Dear Manager @ Melrose Avenue,
I’m writing to say thank you because doing business with you has been a truly enlightening – and in fact educational experience, for our whole family. You see, in December, my eldest daughter – aged 16 – came to your store and purchased a gorgeous embroidered rayon playsuit for her younger sister as a Christmas present. My daughter spent money she had worked hard for, and thought carefully about what her little sister may have liked.
The playsuit was in fact a perfect choice! I myself was very impressed with the cut, design and materials of this piece – especially having been bought from an inexpensive, mass-produced, non-designer store such as yours. However, after my younger daughter had worn it a few times, she washed it – according to the instructions – and found that the item shrunk. So much that she can no longer wear it.
At all.
Considering this was a gift from her sister, my husband brought our younger daughter to your store to ask for a refund or exchange. What happened next was quite frankly priceless in terms of life education for both of our teenaged girls. First, your staff accused my husband of putting the playsuit into the clothes drier, an accusation which seemed unlikely considering the fact that it had been over 40 degrees most of the week prior. Not only that, it was not true – the care instructions on the garment were followed exactly – which my husband calmly explained to your staff as he asked once again for the item to be replaced or refunded, for our daughter to enjoy her Christmas gift for more than just a few days.
Next came a creative and unusual suggestion from one of your other staff who suggested that my husband call consumer affairs to discuss the matter further.
This was, quite honestly, one of the greatest opportunities that we as parents have ever been given to explain to our children the perils of dealing with companies whose only interest is to take money from people, with no care whatsoever for whether or not the customer is happy, will come back again or will perhaps speak positively about their experience at a retail store. Considering the fact that our daughters regularly work in our own family retail business, we could not have asked for a better way to enlighten them on the importance of giving good customer service, about respecting and caring for customers beyond the sale and about public relations.
Feeling very sad and in fact a little angry, my daughter brought her Christmas gift home and placed it in a pile to be thrown away. But it wasn’t long before she had an idea! With just a few weeks until her return to school, our daughter had to do an assignment for VCE Fashion & Product Design. The brief required that she find a garment which could be redesigned more sustainably, and your playsuit was – once again – the perfect fit! A shining example of poorly designed, disposable fashion borne of environmentally and socially irresponsible manufacturing.
Having spent 20 years of my working life in the fashion industry, I can honestly say that I have never encountered a company which compares to your attitude to your product and customers.
As far as education and training of our kids, this is gold!
Thank you! Neither myself nor my kids shall ever return to your store again!
Most Sincerely,
Kristen Morrison
