well, I suppose I should start off by saying the shopping itself was very nice. :rofl:

This is a store Iā€™ve previously visited. Took a class there! The Husband & I went on Friday afternoon, b/c, lemming that I am, I decided to jump on the MS3 stole bandwagon, & needed some laceweight. Well, they really didnā€™t have any, so I consoled myself with a couple of hanks of Mmmmmmalabrigo. :lol:

Checking out was no problem. Had a nice chat with the employees behind the register, & then went home.

My husband told me last night (around midnight) that there had been a message on the machine from the LYS, saying that theyā€™d only charged me for one skein, and had charged my card for the other. The Husband was POā€™d b/c they didnā€™t actually talk to us prior to charging the card. I was POā€™d b/c my receipt showed that Iā€™d paid for two.

So I call this morning. The owner answered, and was curt with me. She said that my receipt may show two, but the one I signed showed Iā€™d only paid for one. (Of course, I donā€™t have that receipt. And what kind of system do they have that would allow this to happen?!) She said she put the charge through for the other hank, and would send me copies of all the receipts. I gave her my address, etc., & thanked her for sending it. (Yes, I was relatively nice, even though she was not.)

Then, I go online to look at the bank statement. I was charged THREE times!!!:grrr:So I call the LYS back. I get a different person (who was working the day I was in), who is very nice. He said the owner was with a customer, but heā€™d try to help. I told him the story thus far. He explained that when she put the charge through on Friday, it rejected it, saying it was a duplicate charge, so he said to put it through for a penny less so it would go through. Sheā€™d also apparently called the bank, so the bank must have decided to authorize the initial second charge. He said heā€™d refund one of the charges to my card today, and verified that they had my address so they could send the receipts. I thanked him for his help. (He is very nice!)

Hereā€™s the kicker, and why I wonā€™t EVER go back thereā€¦

At one point during the second call, the nice employee asked the owner, ā€œDidnā€™t you have a problem getting the charge to go through?ā€ And she replied quite snottily, ā€œNO!ā€ I could hear her quite clearly, even though she didnā€™t sound like she was all that close to the phone. Then she seemed to remember what happened. But at no point was she apologetic for ANYTHING.

This isnā€™t the first time Iā€™ve seen her negative attitude, either. I went in one day to see my instructor. She was nice as pie to me, until I asked if the instructor was there. Then her attitude changed, and she not-so-nicely told me that the person was out & would be back later. Iā€™ve also seen her use the same tone with other customers.

I really like the other employees, but I just canā€™t see going back there & spending any more of my money (or my time) to support someone with a bad attitude. There are other shops in the area where the owners arenā€™t rude. Theyā€™ll be getting my business from now on.

Thanks for letting me vent.

2

:ick: I hate bad LYS trips. I can see why you wonā€™t go back, sounds like she just wants your money.

3

Misha,

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Hereā€™s the thing, tell them about it. Too many times merchants give consumers bad service, because we the consumers allow them to. Send the owner a letter, being very matter of fact, and letting her know that not only has she lost your business, but that you will make a point of letting your knitting friends know about it. The best way to get someoneā€™s attention is through their pocket book.

Jana

4

Wow, Iā€™m sorry. Thatā€™s really no fun. Iā€™d definitely take my business elsewhere. Good luck finding a much better LYS :smiley:

5

wow. at least the clerk was a nice guy. did your bank fix the extra charges?

6

Iā€™m sorry youā€™ve had bad experiences with your LYS. I donā€™t like mine but itā€™s the only one around. I wanted some yarn to make dish cloths and the lady said ā€˜why on earth would you want to knit them?ā€™, and when Iā€™ve gone in looking for a certain size of needle, if they donā€™t have them they ALWAYS say, No they donā€™t do them anymore, I look on the internet and find them! They always say the pattern must be very old if you need that size, and itā€™s usually from a modern book!

I think I will just have to get over my fear of ordering online!

7

oh yes, you really must! i love ordering online! knitpicks is da bomb!

sorry you had such a crappy experience. i wouldnā€™t shop there anymore either. maybe in your letter to the owner, you could mention that you posted your experience to several thousand members on your knitting forum. :rofl:

8

so sorry to hear you had a crappy experience. I agree with the other posterā€¦ Let the owner KNOW why she is losing your business. Undoubtedly you are NOT the only person who has seen this side of her and others may have not said anything but they probably were turned off too. I really think you should let her know b/c LYS are a specialty market and we as customers are limited (somewhat) in our choices. THEY ARE THERE TO SERVE US ā€¦ NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Naturally she has spent lots of $$$ to get her business going and she would be upset if she lots all her cash. Hit here where it hurtsā€¦ hit her pocketbook. Perhaps SHE needs to take some time off, or delegate responsiblites b//c she is overworking, overextending herself. Whatever the causeā€¦ IT CANā€™T BE FIXED UNLESS SHE KNOWS WHAT THE PROBLEM ISā€¦ even HER own attitude. She just may be working too much and may be getting burned out, cranky, and mean. She just may need a vacationā€¦ I am NOT excusing her behaviorā€¦ but in situations like these you have to stop and ask yourselfā€¦ WHY the behavior happened in the first place~
this may be the reality check she needs~!:thumbsup:
hugs to ya~:hug::hug::hug:

9

What is LYS? I am not used to a lot of abbreviations. Sounds like you have a right to be tick. I would make sure that they really do reverse the charges. I had an experience like that and the charges didnā€™t get reversed and I had to file fraud charges with my bank. I eventually got my refund.:cheering:

10

Yeah, Iā€™d be back to give her a piece of my mind. I donā€™t understand why yarn shop workers are notorious for being snotty self righteous creeps. They must be pissed off because of Knit Picks. Itā€™s all KPs fault for being such a FANTASTIC company to order from. Which reminds meā€¦ I need to place another orderā€¦ big cheesy grin

11

Local Yarn Shop/Store :slight_smile:

12

I have decided in my 35th year (not waiting for the magic 50 that my mom and all her friends tell me happened to them) that I will no longer put up with crap from anyone. I will not be rude, I will not be angry, I will not be innappropriate, but I will no longer let people treat me poorly without offering them some constructive feedback. Here is the kicker. As women we are told not to get ā€œemotionalā€ because then people dismiss us. But realistically, it is good to tell people that they have hurt us. So I always add, when I have wronged that the person has not only lost my business, but behaved in a rude and HURTFUL manner. Why lie? Why pretend like it doesnā€™t hurt our feelings. It does and people should know that! I disagree about the letter. Although now that the situation is over, it is the best way. But confronting people directly, IN PUBLIC is the way to go. It forces then to address the situation directly and immediately.

Sorry, diatribe city! But I just feel strongly that the more we ā€œpoliteā€ people fail to be assertive, the more empowered rude people are!

13

LYS = Local Yarn Store

I agree, watch your online statement to MAKE certain that get your refund, and let the owner know via letter, phone call, or face to face why youā€™re not coming back. Or donā€™t, if you canā€™t be bothered. But DEFINITELY get your money back!!

14

isnā€™t it amazing how one neg attitude can ruinā€¦/lose a good customer. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOā€¦ we can & will shop
onlineā€¦ good customer service keeps us coming back
retail 101!! :eyes:

15

:roflhard::roflhard::roflhard::roflhard:

I hate when that happens - I would never go back there - I think that it was so wrong for her to charge your card first - l donā€™t even think that she had the right to do that even if she made an honest mistake - and then to be so rude about it.

If it was me, I would not go back, nor would I write her a letter. I just would never shop there again. If she treats enough people like that she will eventually lose enough business and either realize why or wind up closing.

I have been in yarn stores like that tooā€¦ the first time sometimes I give them the benefit of maybe it is a bad day, but the next time that is it for me.

Fortunately I live where there are at least 20 knitting stores that I can think of within a half hour from where I live or work so I have lots of choices.

16

I personally wouldnā€™t put up with that. I would call my cc company and dispute all but the original charges, stating that they are unauthorized. If you signed a slip with a certain amount, that would be all they are allowed to charge, no?

If they had nicely asked me to come back, showed me the receipt with the error, Iā€™d be fine with that. Run the card with the difference, sign a new slip etc. But in all the years Iā€™ve worked retail, adjusting the charge after the customer signed and left is a HUGE NO-NO. :fingerwag:

17

My husband said the same thing. Maybe they thought that b/c they called & said they were doing that it was ok. Dunno. So far, thereā€™s no reversal of charges or a credit to my account. Since itā€™s a debit card, the charges post pretty quickly. If thereā€™s nothing by tomorrow, Iā€™ll call my bank to see what they can do.

I would have been ok with going back & signing something. And even more ok with it had there been any sort of apology for the mix up. After all, this wasnā€™t my fault. I am glad that there are other yarn stores in the area.

Thanks to all of you for your feedback! :hug: I will send her a letter. Iā€™ll have to think carefully about what I say & how I say it so I donā€™t sound bitchy.

18

:!!!:hmmm, i just re-read what you wrote. 1st, the owner did NOT get your approval to re-charge your card; they left a message on your machine, then put the charge through TWICE. i would not only file a complaint with the BBB, but strongly express my concerns with my bank for authorizing the charges over the phone with out notifing me first. 2nd, i would write a letter, reminding her of what had happened, and telling her that she is practicing bad business ethics. i would not shop there again, unless i was paying with cash, as i would not trust them to NOT over charge/ extraniouslyt charge my account.

19

Just so you know that even with a debit card, it can take several days for refunds to show up.

20

Um- donā€™t worry about being ā€œbitchyā€- you are in the right. while mistakes may happen, it is their attitude in fixing those mistakes that counts. Be strong.