Hello,
My name is Smoki Whitney, manager of NEW 2 U Consignment Boutique in Lady Lake, Fl. I do not live in The Villages, nor is our store located in The Villages, but a loyal customer of ours called us this morning to let us know about this posting. She thought the best thing to do would be to come on and leave our side of the story as it actually happened.
The woman who wrote this article (I will with hold her name) came in with a friend of hers. I am the person who is at the front desk and I am the one who sold her the shoes. (I was also here when she brought them back in.) As she was shopping around, she brought items up and was asking for discounts. The owner, Regina, informed her that it is not fair to our customers who bring the items in to discount them when they have just come in. The 'like new' golf shoes (that looked like they had never been worn-no dirt on the bottom in the cleats) that are in question, the owner said she would be willing to discount because there was a small tear in the back of the shoe (where you put your foot in). The highest our golf shoes ever are marked are $29, so she did not pay $36 like she stated and we did discount them even further. She said they were a smaller size than she wears, but they fit her when she tried them on. I made sure she really wanted to buy them and explained very clearly that she could not return or exchange anything. This has been our store policy since the day we opened and we have many signs in the store that say this. She asked if she could bring them back and reconsign them if she found they actually didn't fit her like she thought. I told her we can do that for her.
When she brought them back to consign, they were in really bad shape. Due to the condition of the shoes when they were returned, we could not have put any higher price than $19 on them and even with that lower price, there is no guarantee they would have sold. Regina would not have even taken them, had we not told her we would reconsign them for her. Regina was doing her a favor in reality, and told her hopefully they would sell and she could recoop some of her money, but if they did not sell in 60 days, they would go to Habitat for Humanity. She also signed a contract stating everything we informed her on it. She knew very well what she was doing and was in no way "taken advantage" of.
When she came into our store yesterday, she brought the shoes up to me and said in a very rude manner "How come these are priced so low, when you sold them to me at such a higher price?" She barely even let me explain, when she was raising her voice accusing me of 'scamming' her and making a big scene in front of everyone in the store. Regina then came over and tried explaining to her as well, that the shoes were not in the same condition as when she bought them. She was screaming that she brought them in the very next day, but we tried to explain to her that the condition they are in, is the condition they were in when she brought them back in. She wouldn't hear it and kept talking over us, so Regina asked if she would like the shoes back and when she said "absolutely not", Regina threw them in the garbage. (Where they stayed by the way.) She then started threatening us and saying she would go on talk of the town and Regina said exactly what the woman said she said, "We have enough nice people shopping with us that we don't need her business." At the point when she started threatening us and accusing us of "scamming her" Regina told me to ignore her because there was nothing we could say or do to make her happy.
We are very fair here, having been in business for 5 1/2 years. We have over 4,000 clients in our database and have so many wonderful, sweet and loving customers. Anyone who comes in here, knows we strive for great customer service and practices. We were the #1 consignment store in Lake and Sumter counties two years in a row and #2 the other two years, that doesn't just happen, without the great customers we have and the great job we are doing.
As for the comment about our "dirty" clothes, we may miss a spot or two out of the 100+ items we take in everyday, inventory, tag, and hang on the racks in one day. We only wish we had the staff to follow people around, we are so very busy in here, with everyone having their individual duties to accomplish. We love all of our customers and treat everyone the same, as far as "racist' goes, that is so funny. I'm married to a Mexican and we have a Jamaican working for us, we are the farthest you will ever see to anything racist. We have people of all nationalities coming in here and we certainly do not follow anyone around. These comments are completely untrue and I believe are just to get a rouse, there are no backing to them whatsoever. We are honest, hardworking people and every single day we hear from so many people that our store is beautiful, clean, "one of the nicest consignment stores I've ever been in". She was very rude and upsetting when she came in here with a chip on her shoulder, I'm 7 months pregnant and she brought me to tears because of the way she acted in here towards me.
Had she come in and asked to speak to the owner in private, and expressed her frustrations in a nice manner, we would have responded in kind. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond to this and hear our side of the story. Please feel free to come in and see for yourselves whether we are as this woman says.
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