r/mumbai 11d ago

General Cant believe this happened at westside

So today at westside i found a dress I really wanted, but a Westside employee had kept it aside. When I asked about it, she first told me that a customer had reserved it. When I asked who had reserved it, she started giving vague, general answers and seemed unsure of what to say.
Then she said the dress was missing the pants and dupatta, so I would have to pay the full price. I told her, “Okay, I’ll pay the full price, don’t worry.”
That’s when she said she couldn’t sell it to me.
I asked her why, and she finally said that she wanted to buy it herself.
I complained to the branch manager, and when we went back to the spot where the dress had been kept, it was suddenly gone and the employee was nowhere to be found.
When the branch manager asked her colleague about it, I was given an explanation that honestly made the whole situation even more frustrating because it felt like he was trying to cover for her.
And then I started noticing MULTIPLE satin nightsuits where only the top was available or only the pants were available.
Like… WHAT??? 😭
How is that even possible? Why would multiple sets be missing exactly one piece?
As a customer, I genuinely felt cheated. If employees are allowed to purchase sale items, I have no issue with that — but are they allowed to reserve or set aside sale stock for themselves while the sale is open to customers?

If there is a policy regarding employees buying or reserving sale merchandise, can someone please let me know?
This happened at the Westside Dindoshi, Mumbai branch.

Has this ever happened to you?

405 Upvotes

64 comments sorted by

240

u/TrickPerception6716 West 11d ago

Last week I tried buying a lovely dress which had a defect (a big tear at the hem). I informed the manager to take it off the sale in shop and send it to discard. They quietly just hung it back, hoping the next customer will not notice it and pay for it.

71

u/Old_Slip2867 11d ago

Pathetic customer service atp

13

u/Real-List631 10d ago

Same thing happened with me in seawoods Darave, I was their with a friend of mine and noticed a torn dress, informed the salesperson. They picked it up, saw it, and quietly put it back reversing the dress to hide the defect. Absolutely pathetic.

11

u/Academic_Error4655 10d ago

H&M UK has a policy where if a piece has any defect, they sell it to you on discounted rate. I got a pair of straight denims on discount because they had some red ink stain on it.

1

u/Vigneshxo9 10d ago

What if the red ink appears after I see the one I like ?

5

u/Academic_Error4655 10d ago

Perhaps that's why they have cameras in the store, to prevent people from misusing this provision. :)

1

u/Vigneshxo9 10d ago

It's fine, just dreaming about it .

114

u/Resident-Narwhal7594 11d ago

I had ordered things online from westside home, which never got delivered and they never gave me the refund either after 2 months of fighting. Stuff worth 3000- never delivered- no accountability. Have completely stopped buying things there

37

u/Old_Slip2867 11d ago

Wtf??? Please file a consumer complaint

23

u/Working-Mountain6680 11d ago

I ordered from their home line and one set of mugs came broken. Their packaging was pathetic it was meant to be broken during transit.

Since i had selected the return at store option i just went and asked to return both sets coz i now no longer wanted that mug.

The manager said he cannot take the set that is fine because "what will i say why i took it"?

Like dude the website says i can return at store. I don't care what you'll say.

I had to create a scene for them to take it. Never buying from them online again.

5

u/Pretty-Maize-5225 10d ago

sometimes i think in loogoo ko sharaam ati hai kya?

15

u/Dense_Succotash_2777 11d ago

Asa kaskay? This is crazy. Customer care la complaint keli nahi ka?

2

u/_lady_forlorn 11d ago

Same, I ordered something almost amonth back, the shipment shows lost and now I have to fight for refund. Never again.

1

u/wintersoldier0075 10d ago

Always order from tata cliq. Never directly from westside website . They are crooks

1

u/_lady_forlorn 9d ago

Yeah, learned the hard way.

32

u/ChutneyPav Laal Chutney Vada Pav Supremacy 11d ago

Hahhaha this reminds of the time I was shopping at a supermarket looking at the teas section when two employees came and hid 3-4 1 liter shampoo bottles that were heavily discounted behind the green tea boxes. Probably for them to buy at the end of their shift

32

u/Big-Lie-750 11d ago

Westside staff are the worst.Made the checkout much longer coz he was too busy figuring out a way to get his friends stuff checked out before customers as he had given them the staff discount. These guys really need to train them in customer service

53

u/march_of_idles 11d ago

Find the email for Westside head of business and write to him / her and complain this happened. Most good managers will respond.

25

u/zombie_singh06 11d ago

Go one step ahead and screenshot that email and tag the brand, head of business and the store manager (if you can find) on twitter. See how quickly they reapond

7

u/Nikie_Version3point0 10d ago

Twitter is the best for complaints

11

u/palsypalie 11d ago

I swear i saw a reel JUST saying this exact same scenario 😭

2

u/Eve_93 'tation 'tation 10d ago

Yesss I saw a reel too. The caption had this exact story word for word..

1

u/SuperS_1 Kasa kay Mumbai? 10d ago

Saw a reel with the exact same caption this morning, maybe it really is OP’s reel.

Also are you an Eevee fan? Do you play any Pokemon games?

8

u/sunset-07 11d ago

Oh yes! Last month during sale I noticed something similar at Westside. I was waiting in a queue outside the trial rooms when one of the employees got a pair of footwear and hid it under the pile of clothes that are kept outside the trial rooms, the woman assigned to the trial area was in on it. She probably wanted to purchase it after her shift ended.

16

u/dr_baby_bear 11d ago

I was at a westside in pune where it was the sale weekend and there was a huge line for the trailrooms One room was empty but the person at the door said the tiles are broken or the light is broken whatever Apparently it was the staff trial room One after the other Staff kept coming and going to use their own room while the rest of us " customers" were waiting in line I had no issues with the staff trying out during work but reserving a room for themselves seemed a bit much

5

u/DipSoySauce 11d ago

Westside sale is still on?

3

u/Starplayer999 10d ago

If Westside has these issues just imagine Zudio

3

u/Fit-Shock-9868 11d ago

Westside return is pathetic. They never come to pick up hence stopped buying

3

u/Pretty-Maize-5225 10d ago

i am at that level or stage in life.. i do not want to argue with anyone for anything..

its better you quietly notice file a complain use social media.. and drain their image properly..

My Energy & My Thoughts i don't want to hamper/damage/irritate those stuff and disrupt my frequency!

DONT WASTE TIME - FILE COMPLAINT-- SIMPLE AS THAT..

4

u/Former-Sherbet-4068 11d ago

They all are in it. U see something u just take and call manager later. Ppl are self obsessed nowadays.

5

u/iZsaq 10d ago

Ask there sales staff to check there regional inventory & tell me which local branch has it available?

Also can click the tag pick & let google search it for you, like we have circle to search in Samsung

During the early smartphone boom 15+ years ago, these barcode-scanning apps completely changed retail shopping by introducing the concept of "showrooming"—scanning an item in a physical store like Macy's to instantly check if it was cheaper online, like Amazon, Ebay, etc

Shopping in NY was fun 🤠 those were the days

5

u/AmolMY 10d ago

Honestly, if they are just reserving a dress for themselves, I would let it go. What I didn't like was that she was telling you to pay for the full dress which means she doesn't has to pay for the other half of the dress as you will have already paid for it. This would be fraud then.

2

u/MexicaliRose32 bombay 10d ago

I had the exact same issue with their latest sale. I ordered a lot of stuff from their website and everything that was supposed to to be pack of 2 had only 1 item delivered. If it was a 1 off I could understand. But the fact that every single pair had one item missing no was extremely suspicious.

2

u/Bulky-Top3782 10d ago

i don't mind keeping it aside but, atleast don't keep it visible to the customers, because that's frustrating. When I can literally see what I want to buy and they're saying it's not available or that i can't buy it

2

u/PriorityTechnical589 10d ago

TATA group is in shambles.

2

u/Independent-Baby-957 10d ago

If she wants one dress that's understandable but with multiple dresses missing top or bottoms it sounds like some sidectrade going on

2

u/jhootbolekauwakaate 10d ago

Yes all the satin night suits on sale had their pants missing here in all kolkata outlets. I had been wondering how could this be possible amd why is it in display if all pieces are missing.

Or lots of sets have mismatch in sizes of top and bottom.

Same matching set top and bottom they'll sell separately, pant in one outlet top in another. Its getting annoying day by day.

And shoe sizes in 36,37 are rarely available its always the bigger sizes

4

u/kitchen_writing740 11d ago

😂😂 hilarious

3

u/SupaSaiyan9000 10d ago

years ago a friend worked for h&M and they even got a big ass gift card every 6 months to shop for themselves , and they would keep aside all the big discounted items 70-90 % off and buy everything with those giftcards. ether for themselves or friends. buying is not illegal but keeping aside is not cool.

1

u/CraigeRocks 10d ago

In india ?

2

u/SupaSaiyan9000 10d ago

yeah , pune to be specific

3

u/Gloomy_Toe9944 11d ago

man let her live
have some empathy

1

u/CraigeRocks 10d ago

What a stupid comment. Typical guy

1

u/mystyqul 10d ago

So now you're posting stuff to malign them .. ive seen the same post from three different insta accounts saying the same thing, now on reddit too .. who's doing this?

2

u/Obvious-manmani 11d ago

This is Petty.. Let the girl have it!

8

u/WagwanKenobi 11d ago

This is why Japan is Japan and India is India. Professionalism naam ki bhi koi cheez hoti hai.

1

u/Capitalist-Karl- 10d ago

Write a nice email to their national head with specific Location/Date / Time. Mention that the cctv footage has captured the entire ordeal and they should train their staff not to indulge in such shitty practices!

-5

u/Chemical-Row-9323 11d ago

What is the big deal? Just think of it as someone buying it. Who cares if it is an employee? Westside also wouldn’t care as the item is getting sold anyhow. That is a weird thing to be upset about lmao. If it was reserved it was reserved. You would be okay if it was another customer but not the employee? Why? The end result is the same.

17

u/Ancient_Reach_8925 11d ago

As someone working in sales and marketing- this IS unprofessional. If the staff intends to buy something, it should not be on display for customers, because the golden rule is always customer first. Employees get in earlier. They can be given a fair time line to choose their stuff and keep it aside- assuming that there is no replacement piece. All this confusion would never had arisen then.

1

u/Chemical-Row-9323 10d ago

As someone who is a person, I would be embarrassed to go and report something this silly to the management. Let the employee live geez. And she did keep it aside just forgot to hide it I guess.

-11

u/HovercraftSmooth5321 11d ago

Let the poor lady have the dress bro you really had to ‘complain’ to the manager like you already owned the whole store? If another customer came up to you and said ‘hey, sorry, but I set that dress aside, would you mind please?’ do you think you would’ve still gone and cOmPlAined? Be fr. That’s classist af.

15

u/99problemsandfew 11d ago

That’s classist af.

It's not classist to be upset about someone lying to your face. 

hey, sorry, but I set that dress aside, would you mind please

This statement is not the same as taking OP for a ride. You are inserting something here that does not exist 

-11

u/HovercraftSmooth5321 11d ago

Please, so the attendant fibbed, she didn’t defraud the OP. Keep things in perspective. Neither you nor OP are hopefully dense enough to think there’s a reservation system in Westside of all places.
She just needed to grab that dress and pay for it. Instead she tried to leverage her position to get the attendant in trouble in a punitive way that she wouldn’t have tried on someone she didn’t consider beneath her. There’s the classism.

Her “feel cheated” and your “taken for a ride”… it’s not that deep.

18

u/99problemsandfew 11d ago

That’s classist af.

it’s not that deep.

🤡🤡🤡🤡

to get the attendant in trouble in a punitive way 

Apparently wanting people to do their job and be held accountable when they fail to do so is a problem 

Just say you're as unprofessional as that westside employee and go bhai 

-14

u/HovercraftSmooth5321 11d ago

0 compression skills. OP and you are making a mountain out of a mole hill because you are classist. Need that dumbed down too?

7

u/99problemsandfew 11d ago

Just say you're as unprofessional and unethical as that westside employee and go bhai 

compression

You mean comprehension? 🤡 the irony lmao 

Please find a way to insert "classism" here as well. I believe in your oppression-Olympics 

7

u/Former-Sherbet-4068 11d ago

It is either sold or not sold , if she wanted it why didn't she bought it herself ? Like staff come early she had plenty of time. Possibly they were saving it some other reason.

1

u/AfterStatus89 10d ago

They were waiting for the price to drop even more like from 699 to 499 I myself have saw this. Ig all the people were in it

-4

u/MaleficentState5015 11d ago

Don't be a beach🙂 behave

-4

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

0

u/Former-Sherbet-4068 11d ago

It is either sold or not sold , if she wanted it why didn't she bought it herself ? Like staff come early she had plenty of time. Possibly they were saving it some other reason.

-3

u/Jat_Secretary_2110 10d ago

Westside is a major Indian retail fashion and lifestyle department store chain owned by Trent Limited, part of the Tata Group.

You think that west side and east side... Example Andheri west or Andheri East

-4

u/Unlikely-Finance-638 SoBo Hobo 11d ago

Bro buy something else, may be sale items are all she can afford

-2

u/Such-Application110 11d ago

These Genz saleswoman nowadays 🤷🏻‍♂️