Thoughts on Pier 1

This post began as a rant, and ended with me being pleasantly surprised...

On Friday, I went to Pier 1 to purchase some incredibly cool dishes...When I went to purchase the dishes, however, several things occurred that made me not want to buy anything in the store...this is the complaint I lodged to the company online:

On Friday around 5pm, I went into this store to purchase a set of dishes and glassware. I was excited to see a sale sign sitting directly in front of both the black and white colors of dishware that I was shopping for, and I assumed that since the sign did not cite any exclusions that the dish style was on sale. I chose my eight place settings and took them to the counter, where I was told by a very pleasant associate that only the black ones were on sale, even though the white ones had a sign directly in front of them stating the sale prices (see above). She offered to let me talk to her manager, and I agreed.

The assistant manager was on duty and he and I went to the dishes in question, to which I asked why the white weren't on sale. At this point, he told me, "The sign clearly says "Espresso," so only the black are on sale. We've had trouble with this before, so the company began putting the color on the signs, and besides, we can't control when people move the signs."

I understand the concept behind what he told me. I have worked retail extensively, and I am keenly aware that there are people who will take advantage in any way possible. My concerns, however, are twofold:

Firstly, there were two colors of dishes on display: black and white. I am a discriminating person when it comes to colors and signage, and never did it seem to me that the sign saying "Quadrado Espresso" was in fact saying "Dish Style Black." To me, the title of the sign was the style of dishes since there was no difference in the appearance of the words to differentiate color from style. Had the ASM stopped at this explanation, I would have been upset at the bad signage, but I would have made my $250 purchase of dishes and glasses rather than leaving the store.

My second concern comes from the remainder of the conversation I had with the ASM. He was very pleasant, but when he told me that they had no control over people moving signs, I was mildly offended at his delivery. When he repeated it to me on three separate occasions in the course of the conversion, it became more and more apparent that he believed that I had moved the signs in order to ask for the cheaper price.

This offended me greatly, as I pride myself on being honest and upright in my business dealings. I refuse to deal with someone who for all intents and purposes, whether intentionally or not, calls me a liar to my face. Additionally, I find it to be in poor taste that Pier 1 has chosen to believe the worst about its customer base and has used that belief to determine management and marketing practices. Had I been treated with respect and courtesy, I would have made a rather large purchase rather than leaving Pier 1 empty-handed.

Well, the company did well to surprise me by returning this email to my inbox this afternoon:

Please allow us to apologize for any inconvenience you encountered during your recent visit to Pier 1 Store #xxxx located in xxxxxx. Our goal is to make shopping at Pier 1 a fun experience, and it is important for us to know if our customers are not satisfied.

We have spoken with the Store Manager and he would like to offer his apologies as well on behalf of the store. As we hope you have seen on previous visits, this is not our usual customer experience.

The manager regrets that the sale sign for the Espresso Dinnerware was partially under the while color. We assure you that the ASM in no way meant to imply you personally had moved the signs purposefully and we apologize for any inference. The signs are easy to move and are often slid over to allow easier access to items, or get bumped during normal shopping, etc. We certainly don't feel our customers as a whole are less than forthright.

In appreciation of your patience in this matter the manager would like to offer you 20% off an entire purchase of regular price merchandise, not limited to the white dinnerware. To take advantage of this offer, please contact him and he will be happy to assist you in this matter. The store phone number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx and his schedule is included below for your convenience:

Tuesday 12/4 until xxxx PM
Wednesday 12/5 until xxxx PM
Thursday and Friday until xxxx PM
Saturday until xxxx PM

Thank you again for sharing your feedback. We know it is because of customers like you, who take the time to write, that we are able to improve for the future.

Certainly more than I expected, but it (mostly, not counting Wally World, previous post excepted) renews my faith in large retail corporations...