Alan

Yeah, that’s some bad customer service. Its kind of a bad time for a lot of tux/formalwear places right now, though, because formalwear is less and less relevant. The bread and butter of these places is proms and weddings. But kids are more likely to just wear suits to proms, and lots of weddings don’t go with tuxes anymore. Add to that the cheap suits/tuxes available at many department stores and the big chain tux places. So, being a ma and pa tux place these days sucks. Still, that’s all the more reason to be good to every potential customer, which these guys obviously have overlooked.

acidspit

Ugh. Bad customer service is the worst… Because mom and pop shops have to build their own business, they have to have something “extra” to build their business through referrals because they can’t rely on the recognizability of their name (ie, David’s Bridal, Best Buy, etc). This place actively refused your business in this case, and in turn, probably all the possible referrals that could have come their way.

I’ve found that most service-oriented businesses, like insurance or CPA will give you a bit of free advice if you ask them because they know that it’s possible that this peson may come back, and the bit of free advice will generate new business. If you actively shut down every opportunity that comes your way, the business will probably tank in the long run!

moom

Yeah, I’ve never worn that stuff in my life and I’m 42. My brother didn’t even wear a business suit for his wedding, though he did wear a tie.

sfordinarygirl

good customer service definitely goes a long way and keeps people coming back like at Trader Joe’s.

I was shopping there one afternoon just perusing the aisles to see if there was something different. Someone came up to me and asked if I needed help finding anything. I didn’t even approach them!

And when I did need something in a different aisle, they walked over to the correct aisle and brought me the item I needed.

If I have to shop at Safeway or TJ’s, even though they’re both across the street from each other literally, I go with TJ’s.

Milind

Great little story, Ramit. I particularly appreciate the positive alternative you suggested.

The owners chose the very risky option of going for the quick buck rather than the low-risk option of building a friendly relationship worth far more in the long term.

Imagine if they had taken a couple of other measurements and written them on a business card. Beyond the positive association of their having done you a favor, their name and brand would be inextricably linked with useful information.

Chris R.

Where’s the rest of the story? Did you ever find a company willing to give you measurements for free? If so, I think they should be promoted within your post for doing the “right” thing from a WOM perspective.

Sheridan

Ramit, I have two things. I did try Googling for the search terms you mentioned and it looks like formal wear is two words (I was able to find “Nicole’s Bridal and Formal Wear” in San Bruno, but your search terms came up empty).

Secondly, this story made me think of Nordstrom. Nordstrom is so utterly devoted to Customer Service that they have to tell stories to their new employees to get across how important customer service is to them. For example, they tell the story of the employee that offered to gift wrap a present for a customer, even though the item was in the bag of one of Nordstrom’s competitors. The kicker is the story of a Nordstrom in Alaska that took over a building from a Tire store. Shortly after their opening a person came in with a bad pair of snow tires he wanted to return. Nordstrom doesn’t even sell tires, but the employee asked him what he had paid, apologized for the confusion, and gave him a refund!!!

Now, think about that for a moment in comparison with taking a 30 second measurement, and think about how each experience would make you feel if you were the customer.

Henri

I can definitely relate to this story. Just two weeks ago I was shopping around for a tux. I went to one place and the service was superb. I went online to compare price, and even though their price were slightly higher I decided to go back to the store and buy the tux because of the quality of the service I received. And because the sales rep remembered who I was and treated me nicely, I’m going back there for any purchases of that sort and recommending the store to all my friends.

Buz

The real kicker is – the 30 seconds it would have taken them to do the measurement would have cost NOTHING. Even if these people were employees and not the owners -you weren’t taking them away form any other pressing matters. Nice of you to give them immediate feedback on their poor decision.

Duane

Bridal shops are the worst, so I’ll give you this advice when the fine day comes that you become engaged: Don’t tell any vendor your wedding day. I could write reams about how a bridal shop abused my wife and intentionally created chaos and delays in order to drive up costs for a rush order. We are on-time people who plan things, but the bridal business is built around burning through one customer at a time with little regard for repeat business.

…mostly because no one expects to get married twice. Even if they do, most don’t do the whole wedding dress rah rah the second time, so they have nearly no incentive to treat you right. Keep this in mind.

Jonathan

That was very poor customer service, and anyone who disagrees does not know anything about giving good service. I worked in a retail pharmacy for a year and customers came to know me for my great service to them.

Good customer service is easy — just be nice! Do unto others!

Shoot, if I had some measuring tape on me, I would have done it for free. Sometimes I spend 30 seconds holding a door open for random strangers.

To ask for $5 or anything for such a simple service was stupid. Instead of just measuring your chest, they probably sat around doing nothing.

Andrew

Tux shops are supposed to measure you for free — I’ve had it done at least a half dozen times over the years.

As far as the guy who wrote “my bet is that they got tired of giving something away for people who were renting out of town”: Ramit is right — what are they giving away? Their time is either spent measuring a “potential” future customer, or doing nothing instead.

Never had a problem getting what they call a “courtesty” measurement done before at a tux shop. Most even have cards designed specifically for this.

Ramit is right, they were wrong. People don’t go into a tux shop often, so it’s in every tux shop’s best interest to be THE tux shop that sticks in your mind. Whenever you DO need a tux, they should want you to think of them.

Dave

I had the same thing happen to me last week when buying a suit for a job interview.

I went to a Macy’s store where there were three representatives standing around helping one customer. I asked for them to measure me, but not one of them came off to help me.

In my disgust I left for the nearby JCPenney, with only 1 man running Men’s Suits. He measured me, he got the sale. And I ended up spending a whole lot less too.

I

James

“Speaking of customer service, there is one industry where I think it’s imperative–a matter of life and death for a company really since the profit margins are so razor thin–where treating the customer like king pays off handsomely: airlines.”

I completely agree and have a mini-rant myself. Last week I bought a ticket over the phone from Northwest Airlines. I clearly stated I wanted to leave on Fri and return on Sat and the sales rep even repeated this. When we were done she said I would receive an email with my reservation. 4 days later I still had no email, so I go onto the website to look it up with my confirmation number. I found out she booked a flight that arrived and departed on Fri leaving me a little over 2 hours between arriving at my destination and leaving. That doesn’t even make sense since it’s hardly enough time to leave the airport. I found out later that she had also spelled gmail as gmial which is why I didn’t get the email. I called the head manager who wanted me to pay $300 to get a ticket on the correct flight. In the end I had to move my return flight to Monday, requiring more vacation time, and pay an additional $30. That sucks for something that was completely their fault. I will never fly northwest again!

john

I noticed some rust on my car. I phoned an auto body shop that a friend recommended.

A person at the shop spent a few minutes asking and talking about it. Then he invited me down so he could have a look. He looked at it, explained the cause, and what to do to fix it and then to prevent it from happening again.

I asked if they sold the protection and he recommended a different company to go to.

He didn’t charge me anything. He didn’t try to sell me anything. I can say without question I will be calling that shop if I need work done.

He turned a not-yet-a-customer into a highly-likely customer. Also you can bet if someone asks me if I know a body place I will send them to that place.

Frank

No, no, no… can’t you guys see how giving Ramit a free chest measurement would’ve been the worst move for the business?
Look… They cheerfully measure Ramit’s chest. Next, Ramit is so delighted with this freebie, he tells his friends. Then his friends tell *their* friends. Soon the business will be destroyed by the mob in their store all clamoring to get their chests measured for free! O

j&w

And the intentional search engine poisoning is vindictive

Yup, very petty. First impressions count on blogs too.

PollyQ

Hear, hear Eric!

Perhaps too many people were coming in for free measurements and then renting tuxedos over the web, or buying them used from eBay. Why should they help you take your business elsewhere?

Also, bear in mind that nothing’s free. Sure, Nordstrom’s has great service, but high prices to go with it.

chris

I think it’s disingenuous for people to act like every one of them would pump up a business who gave them something for free. Many cheapskates have a sense of entitlement when they deal with businesses. You see this any time you work with or serve people. Sure, free measurements is a sales opportunity if you look at it a certain way, but do you really expect business owners to fall over themselves to help out some guy who just wants to get something done. Imagine running a struggling business and people come in expecting free measurements as if it were some right of the customer.

Just A nut

Honestly speaking, there are a few ways to go about this…

1) If the shop simply does not measure for free, then there is no use for us to argue whether they should measure something that takes 30 seconds for free or not. Doctors can take 2 minutes to examine you and still charge you your left ball for it. Time is not a factor.

2) At least, they should have been polite about it.

3) Trust me. if they did measure for free, it would not result in Ramit telling his friends about this place! It just doesnt happen for this type of deed. Its almost like saying the gas station let me put air in my tires for free. The only thing it may have resulted is a potential customer, which is Ramit.

Anyway, everyone has some bad customer service experience. I tried to return something in walmart and the lady said, u didnt buy it in this branch. :O

Jeanne

I just had an experience with a carpet cleaner. He doesn’t advertise, only gets customers through word of mouth. If you refer a customer, you get a check for 10% of that customer’s order and free movie tickets. He works hard to make every customer a referrer. It was refreshing.

karisa donis

i really liked one of ur dresses that i had tried on thursday it was a dark almost maroon red color do u still have tose in stalk

Jenn

I don’t agree with your “observation” if you can even call it that. I don’t like how you started off your story by saying the employee “snarled” at you and then you said you “politely asked.” It’s telling me that you’re turning the story in your favor. Right off the bat, it makes me not trust your story. In addition, you had a very arrogant view about your perfect visit. A business charging $5. for measurements is not unusual. You cannot expect to get free measurements at a specialty store versus a place such as Nordstrom. You should do better research. I have been to the store and they are VERY polite with a wide variety of dresses and matching tuxedos. Their business is FAR from a struggling. They have been around for 15 years and all over the bay. A measurement does NOT take “10 seconds? 20 seconds?” If you want it done RIGHT, it takes longer. This also shows me you did not do your research. This sounds like a rant of a person who wanted something free and didn’t get it because you said “if anyone searches for formalwear San Bruno or Nicole’s Bridal and Formalwear or formalwear Tanforan, this post will come up to let others know about how poor their customer service is.” This sounds like a revenge task to me. I might have trusted you if you gave me an unbiased info, but you didn’t. A hint for your book: people don’t like hearing others being judgmental and unknowledable about their topic. If your method of getting rich is by trying to get free things, it sounds like you’ll end up in jail for eventually stealing. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

Daysi

Hello Ramit. Well, I was reading your story and I’m with you! Nicoles has the WORST customer service!
My sister is getting married on September, and she ordered the flower girls dresses from Nicoles on March. The owner told her the dresses would arrive mid July. Soooooo, come July, and my sister never received a call from them. So, my sister decited to calle the owner, and this is what the owner said,
“Oh, I’m so sorry I haven’t called you! The dresses arrived here about 2 and a half weeks ago! I’ve been busy and haven’t had the chance to call you!”
What the heck kind of service is that?!
Imagine if my sister had not called?
Then, when would she have called her?
And I’m pretty sure you and I aren’t the only ones who share the same thought and opinions on Nicoles at Tanforan!

George

I read this last night and just because of your article I went to Nicole’s in Tanforan just this afternoon. I’m glad I didn’t listen to you because I received great service. They measured me(which if you want it done right does not take 30 seconds), helped me find what I needed and even gave me a discount for the sake of kindness. the $5 charge is pretty standard for measurements if you’re not even buying, especially considering the fact that they are a mom and pop shop. What makes you think you’re measurements are worth time they could devote to making an actual sale anyway? I’m a little disappointed by your advice… but then again petty men who complain about the service from wome’s bridal stores probably shouldn’t be taken seriously…

Bob

Wow… people are really jumping all over Ramit! He wasn’t asking for a complete set of measurements, just a single measurement (chest). Yes, a complete set of measurements probably takes well more than 30 seconds, but just the chest? Please. And if they were having to chose between devoting time to “making an actual sale” and measuring Ramit, then of course it may have made sense for them to politely decline, but that doesn’t seem to be what happened.