Claire's

Great place to get your ears pierced

Great customer service

I would like to share with you the experience I had today at your store at Desert Ridge Market Place (Arizona). My four-year-old daughter recently got her ears pierced and we have been counting down the days until she could pick out new earings. It was going to be a fun trip to the store and she has been psyched about it since the day she got her ears pierced. I'll be honest, I haven't been a big fan of Claires in years. It used to be my favorite place to get cute girly things, but over the years the customer service and product line has cheapend and I have avoided going in. However, I thought it would be a fun place to take my daughter for her first excursion to buy earings. At a little after noon we went into this store. We were not greeted or even acknowledged...a common practice in most stores now-a-days. I brushed it off, trying to focus on my daughter while she picked out her "favorites" which of course was every earing you carry. It occured to me that I didn't have an earing holder for her so we went searching the store for one. The employee, Mallory, still did not acknowlege us much less ask if she could help us find anything. Instead she stayed slouched in front of the register, staring off into space and lip singing to the music playing. I found what I needed and approached the register. I asked if Claires carried ear cleaner to which Mallory said "yep" and plopped down a huge bottle into my pile. She didn't ask if we found everything okay, didn't acknowledge my daughters excitment about her new earings.....she just started ringing stuff up. I clarified with her that the earings were on sale and she said "yep" (a woman of many words). The bill ended up being over $60 which given my experience wasn't going to fly so I asked her to remove a few of the earings. I also asked that she remove the ear cleaner after finding out it was $9. I figured I could continue cleaning my daughters ears with the dilluted peroxide that the person suggested when we had her ears pierced. Mallory, staying true to her customer service form, rolled her eyes and told me that using peroxide would dry out my daughters ears and cause scabbing. Shocked by her attitude I smiled and said "thank you for letting me know, but we've been using it for 8 weeks now and it seems to be okay" to which she scoffed and said "yeah and all I'm telling you that it WILL dry out her ears and cause scabbing". I again said "thank you for letting me know". She rolled her eyes again and started taking off the items I requested while lip singing to the radio again (talented). Had I not had my daughter there I would have pushed the issue, but I just left with my purchase and tried to keep the "fun" in our visit. However, I had every urge to ask her to please quit if she hated her job so much. Mallory was one of the worst customer service reps I have ever encountered and has earned herself a spot on my blog about poor customer service. She has also ensured that I will not be visiting Claire's anymore. In a down economy, I would rather support businesses that demonstrate a desire to provide quality customer service regardless of how expensive, or inexpensive their products are. As an FYI I saw three other customers enter and exit the store without being greeted as well. If your sales are down you may want to look into the quality of your staff.

Your typically Clair's.