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Service with a smile

clarinetplayer

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Nothing is more unpleasant than to go to a men's store that has merchandise of interest and quality only to encounter sales personnel who are (a) rude, (b) indifferent, (c) lacking knowledge of the goods they are selling, or (d) lazy.

Rather than complaining about all the bad service we encounter, I'd like to start a thread about the "good guys".

Here, in Southeast Michigan, are a few salesmen who, in my experience, make a difference:

Brooks Bros. in Somerset Mall (Troy): Kyle Reynolds. A young man who has "hustle". Knows his stock. Aims to please. Goes out of his way to make sure the customer is taken care of to complete satisfaction. If something isn't quite right, Kyle is right on top of things. I think that Kyle intends to be the CEO of Brooks Bros. someday. I hope he does.

Claymore Shop (Birmingham): Charley Marcuse. Another young man who has energy. Lots of personal fashion flair. Very personable. Has a good eye for matching. Offers good advice--especially for his age.

Ludwik Menswear (Sterling Heights): Ludwik Labaj. A perfectionist. A true old world craftsman. Last year, he made a beautiful "true" bespoke suit for me. He is an artisan no matter what he does whether making a bespoke suit or doing a small alteration. He is fussy and will not be satisfied until every small detail is "just so". If something is ever not to satisfaction, he says "Bring it back!"

Nordstroms in Somerset Mall (Troy): The shoe department. I wish I knew their names, but the staff is always great. Very polite and patient. Really interested in finding just the right shoe. They take pride in their work and product.

This is my list. Who in your cities and towns are the great salesmen?
 

odoreater

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I ran into a woman in the suit section of Century 21 in Paramus, believe it or not, who was pretty great. I didn't always think she knew what she was talking about with regards to construction, but she was great with fit. However, what I really appreciate is that when I would try on a jacket that did not quite fit, she would tell me, "no, that's not right, that doesn't fit" even if there were none of that same jacket in a size that would fit. This lead me to believe that she really cared about selling me something that I would go home happy with instead of just trying to make a sale no matter what.
 

Jovan

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I can safely say that in over half the clothing related jobs I've applied for, they'd discourage being that honest. Good to see one is above that.
 

Tomasso

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Originally Posted by odoreater
she really cared about selling me something that I would go home happy with instead of just trying to make a sale no matter what.
Are they on commission at C21?
 

rssmsvc

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You are lucky, I just had a nightmare experience at Neiman Markus in Oak Brook,IL with the Tailor having a hissy fit for me asking for 0.5 inches of cuff to show. Drove me nuts.

Had a wonderful experience with the tailors at Joes Tailors in Yorktown (actually for the past 12 years)

I had a great experience with the old Marshall Fields on State with the Polo saleman , Erick. I haven't seen him for months.

The head manager at Morris and Sons in Chicago is excellent. Same for Syd Jerome, the head saleman is very patient and nice not true for the rest.
 

sho'nuff

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I had some very good experiences with sales people and customer service and it just makes me enjoy my purchase even more. I am able to forgive negligible things and always feel compelled to return when I want to purchase again.

Bad experiences I like to "shake off the dust from my foot" (Biblical phrase) when stepping off the premises.

When I mean bad experiences, I dont mean unknowledgeable staff or a store too busy with customers they dont know how to evenly distribute their service, I can undestand that,
what I mean is when the staff acts pompous and rude with their facial expressions, attitudes, and tone of voice. Just enough where it is legal , and if you complain , they reveal their hands clean. I just dislike it.

Today (from my recent interest in watches) , my wife and I walked into the Tourneau? watch store in south coast mall.
Ive never been there but always walked by, but this time we went in to look at the watches, and the staff there, literally looked at us with blank stares, and totally disregarded us as if we were invisible, and i had to wave one person down to come help me. She was this asian young lady whos face showed like she just lost her boyfriend or something and never smiled never did anything until I asked and when I asked someone else to help me , all he did was point at her, like I was supposed to understand him, I guess he meant "she is helping you, dont aske me"

Not one "hello" not one "how can i help you" not even one "sure"

hey tourneau, your store left me upset, yes, it shouldnt effect me , but you should care, we will never go back to you even if you would to offer a slightly better deal on a watch same somewhere else.
i'll go with the better attitude salesman.
 

norcaltransplant

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hey tourneau, your store left me upset, yes, it shouldnt effect me , but you should care, we will never go back to you even if you would to offer a slightly better deal on a watch same somewhere else.
i'll go with the better attitude salesman.
Quite the contrary. Every better timepiece I've purchased, save for my everyday beater, has been acquired from a private seller secondhand. In order to get a feel for a brand, I frequent one of THREE NYC Tourneau's without a smidgen of guilt. Their salespeople are generally clueless about the $$$ product they are selling. In contrast, I'd feel bad about "scouting" watches at Wempe, or, Cellini, especially, when I'm in the market for buying.

The same rules applies to some of the smaller sartoriale based companies. I never abuse the C&J kiosk/T&A service, but make ready use of the Sak's shoe department that I despise, with a few reservations. I'll also spend an extra minute or two and seek out the better salespeople (based on prior experience), and reward them with my small commission.
 

Despos

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When I first entered Wilkes Bashford, a young lady asked if I had ever been to their store before. This was my first time. She escorted me to the top floor and gave a tour of each floor. Introduced me to the sales people in each department and explained the merchandise.

Then I purchased 2 pairs of shoes. Salesman pointed me to the POS desk to pay and commented that the leather looked dry and needed some attention. I went to the desk to pay and looked back to see what he was doing. He was shining the shoes. Applying polish with his fingers, no cloth or brush. He shined both pairs and put the proper creme in each box with a cloth.

Impressive, to say the least.
 

edmorel

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The two gentlemen at the Bergdorf Charvet area, the young guy and the older gentlemen (always forget their names), are great and attentive. The older guy is just an all around nice guy. The spanish guy at the perfume counter and the stocky spanish guy in the shoe dept. are also wonderful at Bergdorf. The shoe guy has stopped me from making a purchase, tellling me to come back in a week when the sale starts and the perfume guy took back about five Acqua Di Parma products that I purchased, in one of those mediterrenean scents. I did not have the boxes (tossed out immediately), the receipt and two of the products, I had tested. Took them right back, no worries. I subsequently made a much larger purchase in the Acqua Di Parma colonia scent.


P.S. there is an older, short woman who sometimes mans the Kiton tie counter, she is also wonderful.
 

Briguy

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A second gold star for Brooks Brothers in Somerset Mall (Troy), Michigan. Warren is a great salesman. He has been in the business a long time and he moves mountains to make sure I am a satisfied customer (e.g. just last week he tracked down one of the new charcoal madison 3pcs in my size, even though there were none available for order and only four in inventory in the country).

Also at the Somerset BB, Louis, the store manager, is very knowledgeable about the subtlies of fit and construction and has proven to be a great technical resource.

Thirdly at the BB Somerset. Mohammed is a brilliant tailor. He has recut the chest in several jackets and the work turned out perfect. He knows how I like my clothes to fit and he works his magic until the fit is just right.

cheers.gif
 

josepidal

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If you go the the Rhinelander Mansion, look for a guy named Scott. He's very knowledgeable about the RLPL and Polo shoes, and wears them himself. He loves EG Dark Oak Mackays and cordovan Chelsea boots. I told him I had just flown in from Southeast Asia and missed their additional 15% to 40% sale, so he told me he'd give me the discount I missed if I bought stuff from him that day. I took home three pairs of Polo shoes after that trip. One of these was incidentally in burnished tan, and I got it simply because his boots looked so great with the navy suit he had on, contrary to the warnings of some forum members about that color.

If you go to the Rodeo Drive branch, there's this jackass named Todd who insulted me when I was pointing out a computation error when I exchanged an item and was due to receive some change... (couldn't resist).
 

Master Shake

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Originally Posted by edmorel
P.S. there is an older, short woman who sometimes mans the Kiton tie counter, she is also wonderful.
Yes, Carol is great. There's also a young associate with dark hair, I believe named Michael, on the second floor who has always been very helpful. And another great person for ties and accessories is Marlene at Saks. She has a great eye for these things and a good understanding of classic elegance (a la 1930's style). My favorite salesperson for suits in NYC is Robert Peluso, who works on the seventh floor at Barney's. He has always been honest and straightforward with me, very attentive to fit, build, fabric, texture, and color issues, and has gone out of his way to tend to my requests, frequently ordering in stuff from other Barney's stores or helping me with my selections in other departments at the store. I also spend a lot of time in South Florida, and far and away the best service I ever got was from Robert Nestle (not sure about the first name, clearly remember the last name; an older guy who wears glasses) at the Neiman Marcus in Boca. Another salesperson who actually knows his/her stuff.
 

clarinetplayer

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Originally Posted by Briguy
A second gold star for Brooks Brothers in Somerset Mall (Troy), Michigan. Warren is a great salesman. He has been in the business a long time and he moves mountains to make sure I am a satisfied customer (e.g. just last week he tracked down one of the new charcoal madison 3pcs in my size, even though there were none available for order and only four in inventory in the country).



cheers.gif


Yes, Warren is a great guy.
 

rdawson808

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I like this. Here are a couple from me:

1. Nordstrom at Westfield Annapolis Mall (Annapolis, MD): J. Milton Stokes in men's suits. Great guy, very helpful. And if he doesn't know the answer, he'll find out. That's all I ask.

2. Same store: the women's shoes staff is great. [Can't necessarily say the same for the men.]

3. Nieman Marcus at Mazza Gallerie (Washington, DC): some woman who helped with with formal wear. I told her I only wanted to see what they had and that things were out of my price range and she gamely told me "Go to Syms and find something nice and take it to a tailor. It'll look great and be a fraction of the price." I smiled and told her that was already the plan.

bob

edit: I realized I got the name wrong.
 

Artisan Fan

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Great thread...Here are some good guys in menswear in Atlanta:

1. Keith at Neiman Marcus; Richard in shirts, really the whole place is terrific.
2. Tim Richey at Guffey's.
3. Jack Wilson at H. Stockton Park Place.

Other places:
1. Entire staff of Tincati in Milan.
2. Arthur Jordan and many others at Louis Boston.
3. Dan Wolman at Massimo Bizzocchi in NYC.
4. Entire staff of Stanley Korshak.
5. Everyone at Wilkes Bashford as well.

I hear good things about Lawrence Covell in Denver.
 

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