Store Treatment - Disability Awareness

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I am just not certain whom to contact, or how to get the word out but I am outraged by the treatment I received last Saturday at a (Store name), located in Mesa, AZ.

I was already a little irritated when I went into the store, but at myself, not (The store). the situation was regarding a dog harness I had purchased the week before, that was too small for my dog. I already knew the next size available at the store was a much, much larger than the one I bought, and was 'way too large for my dog. Since it wasn't a matter of an exchange, where I might want to select a replacement, I sent my daughter to the store with the product, as well as with the receipt.

This was all to no avail. I need to interject here that it so happened that at this particular time, there was a lot of construction right by the store (still is). Trying to maneuver around the traffic is not easy but I had done it, and later so did my daughter, who had agreed to take the harness back. To my chagrin, the store wouldn't take the harness back without the debit card it had been charged to. I guess I should have known better but just wasn't thinking. So, I took the harness back myself a couple of days later. I entered the store and went to a counter where the clerk wasn't busy, but unfortunately he couldn't help me, as a refund transaction had to be handled by a manager.

The manager did come to the front of the store to inform me he was with another customer and would be with me "shortly." "Shortly" turned out to be a relative term, as I waited and waited, leaning heavier and heavier on the counter. I was shunted to another counter... higher and more painful for me to stand at, as the clerk at that first counter needed to check someone out.

I waited as long as I could, looked around desperately once again, hoping that a chair or a bench would magically appear, but none did. In frustration I finally told the clerk I was returning to my car...parked right in front in the disabled parking area, and I left. By the time I got to the car, my arthritic hip was screaming at me. It was still another 10 minutes before the manager showed up to assist me.

He insisted I would have to come back into the store to do the return. I told him I couldn't walk, that standing so long in his store had rendered me temporarily unable to do as he wished. He gave me the current method of dealing with the public....a mumbled apology followed by refusal to do anything but "procedure." I had handed him the return item. I snatched it out of his hands and slammed my car door telling him to "never mind!"

I also stated, "if you had had a chair or a bench for me to sit on we wouldn't be having this conversation." He had the good grace to look sheepish as he mumbled that not having seating for customers in the stores was a "corporate decision." This, I believe is the standard cop-out statement when confronted with an uncomfortable situation....not that I don't believe what he said because I'm sure it is a corporate decision....a bone-headed one, but corporate all the same.

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