Patricia XXXX<XXXXXXX@benefitcosmetics.com>
Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM
It’s war at the makeup counter
Hi,
I read your blog post about your recent visit at a Benefit counter and I would love to help. Can you please let us know where this happened so we could follow-up? We really appreciate your feedback and want to improve your shopping experience with Benefit Cosmetics.
Best,
Patricia XXXX
Customer Care Manager
U.S. Benefit Cosmetics
415-XXXXXXX
F 415-XXXXXXX
www.benefitcosmetics.com
~
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 7:05 PM
To: Patricia XXXX
Subject: Re: It’s war at the makeup counter
Dear Patricia,
I’m glad you want to help. My view is that a reprimand to this one sales assistant is not going to change things, nor will it undo my distress over the experience.
I would love to talk to you over the phone, and perhaps we can brainstorm.
My cellphone # is xxxxxxxxx
best,
xxxxxx (Sister Wolf)
~
Patricia XXXX <XXXXXXXX@benefitcosmetics.com>
Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 9:35 AM
RE: It’s war at the makeup counter
Good morning [Sister Wolf]
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, I was out of town for a few days with limited access to my email. Your comments and feedback were sent to the regional manager and she will take care of discussing this with the beauty advisor. If you would like for me to forward anymore comments or suggestions, please feel free to send it to me so I can pass it along.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Patricia XXXX
Customer Care Manager
U.S. Benefit Cosmetics
415-XXXXXX
415-XXXXXX
www.benefitcosmetics.com
~
Huh? What did I miss? Suggestions for a follow-up?
Dear Sister Wolf come over to Chanel we are so much nicer. We give you little samples and talk to you and don’t ‘sell’ you anything because we pride ourselves on building a relationship and know the true worth of our products speak for themselves. Love Karl x
All cosmetic counters are the same – either you’re assaulted by assistants who pressure you into buying, or you stand there trying to catch an assistants eye for about fifteen minutes while they purposefully ignore you. I think they alternate their sales tactic between the two on different days of the week.
Basically, every Benefit assistant from now on is going to try to stab you in the face with an eyebrow pencil. Benefit – like the Mafia, but with softer skin and more sinister smiles.
😛
way to not even read your response…they should at least send you free makeup
Drooling – YES, where is my free make up and where is their policy statement?
It would appear that Benefit Cosmetics only has 2 channels: attack or ignore.
how strange and annoying. i once had a shitty experience with one of their “brow bars” and after e-mailing to complain they not only assured me they would deal with the employee in question but sent me a crapload of sweet eyebrow products. i’ve been singing their customer service departments’ praises ever since! bah.
Hi,
I am not going to read one single word of this. And then I am going to respond a few times. Thanks so much, and I am so sorry for your situation at the make-up counter. In the future, it helps to purchase a fuckload of cosmetics and then you will not receive such bad treatment.
Thanks again,
Ash
Jesus christ, the AMOUNT of times this kind of thing has happened to me (I am a complainer– I write long ranting emails all the time to companies). I got several emails like this once from La Garconne, and, at the end of my tether, wrote a very long attack detailing everything I said and the banality and uselessness of their responses. I then forwarded it to everyone in the company (ie. all the different email addresses I could find on the website, even the accounts department). Result: the owner of the company rang me up and apologized. But, no compensation for my time or annoyance. Still, the acknowledgment and apology was nice.
Translation = we didn’t actually want to do anything about this blah blah blah.
Retail cunts. “Let’s just shoot off a couple of generic e-mails wherein we feign concern. That will placate her and win over her heart and wallet!”
Dear Benefit, in the name of all readers of this blog I urge you to create a perfect red lipstick in collaboration with Sister Wolf and name it Sister Wolf, naturally. This is the ONLY way we consumers can really benefit.
yeah, where is the free stuff cheap skates?
They already have the perfect red. I don’t haave it handy but I will look later and post the color name. You are entitled to some free cosmetics. This may be the only remedy, at least it would be a start.
Haha @ ash. Seems like they have form letters ready to send out when they’re faced with real problems from real people. For all we know “Patricia Caro” is just some fictional cyber character that Benefit has created for these situations.
dust knows what she’s talking about. Hear her out Patricia!
I agree with Artful Lawyer. I hate it when companies pull this shit, and as far as Benefit goes – never had a good experience with them.
Ok, I’m going to write back and incorporate all your ideas. Kt, you’re right, Patricia Cao may be a fake! I was once “Tom Somebody” at a company that received a lot of questions and complaints. I used Method Acting, to feel like Tom.
I was tiffany heidi and cyndi at a telemarketing company.
Now Benefit owes you an apology for wasting your time.
Well, at least they responded! I got THE worst and most expensive ($30 for absolutely crap job – I could do better with my left foot) manicure at Yves Rocher once; I complained, nothing happened except an email sent to me by mistake: “Jane, another complaint about a boutique”. I found the name of their marketing VP on the internet, sent my original complaint and the “another complaint” one. They called the next day apologizing and saying that they will refund me IF I SEND THE RECEIPT. I told then to stuff the refund. Never ever bought anything from them again, never will.
It should be “told them to stuff the refund”. I get pissed off even now thinking of it. By the way, when I asked why a perfect manicure costs $15 at any little Korean corner shop, and I pay $30 for such crap, the answer was “you pay for the brand”.
This doesn’t look like its genuine—- people dont care about consumers anymore these days, or even morals.
Its all about making capital. nothing more.
http://www.lefacade.blogspot.com
i still cant believe the experience you had at benefit. ive been to multiple benefit counters across australia and not once have i had someone be pushy or overbearing, all the girls have always been lovely. such a shame, i’ll know to avoid it when im in the US!
I would love to hear about your life as Tom Somebody at John Doe Industries.
I thought you were at least going to get some sort of freebie out of the deal! I’m as disappointed and confused as you are.
This cries out for the simple response (which was also the title of a movie) “P.S. You’re Not Listening.”
Well … You could send her a Tweet! http://twitter.com/patriciacaro
Texas Art – HAhahahaha! I think, first a letter, then a tweet. She’ll probably just block me though.
She should have simply said,
Hi, Sister Wolf!
I read your complaint and passed the buck to some other uncaring employee and I still have nerve to leave “Customer Care Manager” in my signature. I also lied about being away from my email for a few days. Since my area code is 415 this means I live in San Francisco, Ca–everyone here has access to email and even when we go out of town we check it. Nevertheless, rest assured that your email will be passed along from one beauty care customer service client social media specialist to the next and we will continue to bully our customers.
Regards,
Patricia Caro
I once purchased a package of ground beef from a major super market chain here in Denmark, took it home to make burgers for my children, took the first bite of my own and broke a tooth in half on a large piece of bone in the meat.
I had to go to an emergency dentist as it was a Sunday night for a temp cap and then my own the next day for major repairs.
I then angrily returned to the customer service counter at the super market and showed them the broken half of my tooth, the piece of bone from the meat, the packaging from the meat, the receipt..
The woman didn’t bat an eye, didn’t apologize, didn’t hesitate a second. She instantly reached under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper entitled Broken Tooth Form! Honestly.. it said that!
“Fill this out and send us your dental bill and we’ll pay it,” she said.
Their meat broke so many teeth they had a form all ready to hand out!
No fuss.. no muss.. and instant customer satisfaction..
Maybe because I already unleashed my cuntness on the bitch that cut in front of me at the coffee shop this morning, but perhaps she’s referring to the comments and feedback that you had in your original blog post? If that’s the case then she would have just forwarded the link to the regional sales manager.
/Devil’s Advocate Portion of this comment.
Either that or she’s all “blah blah we care blah Thanksgiving pie has addled my brain, blah blah what?”
SW, You’ve managed to attract the smartest and funniest people in the world to your blog. I’m still laughing over Dexter VanDango’s post, and I’m thinking Chandra should have her own TV show.
Love,
Marky
What crap! She is better off not sending you the first email! Such insincere service!