To whom it may concern,
I am writing to tell you about my horrifying and humiliating experience I had while shopping in your Bellevue Square Abercrombie and Fitch store on Friday the 13th of November. It was an experience I wish I could, but will never forget.
My daughter had her 12th Birthday Party and invited 8 girls. My husband and my 27 year old niece, were also there with me to help with all the girls. On my daughters list of fun things to do, was to go to the Mall and FOR SURE, in her words, stop at Abercrombie and Fitch. All the girls were excited and I had told them all, for a Party gift, I would buy them a t shirt from your store. We were having the best time and the girls were thrilled the minute we walked into your store. A very nice young (blonde) girl greeted us at the door. She showed me the direction of the PJs and T shirts and we all went over. My daughter had received an Abercrombie and Fitch gift card from her friend and decided she was going to buy herself some Pajama bottoms. As we were looking at the choices another employee (Marianna) had a pair of bottoms in her hand. I asked, Are those an extra small? She looked at them and said to me, Yeah in an annoyed way. I said, Would you mind holding them up to my daughter to see if they will be too long? She replied, they are too long. I said, Well, can you still hold them up? Thinking I could hem them or they may shrink. She comes up to my daughter holds them up quickly and says, See? Too long, and walks away from us. I brushed that off thinking (Wow, she is in a foul mood). After finding the pair she wanted, I asked the 8 girls to go find a t shirt they would like. While they were choosing their shirts, my daughter and I went up to the checkout so she could use her Gift Card. The gal behind the counter was very nice and she attempted to ring us out with the card. There was a problem with it going through so she called over the manager (Marianna). When she gets to the desk she does not acknowledge me, she just goes to the computer swipes my card does a few taps on the screen and says, This card has nothing on it. Before I could even respond with really? Or wow, can we run it again? Even hmmmm, She says Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it and hands me my card. Her tone and demeanor were as rude as you can get. I could tell the employee next to her was uncomfortable. I said Well thats a B. S answer. Why are you being so rude? She said, Whats B. S about it? I said, Your attitude is so unprofessional and rude? With her arm pointing in the air towards the door, she said, If you dont like it you can leave my store! At this point, all of my daughters friends had gathered around and my husband and niece had come closer to the desk. I said, What is wrong with you? I want to speak with the manager. She said, I am the Manager, I have been for like, two years, I have the right to kick you out of my store anytime I like Shocked I said, What are you 19? I want the name of YOUR Manager. She said I am 25 actually, now get out of my store I said I am not leaving until I get the number of your superior, I will not be treated like this. She then said, Ill call security then. I could not believe it. I said fine, call them. I am not doing anything wrong. I am just asking for the name of your manager. She said, I dont know it. I said, You are the Bellevue Square manager of Abercrombie and Fitch and you dont know the name of your superior? She said Here! She then gave me a fragrance card and said, email this and make your complaint youll see they wont do anything. Get out of the store now! One of my daughters friends said to her you should not be speaking to my friends mother this way it is disrespectful and she said, Oh just be quiet. I then said to the other employee, Is she crazy? This is a fragrance card it says nothing. She looked at the card and said, Im sorry about this. Meanwhile, other customers had gathered and one gal said to my niece man she is just a nasty person, she was so rude to me also. Its really unacceptable. Marianna then said I am calling security. I said, Please do so. I am not leaving until I get your managers number. I looked over to the other gal behind the counter and she mouthed the words Im so sorry realizing what was happening was so wrong. I noticed Marianna was calling security and I turned my stunned group of girls and said, Girls, this is how you DO NOT act in a situation. This gal is making a poor decision treating customers this way. She then yelled over to me TAKE THIS OUTSIDE MY STORE I said gladly as soon as you give me the name of your superior. The other gal behind the counter trying to do her job asked me if I could just move to the side so she could ring others up and I did so. As I was walking towards the front of the store I turned to see if I had all of the kids and she was standing right behind me. She then said Come on Hit me! You know you wanna hit me! I would love to show you what happens when you do! I looked at her and said are you crazy? I am not going to hit you, what is wrong with you? As I said that, Jose from Bellevue Square security had arrived with two other security people. She ran up to him and said, shes outta here! She just hit me! I was flabbergasted. My daughter immediately came up crying and very upset and said SHES LYING! My Mommy did not hit her! I told her to calm down and said to him, I did not hit her. This is ridiculous; I am a mother with 8 little girls here. She immediately turned around to the other employee and said, Did you see her hit me? You saw that! And her employee said ummm no. And she got really mad and said Well you werent there!
Everyone was there. I have 10 witnesses who saw the whole thing. I was then asked to leave by Jose and did so with no trouble, he kind of laughed and said look dont worry about it just contact the store and make a complaint. I was not okay with this. I have now a crying 12 year old, Stunned, confused little girls wondering how someone can treat people this way and get away with it, a gift card I have no idea why is not working (which later found out does indeed still have $25.00 on it available), no merchandise and no Birthday Pajamas.
The tragedy of this is unbelievable. I would have been willing to pay for the items if that card truly had no balance on it, but this got so escaladed so fast for no reason there was not time for that. The Christmas t-shirts? I would have bought 8 since they were the shirts the girls picked out. I would have been spending a great deal of money had that not happened.
I have NEVER been in a physical altercation in my life. I am 38 years old with two children and the fact that she accused me of hitting her is so humiliating on so many levels. I was embarrassed in front of other customers and security and people in the mall and my daughter was so upset it ruined her 12th birthday. All the girls talked about the rest of the night, was how that girl was so mean and how did she get that job? I could not sleep at all that night I was so upset. It gave me major stress that I am not accustomed to. I am sure that this is not the face that Abercrombie and Fitch are looking for to represent them. My girls Love this store. They are at the age where this store is pretty much the greatest thing ever. I have spent thousands of dollars in your stores.
Abercrombie and Fitch is a popular retail store which I am sure prides itself on customer service. This was so unnecessary. The fact that she called security and falsely accused a mother with children of hitting her, for asking for a managers phone number, is I am sure, not protocol for your stores. I am not sure as of now what I am going to do in regards to being falsely accused of assaulting/hitting your employee, this is a very serious accusation that I am very upset about and will look into all of my options to make sure this is handled the appropriate way. I look forward to your prompt response in this matter.
The response Was:
We are not letting her go. We will send you a letter of apology from Corporate. I requested it be from her and they said no. I also requested that I would be able to bring my daughter and the girls that were with us to pick out a t shirt on Abercrombie to show them that people cannot treat people that way and get away with it. Seemed like a fair request to me and would not cost them anything due to being completely humiliated and falsley accused in their store. He responded: No, you are lucky we are even giving you a letter.
What kind of lesson does this teach young impressionable girls? I am now having to contact an attorney. I did not want to go this route but it is something that needs to be taught to people. Aaron, who I have been speaking to has refused to respond to me now. SO sad in this day of recession that a store like Abercrombie and Fitch would not want return customers.
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