WHAT?! Different Policy at Different Location, or Just Plain Lying for “2 Same Style Limits”

“How many same clothes can each customer buy?”, that was the first thing I did ask to a nearby female associate (FA) when we went into 拉尔夫·劳伦 (RL) Store at Seattle Premium Outlets . The FA paused for a second and thought for a minute as if it was an unusual question that was hardly asked by any customer; she then replied with “I think we have a policy stating that each customer can only have five of the same items max.”

I got surprised and confused with a doubt voice, “Are you sure? Only Five items per customer?”

FA thought my reaction was strange and nodded her head, “I am pretty sure. You can check out the policy near the cashier upfront.”

I told this good news to my relatives who came to visit us from abroad, and who got really bad experience at RL store in Woodburn Premium Outlets because they could only buy 2 of the same Polo T-shirt (that’s why we have to make another stop here to buy more Polo T-shirts as gifts when they return home). They felt so excited and wanted to triple check for the hand-written rule, because we didn’t see any signs in the store (again) for the purchase limits, no flyers or posts about each customer’s max allowed items, and who knew if this FA got the fact right or not.

In order to avoid any more disappointments, potential arguments, and saving some time, I went to the cashier, waited for the next available associate, and asked the same question: how many same items can each customer buy? The cashier had the same reaction: paused and thought hard for a minute before telling me the rule of “5 of the same items max per customer”.

I wanted to be 1000% sure, so I followed up with “can you show me the policy?” But the cashier got surprised and felt embarrassed, and he said “I am not sure where it is, but I can call my manager to come over and show it to you.” I replied with “Great, thanks for your help!”

After a couple of minutes waiting, a manager came out and heard my needs from the cashier. He flipped through a couple of dusty binders, pulled out an old one at the end, turned over several loose pages, and finally found one page with a simple print out but no “official” RL logo, titled Bulk Buy Policy:

“At Ralph Lauren, every customer’s experience is our highest priority, we must ensure this experience is consistent in all stores.

Ralph Lauren Stores reserve the right to limit any purchase to 5 units of the same style and/or color combination, per customer, per day.

In addition, Ralph Lauren reserves the right to limit total units purchased to 25 units total per customer or group of customers, per day.

*View the full policy on Yoobie or click HERE”

My brain was explored after looking at the Bulk Buy Policy?!?!?!

I couldn’t believe the information I received at Seattle is so much different than the one told in person at Woodburn.

I couldn’t imagine different stores treating their loyal customers differently under the same written policy within the same brand.

I couldn’t dare to admit that I got cheated on.

Wow, really good job on telling all your customers about the new policy of “2 same style limits per group” at Woodburn RL.

Wow, really great job of treating your loyal customers and lying to them right on their face.

Wow, really fantastic job on letting all consumers know your secret and constantly changing policy.

The best part was after I reported our worst experience at Woodburn RL online by taking RL standard survey, all I got was a simple two-line email (see below for details) without any official RL logo, without any solution, without any incentive for taking the survey or for the terrible experience.

“Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.

Ralph?Lauren?values your feedback and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”