TSWLTH revisited

In the meantime I heard the clerk say to

I've noticed that our TSWLTH now has the manager's name and phone # on the reciept. It says, " we value our our guests questions or comments please call Kristina xxx-xxx-xxxx

ps

After I got the yardage I needed, I would have marched myself to the cashier area and demanded to speak to the manager. I would not have not been put off by the cashier nor the cutters' smart a$$ attitude. Absolutely no reason to be treated like this. That cutter would have regretted getting out of bed that day!

At my Joann's the manager is the biggest bitch of all. Going to her would not have done any good.

Arlene

This is the exact reason that I do not shop at Joann's fabric. Out of all of Joann's that I had been in I found only one with customer friendly employees. Mary

"> This is the exact reason that I do not shop at Joann's fabric. Out of all

I shouldn't have been surprised, it's just that as of the past 6-9 months the people in the store have been both helpful and courteous. I 'll have to check my sales slip and see if it lists the manager. Thanks for the heads up, Penny Juno

I think it varies a lot from store to store, area to area, and most likely depends on the attitude of the local management. My local Joann's has very friendly, helpful staff who have been known to spontaneously advice me on whether a sale or a coupon will be the best deal for me. Then again, I live in a rural part of the Midwest. The Joann's is in the largest town for 80 miles - 11,000 folks. If you aren't friendly around here, you're out of business in no time!

Of course, there's still the issue of the quality of the products, etc., but the people at this store are very nice.

"Nann Bell" > I think it varies a lot from store to store, area to area, and most likely

First, I checked my reciept, no phone numbers, just the name of the sweet young thing on the register. No complaints about her. Second, inThe county I live in (pop. about 150,000) we have 1 Joann's, a couple of quilt fabric stores, and 1 WalMart. Across the river there are 2 counties within reasonable driving distance,each has a WalMart and JoAnn's. So IF I want something yesterday those are my choices. If I'm not in a rush I order on the net. Usually I just order. Less hassle, generally nicer material.

meantime I heard the clerk say to another clerk, That one is

--Karen D. who had quite a bit of free fun hanging out near the cutting table at TSWLTH tonight and helping clueless non-sewers (inc the clerks) with costumes

the > meantime I heard the clerk say to another clerk, That one is

Thanks Karen, the email has been sent. Now I'll wait and see if I get any results. I'll not hold my breath though. Juno

and the reply is: In this case, the clerk was right and you were an unreasonable customer. Her job is to measure and cut material, not inventory a bolt by measuring it at the request of a customer. People like you make lines long at the cutting table.

You should have had your "friend's" piece cut first and taken your piece if there was any left. Simple. I guess explains the attitude of those who work there. It comes from the top. Juno

Makes me very glad there is no Joanne's anywhere close to me. And if there did happen to be, since this is the attitude from the top, I would never darken their door.

The designation TSWLTH seems apt. Gad.

Doreen in Alabama

Juno wrote: ...

THEY SENT YOU THAT?!?!? I would think they would want to sell more fabric, and trying to hack off 1-1/2 yds instead of the whole bolt seems just...wrong. You said you'd asked three times how much was on the bolt, and she kept grabbing the scissors.

Did they really tell you that you're "unreasonable"??? I would send the correspondence to the CEO.

--Karen D. who went to Hancock and Field's tonight

Karen, I copied and pasted the reply, it is the exact answer I got. I could carry this farther, but at this point my feeling is that I just don't want to deal with these people in anyway. I know that's not the wise thing to do. I just don't have the energy to continue. On the other hand, if enough people on this group read it I hope it will make them think twice before shopping there. I don't have much in the way of choice around here but I will not shop there any longer. I'll plan my sewing around internet purchases. In the past I wrote to them about a very helpful clerk. She went out of her way to get information for me. A short time later she didsappeared from the store. Either she wised up about the place or she was dumped. I hope it was that she wised up and found a better job. I'll have to think a few days about what I want to do. Juno

I sent the attached opinion in a private email to Juno. She then sees fit to publish it herein, passing it off as "the" response from JoAnn Fabrics to her complaint, even though it bore my name and not JoAnn Fab. and I signed it "Bill".

This does nothing but further inflame like-minded JoAnn haters with anecdotal "evidence" about how the clerks didn't bow to them low or long enough.

And how about the anointed Karen D. (below) who seems proud to be holding court at the cutting table preaching to the great slueless unwashed on how to sew halloween costumes! No wonder the clerks occasionally get short with self-satisfied people with huge egos who walk in their doors.

Keep the claws in w.r.t JoAnn Fabrics, ladies, you might snag the goods. In fairness, they don't deserve this bum rap or the tag tswlth.

Now let's all sew.

Bill

And you are who? The manager of the store that Juno visited? As this was sent in direct reply to a FORM FILLED IN ON THE JOANNE WEBSITE, I think she could safely assume it was an official company reply, however it was signed. Her treatment and your reply here do not inspire me to visit any JoAnne Fabric stores, should I visit the USA. A business reputation is built on what people say about your business after visiting the premises: that is, anecdotal evidence.

Whenever I go to a new area, I ask my friends and acquaintances where the GOOD fabric stores are, and by 'good' I mean those where the fabric is nice for the price, the prices good for the goods sold, and the staff and management knowledgeable, helpful, and considerate of their customers wishes. I will travel a long way for that treatment: 350 miles in one case! I live in Kent, and the shop is in Washington New Town at the other end of England. I also go to Bradford, and Coventry, and Wembley... In all these stores, Juno's request would have been dealt with swiftly, courteously, and she would have been given exactly the information she and her acquaintance needed to make their double purchase without any fuss at all. I have done very similar things in most of the stores in these places I frequent. And I have come back here and put the shop names in my Fabric List on my web site and told the whole world how great the shop was to me with my fussy request.

Unfortunately, the staff at the store Juno visited ticked her off, and the result is that yet again JoAnne's reputation for shoddy customer treatment has sped round the world. A poor reputation is very easy to gain, and once a business has a poor reputation, it may take YEARS to get out of the pit it has dug for itself. With today's massive increase in internet sales, and the easy access we have to world-wide GOOD businesses where they really believe the hoary old maxim that The Customer is ALWAYS right, businesses have to be much more careful of their reputations. It is so much easier not to bother with a store where the staff know nothing about what they are doing, care less about the customer, and the boss is rude when a complaint is voiced. It is so much nicer to pick up the phone or drop an email on a company that deals with your request and answers the question swiftly and without fuss.

Kent, for all its proximity to London, is a fabric desert. As a professional dress and costume maker, and recreational quilter, I travel the world electronically to source things for my customers and projects: I've been to Australia for patterns, to the USA for patterns, a cocked hat, thread and fabric, to Hawaii for more fabric... I've bought fabric from Hong Kong, and purchased directly from the weaver (almost straight off the loom!) in Selkirk and Harris and Yorkshire (the wool here in the UK is to die for). Through this list and others I have many friends in the USA: they are very fair folk, on the whole. If they get good treatment, they come and rave about it. If they discover a fantastic gadget or fabric, they wave it under our noses so we can know about it and get it too... I can't see me bothering with JoAnne Fabrics on their present world-wide reputation for abysmal service and shoddy good.

Juno has a reputation here for being fair: a little while back she came to us delighted with the service she got from her local JoAnne's, eager to tell us that there WERE knowledgeable and helpful staff. We were all pleased that the company seemed to have heard their customers and were looking to improve: this can only be a good thing. Unfortunately that member of staff seems to have vanished, and her most recent experience has destroyed her confidence in the company once more, and enhanced the poor reputation they have made for themselves.

Karen doesn't appear to have a huge ego. She has many years of dress, costume, and quilting experience. Her situation is one I have also frequently found myself in: the 'once in a lifetime' sewist at the counter with a member of staff who may be a new 'Saturday Girl' and has little or no sewing experience. If that member of staff cannot help the customer, a helpful and knowledgeable fellow customer can ensure a good result for both: the inexperienced customer learns something, makes a suitable purchase, and has a good sewing experience, so comes back for more... The sales assistant learns something he or she can use with the next innocent customer, and makes another good sale to a customer who will then come back... And the experienced customer has ensured that her local shop has a bit more business and so is less likely to vanish.

Many of us will now be staying out of the stores altogether.

With nice fabric and thread bought from nice places, where customer service is what it should be.

Bill wrote: ...

Conversation gist-- Costume wannabee: I don't know how much fabric to buy/how to attach this/if it will work.

J-A clerk: I don't know.

Me: Try this (options, methods, illustrations where needed).

I don't believe my post said that anyone was unwashed or clueless. It was great fun to see the Tarzan couple, the large square foam (SpongeBob??), the sheer sparkly green (she asked if hot-glueing this to the base garment would leave marks, and even said, "I am not much into sewing").

FWIW, you could look up previous posts of mine where I described helping people. Once, one of your fellow Y-chromosome-bearers needed to patch the elbows of a suede jacket. He wandered around a SWLTH and found felt squares (!!), 8/$1, and he was going to buy 8 of them because he thought that's what the price had to be. I assisted him (the clerks could not) and he left with his fragile male ego intact.

What is w.r.t.? Why are you bashing us? Who died and left you in charge of our newsgroup? Who do you think you are?

Not that I really want to know.

HTH

--Karen D.

Perhaps she mistook it to be official correspondence. I've gotten emails from CS reps from companies with names like "Jane" and "Jim" (no last names). Customer service just isn't what it used to be. Juno has been kind and helpful to many on this NG for many years. So, please, lower the flame thrower until she has a chance to explain herself.

No, those of us who actually shop at Joanns have plenty of actual experience to know that some of the clerks there could use some basic lessons in customer etiquette.

IYHO. Others have different opinions and, as the Taliban has not yet taken over the internet, are free to express them as well.

Amen.

Juno

Oh good. I hate people to be depressed. I suffer enough of that myself! What I cannot understand is how the place remains in business at all with this attitude, in this day and age! It's so easy to shop at nice places like eQuilter, Virginia Quilters, Croft Mills, Abimilech Hainsworth (best place on Earth for military wools!) et al, where the customer is served properly.

As shall I. I'm always on the look out for good shopping experiences! On that score, thumbs up for my local tiny store, Taylors Fabrics in Sittingbourne, where service always comes with a smile and the fabric is cheap and cheerful! I dug my Katty Claws into a great stack of trims and ribbons for my class today! Can't wait to see my 20 yards of gold, silver, gold printed, and gold edged trims round the top of the Christmas stockings! :) And Blundell's toy shop just next door, where I got lovely coloured bells in red, blue, green, gold and silver to make those stockings jingle!

Taylors also has pure silk dupion curtain fabric for £5 per metre, and I couldn't think of a good reason for buying it! :(