Customer Service Review: American Apparel
The ritual of clothes shopping is one any girl can relate to, no matter their disposition – and I’m no exception. There are few things I love more than the opportunity to absolutely bury myself in fabrics and patterns, and on this particular occasion it was American Apparel that took my fancy.
The ‘fashionable basics’ concept was massively appealing to me, especially as I value the use of quality materials over complicated design – so the idea of getting stuck into designer minimalism was very exciting to me.
What I hadn’t realised, however, is that I wasn’t a part of American Apparel’s preferred customer base. Upon entering the store, I felt instant discomfort and, worse still, embarrassment, as dead-eyed customer service assistants looked me up and down without approaching me or offering anything resembling warmth. I still have no idea whether this was a response to my difference in demeanour and body shape or a reflection of the assistants’ general dispositions.
Initially intending to kill an hour or so browsing to my heart’s content, I tried to block out my unease and wandered round the store hoping something would catch my eye instantly so I could go reassemble myself somewhere else. On this occasion, nothing was immediately jumping out at me – meaning I had to do circuits of the shop many times before I settled on something I fancied.
It was bizarre to me that customer service assistants could be employed not to assist customers but to watch them intently and awkwardly, providing no service of any kind. Admittedly I hadn’t particularly wanted to engage with strangers who’d made me feel so uncomfortable but that would probably have been preferable to intense and distant contempt.
The assistants didn’t ask me if I needed any help during my uncomfortable search – and I definitely wasn’t instilled with the confidence to take some initiative and ask myself. Worse still, once I’d found that ‘something I fancied’, I couldn’t see it in a size I wanted, or could wear, and – feeling exceptionally awkward – didn’t bother to ask. Instead, I put the t-shirt I was otherwise incredibly close to buying back on the rack and made a move out of the store.
I left thinking I’d make some kind of pathetic statement by turning down their products. In actual fact, I have no doubt that in a more comfortable environment, I would’ve given myself enough time to spend vast and reckless amounts of money in there.
This was far from my ideal shopping experience, notable for how uneventful it technically was. I was amazed to find that such a passive approach to customer service could feel so aggressive.