Art Stone Dance & Bodywear

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I am writing to let you know that my wife, two children and I had a very dramatic and painful experience while shopping at Art Stone Dance & Body Wear store at the Pan Am Shopping Center trying to get ballet clothes for my daughter and son before they started at Ballet Nova, a reputable school here in Baileys Cross Roads, Virginia.



The manager, Lati, was very rude and down-right cruel. First is started with her making comments to the other families in the store, that they needed to keep their children in site and to stop taking stuff off of the shelves. She raised her voice so that everyone in the store could hear her as she walked around hanging clothes on the racks that when she was parenting, no child of hers acted like kids these days. I ignored here remark because I thought maybe she was just having a bad day; but when she leaned down to tell my daughter that if she had anything in her hand that she would have to buy it; I again held my comments and continued helping my wife pick out the clothing for my daughter and son, thinking that she was just having a bad day (and for the record my daughter had a small skirt in her hands). My daughter kept asking if we were going to ballet class, but I told her that we were just getting her outfit so and the class was not unitl Friday. She was so excited and started to jump up in down with joy! Then the manager, Lati, made another comment to my son telling him to pick his backpack off of the ground and told another customer to control her children (ages 2 and 7). I kindly turned to her and said, “maybe you should think of going into another business as you have half of the store geared towards young children and this is a service type business”. She turned to me and said that her business is terrible and that she could not afford to have anything damaged.



I told her that I understood but that she should not be so rude to her customers and intimidate little childern. She then said, “It is families like yours that keep coming in here that are the reason for her sales being hurt”



I was confused and asked her to repeat what she just said and so she did. I then told my wife to put down the $100 worth of merchandise that she had in her basket and said, “Let’s Go!” My little girl was very sad and confused, all at the same time the lady was yelling at us and pointing her finger to get out! My little girl did not need to hear that nor experience that, but I kept cool and just told the lady to have a nice day and to have a more positive attitude in life or she would never get ahead. Mind you that my wife and I are very calm individuals and our childeren are very well behaved. We never once yelled or responded back to her in any way, just walked out minding our business.



Once outside of the store I set my two children down and talked to them about the value of customer service and to never compromise and buy anything from people like that, ever, no matter how bad you may want or need something. My kids said OK daddy!



We then traveled all the way to a Manassas store and got what we needed as the other stores close by did not have everything in stock.

I hardly ever complaint about anything, but the customer service at this store is horrible, horrible! Apparently this women was the owner, very unhappy person that should NOT be running this type of business!

Horrible, Horrible customer service..The first tieme i went there, a young indian lady was too lazy, she didnt want to help me, she took forever when i asked for help with the shoes..second time a white lady were to nice (probably the owner)..Today i went and another (indian or pakistani), whatever old lady, start yelling at me, because my baby daughter was playing with some litle boxes from a shelve..I mean i was cleaning all the stuff, this was when i was trying on a dress on my 4 year old..thats ok if she wants to take care the store, but no client deserve a yelling attitud from a store asociate..They have nice stuff, but prices are a lot, a lot higher than amazon..i went ther becaus i need the dress for tomorrow, but, hey!, this is America full of alternative options..Don't buy there !

I think the people complaining about this store are the sort of people who always complain - they're probably upset that they didn't get a better deal on something.



Anyway, I have been going to Art Stone for the past 14 years. They usually have what my girls have needed in stock and if not have been willing to order it. Their "no-return" policy might be a little strict, but they're not Target. And who wants to buy something that someone else already wore? Plus they are knowledgeable about their merchandise.

I had an extremely unreasonable, completely unprofessional experience on my first visit here. I had a discount coupon from their store to use that I forgot to give to the owner as she was ringing up my purchase. The owner refused to honor the coupon stating that it was my mistake by not giving her the coupon before she rang the item up. I apologized for that, but asked her what happens when a purchase is mistakenly rung up- she stated in a very stern way that they she doesn't make mistakes, that "YOU made the mistake!" I was very surprised at the response and also to find out that she was the owner. She said she did not want my business, which is unfortunate, because based upon a good first impression, I would have been a lifetime customer since my daughter is only 2 and 1/2 years old. It's unfortunate that she was so shortsided on customer service. Interestingly enough, another customer was in right before me and the owner was downright mean to her, who politely asked about a return. The owner curtly replied, "We NEVER take returns!" and left it at that. Even so, I think there is a professionally courteous way to convey a store's strict policy and still keep a customer coming back. I will not be giving Art Stone my business and will be letting other dancers/mothers know about this unfriendly, unreasonable store.