#fail Zoya. That don’t impress me much.
and the award goes to...
Recently a friend of mine did the girlie thing and bought an entire outfit (including the shoes, bags and earrings) from a boutique called Zoya in Bandra, Mumbai just so she would have something to wear to a friends wedding sangeet party. Yes, we’ve all been there and I quite liked her outfit and was even planning to visit the store until I heard this horror story from another friend who decided to do the same.
So picture this; you go to a fancy pants store, drop about 13,000rs on clothes and stuff and accidentally leave your own diamond earring on the counter while (at the behest of the sales staff) trying on a pair of earrings. When you realize you’ve left it behind you call the store and return the very next morning hoping to retrieve your lost earring and are met with varying degrees of incompetent service ranging from disinterest to down right dreadful. First they say, “we’ll find it, it must be here” (but don’t really look) then they say, “other people have left far more expensive things behind and gotten them back” (your point is?) and finally they say “go complain to the press if you want” (um, customer service 101 anyone?) The thing is, its not about the lost earring (shit happens) but you’d really expect a store of this caliber to be more familiar with the concept of common courtesy right? Or perhaps that’s only reserved for the rich and famous, who knows. Sadly though I’m guessing it flows from the top because one of the partners Aparna Badlani breezed in and after about 5 seconds said, “well we’ve done everything we can” (really everything, you could tell in 5 seconds?) and proceeded to wax eloquent about just how valuable everything in the store was. My unfortunate friend was obviously shocked at this response and even more so when she was told to “write an article in the paper” to complain if she wasn’t happy (what, why so bitchy?) Not even sure where that came from since no such threat was actually made but hey thanks for the tip Aparna, I’ve decided to call your bluff :)
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December 6th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Behaviour like that really sucks. Glad you wrote about this. People should really boycott places like this that treat their customers with no consideration.
December 6th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Wowza! That is awfully rude!
December 6th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Was planning to visit this store sometime soon – wary now !
December 7th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I can totally empathize with your friend out here, I too have experienced bad customer service at this store and vowed to never go back. Plus the whole crap about ‘go write to the press’ seems like the owner thinks that there’s no pr better than bad pr.. but am happy you called it before she could even blink!
December 7th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Is it me, or was Aparna just tad bit defensive? Ok so the earrings were left behind and they obviously vanished, instead of being so defensive and rude about it, maybe conducting a search in front of your friend and then offering a sincere apology might have been better?
December 7th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Hey ladies thanks for your support, I just find it so sad that when someone goes to a store to buy something nice and feel good and end up leaving feeling upset and hurt (especially after spending so much money there!) Unfortunately I can only report the incidents I know about and I feel super bad for people who have to leave frustrated with no avenue to vent, so this one goes out to everyone who’s been there and honestly I believe apologies are in order to everyone who’s been treated badly at this store! So there :)
December 7th, 2009 at 7:10 am
oh my god…..wat a bitch???? i wud never go to that store,even if u dragged me by my leg there…..
December 7th, 2009 at 7:12 am
there is no excuse to such nasty behaviour….heck,this shud b published in the newspaper
December 7th, 2009 at 7:14 am
srsly??? tht is wot the staff did??? pathetic…..jus bcos u hav got sum wealthy customers in ur pocket,it doesnt mean u stop serving others well…..thrown outta biz is wot shud b dun…
December 7th, 2009 at 7:16 am
holy crapola batman….never again to that store…dont wanna lose my diamond thongs
December 7th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Whew!That’s customer service for you!!
December 7th, 2009 at 10:23 am
BTW, does this need a phrase to be coined- The bigger they are, the worst their PR?Or, would that be too general?
December 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am
That’s the biggest grouse I have with Indian businesses. Everything is growing at such a rapid pace that folks don’t give two dimes about customer service; “we don’t really care about you as there are 10 new customer acquisition opportunities right behind you”. Its really the same stuff, where it be a complaint to a telco carrier (happy to help – yeah right!), or these snooty stores.
What these idiots don’t realize is that complain to the press no longer means a letter to good ole Mid-Day. It means tweets and re-tweets, boycott groups on Facebook, and postings on blogs like these which actually have a higher penetration in their addressable markets.
December 7th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Thanks guys. I was so shocked that someone could be so down right rude, I left the store quite upset, but all your comments have made such a difference. Thankfully the mean Arpana Badlani is in a minority in this world and there are many more much kinder people out there.
Thanks Malini for being a star as always :)
December 7th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
[...] thing about the Four Seasons is that they’ve got customer service down to an art form (maybe we can send Ms. Badlani over for a crash course?) 34 floors above the closest thing we get to “winter” in Mumbai was quite a treat [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I’m soo glad you wrote about this AND took names! Most papers/ blogs/ columns would only say ‘at a certain store in Bandra, the owner AB (or Ms X)..blah blah blahh….’
Serves them right! and this will teach the others to sit up and take notice- esp those who’ve thrown customer service outta the window! and to the lady who threatened your friend to go to the press, I sure hope she’s biting her tongue now.
Hats off to you Malini!
- a fellow journo
December 8th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I’m so impressed with the responses to this post (I was half expecting another bitchy tirade about how I should go shop retail lol) Renuka thank you for your words of encouragement, I figure if I’m gonna say it I’m gonna say it right :)
December 13th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
[...] I was looking for this picture; Zoya had a preview the other day, lets hope this has put Ms.Badlani in a better mood but just in case, I though its best I give you a visual reference on who one to steer clear of! [...]
October 28th, 2010 at 1:40 am
diamon earrings would be the best thing that you could give a girl, they love it-;*
November 13th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
if you like diamond earrings, you can look on the internet for other designs that would suit you :”;
November 16th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
this site again, it has been months a couple of. Well just use this one, much appreciated. I need this article for a project, and mine is on a similar subject as the one here. Thanks, happy trails.
April 12th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
So glad I came across this. Have done a load of shops today (part 1) and asked hotel to give me a list of the best boutiques for part 2 tomorrow. Zoya (amongst others is on the list)- so glad I googled this as it has a lot of bad press so will definitely not be going here!
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