Oh how I loathe HBC!

I would like to make a complaint about the Zellers Store in Brantford, Ontario. I have been a loyal HBC customer for at least 16 years. Recently I have become very annoyed at the lack of business ethic employeed by the Brantford store.

Firstly: My husband and I were in the store shopping for a patio set and 3 employees stood around and chatted with each other instead of asking if we needed help while we looked at our choices. Then when we asked one of them for help they seemed annoyed as if we were putting them out. She answered our questions (begrudgingly) and we said we just needed a minute to decide. We spoke privately (my husband and I) and decided to take one of the sets shown to us, only to be told (by the same lady) "oh no that one was already sold". Why would you show us a product, answer all our questions, knowing we wanted to possibly buy it, only to tell us we can't have it? We were so annoyed we ended up buying our set at Zhers instead of Zellers.

Secondly: I was in recently to purchase a gift card for a friend's wedding shower. When I got up to the check out I was told that he didn't have any at his register. So I asked him would he kindly check at the other registers for me then? He scoffed and yelled over to the other cashiers (instead of walking around to check) then said "No we don't have wedding ones we only have thank-you or baby shower". I explained that neither would work since it was for a Wedding shower not a baby shower and it was not for a thank-you card. He looked at me with a completely blank look. I asked him if he could kindly get a manager to check because surely they could not be out in the entore store. He reluctantly called someone and they called back and said they were out but could wrestle up a "just because". I was stuck settling for the "just because" card and had to add an explanation in the shower card as to why it was so generic.

Thirdly: There was a sale on Pampers from May10th-14 as posted in your weekly flyer. When I went into the store to purchase some at 9am on th 10th, the pampers shelves were empty. Huggies were fully stacked, but pampers were empty. After 15 minutes when I was finally able to find a staff member she told me I could get a rain check on my way out. So I went to the check out to pay for my few purchases and to obtain a rain check. The Cashier filled out the rain check (for size 1 pampers which I had requested after she checked the flyer to confirm they were included). When I had not received a call back about the product a week later, my husband called to see if maybe they had just overlooked us. We were informed that in that week they still had not received any inventory for pampers. So either A) they were lying to us or B) the flyer was a false advertisement because they had no intentions on carrying the items advertised. When he asked the person he spoke to when we could expect they would come in he was put on hold. When they came back, he was informed that that specific product (Value pack of size 1 pampers) does not even exist. Funny though how I was able to purchase two of these value packs at Wal-mart yesterday! So whoever spoke to him lied. They lied that it doesn't exist and also probably lied about "not getting any in".

Fourthly: Try finding a staff member on the floor to help you out when you need assistance. I bet you have to walk the perimeter of the store at least 2 times before finding someone. How disgusting is that?I am 28 years old with a young family.

I am 36 weeks pregnant. We have registered at Sears for our baby instead of HBC because of this.

We will now be shopping at Wal-mart instead of Zellers because of this.

I will be shopping at Home Sense instead of Home Outfitters because of this.

My sister has done her wedding regisrty at Sears instead of HBC because of this. I still have one brother left to get married, he will nto be registering at HBC.

I am one of 16 grandchildren on one side and one of six on the other side. I'm sure between friends and family it won't take long for my story to get out.

I wonder how many people will stop shopping at HBC stores because of this? Bad news spreads much faster than good news. I am even thinking of taking this to the media I am just THAT annoyed. I wonder how many other people are as annoyed and put off HBC as I am?

Hopefully this complaint will not be taken lightly, hopefully someone in your corporation has some sendse of corporate pride. Hopefully someone stands behind the HBC brand. This is an awful lot of business to lose and it wouldn't take long before HBC meets the same fate as Eatons if all its patrons chose to shop elsewhere.