My Rebuttal

Rather than e-mailing Del or Macy's HQ, I started this blog. All previous posts have been backdated/timed so that you can follow the timeline.

I don't know what resolution I expected, but Macy's failed. Again. Here is my open letter to Macy's.

Thank you for explaining your store policy, but I think your policy is still poor customer service and inconsistently applied. Furthermore, your (in)action does nothing to regain my patronage. I hope you think it was worth saving a few dollars on my shopping visit to lose multiple customers. After hearing about my story and your latest e-mail, many of my friends will no longer shop at Macy's either. Your (in)action also motivated me to start this blog.

• When I complained to the associate at the time of my purchase, she told me her story about a similar situation. She wanted to buy a comforter at Macy's Arcadia store but she could not because the item was salvaged. She apparently was not offered the option to purchase the merchandise at another price at that time either. (If she was offered the option, she did not present this part of her story.)
  
  
• I understand that associates will not find every item to remove from a rack during a temporary markdown, but everybody to whom I tell the story is appalled to hear that Macy's wouldn't sell the item at the marked price. It seems Macy's has a few options:
  • When a customer finds a salvaged item, sell it to the customer at:
    
    i. the advertised price on the sales rack.
    ii. the salvage value.
    iii. the previous lowest price.
    
    Most businesses would choose (i) since the item WAS advertised and they truly value their customers. A store would lose a few dollars short-term for long-term patronage and ask the customer where he/she found the item so that associates can quickly go through the racks looking for other salvaged items before more customers find them. Macy's does not do this.
    
    Some businesses would explain their policy at the point-of-sale and offer the item at salvage value to the customer -- option (ii). It's not an ideal solution for the customer, but it seems like a reasonable compromise. The customer still gets a discount, and, if that customer trusts the store, would see that the store is selling it for its lowest possible price. The store doesn't lose money by selling it less than salvage value. Macy's does not do this either.
    
    Instead, Macy's chooses the least customer-friendly option.
    
    
  • Allow the associates enough time to go through the racks and find more items. If Macy's truly valued the customer experience and still did not want the issue of how to handle the transaction, it should have associates work harder to find the items.
    
    
  • Put a disclaimer on the bottom of EVERY sales sign that states that Macy's has the right to refuse to sell a piece of merchandise at the advertised price if the price is less than the salvage price. I'm sure lawyers would love this option, but I'm sure Macy's wouldn't want to really advertise its hidden sales policy very widely.