With our son-in-law’s birthday just a few days away, we recently made a trip to Things Remembered at Columbiana Centre Mall in Columbia, SC. I’d found a gift I really wanted on their Web site, but I didn’t have time to wait for shipping. Also, the cost of the next day rush shipping was frankly more expensive than the gift! (miss) Even if gas prices were still averaging $4.00 gallon, it was cheaper, and faster, to just go to the mall.
Sure enough, the store had the same item I was interested in, but the price tag was $7.25 higher. I asked the clerk what the turnaround time is for their engraving services, and if they would match their online prices. We were excited to hear that the engraving could be completed in hour or less, (hit) and all store prices would be identical to the online prices. Fantastic!! (homerun!) Her explanation that it would be too time consuming to change the sticker price every time an online price changed seemed logical, but I couldn’t help thinking it would have been nice to see this information on some kind of signage in the store. (miss)
We took our item to the register and were given a form to complete with the engraving information. The price for the engraving service was more expensive than what was shown on the Web site. (miss) We offered to show the clerk the online price at ThingsRemembered.com and were surprised to find she didn’t have access to the site! (miss) Wouldn’t it be extremely helpful to give the store clerks access to the company Web site? Don’t you agree? She called someone about the situation and was told there could be a glitch on the web site, but it was okay for her to honor the price I quoted. (homerun!!)
The clerk was very helpful and pleasant. (hit) She chatted with ease, and went the extra mile, but she was clearly upset she didn’t have all the tools needed to assist her customers in the way she would like. (hit for the clerk) (miss for the company)
Overall, we were extremely pleased with this shopping experience. We’ll pick up our engraved mug tomorrow and report back in, Things Remembered, part deux.
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Part Deux - The Pick Up
We picked up our gift today. Walking into the store, we saw the clerk was finishing up with a previous customer. She recognized us and was just as warm and welcoming as she had been yesterday. (hit) Excusing herself to the back storeroom; she then brought our package out front and unwrapped it for us to see. The engraving was just beautiful (hit), and, included at no charge, our item was wrapped in tissue paper and tucked into a very nice gift box. Bonus! (homerun!)
I love online shopping, but I have to say in this situation it was great having an actual storefront within driving distance. I’m a very, very satisfied customer today!
Hits = 5
Misses = 5
Homeruns! = 3
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Tags: Customer Experience, shopping review, thingsremembered