Jennifer sent a message to Giorgio Armani – Founder of Armani email address that said:
Forgive me for feeling the need to contact you directly but the incompetence, disinterest and complete lack of initiative shown by your Customer Services Department somewhat precludes them from being taken seriously. It would appear that both basic common sense and courtesy eludes them and their abject disregard for the insurmountable talents and quality of the designers work and merchandise is quite frankly staggering.
As a customer of several renowned designers, I have always purchased quality items and up to this point have always been happy to extol the quality of both the chosen designer and their Company, however on this occasion the quality of service has fallen woefully short of the quality of design and merchandise.
As per my daughter in laws below correspondence; we purchased both a bag and purse for my daughters birthday which she was spending in the South of France with her family. The bag, which my daughter in law purchased on my behalf arrived without the Designers logo charm (I have photographic evidence); naturally, I accept that mistakes are made but it is how those mistakes are rectified that ensures the continued patronage of a Company and brand, which in this case has been nothing short of discourteous and disinterested.
I wonder, what would Mr Armani himself think about his Company, sending out a bag without his recognised logo attached to it and then for his "Customer Care" team (I use the term loosely), to have the audacity to offer a "discount" because they have sent out a sub standard product. A discount?? I do not purchase discounted or sub standard Armani products for my daughter; had I wanted something sub standard I would have purchased an imitation product; however, I do not purchase merchandise that resembles an Armani product, is an imitation of an Armani product or something that is "missing" a significant part of the Designers vision.
Notwithstanding the "Customer Care" teams offer of a discount, which I find utterly reprehensible; they then go on to say they will offer a refund when the bag is returned to them. My daughter in law, quite eloquently and politely explained that as it was my daughters birthday and she herself had purchased the purse to match the bag, she had given it to her sister in law, telling her that she would be requesting the charm be sent out separately, not an unreasonable request one would have thought under the circumstances? My daughter then returned to England to await delivery of the charm, unfortunately, at this conjecture, not only has the quality of the product been devalued by their discounted offer but basic common sense seems to have eluded them and their apparent "Customer Care" becomes utterly none existent.
Please allow me to put this sorry situation into perspective; YOU sent a product to my daughter in law that was not as described, purchased or paid for, thereby sending her a product that did not meet her expectations or requirements. This error is entirely down to the failure of YOUR Quality Assurance Department to adequately check the product before sending it out to the customer. YOUR "Customer Care" team then offer to discount the product because of YOUR failure to provide the product as advertised and as the Designer intended. YOUR Terms and Conditions DO NOT state that a product must be returned from the country to which it was sent and indeed why would this be a requirement, surely it is where it arrives that is of concern to you, not where it is posted from?
This entire situation is as a result of YOUR failures and it is therefore YOUR responsibility to rectify the matter without further distress, inconvenience or expense to my daughter in law.
Perhaps as a former Customer Relations Executive my expectations exceed the norm, but I would not expect any Company, that has made such a fundamental mistake, to ask a customer to send a bag from England to France so it can then be sent back to them. The whole situation is nonsensical and would be unreasonable of any Company but certainly one of your standing and reputation.
The return of this product should take no effort or cause any inconvenience to either my daughter or daughter in law, in fact you should be doing everything within your power to rectify YOUR catalogue of mistakes with expediency and humility in order to retain valued customers and your reputation. It is not for my family to drive around arranging postage from various countries at their own initial expense or to arrange the return of a product that was sent to them in an unacceptable condition.
My daughter in law has spent quite enough of her valuable time and effort trying to rectify YOUR mistake and I am now having to eat into my schedule to sort out this farcical situation.
Please desist from sending my daughter in law any more pre-written, cut and paste, standard emails and rectify this matter with professionalism and consideration by arranging for this product to be collected from my daughters home in England and as an absolute minimum issue a full refund and unequivocal apology to my daughter in law for the sub standard product you sent to her and your failure to rectify your mistake(s) in an acceptable and timely manner.
On my part, I will be sending a hard copy of this correspondence to Mr Armani's home address; I feel he should be aware that his designs are treated with such insignificance that customers are offered the option to keep a faulty product for a discount, when the mere fact that they buy his designs show the type and quality of product they expect.
Kind regards
Jennifer
