Since I spend a good amount of time picking Anthropologie apart it’s only fair to celebrate them when they go above and beyond. Earlier this week I received an email from Mary who shared a story about how awesome Anthropologie’s employees can be.
Hi,
I saw the denim dress you tried on the other day, [that would be the
Traced Denim Dress ($118, review
here)] and decided to head to my local Anthro to see if it was on the racks. Indeed it was, but they did not have my usual size. I tried on the next smaller size and saw that I definitely needed my “usual.” They did a stockroom check for me and found the store didn’t have any more in that size. The girl at the fitting rooms said I could order one at the cashier. So I went to cashiers’ desk and the associate who helped me did a search for nearby stores and online. I decided to order it online and was told because it wasn’t in stock at the store, I’d get free shipping. The associate called Anthro’s customer service line and I spoke with a customer rep to order the dress. It took a little while but the problem was I would have to read my credit card number over the phone, something I didn’t want to do in a busy store in front of other people. Bummer. But the associate suggested that I buy a gift card for the amount of the dress, then she would call customer service back and we could complete the order with the gift card. Cool! Finally got the whole transaction done.
I was very impressed the people at the store were so helpful. This is how customer service used to be when I was kid. They took a lot of time and trouble to get me what I wanted and to be honest, they were a lot more patient than I was ;). So I wanted to give a public shout out on a public forum to the ladies at the Fashion Valley store for going the extra mile for me.
Mary
Thanks much for sharing this tale Mary! It got me thinking about the times an employee has gone above the call of duty for me. In the fall of 2008 I was at the 5th Ave store looking for the Ferrous Flower Sheath. It was sold out pretty much everywhere but customer service had told me 5th Ave still had one in my size. I couldn’t find it out on the floor so I asked one of the floor associates. She searched the dressing rooms and the back stockroom (which is massive) but still couldn’t find it. Most employees would have stopped right there but she was determined to help me find it. After about 10 minutes of searching we found it hiding out on the back of one of the racks upstairs. Talk about the thrill of the hunt! Even now the dress is one of my absolute favorites and I appreciate it even more since I had to work so hard to get it.
Do you have any tales of awesome customer service at Anthro?
Two great stories! THIS is what keeps me coming back to a store. You know that the SAs appreciate a customer and value their employer when they work that hard. I'd rather pay more money and have a good experience shopping than save money and have poor customer service and get attitude-this goes for everything from clothing to groceries. Great post!
Hi Roxy,Off topic, but would you consider doing an IRL review of the Maeshowe dress?Thanks for all your hard work here!Sarah
Pamela I 100% agree! Good customer service is the difference between me walking away and buying a ton.Hi Sarah, sure, I will look for it next time I'm at the store.
I ordered the Cascading Foliage Anna Sui dress in a 0 (the only sold out size) three times (!) and kept receiving a cancellation email – I finally called CS when it popped up again online and mentioned the issues I was having getting it – the SA put in my order with free shipping and also, because my other order had been waiting 4 or 5 days without an update or shipping, sent me a $15 Anthro coupon. Awesome!I've also had a few bad experiences recently but this totally overrules those :)Caroline
Hi Roxy,OT but I have the Ferrous Flower Sheath dress as well. Could you give me some styling ideas (work appropriate, casual) so I can wear it more often? Also, love, love, love The Weekend in-store community post. I hope you do make it a weekly feature.Have a great weekend everyone!
Caroline, that is amazing! I love that they gave you a coupon since that's like gold from Anthro. 🙂 And even better, you got your dress too.Hi Anon, happy to. Here's one idea back from my pre-IRL review posts to get started. The community post will be a weekly feature for sure — so glad you like! For everyone else reading, please check the weekend in-store community post out! It ran on Friday, I'm trying to figure out a way to make it "sticky" so it stays on top of the blog all weekend. 🙂
I shopped at Anthro. Newport Beach, CA last Tuesday. Ms. Olga Hernandez, a personal stylist, helped me and 5, yes five, other customers with our shoes in half an hour I shopped for my shoes. I was looking for a pair of Budding T-Strapsize 6. The store did not have my size, but had the right sizes for 2 other lovely ladies. So Ms. Olga had to call another store for me. While she was on the phone, she helped three other ladies, one with a pair of Winding Ruffle Boots and other boots. All of us were very happy with our shoes, and I with my other purchase. Ms. Olga was still calling around for me when I left the store. Last Saturday, an Anthro. store from Florida called and informed me that they found my size. I was so excited. These shoes and boots were sold out on-line and are hard to find because they are very pretty.This is a random example of the world-class services I have been getting while I shop at the Anthro store in my town. Miss Olga is very sociable, approachable, and friendly. She would give me her opinionate advice of how each piece of clothes fits on me when I seek her advice. She would honestly tell me if it looks good on me or not and how to remedy or style the clothes differently. I have never felt that she is intrusive. I have never felt pressure into buying anything but she does not need to pressure me. Anthro clothes are too dreamy and too beautiful to begin with. I keep coming back to the store for their unique one of a kind items and for the personal and yet friendly helpful staff.I posted this true story up in facebook a week ago. I meant every single word of it. I could have said more about her but decided to make it short because I would like to people to judge her through her actions rather than through my words. Olga made my life and my anthro shop so much wonderful. I bought a lot of stuff at Newport beach store and I am very picky. I want my size. I want the sale price. I want good quality. I want beautiful unique items. In another word, I want a lot. And Olga is so awesome. I feel as if she knew me and she plays a role of an aunt to me. But she is hardly the only wonderful SAs. I can name Amy at Irvine, Joseph at Santa Monica, Lidia at Newport Beach, etc. The SAs are friendly and personal, but they are professional at the same time. They are like your best friends shopping with you. They are honest in giving me their opinions. Tthey do not pressure me into buying anything because they do not work on commissions. They leave me alone when I am at anthro to read books. By the way, have you read books at anthro? I many times in the month go to sit on a couch, read a fashion book, smell the perfume in the store, and listen to the music. It is so therapeutic.Thanks Roxy. I just want to share how happy I am shopping at anthro.
i have a tale of great customer service from Anthro! two weeks ago i found that my cell phone was missing…and couldn't remember where i'd last used it…after trying to retrace my steps for a week and a half, i found out that Anthropologie had actually gone and attempted to call my Mother through my phone contacts to get the phone back to me! I had accidentally left it in a dressing room. long story short, they kept my phone for me until i could make it back to the Corte Madera, CA store yesterday. It was a busy day at the store and I wound up being there for a couple of hours afterwards perusing the racks and trying on things…not once did i encounter a snippy or rude SA…they were all exceedingly helpful and polite.
I love the SA's at Fashion Valley- they are extremely helpful- Lauren especially. Although I'd say that 95% of the SAs at any Anthro I've been to have been very helpful and polite.
Anthro employees have always been absolutely awesome to me, with the exception of just one interaction. Most recently I had a very sweet pair of sales girls at my local SF store when I was looking for a recipe book to buy for a friend at Christmas. I had seen it in my local store but only decided a few days later after some thinking it would be the perfect gift. I returned and it was no where in sight. Despite busy pre-Christmas crowds, an employee searched everywhere for me. She had no luck so had another girl search the stock records to see if they'd be getting more. It seemed like there were more they could pull the next day so they took down my information and said it would be held for me. When I came back, the same girls were on duty and when they saw me began apologising that they were unfortunately mistaken and the book was indeed gone from their supply. They started calling all the other shops in Northern California to see if anyone still had some. The calls were desperately long, again in pre-Christmas rushes, and so after a lot of trying I thanked them for their effort and they began to try and enter an order for me online. Since the book was back-ordered online, I ended up declining as I was going to be out of town for a few weeks, right at the estimated delivery date, but thanked them for their effort in my quest.The kicker to me was after the holidays. I sent my friend to Anthro after the holidays because a pair of shoes she admired was on sale, and she said the sales girls remembered her being at my side over the recipe book quest. The sales staff said to pass on that they'd been holding a copy of the book once they got it back in for me, just in case I was still on a quest for it. So sweet!
What great stories! I love the store at Fashion Valley and I'm glad they were able to help someone out!
Overall I have had mixed experiences with SAs at anthro, but here's a story where they went above and beyond for me.In fall 2008 I bought the Gregarious Dress by Wendy Katleen at full price (~ $180) for by brother's wedding. When I bought it the zipper seemed sticky, but I thought it was just because it was a tiny zipper and really thick material. After wearing the dress only twice the zipper was completely broken. However, I didn't realize that until I tried to put it on for a party last month. I was annoyed because when I pay $200 for a dress I expect it to last forever! I called the seamstress and she said it would be $40 to fix. I took the dress back to the store where I bought it, to see if there was anything they would offer me for the faulty product. Keep in mind this was a full year after I bought it, and I had no receipt and no anthro card. I told them my story and they gave me a gift card for $40 to cover the cost of the repair! They totally went out of their way to help me, in a way that is not exactly standard practice. I got the dress fixed and it's better than new. Thanks to the awesome SA who did this for me!
These stories always make me appreciate Anthro even more. I ordered my Blushing Ruffle skirt online, and it arrived kind of smushed and wrinkled. I just took it to the dry cleaners and didn't think anything of it, but I happened to mention it in my review. A week later, I get an e-mail from customer service saying that they apologized for the condition it arrived in and that they were sending me a $15 gift card. It really made me feel that quality and customer satisfaction is important to them, and it's one of the main reasons I keep coming back.
I had a great experience with the Palo Alto store a month or two ago. I called to order a very popular skirt. I didn't have the style #… but the staff was kind enough to look throughout the store to find it just going by my description. They then remembered to call me back that same day and ship it to me. Great customer service.
I called a store in Virginia (or was in North Carolina?) for the tick tock cardi. The SA knew it was in the stockroom & went to get it for me. She was wonderful. I wish I could remember the store name & SA's name. It was an easy, fantastic experience.
I recently tried on the Head in the Clouds cardigan and noticed a loose string on one of the buttons…sure enough the button fell off…it was the last of my size in the Orlando Anthro. At the time of the purchase Anthro was going thru a cold front and i REALLY needed a sweater. I was shocked when the mgr gave me 20% off! i was thinking that was VERY generous as it came to $28… Looking back I'd rather had the sweater with the button attached… many times in the following week I wanted to wear the sweater but didnt have the needle & thread to reattach it…I also had to make sure not to lose the button ( thinking i'd eventually need the reserved spare button hidden on the label), then had to go to Walmart to buy a little sewing kit. I ended up reinforcing all the buttons… I know alot of you can reattach a simple button easily and in a matter of minutes but for some people, like myself, it was an ordeal, LOL…BUT that 20% off sure took the edge off of the situation and I appreciate the mgrs gesture 🙂
oops, i meant to say FLORIDA was going thru a cold spell, NOT Anthro 😉 All you fellow Floridians knowwhat i mean with the temps consistantly i nthe 30's last week!
Here's my awesome tale of customer service:The Boylston Street Anthropologie Store in Boston has a personal shopper/stylist named Jeanne Mooney who comes around to the dressing rooms and asks shoppers if they need help styling something. She is always extremely helpful. For example, yesterday I was in the dressing room for 10 minutes trying to decide what to pair with the Web & Loom Cardigan that I recently purchased. I initially tried it on with the blue and purple skirt that the model wore it with in the catalog, but I really hated the combination. The full skirt with the thick sweater made me look heavy and the color combination looked really bizarre IRL. I showed the outfit to Jeanne and she said exactly what I had been thinking – she hates the combination and has no idea why they appeared together in the catalog. I asked her if she had another suggestion for how to wear the swear and she wound up showing me how to wear it with a bunch of items that I already own! It was nice because she could have convinced me to buy a bunch of new things to wear with the sweater but instead she worked with Anthro items that I already have. After helping me with the Web & Loom cardigan for 10 minutes, she showed me three different ways to tie the neck ribbon on the Lime Juice Dress and gave me some great belt suggestions to wear with it. I wish that all Anthro stores had awesome personal shoppers like Jeanne!
I also want to acknowledge an employee from the Boston store on Boylston St like Lola. I actually am not sure of this girl's name, I think it might be Lauren, but the couple times I've been helped by her it's always been a great experience! She is so friendly and helpful in the high pressure shopping situation that Anthro can be. She has helped me locate an item by taking her time to call other stores and when she waited on me the other day she was so pleasant and personable which SHOULD be the norm for people working in retail and customer service but these days can be rather hard to find. When I was in the fitting room she was in there as well and I could hear her helping and going above and beyond for many customers even though it was a very busy time and there were people everywhere. It's always a breath of fresh air to interact with such a sweet, kind SA, no matter what store. Thanks Lauren and keep it up (as if she reads this, you never know though haha)!!