Complaint Rating:

Two days after Christmas I went into the Motherhood Maternity Store at Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, Georgia. I spent a little time browsing around and came a really cute dress on a clearance rack. The first one I picked up happened to be my size and the price tag said $12.99. I loved it and the price was right so I made a beeline to the dressing room to try it on and see how it looked. I was very excited that I had found something that fit well and at a great price so I took it up to the desk to pay. As the, I assume, manager began to ring me up she told me that the ticket was marked incorrectly and the dress was actually $29.99. She said that since there were still dresses on the rack that were marked at $29.99 she could not authorize the purchase for $12.99. I asked her to please call her district manager for the approval since the mismarked dress was not my fault and I had not even seen the other price tags. It was a huge let down for me. She said that her DM was not available that day and she could not reach her. I asked her to give me a number with which I could contact the DM to complain and also asked her to hold the dress for me which she did. At this point, my two year old daughter that I had with me was hungry and tired so I decided to leave the mall and go home.

When I got to my car and out of the parking lot, I called the number expecting to be able to leave a message for "Angie". When I dialed the number, I reached the store I had JUST been in. The associate that answered the phone realized that I was the customer that had just left the store 10 minutes before and told me that the DM had JUST called and authorized the sale so I could come back in and purchase the dress.

This really hacked me off because with a stroller I had to go through hoops to get to their store because I had to go half way down the mall to use the elevator, not to mention I had just given up my parking place at the mall two days after Christmas, and I had a cranky child with me.

I do not for one minute believe that their DM "just happened" to call as soon as I left. I believe that I called their bluff and they realized that they had no choice but to concede before the complaint went up the chain of command. I believe one of two things happened... either they were worried about keeping their average dollar per sale up or the company just does not empower their employees to make decisions that are the best for their customers. Neither option is good for business!
I work in a retail and customer service environment and would die if my associates made shopping at my store so inconvienient. I did finally call the DM and leave a message on her company voicemail. It is now January 12th and I still have not heard back from anyone at this company with even the slightest apology. An apology would have gone a long way. Now they have lost a customer for life, one that happens to be a member of a large mommy group and will share her story of terrible customer service with many mommies and mommies to be....