I wasn’t planning to post this, but when my 20‑year‑old daughter told the story to some friends who run their own business, they said, “If that were our employee, we’d absolutely want to know.” So here it is.
My 20‑year‑old and I went into LensCrafters because my 16‑year‑old’s glasses had broken. The first person we spoke with was great—kind, funny, and helpful. He asked if we’d purchased the insurance. I said probably not, but explained that the glasses are Ralph Lauren, less than a year old, and had broken where the metal meets the plastic, so I wondered if it might be a defect. He told us to take a seat and said they’d look into it.
Unfortunately, the person who actually came over to help us had no interest in hearing any of that. They took our information, glanced at the account, and immediately said, “You don’t have insurance. I can’t help you.” I said I understood we didn’t have insurance, but tried to explain why I was asking: my daughter had taken her glasses off before surgery and handed them to me. I put them in the hard case, and ten hours later, in the ICU, I opened the case to give them back to her and the arm (temple) was off. The response I got was the same line, repeated. “You don’t have insurance and they’re almost a year old.” Again, I said I understood, but this isn’t an active little kid. This is a 16‑year‑old girl with serious health issues who has two pairs of glasses and doesn’t even wear this pair every day. I was just trying to ask if there might be an issue with the design. At that point, it was clear they weren’t listening at all.
Then it got worse. They put their hand up in the air and said, “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to bring it down to here,” and slowly lowered their hand as if they were turning down a volume knob. I watched my 20‑year‑old physically stop herself from reacting. Later I asked her, honestly, if I was being loud or aggressive? Her answer was “Mom, the only time you got upset was after they told you to ‘bring it down a notch.’ They weren’t listening to you at all.” We actually laughed about it afterward (was this some kind of TikTok “customer service” move?)
This situation could have gone so differently with just a little compassion and basic listening. They could have said, “I’m so sorry your daughter was in the ICU when that happened.” They could have checked whether there were other complaints about that specific frame. They could have suggested I contact Ralph Lauren directly and given me the information. Instead, I was talked over, dismissed, and told to “bring it down” when I was simply trying to explain the situation. A little empathy and a willingness to listen might have kept a customer.
