Letter to Banana Republic

I was just in your downtown Minneapolis store looking to purchase a wool trench coat. I understand that yesterday (12/2/09) the store was offering a 40% discount on full price items and will be doing the same on Monday. I kindly asked the clerk to give me the coat at that discount today since there was only one left in my size and I missed yesterday's sale. She would not and acted as though this was the most ridiculous request she had ever heard. I then asked if she could hold the coat until Monday and, again, she sad she could not accommodate my request.

I have shopped frequently at this store in the past year as I work downtown in the financial industry and find Banana's line fitting for my office environment while allowing me to maintain my sense of style (not to mention that it's in a convenient location for lunchtime shopping). In this time of declining retail sales, I would have hoped the staff would have wanted to make this sale and retain a returning customer, but that is, apparently, not their priority. If the salesperson had been a little more friendly in her response rather than condescending, I would consider swinging by again on Monday to see if the coat is still there. At this point, however, I find the service I've received to be less than par and I'm sure there are other retailers who would appreciate my business.

SNAP!

Update: Ok, so I may have embellished the truth a bit above. I got a response back from Banana that said they were sorry and thanks for the heads up. That's it. Pfffffft. Totally canned response. All I really wanted was for the salesperson not to be such a snot. It was the look of "this woman is crazy" that pissed me off. I'm not crazy - I just really wanted that coat but didn't want to pay $230 for it. Oh, well. The funny part is that, at the end of the day, when I went to zip up my North Face jacket, the zipper broke. I no longer have a functioning coat to get me through days like today (20 degrees with a windchill of 7) or worse. Gotta love Minnesota winters!