The initial impetus for creating a blog is to offer to others what I was unable to locate on the Internet myself: Information about how Macy's ( Federated Department Stores ) handles the case of a customer who sustains and injury in one of their stores. While I am not going to reveal my own name at this juncture, I will provide the names of those with whom I come in contact. This inadvertant adventure is not over as I begin this blog; I will continue to post my progress and report honestly how I feel I have been taken care of in this process.
The accident happened the day before Thanksgiving, 2006 at about 5:30 in the afternoon.
Having entered the store on the second level from the mall, I elected to take the stairway to the first floor instead of the crowded escalators. I also remember thinking how much better this kind of decision was for one's health!
4 or 5 steps from the bottom of the stairway ( the video of this still replays constantly in my brain to my horror ) I tripped because my shoe caught on the surface of the stairs and I fell headlong to the hard floor covering at the base of the stairs fracturing and dislocating my two upper front teeth. I'm not a beautiful woman, but I have always taken pride in my teeth and taken great care to take care of them. Can you guess my shock and anguish?
The following text is a very slightly tweaked copy of text submitted to the comments area of the Macys.com website. WHY? Even though I had waited over 24 hours to attempt contacting Macy's following my accident, I was unable to speak to anyone at all even at my local store where the accident occurred.
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Comments: I am writing this because the number that I was provided after several calls to your Exton store today ( 800.677.0693 ) is not available until Monday 11/27.
On 11/22/06 at about 5:30, I fell down the stairs in the Exton PA Macy’s store and severely damaged my two upper front teeth on the hard surface at the bottom of the stairs.
Two store employees came to my aid, Sharon Cadwell & Matt Schleagle (sp?). They were kind to me and helpful in assisting me to contact my husband and my dentist! My teeth were not only broken but so pushed out of place by the impact that I could not close my mouth and my speech was impaired by their displacement ( not to mention the pain ). This aid enabled me to obtain my dentist's help within a very short time and I believe will help me have a better outcome to the process of making me whole again.
As a customer service professional however, it did seem strange in retrospect that I was not offered any information about the process of filing an incident report for the accident. During the initial contact I was not even asked for my name or address or phone number nor was my husband even though the two staff members were from upper management within the store. Luckily I was able to give Sharon a business card in my possession but in retrospect no one asked me for any personal information; this led me to feel that no one cared about my injury or experience ( even if this is not the case ).
As the pain subsided a bit, and reality set in and with it anguish and sense of loss. To follow up, I tried to contact Matt or Sharon at the Exton store by phone about midday on 11/24. I had no assurance that any record had been created to document my injury and no idea of what to do next. The phone system in Exton added to the sense of increasing frustration. I was only able to speak to a succession of phone staff and surprised at being offered only a Corporate 800 number; how could I call not knowing that 'they' had any idea of who I was or why I might be calling? Keep in mind that at this point I had no real sense of the accident's having been officially reported within the Federated structure. I don't know your policies, but it would greatly comfort persons such as myself to be told how the process works. I will try to help you see the customer's side of this process as it unfolds. I'm guessing that even though the message on the number I called said it was open 8 - 5 M - F, that it was in fact closed for the Thanksgiving holiday with no message to indicate this. Where I work, we always update the phone message for special holidays so that customers get the message that we care about our service to them.
Again, I do not know if this information will be helpful to one of my favorite stores, but I will continue to provide my perspective to you as I try to recover what was a wonderful smile.
Associate Comments:
Name: Matt Schleagle (sp?) ( who had no card )
Description: Store Security
ManagerAssc. Number: right!
Dept: Security
Comments: Great service and attitude; seemed strange that he had no business card even with the change in corporate names.
Name: Sharon Cadwell ( who had no card either)
Description: Operations manager?Assc.
Number: not givenDept: Store management
Comments: Sharon was very kind and waited with me while Matt located my husband. sharon also used her cell phone to call my dentist. Thanks Sharon!
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It was not long before I recieved and email:
Macy's Customer Service
Dear Ms. XXXX:Thank you for taking the time to e-mail us. We have received your message, and it's been forwarded to Sue McMahon, Macy's Vice President for Customer Service, for review and response. Please be assured we take your message very seriously. Sue or someone from her office will contact you in the near future. We appreciate your business. Thanks for shopping our stores.
More to follow....
