Love the products, not so keen on the staff
stripe
Posts: 66MI6 Agent
I've visited 2 Tom Ford stores recently (New York and Paris), keen to buy some stuff, but I've found the staff particularly unhelpful and stand offish. I was reluctantly sold a pair of sunglasses in Paris and when I complimented the assistant on the Skyfall cufflinks he was wearing, the look he gave me was priceless. Have found other sellers of Skyfall kit, like N.Peal, Crockett and Jones, Billy Reid etc, far more helpful. Has anyone else had this experience ? ?:)
Comments
Thats good to hear, trouble is I'm a long way from Beverly Hills !
I will absolutely use that the next time someone in a shop is not helpful!
1. They are not a shop for browsers
2. They can tell if you can afford their clothes the moment you walk in
Now, I dress well enough, I hope, and I'm a confident person - they've always been polite to me in Tom Ford, but they don't give me any serious attention because they intuit that I'm not at anywhere near the level of wealth where I'm going to drop ten, twenty grand on clothes during my visit. And the person behind me, and the person in front of me, probably can. Not to justify snobbishness or unfriendliness, those things are awful, but this is the reality of those stores.
Is is so expensive? If so, then I'm glad there is no TF shop where I live!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9cP-1kC3So
http://youtu.be/Xii3lg2yt2E
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.cancerresearchuk.org
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
I personally believe that we're all relatively equal, regardless of class, fame or status we are all simply human beings. No one should look down on people on the basis that they're richer or more intelligent.
If a shop assistant acts snooty or looks down on you, simply turn round and shop elsewhere. If you care that much about the brand, explain calmly why you're leaving to the shop assistant. If you couldn't give a crap about lining Mr Ford's pockets, go and buy a Brioni.
MG -{
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.cancerresearchuk.org
Yeah, I don't have a problem with what people do for a living. I pretty much thank the big guy upstairs for my own circumstance and try to accept people for who they are, not what they do. But if a sales person is snooty they deserve to be cut off at the knees because they are being disrespectful. A good salesperson should be polite and helpful to everyone who comes in the store. That is their job. If they are not don't tolerate it, or spend your money elsewhere. It's as simple as that.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
I think this is the point. From what I've seen, the Madison Avenue store has plenty of regular customers who get waited on hand and foot and the staff are trained, I'm sure, not to spend their time on tyre-kickers. Could I act like that myself? No. Do I think it's appropriate to be rude in return? No. I will say, I am a little curious how much someone in that position actually earns. Gauche, I know, but I can't help wonder. Anyway.
Makes you wonder if these people are really on average wages and chucked in smart attire however dont live that kind of lifestyle and simply puppets selling the gear which is out of their reach financially
It went against every bone in my body, but it was pretty liberating too.
I'm not defending snobbishness, but the truth is, if I go in Tom Ford, I know I can't afford much there. So the joke is on me. But I also put this stuff on a pedestal, these designers, so you know what? Joke's doubly on me. And if I'm spending all my cash on this, blowing thousands on shirts when there are so many problems in the world, shame, I suppose, on me. Like I said at the start of the thread, it's complicated. :-)
I visited for the first time last year with my cousin and we were both dressed casually. The initial customer service was awful. The SA gave us the arched eyebrow look as I was browsing. I eventually bought a TF Skyfall tie from him, and he seemed genuinely surprised. Ironically enough, the SA that cashed me out (a very nice lady) was much more engaging than the SA that sold me the tie.
Anyways, weeks later I went back in to look at m2m options and dealt with another SA who was much more polite. As we were looking through the books, the original 'rude' SA saw me and basically started acting like my best buddy "would you like a coffee? Water? Let me know if you need anything!"
Long story short, every store can have rude staff. But the TF experience was particularly irritating because of that one SA.
Regardless of how highly ones intuition is trusted by yourself or your supervisor as to how affluent a potential client might be its safer to be pleasant. Just ask Oprah.
Next, I told them in no uncertain terms that all my collars must match all my cufflinks and cuffs, and they just stared at me, gape-jawed, like I just walked in from the deep woods in Tennesse somewhere. Some nerve they had.
I finished my double expresso and thanked them for the Pouilly-Fuissé '72 and strode on my heel, never to return again. The cads.
Wasn't even so much about affluence, more to do with certain behavioural patterns that are strong and consistent indicators that someone is not going to buy. I was always most certainly polite, but it was quite "empowering" (to use a hideous word) to be able to say to oneself, no, I won't be given the runaround, humanising almost.
I would guess that within a glance or two, TF staff can tell by your behaviour, mannerisms weather you're a serious customer or not.