Talbots

Now that there are no more Talbots on LI, I am forced to shop online where I have no idea half the time what I am looking at – so we were in the city and conned my husband into stopping in here. I thought that customer service was very nice and helpful. Unfortunately Talbots can run a little frumpy and I was only able to get a sweater.

I was at the outlet store at Jersey Shore Premium outlets last year and service was wonderful. Today, I went back and all I got was snotty bad service. Yes I was dress down in black athletic pants, a t-​shirt and a novelty handbag but that’s no way to treat a potential customer. I notice that other women who were older and appear to be more well groomed for the day were greeted with a welcome. But no one said «hi» or can I help you. Working in Manhattan’s financial banking industry, I tried to get a few good pieces but I was so turned off by the cold reception that I took my business elsewhere. I would advise you to retrain your staff!

Talbots on Madison has zero customer service!!! I was given a gift card, so I reserved a necklace online and when I walked in, I approached an employee. She told me to wait while she chatted with the mailman for the next 5 minutes. Then, she finally turned and asked what I wanted. I told her that I had reserved an item online and she looked at me like she had no idea you could even do that. She then pointed at the table of jewelry and told me to look for it myself. Meanwhile, she yelled to me from across the floor, probably 20 feet away, asking questions about what it looked like. I don’t think any employee should be yelling in their own store, let alone at a customer. Then when I finally went to pay for it, the card wouldn’t swipe properly. Instead of telling me the problem, she took a pair of scissors and scratched off the security code on the back of the card, but the sharp scissors also scratched off the numbers. She then pretended to enter the code and said it wouldn’t work. (I didn’t find out she scratched off the numbers until after I had left the store.) Meanwhile, she continued to have a conversation with a few other employees that was obviously MUCH more important than my business. I ended up leaving the store, without the necklace. THEN, I went back to Talbots a few days later to speak with a manager and she said she couldn’t help me at all, even though it was her employee that made my gift card unusable. This is obviously a store that doesn’t stand behind their own merchandise!

Talbots clothing is incredibly boring although you can find a few basic black neutral pieces that will work as a foil for better clothing. Prices are very moderate and the quality is iffy at best. They do have an entire floor devoted to petites – this is getting harder and harder to find at higher quality establishments – but it’s hidden on the fourth floor and the shopping experience is REALLY DISMAL. I was there on 12÷11÷09. Two other people shopping and two sales people. Neither sales person acknowledged my existence for over 20 mintues despite multiple attempts at eye contact and engagement. Several of the pieces I was interested in showed up as available in the stock room on the inhouse computer but were missing from the stock room. Instead of trying to offer an alternative product and make a sale, I was basically DISCOURAGED from purchasing anything by the hostility of the sales staff. When I finally complained to a store «manager», however, I was given a 25% discount on the spot. All in all, a DISMAL shopping experience. Stay away and spend a little more to buy your petite basics at Eileen Fisher.

Seldom have found anything I like, petitte or not: rather frumpy, yes.

I never used to shop at Talbots because I found their merchandise boring. Basic, classic, conservative office clothes or casual wear. But when Saks stopped carrying Petites, and Bloomies severely cut back, I had to shop somewhere to get what I needed. So, a few weeks ago, I stopped in to their Madison Ave. store. It’s a very attractive, well laid-​out little building with four floors, and I found that the entire 4^th floor is devoted to Petites. Fortunately, I was able to find a few pairs of pants that fit, and were not at all frumpy.