![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A couple people mentioned good experiences with these folks at other locations, so I'm guessing this is either "this location" or "these people" but either way, I'm not going back. But I don't know that my experience applies to the chain, at least. It's resolved. I'm not thrilled, but I'm not furious and I am done with them. Very, very done, but done.
Yesterday I went back to deal with the frame what didn't fit the picture (if you've missed the first part, it's here), arrived after 6, and found one employee working. The male employee who handled photographing Drew (and ignored my repeated comments that Drew, although he had head control, was tired and maybe not up to it, as well as Drew's fussing and failing to keep his head lifted, and kept using the setup that required head lift) was there. He was showing another couple photographs from the double-session with their two children, and as I waited still another couple arrived with their baby to be photographed.
Harried employee explains to me that he's a bit short on time because he has to check these people out and then do another session with the couple who just arrived. Me: not impressed; his problem is NOT my problem. And I want dealt with soon because sitting in the car, in a cooler with plenty of ice pack but still, is expressed milk for Drew for day care, and I would like to get back to it and turn the car on (which turns the cooler on) so that it will not be relying just on the ice packs.
He agrees with me the photo doesn't fit and says it's just because they left the strip on the bottom (a little barcode strip which, by the way, why DID they leave it on the bottom? It is not scored for easy removal...). I have him lay the insert from the frame across it and, lo and behold, a) it's too tall by more than the width of the strip and b) it's too narrow by just about a quarter centimeter. They did trim it wrong, but it's not just a matter of taking the strip off. (If the frame were matted, it wouldn't've mattered; it's because it's a precise fit that there was a problem.)
He is, during all of this, looking anxious and glancing at his other customers. And he says it can just be trimmed (implication: I can do it). I explain I'm not going to do it (these things aren't cheap, and I'm not going to damage it and wind up having paid for something that looks like crap, thanks), and he says maybe he can find a straight edge and do it.
That would be a lovely offer, except that of all the people at this location, this guy is the one I trust the least. I explain that I'd rather return the frame. (Plan: to get a larger frame that's matted down to the appropriate size, and/or to have my preferred framing shop trim the photo. Them, I trust. But I'll probably just deal with it via the matting technique.) [By the way, the sign did clearly say that size of frame was only 50% off, so although Scott and I may have been left with the impression it was one of the 75% off ones, I don't know if that was deliberate and it was clearly posted.]
He says something (I forget exact words) about how that's reasonable and doable. Except...he doesn't know how to do returns, and he really has to help these other customers. I ask him, basically, what do we do now, and he looks over at the JC Penney's customer service desk just outside his doors and says, "Let me see if she--" meaning the woman staffing it-- "knows how to do returns, and if she'll come over and do it." Perfect. I assent. He comes out from behind the counter....
...and goes back to the couple picking out photographs, trying to sell them. I wait, slowly steaming, for a count of ten (maybe he's just checking in with them and will shortly walk away? no, he appears to be firmly in discussion and ignoring me again). I walk over and I ask him whether I should go talk to the woman, then (come on, buddy, it won't take that long to find out if she can help me before you stop paying attention to me). He hesitates, then extricates himself from those customers and goes with me to talk to the woman.
She can do it, so he gives her his employee id for the register and goes back to his customers. She points out that she needs him to enter his password. He calls it across the store. And let me just say, it is COMPLETELY memorable (I still recall it this morning, whether I want to or not), and very insecure due to guessability. (It is not, however, his employee id. I must give him that much credit.) And both it AND his employee id have just been said out loud in front of five adults, two babies, and a four-year-old. My company's IT staff would have a fit if I treated a password that casually. (And his password gives access to a cash register, for pity's sake!)
The nice woman from not-this-department handles my return and nothing goes wrong with it. I gather up my photos and leave before anything else can happen. (And having noted that the couple with two children, who had the free-sitting-coupon, was talked into having both kids photographed but NOT TOLD until AFTER that they'd be charged a sitting fee for the second one. Slimy!)
The photograph is still nice, but if I'd known all this when I started, I'd've taken the better part of valor and skipped the entire experience, beginning to end. Now to fill out their nice online survey. I didn't notice it in time to fill it out after the session, but I have another receipt and can comment on the return experience, at least.
ETA: Survey fail. Their survey assumes you were there for a portrait sitting, and cannot possibly have been ONLY buying merchandise or ONLY doing a return. I answered sitting-related questions based on my sitting, even if it didn't take place then.
Yesterday I went back to deal with the frame what didn't fit the picture (if you've missed the first part, it's here), arrived after 6, and found one employee working. The male employee who handled photographing Drew (and ignored my repeated comments that Drew, although he had head control, was tired and maybe not up to it, as well as Drew's fussing and failing to keep his head lifted, and kept using the setup that required head lift) was there. He was showing another couple photographs from the double-session with their two children, and as I waited still another couple arrived with their baby to be photographed.
Harried employee explains to me that he's a bit short on time because he has to check these people out and then do another session with the couple who just arrived. Me: not impressed; his problem is NOT my problem. And I want dealt with soon because sitting in the car, in a cooler with plenty of ice pack but still, is expressed milk for Drew for day care, and I would like to get back to it and turn the car on (which turns the cooler on) so that it will not be relying just on the ice packs.
He agrees with me the photo doesn't fit and says it's just because they left the strip on the bottom (a little barcode strip which, by the way, why DID they leave it on the bottom? It is not scored for easy removal...). I have him lay the insert from the frame across it and, lo and behold, a) it's too tall by more than the width of the strip and b) it's too narrow by just about a quarter centimeter. They did trim it wrong, but it's not just a matter of taking the strip off. (If the frame were matted, it wouldn't've mattered; it's because it's a precise fit that there was a problem.)
He is, during all of this, looking anxious and glancing at his other customers. And he says it can just be trimmed (implication: I can do it). I explain I'm not going to do it (these things aren't cheap, and I'm not going to damage it and wind up having paid for something that looks like crap, thanks), and he says maybe he can find a straight edge and do it.
That would be a lovely offer, except that of all the people at this location, this guy is the one I trust the least. I explain that I'd rather return the frame. (Plan: to get a larger frame that's matted down to the appropriate size, and/or to have my preferred framing shop trim the photo. Them, I trust. But I'll probably just deal with it via the matting technique.) [By the way, the sign did clearly say that size of frame was only 50% off, so although Scott and I may have been left with the impression it was one of the 75% off ones, I don't know if that was deliberate and it was clearly posted.]
He says something (I forget exact words) about how that's reasonable and doable. Except...he doesn't know how to do returns, and he really has to help these other customers. I ask him, basically, what do we do now, and he looks over at the JC Penney's customer service desk just outside his doors and says, "Let me see if she--" meaning the woman staffing it-- "knows how to do returns, and if she'll come over and do it." Perfect. I assent. He comes out from behind the counter....
...and goes back to the couple picking out photographs, trying to sell them. I wait, slowly steaming, for a count of ten (maybe he's just checking in with them and will shortly walk away? no, he appears to be firmly in discussion and ignoring me again). I walk over and I ask him whether I should go talk to the woman, then (come on, buddy, it won't take that long to find out if she can help me before you stop paying attention to me). He hesitates, then extricates himself from those customers and goes with me to talk to the woman.
She can do it, so he gives her his employee id for the register and goes back to his customers. She points out that she needs him to enter his password. He calls it across the store. And let me just say, it is COMPLETELY memorable (I still recall it this morning, whether I want to or not), and very insecure due to guessability. (It is not, however, his employee id. I must give him that much credit.) And both it AND his employee id have just been said out loud in front of five adults, two babies, and a four-year-old. My company's IT staff would have a fit if I treated a password that casually. (And his password gives access to a cash register, for pity's sake!)
The nice woman from not-this-department handles my return and nothing goes wrong with it. I gather up my photos and leave before anything else can happen. (And having noted that the couple with two children, who had the free-sitting-coupon, was talked into having both kids photographed but NOT TOLD until AFTER that they'd be charged a sitting fee for the second one. Slimy!)
The photograph is still nice, but if I'd known all this when I started, I'd've taken the better part of valor and skipped the entire experience, beginning to end. Now to fill out their nice online survey. I didn't notice it in time to fill it out after the session, but I have another receipt and can comment on the return experience, at least.
ETA: Survey fail. Their survey assumes you were there for a portrait sitting, and cannot possibly have been ONLY buying merchandise or ONLY doing a return. I answered sitting-related questions based on my sitting, even if it didn't take place then.
Tags: