Because the Roommate said he didn't really think he'd wear the reversible Burrberry scarf I gave him for Xmas as much as the price tag warrants, we decided to return it to Neiman Marcus and replace it with another item the Roommate would get more use out of. You know, because we live in Oregon and what with the subtropic climate and all there's little use for cashmere/wool blend scarfs when the temperature hovers around balmy 40 degrees for 9 months. After much deliberating he chose a pair of slacks instead (on sale----knocked down $200 of the original price, they don't call it Needless Markup for nothing). We ordered the pants and were a little shocked at the $16.50 charge for shipping, which was just unreasonable in the Roommate's eyes. He then participated in an online chat with an actual Neiman Marcus employee and basically was told them's the breaks, shipping ain't free, ya know, and the pants are marked down almost 50%. Well, he just hit the roof this morning when he received an e-mail stating that all purchases this weekend would earn FREE SHIPPING---HURRY AND ORDER NOW! He insisted I call immediately and demand the shipping charge be removed from our purchase otherwise we would cancel the order from yesterday and re-order it with free shipping today. It all just bothered him that much but me, those little things don't bother me which also explains why I'm always broke. Anywho...one quick and very civil call with a nice lady at Neiman's later and the shipping charges were reversed without so much as a single treat of cancellation or ceremonial cutting up of gold Neiman's card (the latter being a completely idle threat*). I'm sure the poor woman in the Neiman's India call center was thinking "You are paying $250 for a $450 pair of slacks and you find a $16.50 shipping charge unreasonable while I slave away in this un-air-conditioned Bali call center to scrape up enough money to buy a bowl of curry? Capitalist pigs!" It all seems so silly in hindsight, wouldn't you say? Do the crime, do the time----I mean pay the shipping.Note: In all due respects, the Neiman Marcus call center is in the Dallas/Fort Worth area----and that explains why they need to charge $450 for a pair of men's slacks. Plus shipping, of course. American capitalists labor ain't cheap, even with the employee discount.
* Please also note that the Neiman's gold card with it's completely unnecessarily high credit limit is only used to buy Christmas gifts for others. Which I promptly pay off----before the next holiday season, that is. You won't see me caught dead in a $450 pair of men's slacks, mister.
3 comments:
That's a lot of scratch for pants.
For me that would be 4 pairs of pants 3 shirts and a couple of pairs of socks.
Yes, I'm old, cheap and fashion challenged.
Personally, I have a hard time relating to wearing slacks much less slacks that would cost $450! Those babies would have to be providing more than a comfortable fit down there...let me just say that!
you could have bought a lot of alcohol for that price, missy.
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