Today (Mon, 17/7) I visited the #Zara store in #Glattzentrum, ZH, Switzerland. I knew that the Barbie capsule collection was in the store today, so I thought to have a look. It is a very nice collection, swipe up to see... Well, I took a video that proved to be a good choice given that I can prove myself after having one of the worst experiences as a customer. I thought about buying the mules, the price was 25.95 and I thought the price was in CHF given that I am in Switzerland and Zara prices are in local currency at all times. I went towards the cashier, there were two cashiers, one was only for returns, so there was such a big queue, I was waiting for about half an hour!!

Anyhow, finally my turn came, I noticed there was a higher price at the cash register but I thought that it was the price from the last customer so I didn't pay attention since I never thought that they will charge me a different price from the one that it was at the price tag, I paid via Twint so that means there was only a QR code on the POS screen. But, as soon as I paid I saw a different price on my phone's screen. I got the receipt and I checked it. I was charged CHF 45.90. So I thought there was somehow a mistake. So I went to politely ask the cashier, who told me “this is the price”. I told her that there was a different price on the price tag so there must be a mistake. The first thing she did was to cut the price tag (at Zara or at any store, they never cut the price tag!) so as not to be able to prove the price. I couldn’t solve the situation in German so I asked her if she speaks English, French, Italian or Spanish but she didn’t speak any of these languages. I was about to ask her if she speaks Greek because she didn't put any effort to communicate with me even though I was trying... Well, she made a call and a young lady (a supervisor or manager most probably) came, who was speaking English.

• I explained the situation because I thought that there was a mistake.

• She told me, “this is the price because of the exchange rate”.

• Then I noticed the price tag that she was holding. There were two prices, one in Euros 24.95 and one in Pounds 29.90. So, I told her that the exchange rate cannot be a difference of CHF20. I thought an international company would not have such a big difference in prices.

• She replied to me, “No this is the price in Switzerland”.

• I replied to her, “OK, but you have to have the right price on the price tag!” I couldn’t trust her at the moment because it seemed quite weird to me the whole situation…

• She left me in the middle of our discussion and she went to take away all the mules… Then, she came back and I told her that they should always have the right price tag. As a client, I pay the price that I see on the price tag. I am not in a place to know the pricing process.

• She replied, “Zara is such a high volume store, we were busy, the new collection came so we had to place the new collection and we didn’t have the time to change the price tags”.

• I replied to her that the client has the right to pay the price that is stated on the price tag. I wouldn’t mind if this was the price from the beginning but I wasn’t sure that the new price was the right one. It seemed quite weird the whole situation. Moreover, none of the Zara staff apologised to me or said “Yes, you are right! It is our mistake but this is the price in the system etc.” I didn't like the whole situation at all neither the customer service nor the way that these two ladies handled the situation. Therefore, I decided to return the mules. As I did! After a while, I came back just to check on the prices of the rest of the Barbie Collection so as to know that the prices that I had already seen were in CHF and not in Euros or Pounds. They have placed back the mules having the new price this time. So I took a photo of the new price!

Later, I checked the video that I have taken of the Barbie Capsule Collection and I took some screenshots of the video where you can see the price tag in Euros!

At any case, I have to highlight the following:

• The staff couldn’t handle a demanding situation and to keep the standards of the store. It is not an excuse that Zara is a high volume store, you know this as an employee from the very beginning and you get trained so as to be able to work in a high volume store. I know this from personal experience given that I was the store manager myself at Starbucks, working as a manager at some of the most high volume stores in Athens and I have trained a lot of staff and managers.

• Impolite staff! They should apologize to me and not try to find excuses. You just have to say “Sorry, you are right. Our mistake. Let me check on the price and I will come back to you in a minute.” So as to be professional and to end the whole situation.

• It seems weird that 24.95 Euros or 29.90 Pounds = CHF 45.90 !! I never noticed such a big difference in prices at H&M that has prices in different currencies on the price tags. So, I still believe that there might be a mistake somehow, I don’t know! What do you think? Did you have a similar experience yourself?

I thought about sharing this bad/unpleasant customer experience given that it was weird, I never thought to check on the price or the payment in an international store. But, it seems that we have to be careful and to check at all times the price tags and the charges even in an international big store where you might feel to be in a safe environment. I visit this Zara store at Glatt often, I didn’t have any similar experience but I will be careful from now on. I would suggest Zara to train their staff better!! I understand how difficult it is working on the front line, I respect everybody in the retail sector but I believe that you can correct any mistake with the right customer service, the right attitude, to be polite and pay attention to the customer! I was very polite to them so they had to be at least as polite as I was and not to make me feel that I was just disturbing them…