
Jodie of New Milford, CA on Sept. 30, 2011
Satisfaction Rating1/5
On Saturday of September 24, 2011, I phoned an order into Macy's for some furniture. It took about forty minutes to place the order because the sales person's computer was not working properly. After I have placed the order, the sales person got the credit department on the line for a three-way call to approve a credit account for the order. The credit person said she could not authorize the order, but she did not state why not, even when asked. I was very frustrated having wasted all that time to be declined, but accepted it as so, and I hung up the phone.
Then, on Monday afternoon I received a cryptic voicemail from the sales person saying that, if I drove to the nearest Macy's and showed them my driver's license, I could get the order placed. I did not understand the reasoning, so I tried to contact the salesperson. She was not there, so I spoke with another customer service person, who could not figure out what the issue was, so she left a message. After playing phone tag for three days, I finally got to speak directly with the salesperson I originally placed the order with. She explained that it had to do with identity theft and because it was such a large order (approximately $3,000) they had to verify I was who I said I was. It was for my protection.
I asked what I was supposed to do at the store; she told me that I was to go to the credit department and present my license and order number, and they would take it from there. I felt a bit uneasy about it, I but agreed to go on my lunch hour that day. I went to the Danbury Macy's and could not find a credit department. I asked for a manager, and she said they did not have one. I told her why I was there. She said that she had never heard of that before, but she brought me to the rug department (since they had no furniture), and thought the sales person there could help me.
I waited about twenty minutes for her to finish up with a customer, and then I told her why I was there. She said she had never heard of that before, but would try to help me. She was very nice. She spent about twenty minutes more on the phone talking to several people, including the original salesperson, and looking at my order trying to get it to what she called a "pending" status. Finally, a person from the credit department came on. The sales lady said she had my license in hand, and I was who I said I was.
Then, the credit person asked to speak to me. When I got on the phone, she said I needed to answer three questions to the best of my ability. OK. The first question, "Which of the three following addresses have you lived at?" I answered that without a hitch. The second question was what month/year did I buy my house. She named two months that were very close to each other and one that was obviously wrong. Since I did not have access to my homeowner's paperwork and my house was purchased eleven years ago, I wasn't sure which the right month was. I told her that and gave her my best guess.
Then she asked me what the last known city for a Richard ** was. I told her that I had never heard of that name. My father's name is close to that name, so maybe you mean him, and I said where he lived. She then said, "I am sorry, but I cannot authorize this order." I asked her if she could ask me different questions and she said, "No." I said the saleswoman standing in front of me could verify who I was, just as easily as she can for any other customer in the store. The credit department refused to budge, and gave no specific reasoning to why they declined the order.
At this point, I have spent several hours, days and my lunch hour, and then some; Macy's refused to believe I was who I said I was even though I had the same proof of identification that anyone else would have. I was absolutely humiliated. I can understand the need for security (which is why I bothered to drive twenty minutes over there in the first place), but there has to be a reasonable and dignified way to do so. I will never shop at Macy's again, nor will I accept any gift given to me or my family from there. I think their practices for phone orders are absolutely appalling.