Some of you ladies and gents are very gutsy!! Can I take some lessons from you? I love what some of you did to try and get Wal-Mart in line. I am still laughing!!!

I was out of town and stopped by the Wal-Mart there to see if they had different fabrics from my local WM as I was wanting a variety of fairies/Tinkerbell fabrics for a quilt for a friend's daughter. I had been to that one before and had very good helpful service, so was quite surprised that there was nobody in sight at 10:30 in the morning. Rang the bell, checked through the remnants, rang the bell again, several times, saw a fellow across the way in sporting goods and asked him to page for someone to cut fabric. The phone on the cutting table started ringing! Well lot of help that was...guess I should have answered it!

When our WalMart carried fabrics we had the most wonderful people working in the department and we had great service. Two of them had worked in LQS previously and were very helpful. However, in the next town over it was a different story. There was rarely anyone in the department, and they didn't come when you rang the bell. Once the girls got out of school and I didn't need any craft fabric anymore, I quit shopping there.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have bought fabric at Walmart but the experience has always been the same (same store). The lady is either there already to cut my fabric, or she arrives quickly so I've never had to wait any great amount of time. I'm always friendly to her, but she acts like she'd rather be doing ANYTHING else than cutting my fabric. It must be terrible to be that cranky. :)

I'd much rather shop at my LQS where they know me by name and would jump through hoops to please a customer. That or online where I don't have to deal with anyone. :)

You know what I do when this happens and its happened many many times!!!! I pick up the service phone on the cutting table or pole and dial "O" and tell whoever answers that customer service is needed in fabrics and someone comes right away....and they don't have a clue who called except for the other customers that are waiting also. Of course by the time the clerk gets there we are all laughing including my husband. ;)

Marsye I need to live nextdoor to you . Wouldn't we be a pair ! Annie

And you can sure get some here. I was at McDonalds and they gave me my order wrong when I was trying to explain it to the girl at the drive through she kept rolling her eyes at me. Finally about the third time I looked at her and said, "Little girl, I'm old school. You roll your eyes at me one more time and I'm going to do just what my mom would have. I'm going to reach through that window and smack you. It's rude, don't do it again."

Hey, lets do lunch!!! :roll:

I think it happens in alot of the bigger stores now. They dont have enough people working the stores! I wish they would hire a few more.........I feel so sorry for the employees, who do have to run around alot, and the customer who has to wait forever.
Theres no excuse for the snarly lady almost running into people, she should have apologized!

I think if several of us lived close together we'd be a force to be feared. Fabric stores would see us pull in and bar the doors, restaurants would close, department stores would roll down the chainlink bars, other drivers would pull to the side of the road, children and pets would run and hide.

You just gotta picture that!!!! I'm in. :lol:

me too Annie

i've had similar experiences at wal mart. what i do is put the phone number for the store in my cell phone, then if i wait too long i call the store and ask for someone to come cut the fabric.

LOL........guess I'll have to look at that service phone next time I am there and figure out which button is the intercom......"Attention Associates.....customer service needed in Fabrics......I've been waiting over 5 minutes to have my fabric cut and I can see the scissors.....thank you". I'm so glad I don't get treated badly at my Walmart.

I think wm has been believing their hype - they think people are all going to shop there. Our local wms have seriously limited their inventories - no choices - wm brand and one other. I've told people working there that if I have to travel to get what I want, I won't be shopping at a wm.
Years ago the thing was no more than 3 people in line at checkout - well I'm sure you've all been in lines longer than that!
Sam wanted to provide American goods at reasonable prices - that's long gone.

oh yea, you CAN'T GET A CELL PHONE signal in our wms - maybe some of you ladies had already been here! LOL

I wanna be you when I grow up:>

I have to say that I've always gotten nice service in my local WM fabric department. There is an older man (now that I think about it, I would guess he's my age - yikes!) who cuts fabric. He always handles the fabric with care and makes sure he cuts it straight. On top of that, he's very pleasant. There's also been other ladies who cut fabric - and I have to say that all of these WM employees handle the fabric more lovingly that most of the employees at other 'fabric' stores.

Is anyone interested in sending this thread to the main office?? It MIGHT help........maybe???.......a little?????

I had a similar thing happen at our local WM but it turned out better for me. There was a brand new male manager that finally came over. He had no clue what he was doing but bless his heart he did everything he could to help me. I told him how to measure and cut the fabric. I told him how to use the little scanner and ticket machine. Then he proceeds to roll up the fabric and place rubber bands around it like celery! It was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing but it was so cute I could hardly stand it. He promised me that he would make sure the sewing area would be fully staffed as long has he was the manager.

I searched for Corporate Office and got where I supposedly needed to contact them - but the space on their site was limited - pluse they were going to send my complaint to my LOCAL WM. There was no place where I could copy and paste our entire thread. They wanted full name, address, phone number and they would just send it to local WM so I just "x'd" it out - :-(

Just get you some burlap "big-girl-panties" and you'll toughen up soon enough.

:lol: :lol:

Seriously though, there is no reason that anyone should let someone else make them feel inferior or less than the child of God that they are. When people are nasty to me I tell them that I recognize their rudeness and tell them that I don't like it.

You go girl ! Annie

Don't you just love that bell.

I think that Wal Mart has gone down since Sam Walton died. I live just south of the PA line in Maryland. There are 4 Walmarts within a 20 mile radious of me. Only one still has fabric. There is usually someone there to wait on me. The other three now have fat quarters and even a few jelly rolls in their tiny craft sections. My biggest beef is they seem to be having a problem with keeping the shelves stocked. My husband actually went to work for them 4 years ago when he retired the first time. He said that should never happen as the cash registers track in the inventory and they know immediately when the stock that is out has been sold. The closest Walmart in Maryland was expanded into a semi super store. They added groceries by getting rid of the fabric department and downsizing everything else. Now they have a whole lot of departments with limited stock. Some things I want I can only find there. Other things I have to go to one of the Superwalmarts up the road in PA. Friday the super Walmart was out of the diet soda, their brand that I drink. I had to go looking for someone to tell me how much the pineapples were as their was no price on the display. It has been super hot this week and I wanted to purchase one of those insulated bags they sell to put my perishables in so I could run another errand when I finished there. They have four hooks with those bags on the in the frozen food section. Every hook was empty. The older I get the worse I like shopping.

i am fascinated by the obsessive focus on walmart's service record in this topic.

am i the only person who has noticed the customer service is pretty poor in just about every major department store? (unless you're in the most expensive sections of a hoity toity store.)

i'm not defending poor practice in any store. i just keep wondering when people will finally get bored and pick on someplace other than walmart and joann's for a change. :lol:?

This is not fabric realted but, there was a time when there were signs at the front end of the store stating that if there were more than 3 people in line at the registers they would automatically call for more cashiers. They took those signs down several years ago. I guess the bad service is not just in the fabric dept.

I agree!
but truthfully we live in a rural area the only department store we have in our county is Walmart.
no target no kmart no mall sears JC penny nothing
So we end up traveling 60+ miles to shop
but older folks in our area(like my parents) don't want to drive that far and are stuck with it!

It's not just Wal-Mart or Joann's, I think it is pretty much across all sectors of retail. I firmly believe that it is the management of a retail business that will either make or break the establishment. Management sets the tone for how business is to be done and then should follow up to see that it is put in motion. At places where service is poor and people finally just leave in frustration, I have a hard time believing that management is oblivious to it all. Maybe they just don't care.

But I see crummy service at Burger King, grocery stores, etc. Yet, at some places, it is stellar. For example, there is a McDonald's close to where I work where the employees are ALL as polite as they can be and always strive to get it right the first time. It really is noticeable there, and I have to attribute that to the management staff there that have worked to create that type of work environment.

I think that places where we have come to expect the service to always be bad because of our past experiences there, it's because the management is too busy trying to squeeze a few more pennies out of their monthly financial reports to keep their numbers up with those of fellow stores. Sadly, in their zeal to focus on finances, they don't see the angry customers storming out the doors because of their employees that are treating them badly.

I've always gotten good service in the fabric department at my local WalMart. If there isn't someone at the counter when I'm ready, I go looking for her and ask if she can help me by cutting some fabric. Always had friendly helpful service. It's funny but I avoided WM for years, until I needed some film developed in a hurry and my previous processor had badly messed up several rolls of my film. WM did misplace (or was late with) a roll once but they didn't charge me for it when they found/received it the next day (and called me to let me know).

The way to get "assistance" at Walmart is start measuring the fabric yourself.. Thier little "computer" scanner is simple to use. I had to do that multiple times before our walmart took out the fabric.

You are absolutely right, Patrice.

Sometimes I wonder how much we, as customers, have an effect on how we are treated as customers. I KNOW that there are folks who should never be in the customer service business because they don't have a 'kind' bone in their body. But I wonder how many times that store person seems grouchy because they were up all night with a sick child, or because they just got paid and their measly check doesn't nearly cover their bills, or if their last customer was truly unreasonable and they haven't yet lowered their adrenalin level from that unpleasant encounter?

I also think that I get what I expect. I expect to be treated kindly, to be treated fairly. With that expectation I also need to treat them kindly and fairly. For the majority of my shopping experiences, that is exactly what I get.

I know that's not true in all situations. I know that some store people are horrid and mean. But I also know that there are so many that are doing the best they can.

Okay, let the tomato throwing begin.

We haven't had fabric at our store for about two years. When we did and no one appeared, I would pickup the phone and tell the front and they would send someone - often a man. Guess he didn't want to be bothered because now we have nothing. I find I am going less and less. Don't like how they are dropping so many of their food items also. I have allergies and they have dropped all the detergents that do not have fragrance, etc. They have run most of the local groceries out of business and now they are cutting items back.

And THEN it will also be marked 20% off, right? That's just toooooooo funny!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I also like the shout for help one; I KNOW I can do that!

Odessa

Customer service is terrible in every large, chain store. It's because there's a bunch of people working for minimum wage with no vested interest in the company they're working for. They don't care if you enjoy your shopping experience or if you come back.

But you know, in all honesty, the whole world has pretty much gotten that way. Loss of morals, values and a sense of community. I don't see it getting any better either. :(

The last time that I tried to purchase fabric at Walmart, I had 4 bolts in the cart...wanted a couple of yards each, and these we not clearance fabrics. I tried the bell several times, found someone in auto and they didn't even page after I asked them...all in all I waited 30 minutes....ringing the bell every few minutes....
I then loaded as many fabrics as I could stack on the table, from the shelves...then went to find the manager at the service desk....told him the story and told him the fabrics that I wanted to purchase were on the cutting table, and I didn't have anymore time to waste at there store...He said he would go back there and cut my fabrics...I told him to get lost.

Well, in the past I HAVE stood there, rung the bell once or twice and waited for more than 10 minutes. Finally, I started ringing the bell constantly. I was relentless. Someone walked over from the electronics department and asked if I needed help. :shock: Uhm, really? :roll:

When I said that I was waiting for someone to come adn cut fabric for me, she said I would just have to wait because "apparently the person in this department is at lunch." I thanked her and as soon as she walked halfway back to her department (about 15 feet), I started ringing the bell again, relentlessly.

Now, I had about 8 bolts in my cart that day, so I was very serious about spending some of my husband's hard-earned ca$hola ... I was NOT going to let up. I think someone finally showed up nearly 8 minutes later, but I was going to make this sale MY WAY. I remember wanting 14 yards of black fabric (I was making a nun's habit costume for a performance for my daughter) as one of the items. This lady was king of shorting me about an inch or more with each yard she was counting out. She got to the end, grabbed the scissors, and before she could make that cut, I asked her "are you sure that's right? I only counted 14 yards and I need 15." Guess what? She had to re-measure it all again! And this time she was more accurate. Ha!

I did this several times - asking for a re-measure, changing how many yards I wanted each time, checking the notes I had in my little notebook for what I was looking for and flipping pages, etc..... Well, my time is valuable and if they want me to spend my money there, they can play it my way. That's how I feel about it.

Go to the management? They don't care. I am wasting my breath with them. Letters get nowhere. I never get a response.

Funny thing: there is ONE in my town. Another was scheduled to be built less than 5 miles away, but the community found a way to make it less than desirable for the company to put one there; it was very ugly. But in a neighboring town, the town council just put their collective feet down and said "absolutely not". It's a lovely little place, a HUGE tourist-y town and corporate had no intention of keeping the store in keeping with the "theme" of the town, so they were turned down.

I don't feel sorry for them. They barrel into a town with promises of putting people to work, but in this state the Unions rule and when the stores open and staff is not making a decent (i.e., "union") wage, the unions and their retirees get up in arms. It's really sad. WalMart has put a lot of wonderful little mom & pop shops out of business all in the name of making a corporate buck.

It's really a sad commentary on Life in America, isn't it?

Odessa

:thumbup: :thumbup:

I can understand the frustration of being a customer waiting -

but if I was an associate assigned to cover three or four areas - and I got to the cutting area as quickly as I could - and a customer was being "revengeful" -

two wrongs seldom make a right.

It seems to be great fun bashing WalMart - but why would so many of us be so upset about the fabric department closing if we didn't shop there?

yep, I had that happened to me once and I have not been back to buy any fabric sense!Makes you wonder where our customer service will be in 10 years!

excellent question.