I Feel Better Now

Letter # 1

10 September 2010

Aristidis Zaharopoulos
Gothic Cabinet Craft
58-77 57th Street
Maspeth, NY 11378

Dear Mr. Zaharopoulos:

Last Christmas, my husband & I bought a dollhouse for our daughter. We quickly realized that we needed a table of some sort to put the dollhouse on, and after canvassing various local stores and on-line retailers, we ended up in the Gothic Cabinet Craft store in (redacted).

We wandered around the store for awhile, not finding anything that was the needed dimensions. Finally, a salesperson pointed out a piece that was sitting up high, on top of a modular wall system – not down at floor level. In fact, we never would have noticed it without the salesperson’s assistance. As it was the right dimension, we decided to order it.

The salesperson wrote up the order, we signed it and paid for it, and left the store. A couple of weeks later, my husband returned to pick up the piece – and found that it was not what we had ordered.

Yes, the piece matched the stock number on the order form – but the salesperson wrote down the wrong item number on that order form. There was no way for us to have known that the clerk made a mistake until we saw the wrong piece of furniture. Stock numbers are idiosyncratic and obscure, kind of like medical billing CPT codes. Would you recognize that your doctor wrote down the code for an angioplasty when in fact you had a cholecystectomy? Unlikely.

We protested to American Express and after much back and forth, American Express has sided with your store.

I am appalled by this. We are out nearly $400 because of an error made by YOUR SALESPERSON. I simply do not understand why our failure to recognize the salesperson’s error in the stock number should be held against us.

The salesperson’s argument that we changed our minds is just not true. We needed this, we wanted this, we thought we ordered it. We would have glad taken receipt of the item had it been the right item.

I’m not a complainer – but this situation makes my blood boil. This is heinous treatment by your company and by American Express, and if I don’t get resolution I am taking this matter to the New York Times, the Better Business Bureau, and small claims court.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

[Magpie Musing]

---

Letter #2

10 September 2010

Kenneth I. Chenault
American Express
200 Vesey Street
New York. NY 10285

Dear Mr. Chenault:

I hope you can help me. I have been a CardMember since 1987. Membership has its privileges, right?

Last Christmas, my husband & I bought a dollhouse for our daughter. We quickly realized that we needed a table of some sort to put the dollhouse on, and after canvassing various local stores and on-line retailers, we ended up in the Gothic Cabinet Craft store in (redacted).

We wandered around the store for awhile, not finding anything that was the needed dimensions. Finally, a salesperson pointed out a piece that was sitting up high, on top of a modular wall system – not down at floor level. In fact, we never would have noticed it without the salesperson’s assistance. As it was the right dimension, we decided to order it.

The salesperson wrote up the order, we signed it and paid for it, and left the store. A couple of weeks later, my husband returned to pick up the piece – and found that it was not what we had ordered.

Yes, the piece matched the stock number on the order form – but the salesperson wrote down the wrong item number on that order form. There was no way for us to have known that the clerk made a mistake until we saw the wrong piece of furniture. Stock numbers are idiosyncratic and obscure, kind of like medical billing CPT codes. Would you recognize that your doctor wrote down the code for an angioplasty when in fact you had a cholecystectomy? Unlikely.

We protested to American Express and after much back and forth, American Express has sided with Gothic Cabinet Craft.

I am appalled by this. We are out nearly $400 because of an error made by a salesperson. I simply do not understand why our failure to recognize the salesperson’s error in the stock number should be held against us.

The salesperson’s argument that we changed our minds is just not true. We needed this, we wanted this, we thought we ordered it. We would have glad taken receipt of the item had it been the right item.

I’m not a complainer – but this situation makes my blood boil. This is heinous treatment by your company and by Gothic Cabinet Craft, and if I don’t get resolution I am taking this matter to the New York Times, the Better Business Bureau, and small claims court.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

[Magpie Musing]

---

I'm on the verge of cancelling my Amex card, and I am never shopping at Gothic Cabinet Craft again. What happened to "the customer is always right?" And on second thought, maybe the title should have been "I Feel Better Now Though I'll Feel A Lot Better When I Get My Money Back". Because right this minute, I'm still out that money.