I'm warning you - I'm going to rant a bit.
This has been bugging me since last Thursday and I've got to let it out. That's partly what blogs are for, right?
As you probably know, I went to London last week for short holiday with my boyfriend Leon. We had a brilliant time - we were able to totally relax, went to great pubs and restaurants, visited Tate Modern (where I bought an excellent book - more about that later this week), Covent Garden and the beautiful new Apple store, where we were given a guided tour, Liberty, Portobello Road market, and enjoyed bed picnics while watching films in our hotel room. We're big fans of the bed picnic...
Anyway, on Thursday while we were wandering around ****** ****** [I won't say the name of the area as it will give away exactly which LUSH I'm talking about, but you can probably guess], we decided to pop into a LUSH store. For those of you who are unfamiliar with LUSH; they sell natural, handmade cosmetics and toiletries. I've always admired their ethos and often their products smell good enough to eat.
However, as much as I may admire them as a company, I always enter their stores with a fair amount of trepidation. I have had some of the most uncomfortable and unsatisfactory shopping experiences of my life in LUSH stores and this time was no different - in fact they seem to be getting worse.
The moment you step through the door of a LUSH store, the staff pounce on you. We'd barely had time to cross the threshold or look at any of the products before the first one was instructing us that there were "a lot more products downstairs!", in the characteristic overly-excitable LUSH way. Ok, that's not so bad, you're thinking. But it gets worse. One of the things I hate while shopping - and one of the things guaranteed to make me turn around and exit the store as soon as is humanly possible - is pushy sales staff who jump on you the moment you're through the door and who don't give you the chance just to browse a little first. Anyway, Leon was with me and so we made our way downstairs. We'd barely had chance to set foot in the room (let alone see any of the products) before we were pounced on again by another ridiculously over-excitable girl. Which begs the question: By the way LUSH, what *are* you putting in their coffee?
The questions were fired at us in quick succession and went something like this:
"Is this your first visit to LUSH?"
"Do you have any favourite scents or smells?"
"Are you looking for anything in particular today?"
All at high-speed, spoken as if she'd said them a trillion times already that day, and not taking into account the fact that we didn't seem very communicative and that I was, in fact, beginning to wear my "pissed off" face. I do a very good pissed-off face when the situation demands it.
We persuaded her to just let us browse (something they don't like at all) and tried to wander around a little bit. Fat chance. The moment you touch a product, or pick something up to smell it, they're on to you again faster than a rat up a drainpipe.
A typical LUSH conversation (I use the term 'conversation' loosely) goes like this:
"Oh yes, that's lovely isn't it? Have you tried this one? I swear by it. You won't regret it if you buy it! What type of skin do you have? Which products do you normally use?"
It's like being assaulted with words. TOO MANY WORDS and TOO MANY QUESTIONS.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! JUST BUGGER OFF, WILL YOU?!" (I didn't really say that, but I wish I had).
This isn't a one-off experience as exactly the same thing happened in another London LUSH store a couple of years ago. I left the store with several products, only some of which I'd intended to buy, and with a few things I didn't actually need or want (and still haven't used in certain cases), but that I felt bullied into buying by the sales staff.
I know I should have been firm and just said "no" but I'd already said "no" to several other products they were trying to talk me into buying, and to be quite honest I couldn't wait to pay and just get the hell out of there.
Before I ramble on too much, the visit ended with Leon being verbally bullied by a pushy male member of staff, who tried every tactic he could think of to persuade Leon to buy TWO products when he'd made it totally clear he only wanted to buy ONE. The one he needed was cheaper, and the one the sales assistant was pushing him to buy was fairly expensive. What a surprise.
But we all know by now that LUSH sales staff don't like or recognise the word "no". Leon tried a million different ways of saying no, and it finally registered with the bloke that Leon wasn't going to buy the second product.
"Ok, you've forced me into doing this", says the male member of staff, "but I'm going to give you a sample...and once you've used it you'll be straight back here to buy the product!".
He then proceeded to give Leon the smallest sample I've ever seen of a cosmetic product. EVER.
When we got back to the hotel, Leon told me that he'd had such a horrible experience that he didn't even feel like using the sample the boy had given him.
Is this how you want your customers to feel, LUSH?
I've made the decision that I'll never be going back to any of their shops again, and as well as telling the 6,000 followers of this blog how horrible the shopping experience is, I wont hesitate to tell my friends and family.
If you feel good in a shop and have a comfortable shopping experience, you want to go back. If you feel bullied into parting with more money than you can afford and have to battle with nosy and pushy sale staff who don't take 'no' for an answer, then you don't.
It's as simple as that.
