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Original poster

clark's grrrrr!

69 replies

lilsmum · 14/05/2005 22:23

went to clarks today to get dd's feet measured as it has been 8 weeks since her last shoes and i knew she needed new ones, got there and it was mega busy...took a ticket and waited half an hour to be seen to, now some of you may now dd has had probs with her foot lately and only had her cast off on tues, so i mentioned this to the girl, that her foot may be still a little tender or dd may create as sooooo many people have "messed" with her foot lately

the girl measured dd's feet and she had gone from a 4.5 h, to a 5g, so she asked me which shoes i liked and went to get them, then came back with the shoes checked the fit and said, they are a little tight on the top and if we lossen the strap they will slip?!? then asked which other shoes i liked...this went on and on, dd was getting seriously hacked off at this stage as she had tried about 6 different shoes by now, then i asked about doodles, so the girl went into the back came out with 4 different pairs of doodles in dd's size (sigh) tried them on, no good they are not deep enough at the back of the heel, by this stage i was getting seriously wound up, why sell doodles in that size if they slip off the heel????

i asked to speak to the manager, who was on her lunch, she came out and was very off hand with me,said they could order but not on a saturday?!? explaining that the girl dealing with us was a trainee!!! then the manager walked off without saying sorry or anything, i left the shop ready to kill someone after spending near on a hour in there and coming out with no shoes grrrr!!

why measure toddlers feet and say oh yes she is a size 5g if none of the shoes that size fit her?!? completely and utterly confused

anyway there is my rant, if you have got this far, you have alot of patience lol

OP posts:
Socci · 14/05/2005 23:01

Message withdrawn

starlover · 14/05/2005 23:05

that's happened to me before Socci!!! Very embarrassing.
I always feel really bad if I have been serving someone for a long time and we can't find anything that fits...
I honestly can't believe some of the stuff that you lot go through with clarks! our manager is lovely and really would bend over backwards to help anyone. We once had an odd pair and took the customers name and phone number so that we could ring her when we found the matching pair in case she still wanted it. Turned out some stupid saturday kid had put them away wrong. grrr

Fimbo · 14/05/2005 23:05

Thats ok then Starlover, can slag my local Clarks off now!!

Lilsmum, hope your dd gets some shoes soon, I hate Clarks with a passion, I'd rather walk over hot coals than take my two there. Hate the walkie talkie system they have in the ladies dept too.

starlover · 14/05/2005 23:06

oooooh i wish we had walkie talkies!!!!

Newbarnsleygirl · 14/05/2005 23:10

The walkie talkies are a complete god send though in a busy store with stairs.

Original poster
lilsmum · 14/05/2005 23:12

BB and stitch.... dd is absolutely fine well apart from having shoes pushed on her feet today over and over, which i dont think her heel is sore she just associates people messing with her foot with pain so i was seriously ready for clocking the sales assistant today, especially as i explained before hand about her foot. thanks for asking

well i have just emailed head office a essay lol, god i am in full complaining mode atm lol victor meldrew in the making lol

OP posts:
Newbarnsleygirl · 14/05/2005 23:15

You should get some good response from the Head office LM. They might offer some gift vouchers and an appointment with a manager of another store to try again.

Bless Lil, she really has had a pants time hasn't she.
I'm sure she'll make up for shoe shopping when she's older though

Original poster
lilsmum · 14/05/2005 23:19

NBG....prob will lol
the thing is, my daughters feet are important and more than ever after everything she has been through and i want decent, good fitting shoes, and for £25 for 6-8 weeks of wear i want good sevice too not a episode like today, utter nightmare!

OP posts:
Newbarnsleygirl · 14/05/2005 23:21

Can't agree with you more. I'd have been seething too.

I hope you get some joy with it. Like you said Lil will associate having her feet messed with, with pain and to have shoe trips like today doesn't help your situation.

Newbarnsleygirl · 14/05/2005 23:22

And yipee for the walking!

LilMissy · 15/05/2005 00:08

I have to say i agree with Starlover and Newbarnsleygirl. I work at clarks too and am appalled at some of the stories i hear about Clark's employee's. If i was you, i'd have taken both the employee and managers name and complained to head office. As my boss is always drilling into me our service has to be excellent 100% of the time as the customer is important as are children's feet. I know that I do my best to fit a child's shoes even if it does take a bit longer. Next time (if you go back and i woudln't blame you if u dont)you should get the fitting checked by another member of staff as well as the one who served you. HTH

suedonim · 15/05/2005 13:22

Oh well, here's a cheery story about Clarke's shoes! I took dd2 to get new shoes on Fri and, joy of joys, we found a pair at the first stop! She has narrow feet and last time we went to eight shops before finding something. This time we went to JLP, where the staff are always good and also found Clarke's sandals that don't hang off her feet. Startrite's never fit my children's feet and are so hard they rubbed ds's foot raw the one time I bought them.

vickiyumyum · 15/05/2005 14:54

i took my 7 year old ds into our local clarks at childrens world on monday and they measured his feet and told me was a size 2! i was amazed as he had been wearing a size 13 and i was only getting new ones because he had managed to put a hole in the toes playing football., they didn't have any shoes in his size that he liked so i took him to the big clarks in town, where they measured him at a size 1 i thought that sounded more like it and felt happier with the lady serving us than i had been with the one in childrens world, but again they didn't have any that ds liked, so off we tripsed to the 3rd shop john lewis, where he was measured at a 13 1/2!!
we got a pair here although they were a startrite size 13. i know that the measuremtn is just a guide, but i am amazed that three different fitters got it so different, with seeing how the 13 1/2 clarks shoes fitted him i know that the 2 or even the 1 would have been way too big.
i would definatley now always check the fit of the shoe myself and not just rely on the fitter.
as for the customer service you received it sounds appalling, i know that saturdays are always extremley busy for shoe shops, but still theres no excuse to not call round and try and get some shoes to fit your daughter. especially if it wa a fib about the customer swervice centre being closed as starlover said

clarksludo · 22/05/2005 12:20

I am a clarks employee, and a student too. I resent starlover said "some stupid saturday kid". We are not stupid, and clarks would be BEREFT if they didnt have us; we're cheap labour who can do the BACKBREAKING work that Clarks kids is. Whilst the managers have fun on adults and stand at the till.

We're a small shop and don't have walkie talkies, all of our work is done manually.

In response to you, lilsmum I think it sounds like you behaved in a ridiculous manner. It may be annoying that there were no shoes to fit your kid, but at the end of the day- it isn't the fitter's fault!

You all may badmouth clarks as a bad service etc, but I am satisfied that I fit all of my shoes well, and take my time with every member of the public. It's just disheartening when people come in and either disagree with what you are saying just because think think they are right (even when we, who have been on training courses, do know what we are doing) or be abusive to us WHEN WE ARE ONLY DOING OUR JOB!

I meet som lovely children, and lovely parents in my job. It may be stressful and it may be pressured when you look for shoes, but please take a while to think of it from our perspective.

In regards to ordering- most parents do not bother to come back for the shoes that they have ordered, therefore losing our shop money. We can ring telesales on a saturday, but it takes ages when even more people are outside getting even more irate that they are not being served. Do us a favour and pop in on a weekday evening if you want to order shoes.

AngelaFavorleigh · 22/05/2005 12:39

oh come on clarksludo - FFS there is no excuse for not bothering to order shoes really is there? So because some parents don't come in for the shoes you tarr us all with the same brush? In any case Russell & Bromley ordered shoes for my daughter recently and I paid at the til BEFORE the shoes arrived so that's no excuse.

I think I can understand lilsmum being peed off that in an entire shoe shop there were no shoes to fit her daughter and then no offer to order some.

clarksludo · 22/05/2005 15:31

On a Saturday, when a shop is packed, people are getting annoyed because there aren't enough of us to serve them all at the same time; when people with prams and screaming children are cramming into one small space, when all of that is happening. I do apologise gfor havign said "No, I'm sorry we can't ring through for you but you can easily do that if you phone directory enquiries" because that is what we are TOLD to say. I am glad that personally I don't have to hassle in the back of the shop waiting for another branch to answer their phone.

If a shop doesn't have a shoe- go somewhere else!

From the sounds of it, all of the clarks shoe shops that you all seem to go to are bigger than the one I work in, therefore you live in bigger towns/cities, meaning I am sure there is another store that sells fitted shoes. For example Peter Briggs, or Jones the bootmaker's.

And get your facts right:
In any case Russell & Bromley ordered shoes for my daughter recently and I paid at the til BEFORE the shoes arrived so that's no excuse.

Russell and Bromley are a FRANCHISE. FRANCHISES sell Clarks shoes but they are NOT Clarks stores with Clarks trained fitters.

clarksludo · 22/05/2005 15:37

PS. Before you tar all of the fitters with the same brush, then one thing I do always say is "Try Jones's or Briggs's but if you're really stuck then come back and we will sort something out for you"

I've won several awards for my service; it just annoys me when people on here (outside of the environment) can belittle myself and my colleagues branding us as stupid/thick/useless etc. You don't say that when we're fitting shoes on your kids. Funny that.

misdee · 22/05/2005 15:38

i've asked for shoes to be ordered mid-week and iwas told by the clarks manager they dont order in shoes for customers by request, but they may have some in 3-4weeks just to keep trying. the same store also refused to call other stores to see if they had anything in my dd's size shoe (she has large wide feet and we were looking for soft first shoe, asnd they only carried one stylke in that size). considering i am paying upto and sometimes over £30 for a pair of kids shoes i expect better customer service.

and tbh your attitude to us on here is appauling.

misdee · 22/05/2005 15:39

i like to take my MIL shoe shopping wqith me for the girls shoes, she is pretty good at telling if the fit is right.

Original poster
lilsmum · 22/05/2005 15:46

clarksludo....who do you think you are??? personally i dont see how you have won awards as your attitude stinks, i dont have to justify myself to you, if i am paying for a service you are providing as the customer ...i am right!!

i behaved in a ridiculous manner?!?! WTF, i behave in a ridiculous manner because i wanted some shoes that fit my dd? and the "fitter" that measured my dd was a trainee.

also for what it is worth, i took dd to clarks in mothercare last week and surprise surprise i came away with not 1 but 2 pairs of shoes, that fitted! oh how i wish i had a gobby fitter like yourself, i would have a field day with you!

OP posts:
clarksludo · 22/05/2005 15:55

You wouldn't as I wouldn't behave like that at work but I'm just showing you what when you think you are "getting your point across" to us, makes us feel like.

Original poster
lilsmum · 22/05/2005 16:01

well i think as dealing with parents and children in clark's obviously gets to you so much, and is eating you up inside so much that you have to come on MN and blow up, maybe you should look for another profession, and even though most MN'ers can "see my point" and you are the only one who cant, i still think i was right, so your opinion really doesnt matter, also your point about you are on such little money for what you have to put up with,considering this you are very loyal to this company....very odd!!

OP posts:
clarksludo · 22/05/2005 16:07

I love my job to bits and I love seeing the look on a child's face when they are so happy with the shoes which I have sorted for them. I think about all of the people who have come to see me on a Saturday on the Saturday evening and throughout the week and wonder how they are.

A little girl of mine is going to Turkey on Monday with her new doodles.

It's not that I can't see your point, as I know there are some crap fitters out there. I just know that I'm not one of them.

Yesterday a little boy wanted a pair of the pitch shoes (I'm sure some of your children have them- they have little football cards which you can insert into the sides) but I wasn't happy with how they suited his feet. I knew how badly he wanted a pair of the football shoes, and even though I sold him a pair of different ones which fitted his feet perfectly.
I told them to wait a few minutes and went in the back, ferreted for a bit to find the spare set of coloured cards which come with the shoes, and gave them to him because he wanted them as "swaps". This made him go and thanked me by name.

Original poster
lilsmum · 22/05/2005 16:11

sorry, i am not really interested in your "feel good about yourself" stories, i just dont like the fact you said i behaved ridiculously for wanting my dd (who only had a cast off last week, major probs with her foot)to have clark's (because i want clark's dont want another shop)shoes that fit properly, end of story

OP posts:
clarksludo · 22/05/2005 16:14

I have no idea who you are my dear, or your child and I am sorry about their problem.

I'm just trying to make everyone see just how much agro we go through "behind the scenes", if you will. I didn't mean to characterise my point at you, which on reflection I can see that I did by naming you.