Buyer Beware...ZERO customer service:
I purchased two pair of expensive shoes at Pella on November 11th. Both were full price. One was $310 and one was $228. It was my first time in the store and really, in the shops around Lenox. I also spent several hundred dollars at Deka that same day.
I did not have a chance to wear the $228 shoes for several weeks, but I did wear them twice in December. After the 2nd wearing, I noticed the leather on the toe of none shoe was torn and had worn thin. Leather was peeling away. I had worn them to the mall (inside shopping) and not done anything rough in them at all.
I did not expect these "fine Italian shoes" to start falling apart after two wearings. For the money, I expected to have these shoes for years. I took them back into the store seeking an exchange.
The sales staff (two ladies) were very hesitant to even call the owner to tell them I was there with a complaint. They seemed afraid of her. I insisted they call her as I had driven down from Sandy Springs in the height of Christmas traffic and I did not want to have to come back for a return.
After they called her, they told me I would have to wait until she got there to discuss it with her and they really had no idea how long that would be. I spent about an hour in the store trying on other shoes in anticipation of an exchange. Finally, my husband and I left and went down to Deka to kill some time (I bought some Newton running shoes) and went back to Pella after that.
Basically, she was unwilling to offer any solution to me. She said I must have "kicked something" to tear the shoe. I said I had not, I was just "walking, which is what you do in shoes." After a little back and forth, it was apparent she was not budging so I said, "are you telling me you are not going to do anything for me?" She said that was correct. My husband was LIVID. I put the shoes back in the box (she had put some black shoe polish on them to cover the tears in the leather and it got all over my hands!!) and proceeded out the door. She turned away and walked in to the back room. No apology, no nothing. She was extremely rude.
Most of the shoes in the store were on sale when I went back, including the ones I had just bought for $310. (They were almost half price!) I would have taken anything...but she offered nothing (except the shoes polish she put on it which only made it worse.) I can guarantee you, had I bought these shoes at Nordstrom, I would have had my choice of my money back, a new pair of the same shoes, or an exchange of equal value. Instead, I got a slap in the face.
I prefer boutique shopping, but with a policy and management like that, I will not purchase another thing from Pella, even though I would love to. I am happy to support local businesses, but when they treat their customers like this, I am going to make sure as many people know about it as I can. It never pays to screw a customer over.
by Tracy S on January 04, 2013