I absolutely love Marti & Liz and was thrilled when I began working in a town with one nearby. I have shopped on my lunch break for years and can be counted on for at least one purchase a month. Well, this ends TODAY.(12.3.08) I have always found the staff courteous although not over friendly, however when I went there this morning to return a pair of shoes that I had planned on giving to my mother for Christmas (I found out over Thanksgiving that she already had the color) the associate was less than professional. I am aware of their 'store credit/exchange only' policy so I had chosen another pair to exchange. After waiting at the counter for a couple of minutes without so much as a hello from the associate standing directly behind the counter going about her business I was finally waited on and told that I could not return the pair of shoes because they had been worn. I told the story of the gift for my mother, mentioned that the shoes had not even been out of the bag in the weeks that I had owned them, and that they were not even my size to wear anywhere. She then told me that 'they' sand the bottoms of the shoes before sending them to the stores and that this pair had been worn. Now, I cannot tell you how many shoes I have purchased from Marti & Liz that have no more been sanded than I anything, but this pair of shoes actually were relatively smooth on the bottom and CLEARLY CLEAN. This very rude associate basically called me a liar and told me that she could not help me. I have been in a management position in a global retail chain in the past and I am hear to tell you that unless those shoes were OBVIOUSLY worn (and let me say again that they were not) there should be no questioning of the customer, especially their character whatsoever. I am highly disappointed and more than displeased at today's events. Marti & Liz's may not have lost a customer, but the Marti & Liz in Lebanon, TN did.
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