Dear DSW, I love you.

{not the actual shoes in question}

I whine complain a lot about bad customer service, but I think it’s important for you to know that I am not just a big whiner also sing the praises of companies that I feel treat me exceptionally well.

Case in point: My recent interaction with DSW.

I had been in the market for a pair of black leather booties with a brown stacked heel for about a calendar year. I can’t explain what keeps me from pulling the trigger on basic purchases like this, but for whatever reason, I was being extremely gun-shy. I think it partly has to do with my spending fast. An unexpected side effect of severely limiting my spending for months at a time is that I seriously deliberate every single purchase I do decide to pony up for. This is probably not a bad thing.

Anyway.

After contemplating a pair I found at a boutique in Queens (that would have run me a cool $130), I was thrilled to discover a comparable pair at DSW for an even $65 with a discount code. My only regret was that I had found them a mere five days before my California trip, and I wanted to wear them on the West Coast, so I closed my eyes and opted to pay the extra $17 for 2-day shipping.

Make your purchases sooner lest ye suffer the consequences.

Either way, I was still paying about half the cost of the fancier shoes, though, so I still considered it a bargain.

Except my delivery day came…and went. Shoeless.

Being me, I quickly fired off an email to customer service explaining what had happened and providing all of the pertinent information. They replied within 24 hours (though it was now too late to send the shoes), and though they claimed that FedEx had attempted to deliver the package (not true, I was home all day), they would refund the shipping cost and the shoes would be held for me at the FedEx location until December 2nd.

Obviously, this wasn’t entirely ideal. I didn’t get my shoes for my trip, and now I had to trek to Maspeth, NY to get them when I got home. I grumbled, but because I ultimately still wanted the shoes, I agreed to the terms. THE THINGS I DO FOR FASHION, RIGHT?

On December 1st, Joey and I made our way to FedEx. But when we provided the information, we were informed that the shoes had been returned on Friday, November 28th. This was not pleasing. The FedEx woman was helpful, though, and gave us all the information we would need to prove that we were not just trying to pull one over on DSW.

I emailed the same customer service account and explained what had happened. They replied (again within 24 hours) and told me that they could see in their system the shoes were being returned to them. They apologized, issued an immediate refund, and then told me I could reorder the shoes by calling them so I could still get my discount code. I was a little irritated that I had to take another step to get the shoes, but again, still wanted ‘em. So Tuesday morning, I called. And waited. And waited. And waited on hold for 20 minutes.

Finally, I gave up and emailed them again. I explained that I had attempted to reorder the shoes, but waited on hold for 20 minutes and was unable to place the order. I asked if they could just input the order since they had all of my information. I also reiterated my frustration with the process and told them I was running out of reasons to remain a customer. At this point, I was honestly okay with walking away from the shoes if only to avoid another email where I had to take action despite not having caused the problem.

But here is where DSW becomes a breakout star in my eyes. The customer service rep replied within a couple of hours. They told my they were unable to re-charge me through customer service, but that because of the frustration they were going to send me the shoes free of cost! The confirmed my address, and the saga finally came to an end.

Isn’t that pretty awesome? I was legitimately never going to shop there again, and NOW I will probably ALWAYS check DSW.com first when I’m looking for shoes. THAT is how you turn a casual customer into a loyalist.

Anyway, I was jazzed and wanted to share. Tomorrow we shall return to our regularly scheduled California trip details.

Stop Me if You've Heard This One - One girl's attempt to use her words.
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