Complaint Review: Darius Cordell

I have included an email dialogue between the proprietors of Darius Cordell INC, and my mother. My mother initially had sent an innocent email inquiring about Darius' ability to add a wrap to a particular dress, the time it took to create a dress, etc. These were commonly asked questions that were answered on Darius' website. While my mother should have accessed the Q&A link prior to sending the email, I believer Darius' reply could have been worded in a more "customer-friendly" manner. I can understand their possible frustration in having to consistently personally address questions that are available on their website; however, I don't think it's necessary to respond in an unfriendly manner. However, this reply is nothing in comparison to the subsequent ones she received. I understand that the staff at Darius Cordell does not agree with my mother's assessment of their email reply, which is perfectly fine . .. everyone is entitled to their opinion. Though, I do not believe their extensive accusatory email was necessary. Perhaps, they could have said, "It's unfortunate that you feel this way, however we disagree with your claims concerning our customer service. Good luck with your search" and left it at that.

It's been proven that the majority of communication takes place non-verbally, therefore it is understandable why someone might misconstrue someone's tone set forth in an email as, obviously, email does not allow one to speak directly to an individual (thus allowing one to better interpret another's voice intonations if speaking via telephone or facial expressions if communicating face to face, for example). Perhaps Darius Cordell staff will reply, "It's not our fault that your mother chose to interpret our email negatively". However, I still believe they could have replied in a more welcoming manner . . .. needless to say, as I mentioned before, their initial reply was not the end of the diatribe....it continued to escalate into Darius' replies becoming more and more judgemental and attacking. Also, I was unaware that the staff at Darius Cordell were trained psychologists adept in the ability to assess a stranger's personality by using such words as "manic" (as one prior complaint noted) or describing them as egocentric (as they accused my mother of being)? Perhaps, they should consider offering this as an alternate service ... afterall, to have the ability to provide such insightful analysis into a stranger's personality should not be reserved solely for individuals that contact them with questions . .. it should be available for the masses!

When she had forwarded me their responses, I ran an internet search and discovered similar complaints that had been filed in the past. To that end, I thought, if anything, I should post something in the event a potential Darius Cordell customer should need some additional information. In no way am I trying to thwart individuals from doing business with Darius Cordell, they do have beautiful clothes and I'm sure they have many perfectly happy customers and a steady clientele . . it just might help potential clients to know the repurcussions of not reading the Q&A link before submitting a question. . ..

The various emails have been listed below:

Counterproductive....??? There is nothing that can be produced from this for you clearly were not a "potential" customer. What part of you were not our client to begin with did you not understand. The conversation had ended. We replied to your emails and it was over. So clearly no response from you was necessary.

See that there is nothing for you to gain by sending us these emails. But we (being customer friendly) were trying to help you realize what you have done and how you have misdirected your frustration - from that realization. Hopefully you will be able to eventually realize that your replies are childish and a very sad attempt to try and save your ego since you were/are clearly not able to handle possibly not doing something correctly. You really need to accept what you did and how you processed it (of which is not an "opinion") and then simply let it go.

Frankly, the fact that you use the word "blame" highly suggest you have extreme issues with feeling like you have done something wrong - hence your (in our opinion) quite odd out of the ordinary completely unwarranted & inappropriate responses to our reply.

In any event note there was no "blame" cast. It was you who typed this was..."for one of the most important days....as a mother.....we simply pointed out the fact that if that were the case then you should have taken the time to read the information on our site (as instructed the first time prior to sending us an email) instead of wanting to read it in an email to make it feel "real".

The fact that you feel like you have been personally "attacked....makes no sense based on the words we typed in response. But it does however further prove that you are still psychologically choosing to read into words what you want based solely on your inability to accept your own doings - right or wrong.

For there was no blame, no attacks, nothing "unprofessional"just the truth. Which you obviously have issues with... There was no "right" - no wrong. There was no "tone" in our written email. It is what it is. We simply replied to the words you chose to type - which was not customer feedback....it was you venting about how you made your own self feel when you realized you had overlooked something. And that had absolutely nothing to do with us. That is your own issue to work with. So again accept your truth, own it and move on. If you cant....then stronger therapy is what we highly recommend.

In any case we have no more time to waste on you trying to help you understand yourself or the words that were posted and typed. You were obviously not our client to begin with and obviously have some issues of which we can no longer further address. So if you would be kind enough to honor our request and please do not email us again.

Regards,
The Staff of Darius Cordell Inc





Blaming the customer is a unfortunate reaction on your part to sincere customer feedback concerning the tone of your email. . Controlling the reactions of your customer to your product is not possible so it behooves any business to not insult potential customers when they give you opinions regarding their experiences. Harvard Business School teaches that the customer is always right and having a deaf ear towards them is not productive in the long run. Your personal attacks and insults on me are surprising and counterproductive, not to mention unprofessional. I am confident that I will find the appropriate dress.

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Marianne,

We have read our response. Given the questions in your inquiry and what was on our site prior....it was completely appropriate. And now we suggest you read yours.....and notice your underlined questions that you asked after you had been on our site.

Since this was "for one of the most important days....as a mother. "...it seems you would have actually taken the time to follow the instructions on our site in order to find & obtain all the very important information you may have needed that would answer your questions. If you had done so you obviously would not have needed to even ask these questions of which we had obviously already answered on our site.

Go back to www.dariuscordell.com/questions.htm and notice at the top of the Q & A page we ask you to follow the instructions to obtain the info you need. You did not. Then at the top of the form you filled out we ask you to go back and check just to be sure and so that you wont be confused or need additional clarification. You did not do so. Even within the actual form itself you filled out we tell you to check there first because your answer is probably already addressed there. You chose not to do so. What makes it worse is that on the page where our dresses are shown www.dariuscordell.com/dresses.htm and on the main page of our site....we even tell you there...."All of the designs in our collection can be made in any measurements, colors, fabrics and with any changes. " Then notice what you asked. And now that you apparently can not handle the feeling you have about making an innocent oversight...you have instead clearly mis-directed that frustration on to us in your reply by making false and illogical claims.

Even though the info was already on our site...we still took the time to address your questions in a reply email as well as tell you where the information was located on our site ("customer friendly"). To our real clients that have the income level to purchase our garments our response would not have offended them. They would not deem their oversight as us being not "customer friendly". Also notice we never even disclosed the price of this item. So your reply suggesting that our prices may be considered high to some people tells us quite a bit as well. But more so the fact that you have reacted this way proves you were not our type of client to begin with.

This was obvious once we read your inquiry. Nevertheless our response was in fact very "customer friendly" and quite informative. Since you overlooked this info initially (even when prompted to check)....we were making sure you did not miss it yet again. For as you can now hopefully see that in order for any one to successfully submit an order to us they would have had to eventually read this information on our site anyway ....to get to our order forms, payment choices, etc.. Since you were having problems doing so ...it was only fitting (and "customer friendly") that we tell you where to find all this information for you had apparently not been able to find on your own. But apparently you could not handle that.

Realize your recent email was completely unnecessary. You could have simply said no longer interested, or not replied at all...instead you felt it necessary to tell us how upset you were...because you did not read what was in front of you on our site and instead wanted us to re-write it for you in an email as though the information was never presented, available or accessible so that you could feel more like it was the real thing. ????

Realize it does not make sense to basically suggest....reading words in an email.....is more like the "real" thing...than reading it on a web site. That is illogical and does not make any sense. For the words are the same in either form of communication and are still being shown on your computer. The same "time"...it would have taken to read this information in an email...is the same time it would have taken for you to read it on our site. And our site was extremely "customer friendly"...the customer just has to follow instructions instead of skim over it in such a rush. For something that cost so much to you and for something that was supposedly so incredibly important......why would any one rush through the info that was presented. So again, since this was..."for one of the most important days....as a mother. "... maybe you should have followed the instructions and your questions would have been answered (prior to emailing us) and you would have had all the info you needed and there would have been no need for us to copy & paste the info from our site in an email for you ("customer friendly"). Then maybe you would not have considered this a "poor customer experience".

At any rate, it is unfortunate your opinion of our quite informative response was as such. Frankly it has more to do with your own personal issues about making mistakes....more so than it does our response. Realize instead of getting so upset (for whatever the true reason may be), and completely unnecessarily venting about it, all because you realized in our reply that you had made a very simple mistake (of which was not that big of a deal).....we recommend.....in the future you try and accept & OWN your oversights and move on......instead of mis-directing the frustration from them on to someone else and making quite false claims.

Additionally, I think you are a bit confused about what happens on the internet. You and people like you are not "giving" anyone a "national customer base". You as a consumer are obviously shopping on the internet because what you want is "rarely" found locally. So instead, see that we as businesses who make our products visible & accessible to you via the internet are giving you world wide (not just national) choices that you would not normally have. It is symbiotic and goes both ways.

You obviously did not see this as well but if you had followed the instruction on our site you would have seen that we do not take orders over the INTERNET. Nevertheless, since you obviously have some major issues with viewing a CATALOG on the internet....and ordering from a photo ....you would probably be better suited to a situation of where you did not have to slow down and take the time to educate your self about a website or product...."for one of the most important days....as a mother. "...and instead simply go in to a traditional "bridal shop". Your choices are obviously more limited (hence why you were "shopping" on the internet) but at least you could get the "real" thing you obviously need.

Finally, note, we have been in business for years and will continue as such. Understand everyone of our repeat clients over the many years never had such a problem with reading the info on our site (instead of in an email). Nor with us telling them where the information was that they needed IF they just happen to innocently overlook it, could not find it or did not understand it. The fact that you have reacted this way (in a failed attempt to save & protect your ego from making a mistake) speaks volumes about you and those who take your same position - especially given the information that was presented to you initially prior to you emailing us and our site asked you repeatedly to check it before sending your email. In any event, it is now extremely clear that you were just obviously not our type of client to begin with.

Good luck in your search.

Best Regards,
The Staff of Darius Cordell Inc.

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I am not interested. Frankly, your response was terse and not customer friendly. Given the price of your gowns and the income level of the customer who would be expected to purchase them, I recommend that you have a marketing person review your responses when your potential customer takes the time to send you an email rather than go through a Q&A listing. After all, we are shopping for one of the most important days in our lives as a mother. In addition, we could be shopping locally, but have chosen the INTERNET giving you and other online stores access to a national customer base. Online shopping is rarely a good substitute to having someone help you in person; therefore, it's critical that the online experience be as close to the 'real' thing as possible. I sent my daughter a copy of your message and her reaction was the same. Please read your response again and pretend you are the customer and see if 'customer' friendly is what comes to mind. I bet it does not. You have quality merchandise which should not be limited by poor customer experiences.

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Marianne,

Your initial inquiry and our response are copied below. Unfortunately as of now we have not heard back from you.
Please confirm or advise either way.

Thanks,

Based on your questions below...it appears you have overlooked some of the very helpful information that we posted on our question & answer page at www.dariuscordell.com/questions.htm for potential clients to carefully review. Nevertheless, note......
"Any modifications, changes, additions or substitutions can be made to any dress design shown on our website. "
"Approximately 12 weeks " "All of our designs can be made in any color(s)." This information could also have been easily found back on our Question & Answer page at www.dariuscordell.com/questions.htm if you had actually clicked on "making changes", production time", and "color options" as suggested there on our site.

So if you would please revisit our Q & A page via the link above (and follow the instructions at the top of that page) to obtain quick answers to commonly asked questions.

After doing so, just let us know if you have any additional questions that were not addressed on our Q & A page and we will gladly reply accordingly.

Thanks so much,
The Staff of Darius Cordell Inc.
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Questions:

I am interested in knowing if you can add a 'shawl'/wrap to match the dress as the wedding is a night wedding and I will need a wrap. I would expect it to be identical in fabric to the dress itself. Could you give me an estimate of the (a) time to make the dress (b) the shawl? Also, are all of the fabric colors available in this dress? I love the color shown but was just curious. THANK YOU. Marianne Justin

Laura
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
U.S.A.