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| - On 8/23, I went to the Aveda store in PV Mall to pick out my Pure Privilege birthday gift. Since the store was busy, I went to the makeup to see if anything interested me. After a few minutes, an associate asked if I needed any help picking out colors. I smiled and waved the certificate in my hand and said, "nope - I'm here to pick out my birthday gift today!" I was excited to pick out a new fragrance since the patchouli blend I've always worn was discontinued. I've gone through the experience at least five or six times, so I was looking forward to sitting down and going through the options.
The associate said, "Oh, well, you also have your double points certificate" and proceeded to their back room to put her drink cup away. I continued looking at makeup. She came back, walked to the registers and says to the customer being rung up, "I haven't seen you in so long!" and then chats for a moment before walking over to the table where she started pulling out the oil blends. She didn't say a word to me. I looked over after a minute and she had a few of the bottles uncapped and lined up. I put down the makeup and started to walk towards the table. She still hadn't said anything to me about how we were going to walk through the experience, if she was ready for me, what I should be doing...nothing. So I stood about four feet away from the table waiting for her to acknowledge me. At this point she gestured at the stool and said, "You can sit down." So I did, and then I waited because she was still uncapping bottles and setting them in a row. When I didn't reach for any of the bottles, she looked at me and said in a snide tone, "You can start anytime." I was floored. First, that she spoke to me in that tone and second because I know this isn't how Aveda does things. Going into an Aveda store is always a treat. You're greeted. You're offered tea. The associates talk to you and suggestively sell and offer you a moment of wellness. You almost forget how much money you're spending on product because they make it an experience.
In that moment, I was so shocked that I actually just did what she told me and started sniffing the bottles. I eliminated a few, but I still had four in front of me, and I said, "Hmm, I can't choose between these four," thinking that she would ask questions to help me narrow down a choice. I got silence. By this point, I am not only disappointed because I'm not being "pampered" (which to me is more fun than the actual free product), but I'm being given the silent treatment. There is no conversation, no "so what are you doing for your birthday," no acknowledgement that I'm in there for a special treat, no acknowledgement that I'm a Pure Privilege member, nothing. Just an associate standing next to me, alternately watching me smelling bottles and staring into space. I assume she had better things to do than to take care of me.
I went on to ask about the notes in the other bottles, and then because I was so awkwardly uncomfortable with the whole situation between the silence and the staring, I just picked one and said, "This is the one I'd like."
She flipped the bottle onto the base and let it drain. In complete silence. When it was done, she hurriedly stuffed it into the envelope, handed me the envelope, and chirped, "There you go!" She hadn't even bothered to mark the envelope with my choice. So as she turns away from me and starts putting the bottles back, I walk over to the counter to ask to borrow a pen. She finally gestures at me so that I cannot pretend not to see her and says to me with an exaggerated fake smile on her face (she didn't smile at me the entire time she was "helping" me), "Can I help you with something?" I said, "I would like to borrow a pen, please, because you didn't mark down which blend I chose." She replies in a syrupy, cheerfully fake voice, "Oh here, let me do that for you" and takes the envelope from me. She hands it back and says, "Can I offer you a moment of wellness?" I lost it. I said, "No, you can't. You should have done that from the beginning. You have completely ruined my birthday treat AND my afternoon." And I proceeded to be something I have never been in a retail store before - an incredibly angry customer.
I have gotten bad and nonexistent service in lots of places, but none that ever made me feel this way or provoked this kind of reaction from me. I did not get the woman's name, but she had dark brown, wavy, shoulder-length hair and glasses. The team at the Fashion Sq. store have always been fabulous. I will never go to PV again.
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