Neiman Marcus / The Neiman Marcus Group

The store is one of over 20 branches operated by Nieman-Marcus with headquarters in Texas. Both the company website and the mall entrances to the store seem to indicate that it is still an ordinary NM branch, eg accepting American Express cards, Bergdorf Goodman cards and cash from walk-in customers. In fact, the sales staff is ordered to "profile" customers to determine who can look at the merchandise in display a department and who is forced to leave without buying anything, then further profiling by expecting the customer to voluntarily wave the new HSBC NM card at them before they will wait on the customer. Since this card now takes about a month to get from the day you apply for it, this means that walk-ins to the WP branch, even if they "pass muster" with the rude, arrogant sales staff, cannot buy anything for about four weeks from the first time they select merchandise to pay for. The reason that this is apparently legal is that their stock is almost entirely designer boutique merchandise. This is offered during a particular selling period by several authorized dealers at the same fixed price, which means that a customer who is not waited on or refused a sale at NM WP can certainly buy THE SAME THING AT THE SAME PRICE from a competitor. Remember that most sales staff in the most upscale shops are trained that when one customer is walking around in tatty clothes and uncomed hair, while someone else seems to be stiffly behaved and formally attired, the first customer could very well be a frequent-high-end customer always ready to spend serious money, and the second could be a "window-shopper" who will either end up buying nothing or else plan return everything they buy months later to attempt to receive a full refund on it. I am an avid collect of Royal Crown Derby china, own over 150 pieces, and am still collecting. On Mway 12, 2010, I was checking the public display of Crown Derby in NM WP. A loud voice shouted from behind me to stand down and move away from the merchandise. I explained that I was looking at Derby Panel Green. He came over to me in less of a heated temper without identifying himself as either security or management or even an employee of the shop. I asked him if there were any other Crown Derby patterns on display. He said "no". I pointed out Gold Avesbury and Darley Abbey. He then "parked himself near the display" until we left, althrough he formally refused to sell me anything. I then picked out a pair of pajamas in the basement. the employee was courteous enough to actually explain that he was a staff member selling men's personal furnishings, which the other fellow didn't even bother to do. However, when I came to pay for the pajamas, he went in to a furious rant, as if he has been regularly doing this to other customers, that he is tired of explaining to his one customer a day that he can't sell you anything unless you have applied for the HSBC-Nieman-Marcus credit card a month before and wave the card at him before he starts programming the sale into the computer terminal. The logical class action suit would be that since Nieman-Marucs sells primarily designer boutique merchandise which any customer cna buy elsewhere at the same price, a class action suit should be filed insisting that NM- WP post on both its website and its mall entrances that it is a private club whose potentiall customers can be individually profiled by unsupervised sales staff, who then cannot sell to you unless you have one month before applied for their NM - HSBC credit card.

I received 6 Bangle Ippolita Bracelets this past month for the holiday. The braclets all have their tags attached to them that show they were purchased from NM. The attached tags also give the identifying information (SKU # and cost) for each item I was returning. I called NM prior to driving the 1.5 hours it takes me to get to the store to tell them the situation and that when I would be arriving. I called both the NM King of Prussia store and the 800 customer service phone number posted online. I was told by both, that NM would either credit my NM charge, receive a store credit, or be able to make an exchange for something else. I was very specific that they were gifts and did not have a receipt. I was told that because the NM tags were attached so "It would absolutely not be a problem". I arived at NM yesterday, 1/4/11 around 3:30pm. The cashier took the merchandise and told me she just needed to get a managers approval for the return. Unfortunatly, EVERY SINGLE manager was in a meeting and I would have to wait about 2 hours. She directed me to the food court where I could wait. As I sat in the food court, like a dummy, I called the store several times and was being put into voicemail boxes. I was finally transferred to the store's corporate secretary. The secretary told me to come back to the store and she would find a manager to help me. This is not how NM does business. She apologized and said that this situation should have never happened. I walked back to NM...and waited another 35 minutes for a manager to come to meet me at the jewelry counter. The unpleasant Jewelry Manager still refused to accept my return, make an exchange or help me in anyway because I did not have a gift receipt. Remember, THEY HAVE THE TAGS ON THEM! She kept saying how does she know they were from NM? I was talking to an insane person. I was given a form stating they were keeping my merchandise to do research on the items to help me return them. I told them I was taking two of the items back home with me, which I did, and NM kept the other four. The paper I received does show all the information on the 4 items they were 'researching' in order to help me process my return. I called NM today to followup on the situation. I was STUNNED when I was told me they do not have items and they returned them to me yesterday before I left the store! Are you kidding me? As of right now, they have stolen over $1, 000 dollars in jewelry from me! I have a NM itimized form that says they have my items and are researching them. They say, sorry - nothing I can do to help you. I have no refund and no merchandise now. How can they get away with wasting four hours of my time and then stealing from me? WHAT TYPE OF SHADY ORGANIZATION IS THIS? They do not accept Visa or Mastercard and I regularly pay by cash or check because of this. This is absolutely crazy. Never, never, never will I step into a NM store again. Any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

Damage Resulting
I was not returned my items and now they are 'lost' at NM. They say they are not responsible even though I have a paper they gave me showing they took them from me yesterday to possibly research my return. I have two other bracelets that, thankfully, I took back home with me. I figured even though I didn't 'love' them, I would deal with them. I thought maybe it would help speedup the return. My rationalle was, if the return was for less money they could speedup the return process. I am stuck with those too now. The total, without tax, of NM merchandise they are saying they do not have totals: $1, 250.00. The braclets I took back home with me and cannot return totals: $645.00, again without tax! I went to the doctors today to get a perscription because of the stress of this situation I am so updet by this whole thing. I basically felt like a theif for returning Christmas gifts!

On October 30, 2010 I had lunch in the Café at Neiman Marcus with two friends. After sipping my tea from a straw I bit down on something hard that was not ice. I spit the piece out and it was broken glass. After trying to get the attention of our waiter who continued to ignore us, my girlfriend got up and brought the café manager over who confirmed it was glass. He removed our tea glasses and we were brought new glasses of tea. After having more tea, I looked in my glass and saw another piece of glass at the bottom just as my other friend started coughing and gagging. Apparently she had just swallowed a piece of glass that had become logged in her throat. It took quite some time to get anyone to come back to our table and she took off to the ladies room to see if there was any more glass stuck in her throat. While she was away, I looked in my other friend’s tea and there was another piece of glass at the bottom of her tea. We finally got the manager to come back to the table, handed him the other 3 pieces and he once again confirmed what it was broken glass. We sat and sat waiting for someone to come and take a report about the incident.

Finally, someone from “customer service” arrived and took our names and statements. We requested to talk to the store manager as our friend that had swallowed the glass was still in pain and coughing. She was visiting from Germany and staying with my other friend. Another long wait and we got to speak with the store merchandise manager and another gentleman. The entire time we felt like we were treated like criminals. They told us we could go to a Care Now to get our friend checked out but when we finally found the facility, they refused to see her as they did not have the equipment to check out her throat. After playing telephone tag with Neiman’s we decided to take her to the nearest ER to have her checked as she was still in pain and coughing. Neiman’s said they couldn’t guarantee payment, however, we felt it was their responsibility to pay the bill. We spent several more hours at the ER where they did not see any more glass stuck in her throat but there was obvious damage to her throat from the other glass. Our friend from Germany did not have any insurance so my other friend has paid for her ER visit.
We filed a complaint with their insurance company for the bill but Liberty Mutual denied the claim saying there was no proof! The store manager refuses to talk to us, a letter to the President and CEO of Neiman’s has been ignored and calls to their legal department are not returned. Meanwhile, my friend is out at least $1, 000 for their negligence. What to do now?

I also had a problem with a Smart Label. After three weeks of waiting for the package to be delivered to Neiman Marcus, I called customer service. I called every day for two weeks, getting nowhere. I couldn't even speak with the same person twice. When I would ask for the person that I spoke with the day before, I was always told "there's no one here by that name". I researched the problem on my own and found that the post office did give the package to the secondary carrier but the secondary carrier couldn't find it. I was finally able to explain this to a "supervisor" who promised to check with the carrier and call me right back. She never did call. For four more days I called her, but she was conveniently away from her desk, out for the day, or at lunch. I finally got fed up no filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Within a week NM apologized and issued the credit.

NM
I am currently in a 'dispute' with NM over 2 necklaces that I ordered online in Dec 2010 and promtly returned upon receiving because they did not appear what was online. I mailed a package back to the using their own return label. Upon receiving my bill I saaw I was not credited back so I called and the rep said it could take several weeks before my acct was credited back. So then next bill amount still not credited back. I call again, speak with a rep and she verifies that she can see the items were returned and in December and is puzzled as to why my acct was not credited. She said she has to file a 'dispute' form for me to get it fixed. So I wait. I get a call from MN asking for a payment & tell them I want my acct, late charges and finance charges fixed with the credit I should have and refused to pay until it is corrected. one week later I get a letter from NM telling me I need to PROVE that I shipped the items back! I am LIVID...I used the SMART RETURN LABEL they included with my items and sent it back...now I have no proof...WTH? So today I call them again and speak with a lady in their DISPUTE department. She tells me they never received the items and the rep that said she saw the items returned doesn't even work in that department...I aske her to pull the recorded call on 2/15/11 which will prove I spoke with the rep who confirms the items were receievd back..So..here I am out $1, 047 for items i sent back over 2 MONTHS ago. I called again and now being told I need to call a completely different place that handles catalogue returns...WTH? Now I look in my online history where I ordered the items and all my history has magically disappeared...I will FIGHT THIS to the bitter end. I am not a theif, I do not have the items and I mailed them back. I was not supplied a tracking number because i used NM SMART RETURN LABEL...HELP...DO THEY NOT TRACK THEIR OWN RETURN LABELS?

Company Name:
Neiman Marcus

Company Address:
The Plaza, King Of Prussia
King of Prussia PA 19406

Country:
United States

Company Phone
[protected]

Incident
I received 6 Bangle Ippolita Bracelets this past month for the holiday. The braclets all have their tags attached to them that show they were purchased from NM. The attached tags also give the identifying information (SKU # and cost) for each item I was returning. I called NM prior to driving the 1.5 hours it takes me to get to the store to tell them the situation and that when I would be arriving. I called both the NM King of Prussia store and the 800 customer service phone number posted online. I was told by both, that NM would either credit my NM charge, receive a store credit, or be able to make an exchange for something else. I was very specific that they were gifts and did not have a receipt. I was told that because the NM tags were attached so "It would absolutely not be a problem". I arived at NM yesterday, 1/4/11 around 3:30pm. The cashier took the merchandise and told me she just needed to get a managers approval for the return. Unfortunatly, EVERY SINGLE manager was in a meeting and I would have to wait about 2 hours. She directed me to the food court where I could wait. As I sat in the food court, like a dummy, I called the store several times and was being put into voicemail boxes. I was finally transferred to the store's corporate secretary. The secretary told me to come back to the store and she would find a manager to help me. This is not how NM does business. She apologized and said that this situation should have never happened. I walked back to NM...and waited another 35 minutes for a manager to come to meet me at the jewelry counter. The unpleasant Jewelry Manager still refused to accept my return, make an exchange or help me in anyway because I did not have a gift receipt. Remember, THEY HAVE THE TAGS ON THEM! She kept saying how does she know they were from NM? I was talking to an insane person. I was given a form stating they were keeping my merchandise to do research on the items to help me return them. I told them I was taking two of the items back home with me, which I did, and NM kept the other four. The paper I received does show all the information on the 4 items they were 'researching' in order to help me process my return. I called NM today to followup on the situation. I was STUNNED when I was told me they do not have items and they returned them to me yesterday before I left the store! Are you kidding me? As of right now, they have stolen over $1, 000 dollars in jewelry from me! I have a NM itimized form that says they have my items and are researching them. They say, sorry - nothing I can do to help you. I have no refund and no merchandise now. How can they get away with wasting four hours of my time and then stealing from me? WHAT TYPE OF SHADY ORGANIZATION IS THIS? They do not accept Visa or Mastercard and I regularly pay by cash or check because of this. This is absolutely crazy. Never, never, never will I step into a NM store again. Any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

I was not returned my items and now they are 'lost' at NM. They say they are not responsible even though I have a paper they gave me showing they took them from me yesterday to possibly research my return. I have two other bracelets that, thankfully, I took back home with me. I figured even though I didn't 'love' them, I would deal with them. I thought maybe it would help speedup the return. My rationalle was, if the return was for less money they could speedup the return process. I am stuck with those too now. The total, without tax, of NM merchandise they are saying they do not have totals: $1, 250.00. The braclets I took back home with me and cannot return totals: $645.00, again without tax! I went to the doctors today to get a perscription because of the stress of this situation I am so updet by this whole thing. I basically felt like a theif for returning Christmas gifts!