When I woke up this morning (November 11, 2005) I pulled my trusty wrinkle free green plaid shirt out of my closet for my favorite day of the week, two words; Casual Friday. The ultimate in corporate submission. I just unbuttoned the shirt, which I still have on from 5:30 this morning, and looked at the tag to see that the brand is “TownCraft", which appears to be a JCPenny house brand. Only high quality apparel here.

In between the time that I put this shirt on and checking the inside tag I went to work, put in my day, ate dinner in the mini van and paid $585 for a suit, shirt and tie. Normally, I wouldn’t put numbers in post but this is to prove a point that $50 can go a long way. The math may seem sketchy but it will work out in someone’s favor, not mine, but I am happy.

After I ate my food in the van and before I spent the money that could have gone for computer equipment or wouldn’t need to be paid back with double digit interest, I went with my wife, son, daughter and mother-in-law (key to story) to return/exchange a suit that I had never worn and still had the tags on it at the Carson Pirie Scott store at Yorktown Mall in Lombard, IL down the street from where I work.

When we arrived at the store we were greated by a sign that said, “At Your Service". What I had come to expect from the Carson’s brand. We reach the Men’s Suit department and all 4 sales associates are busy ringing up sales. We wait a short time and one says, “Return". I nodded and walked over to his register and began to tell him what we were told by a . . .

This entry has been sitting in the cue now for a little over a month. The short story is that Carson Pirie Scott gave me the worst customer service I have ever received. I then went to a competitor and spent the $585 dollars that I had planned to spend in their store. I will never shop in their stores again based on my experience.

So for $50 they pissed away a lifetime of my spending.