I gotta hand it to REI Schaumburg … they handled a (relatively) minor customer service issue perfectly.

A few weeks ago Ginny and I went to the newly opened REI store in Schaumburg. I had a few things that I wanted to pick up … including a new parka. The jacket I have now, as nice as it is, isn’t the warmest in the world.

I found a parka that I liked … it was in a rack that had a sign that indicated a price of $144 for “TNF <something> Parka”. Since all the jackets in the rack looked the same, I figured the price applied to all of them.

When I went to pay, the parka rang up for $239 instead of $144. Needless to say, I was quite surprised. A customer service person was brought over and we checked the rack. Turns out that “TNF” stood for “The North Face”, and there were two different jackets on the rack. The REI jacket I was looking at was $239, while The North Face jacket (which was really only a shell) was $144. Suffice it to say I didn’t get the jacket.

After I got home I decided to send REI an email … I indicated that I really like their stores & merchandise, but was a little non-plussed by the pricing issue. I really didn’t expect to get a response to the email, except maybe a perfunctory “We have received your message and will review it”.

About a week later I got a message from Jonathan, the Schaumburg store manager. He appologised for the pricing confusing … and, if I was still interested in the jacket, he would honor the $144 price.

Yesterday I went to the store to meet Jonathan and pick up the jacket. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more in stock, but he ordered it for me.

I gotta hand it to Jonathan … he went above and beyond normal customer service. He didn’t have to honor my perceived pricing error … but had certainly reinforce my loyalty as a customer.