ComplaintsforFour Green Fields Gifts

• Initial Complaint

  08/30/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My daughter went into Four Green Fields in Summerville on Sunday and was forced to pay for the candles on the left because "she was being destructive and broke them by bending them." She was shocked by how she was treated by the owner and continually and profusely apologized, not know what she had done wrong. The owner continued to publicly shame her and say " do you go into other peoples houses in touch their things!" My daughter was simply looking at the candles. So, she was forced to pay seven dollars plus tax for these "broken candles". the candle she came home with were slightly bent probably due to the increased temperatures we've had of lately. There wasn't a dent, scratch, or crack! I went into the store today to look at the other candles for sale. 50% of them were also bent. When I approached the owner about the "broken candles" and how she spoke to my child yesterday, she became very defensive and told me she would not refund one cent or give me a store credit.

  Business response

  09/01/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2021/08/30) */ Ms. ****'s daughter and a friend visited our shop yesterday (8/29/21), and at that time the friend pulled the label wrapping off a pair of candles. At that time it was noticed that the candles had been bent. The girls were asked if that was how they would behave in someone's home. At no point were voices raised by any party. Ms. ****'s daughter, even though she was not the one to cause the damage, very responsibly offered to pay for the merchandise and we accepted. Ms. **** later called the store to say that we had shamed the girls into buying unwanted merchandise. Today (8/30/21) Ms. **** came into the store to ask for her money back, which began cordially enough. At that time she was, in fact, offered a refund. However Ms. **** insisted that the refund be provided directly to her daughter along with an apology. She was told that the responsible staff person was about to leave for the day, so if that was the case, then her daughter would need to come by soon. In the resulting back-and-forth about who would be available when, Ms. **** stated that the staff person was "a cold woman," which had the desired effect of upsetting the staff person. At this point the offer of a refund was rescinded and Ms. **** was asked to leave. Ms. **** snapped the set of candles in half and threw them on the ground, and on leaving the store got up in another customer's face and shouted that she "would not shop in this cheap place" if she were them. She has since left a negative review on our ******** page, as well as posting about us from her personal page. As we do with all negative reviews (which are typically the result of the customer behaving badly), we will respond respectfully that we disagree with their version of events, but will allow the review to stand. Consumer Response /* (3000, 8, 2021/08/30) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Their response is not being relayed truthfully. I have photos of the candles that my daughter was made to purchase (wasn't given a receipt either) and I also have pictures of three other sets of candles from inside the store that show that several candles were already bent. I took those photos today when I went up there to confront the owner on how she handled the situation. I told her that my daughter is kind, generous, respectful, and well behaved, even in my absence; and what had transpired didn't require ANY reprimanding on her part at all. I also told the owner that if the girls were handling the candles in a way that she didn't like while trying to slide them (the owner used the word JAM) back into the paper, she should have approached them in a way as if to help them. But instead she called my daughter and her friend "destructive" and continued to berate them after they apologized profusely. She said " would you touch peoples things if you were in their home?"... Which makes no sense to me because it's a store! Aren't things supposed to be touched and looked at before purchasing? She treated them as if they were "less than" judged them by their age and size...it's not what people say, it's how they say it. At first, yes, she did offer a refund. But when I asked when she would be working again because I wanted her to refund my daughter (I never asked for an apology-but she should have given one anyway simply based on principle) she lost it. It was the fact that I was asking her (the owner) to place my daughters money back into her hands was too prideful for her. She couldn't bring herself to do the right thing. Because she knows she's admitting what she did was wrong. That's when she said she wasn't refunding me one red cent, nor was she giving me a store credit. I looked her in her eyes and told her that she is cold and unkind. She is. Look at her other reviews, sadly, I'm one of many negative ones. The one who loses in the end is the owner of the store. Bad news spreads quickly. And too many people know the character of my children to believe one thing this lady is saying. So in the end, she took my 14 year olds hard earned money for something that wasn't even damaged, and then treated me with such disrespect. On a closing note, I never threw anything. Perhaps she should pull the video footage for the BBB from yesterday and today. I can give specific times. Also, if you would like me to email you any of the pictures that I have taken of the candles that my daughter brought home and the already bent ones that I took in the store today, I would be more than happy to provide them.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩