customer service

woahhhh we haven’t posted on here in a while! it’s not that we don’t love you guys- we’ve just been busy with our internships/study abroad. anyways, i have a little story for you that i’ve needed to get off my chest for a long time.

this past march, i ordered a diane von furstenberg (dvf) dress to wear to one of my sorority events (maybe formal or a crush event we have-can’t remember). i have been a very loyal customer of dvf for years. not only do i own many of her shoes, dresses, sweaters, etc., but i also have bought many of the more expensive pieces (i.e. lace dresses, etc.). needless to say, i’m a great customer.

i got the dress and it just didn’t look good. it was way too big and voluminous and just wasn’t going to work. even if i got it in a smaller size, the design just wasn’t flattering on me. i made the mistake of not sending the dress back immediately. i was in the middle of midterms and was slammed and just didn’t take the time to go mail it. i took the dress home for spring break and mailed it as soon as i got back from the dominican. based on the shipping label, i know that i received the dress on 3/1. based on my day planner (which we all know never leaves my side- i obsessively record everything in there), i know that i mailed the dress back on 3/18. i am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT positive that i mailed the dress back on friday, 3/18. i know that for a FACT because i mailed the dress back from my hometown and i went back to school the next day.

the dress had been shipped to me from the bal harbour dvf store for some reason (even though i ordered it online). there was ZERO paperwork in the box, so i returned the dress to that store. i even included a handwritten note with all of my information on it. i shipped the box certified mail, so i was supposed to get back to the store by like the 22nd.

for a month or so, everything was fine. then one day the box was returned to me with a note inside that said something like, “we didn’t receive this package until april x (can’t remember, but it was something RIDICULOUSLY after the date it should have arrived), therefore it cannot be exchanged or returned.”

dvf has an interesting return policy. you can return something for up to 18 days for a full refund. items returned within 30 days are subject to a 20% restocking fee. annoying, but fine. i would have gladly taken the 80% refund no problem. i guess what happened is that the bal harbour store let my package sit around for WEEKS before they sent it to the main headquarters. um, is this my fault?! NO. i spoke with customer service on the phone and via email several times, and they flat out refused to do ANYTHING. they wouldn’t take the dress back, wouldn’t refund the money, wouldn’t exchange it, wouldn’t let me pick something else out. NOTHING. i was left with a dress that was horrifically large and unflattering that i could do NOTHING with. even worse, i was out the money for the dress and the cost of the super expensive shipping.

this is a warning to you all. first, be VERY WARY of dvf. i can tell you that i will no longer buy items from dvf. this is unfortunate for both of us, as i truly love their items and they will lose a very loyal customer (who they may not even be able to tell is very loyal because i buy all my clothes from saks instead of directly from dvf). second, never EVER make the customer feel like she’s at fault. this situation was a problem with the store. clearly it’s staff is incredibly incompetent. i acknowledge that i made mistakes here (namely waiting to return the dress and not keeping the certified mail tracking receipt). dvf’s mistakes, however, were muchmuchmuch worse. this is THEIR fault. i 100% should have been able to return this item. i have no problem spending a lot of money on things, but i CANNOT stand wasting money or replacing items that i already had. third, make sure your company has strong pr and customer service. bad customer service=bad reviews=friends spreading news of bad reviews=loss of customers for you. lose-lose situation.

xo charlotte

birthday fun

this weekend (starting thursday) has been incredible.  i’ve gotten to spend my birthday weekend with some of my best friends in the entire world and my family.  from seeing harry potter, to dinners in the city and having everyone at my house, it was just great.  thank you SO much to everyone who made my birthday and the weekend amazing!

xx m

sorry i’ve been mia

BUT I’M IN AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i’ll be posting my adventures down under at marybael.tumblr.com 

check it out!

-Mary

the casey anthony verdict…

makes me want to vom.

my toes literally CURL to the point of pain when i think about the fact that this murderer got off free. casey completely and utterly 100% killed her daughter, caylee. here are just a FEW of the suspicious facts:

-she didn’t report her daughter’s disappearance for over a month! who does that?! if you have a baby, s/he should not be out of your sight for more than like a minute! and if your baby does go missing, you call the police and all your friends and family ASAP! babies should NOT be missing. and if they are, their disappearance should be reported IMMEDIATELY.

-while your baby is missing, you do NOT party and get tattoos saying “la bella vita.”  you search for her and you cry and you help the investigators in any way you can.

-she didn’t testify. smoke signals, smoke signals! if you are innocent, you say where you were and what you were doing!!! you do not sit in silence trying to get other people to cover for you. you are basically admitting your guilt!

-wtf was up with her mother trying to lie and say that she was the one who searched for all the murderous (?!) search terms on casey’s computer?! um, seriously? that claim was disproven in .5 seconds. how stupid are you? this is another admission of casey’s guilt, right thurr.

-her own parents claim her defense was “baseless.”

this case makes america look like a joke. everyone and their cats know that casey killed caylee. who else could have even done it?! there are like zero other possibilities. i am seriously questioning the legal system right now. and the education of the jurors slash americans in general(side note on the jury: i was shocking that 7/12 of the jury members were women. you would think that women would be extra harsh on a mother who killed her daughter). cool, america, cool.

xo charlotte (doesn’t that “xo” seem strange at the end of this post?)

only in new york

on tuesday night, i stayed in the city after work to meet friends for dinner and then stay the night with them. we didn’t have reservations until 8, so i stayed at my office for a while playing around online and redoing my makeup. i left my office in midtown west and began leisurely walking downtown to inoteca liquori, which is a phenom restaurant by the way.

after a few blocks, i saw a taxi absolutely S L A M into a messenger (aka man delivering things on bike, for all you non-new yorkers). the guy was struck incredibly hard, flewwww in the air, and slammed into a massively large and heavy flowerpot. he lay crumpled on the ground, curled in pain, moaning very softly. i actually thought he was dead at first.

i was pretty much the first person on the scene, so i ran up to him and gently shook him on the shoulder. he wasn’t responding, and i figured it was just because he was in shock. turns out he actually couldn’t speak english, because he’s just a 17 year old mexican immigrant. no problemo- guess who speaks spanish?!

i called an ambulance and the police and then waited for them to come, which took an incredible like thirty minutes. hellooooo police?! this is an EMERGENCY! the parademics think he broke his shoulder, collarbone, arm, and at least one leg. this makes me so sad, because he won’t be able to work. therefore, he won’t make any money. plus, i’m sure he has no health insurance. also, he told me he had no one to call to meet him at the hospital. he just had a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket with his employer’s number. he’s all alone and horribly injured! plus, the cab driver was screaming bloody murder at him and trying to make it seem like it was the messenger’s fault. all he did was complain about how his cab would be out of commission for 2 weeks because of the damage. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, CABBIE!

the police, paramedics, and cabbie made it seem like the accident was no big deal. one of thirty (or whatever) that occur everyday. this ain’t no little thing though- this boy is alone and hurt! made me so sad. such a big deal, handled in such a new york way.

xo charlotte

time flies…

…when you’re having fun. or working all day, commuting and having some fun in between in my case.  sorry i’ve been completely neglecting the blog, i’m really going to try harder to post often (shout out to taylor who deserves more posts hah).  i’m going to update some stuff about life and work asap but for right now i have a quick picture and explanation for all of you.  friday char, my new friend from work caroline, our friend natalie and i went to the met and saw the alexander mcqueen exhibition.  to say it was incredible is an understatement.  because many of the pieces are from private collections, you’re technically not allowed to take pictures but i managed to sneak one in.

the lighting isn’t great (because i couldn’t turn the flash on) but i was blown away by the intricacy in every piece.  his collections are literally pieces of art and i recommend that everyone who loves fashion goes to see it.  the wait wasn’t too bad and the met in general is an amazing place to be.  i’ll be back to write more soon, i promise.  hope you all had a great weekend and father’s day!!

xx m

craving europe, part two

believe it or not, i have even MORE photos of europe that i want to share with you guys! once again, i stole all these photos from blogs, but i lost all the urls.

I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!

xo charlotte

things i hate

it’s actually funny that we have a category on the blog called “things we hate.” clearly we have opinions…

i’m sure you guys allllll know kingsley. kingsley is the man. i actually like to think of myself as kind of a female version of kingsley- if we’re really going all out though, i would like to consider myself a cross between chelsea handler and bethenny. nbd. there’s a kid at our school who sounds EXACTLY like kingsley (and looks like him too)!!  i actually am convinced he IS kingsley, and i call him that to his face.

here’s a little intro to kingsley for those of you who don’t know him. appropriately enough, it’s called things i hate. let me just take note that i also HATE birds- SO much (ironic considering i’m a vegetarian- i told you i’m a walking contradiction).

just a fewww things other things that bother me (trust me, there are many):
-wake up calls
-when people who are really cheerful wake you up
-people turning on the lights when they wake you up
-getting in a shower when it’s still wet

(side note: i’ve been working on the website at my internship and i FINALLLYYYY figured out how to do normal spaces on wordpress! yayyy)

one thing i don’t hate: YOU ALL! you’ve stuck around even though we have been baaaaad bloggers lately. we’ll get better as we get the hang of workin’ round the clock.

xo charlotte

can someone please get my dad some adderall?

my dad has some of the worst ADD of anyone i have ever met. he cannot pay attention for the life of him. i frequently have long monologues conversations with him, and when i ask him for his opinion at the end of the story, he’ll just sit there in silence. i’ll say, “daddd? daddddddd? jeffffffff? what do you think?” and he’ll look up and not only ask what i said, but he’ll ask if i even SAID anything. ridiculous. then i’ll repeat the story 8 times before he picks his head up from his blackberry/the newspaper he’s reading/the golf scorecard he’s analyzing/the club(s) (yes, 3 clubs these days- further proof that my dad is a ridiculous person) newsletters to see if any photos of him playing golf/tennis/paddle tennis/skeet shooting/socializing made the cut. then he’ll ask me to repeat myself. all day, everyday.

not only does my dad not listen in regular conversations, but he doesn’t even listen when we are talking about/to him about his lack of listening skills. he basically functions as a deaf person. he doesn’t like loud noises either though, which is a problem. no coughing, sneezing, hiccuping, laughing too loudly, reenacting YouTube videos too loudly (which is a nightly occurrence at my house), etc.

we have a few nicknames for my dad, too. the problem is that he doesn’t even listen enough to realize that we’re referring to him. therefore, he never responds. he doesn’t respond to anything actually though, come to think of it. our favorite nickname for him is jason. we like to think of jason as his younger, hipper alter-ego (for example, he is jason when he’s wearing his super trendy agave jeans i made him buy). his real name is jefferson (i know, i know), so jason is just jefferson without the effer. occasionally we refer to him as fabio. please note that our animals also each have two names, but i’ll get to that in a later post.

one ridiculous thing my father did lately was ask me for incredibly basic information about my mother. keep in mind that not only have my parents have been married for 25 years, but they have also known each other for about 40 years (they met in high school). my dad was booking flights for a trip recently and he asked me for my mom’s CELL PHONE NUMBER, passport number, social security number, and BIRTHDAY. not only did he need the day, but he also needed the month and the YEAR. last year my health insurance didn’t work for a couple months because my dad told the company that my birthday was in april of 1989… not too far off from september 1991, i guess?

my dad also believed my sister and me tonight when we told him that the kitten got highlights, new mascara, and eyelash extensions. or maybe he just wasn’t listening…

xo charlotte

monday morning

my dream, obvs.

xo charlotte