Ruined by Technology
Apparently you have to provide your contact information before a salesperson will help you at SuitSupply
I’m shopping for a new suit, and although SuitSupply is a little below the price range I’m considering, I figured I’d pop into their store at Brickell City Centre in Miami to get a sense of the quality.
As soon as I walked in, a woman greeted me and asked how she could help. I started describing the style of suit I was looking for, but she cut me off, turned over a phone, and presented me with a QR code stuck to the back.
I scanned it, but cell service in the store was terrible and the page wouldn’t load.
After standing there for about 30 seconds staring at a blank browser, I asked if I could just speak with a salesperson and look at some suits.
She told me they needed my email address or phone number to pull up my customer profile.
I’d never shopped at SuitSupply before, so obviously I didn’t have a profile. Presumably they wanted to create one.
I asked her directly whether providing this information was actually a requirement to receive help in the store. She said yes.
At this point, getting increasingly irritated, I told her that since the page wasn’t loading, and I wasn’t particularly interested in providing my information anyway, I wasn’t going to do that.
She curtly replied, “Have a beautiful day,” and gestured toward the entrance.
So I left.
Am I crazy for thinking it’s ridiculous that I can’t walk into a clothing store and speak to a salesperson without first handing over my contact information?
I realize I’m probably being a little petty, but this experience has pretty much guaranteed I won’t be shopping at SuitSupply anytime soon.
Bravo. To take it a step further ….I have multiple/a conviction(s) for hacking restaurant bank accounts and HR databases, so I am not allowed to have a phone. Happy to borrow yours serving person. Oh..yes a paper menu will be fine, thanks
I don't mind if a QRC menu is an option, even if it's the default, as long as hard copy menus are available upon request, but making it the only option with no alternatives is an excellent way to lose me as a customer.
Yes--I don't have a smart phone (my choice--I will not get one, either), so give me a QRC as the only way forward and I guess my way forward is "no". Plenty of other choices.
Counts… 1,2,3 and I definitely make 4.
Table for 4, please. Our groups name? A. Hole.
We’ll all need paper menus. Yes - or just printed menus will be fine.
Why? <leans in> Not a big deal, we all just had a little misunderstanding with a judge. We can’t have internet capable devices anymore. No big deal, really… We’re all innocent - I promise!
Now, can we get those menus and some bread please?
And then all of us get out our phones after they bring the menus.
i do this with free trials that don't require a credit card but still want personal information,
First Name? Asd
Last Name? Asd
email? asd@asd.com
phone number? phone number of the the highest ranking member from the company that is publicly available
address? address of the HQ
anything else they ask for thats open ended and doesn't require a specific format? Asd
Someone I know has been giving fake last names for decades to companies. They’ll use the company’s name as their last name and later on see who sold their information.
You *might* encounter a proto-Luddite, who might respond,
"I understand... but because I'm a proto-Luddite, being sued is against my religion... so you taking me to court for religious persecution, would, in itself, be religious persecution against me.
This, of course, would cause you to vanish in a puff of illogic."
Right? When he said he scanned the QR code, I was like...what? I'd have said no, I don't want to do that, I just want to look at suits. If they insisted, I'd have just left.
They want to register someone new walking in as “their” personal customer. This gets them credit for sales, and thus, gets them pay. They get 0-6% depending upon their volume.
All that matters to them is getting their commission. They don’t want to waste a minute of their time helping you if they haven’t put their branding tag on your ear to mark you as “their” customer.
That is why the rep didn’t want to spend a minute of their time with you if they couldn’t “own” your purchases.
It's not. We have to stop pretending like it's socially unacceptable to admit everything is getting shittier by the second. We need to be obnoxious about the fact that things aren't fucking normal anymore.
I'm one of the people that would love to buck the smartphone and switch to a dumb phone, but everything requires a QR code scan or an app. My work schedule? It's a fucking app. My wife clocks in to work from her phone. Will they provide a work phone? Fuck no, they'll just fire you because our state is at-will.
None of this requires an internet connection. I should be able to walk in to a store with my wallet and nothing else and be just fine.
My bank requires app, my health insurance does and so does my gov for many things (EU btw).
Having only a dumb phone is impossible here sadly.
Story time, a while ago I went with a friend to a ramen place she said was good, well I still don't know if it is good because I walked out of there because they "could not help me".
No menu cards, you scan a QR code with their app that requires an account, I didn't want it and the girl working there looked at me like I am some alien, she said "it is so easy" and I told her "I rather not fill my phone with zillion of trash apps I don't want".
She was like 20 years? anyhow, her brain could not comprehend what I said, told the friend I don't want to eat there and walked out.
My mother’s boomer accountant is unable to compute that an app is not the only method of banking besides a physical location. My hot take is that it’s not about what they grew up with, it’s about inflexibility and not being able to hold more than one truth in their minds at a given time.
This is why I use a dumbphone. Does it make my life more inconvenient? Absolutely. Does it force businesses to consider the fact that expecting everyone to have access to a working smartphone at all times is unbelievably stupid? Also yes.
My dad carries a tracfone for seniors when out and about & uses his smartphone at home or when out of town. I was trying to get him to just use the smartphone and ditch the prepaid nonsense but he pointed out that he doesn't get any pushback when a clerk/salesperson/waiter sees him pull out a flip phone when presented with a qr code-so i stopped pushing 😆
My parents have one smartphone between them. They'll happily register for anything and install any app you like. Then hand the phone to their spouse so they can do the same. Just that by itself breaks a surprising number of those stupid shops.
Their real phone is an Android large print phone (10" tablet) with a SIM in it. They share that too.
They have a "junk" google account for the phone and no banking etc on it, and the social media accounts are linked to the blank google account. That pisses off a lot of shops because there's nothing useful in the socials.
When the phone stops working (see above: install any crap they're asked to), my stepfather resets the phone to factory defaults and starts again. With a new junk google account :) He's also the only other member of my family who uses Signal. Dude is 80-something and quite tech literate.
32 here as well, and I felt your comment in my soul!
If we didn't have smartphones, I would never have needed a new one lol! I still have my first Nokia flip phone, and the damn thing still powers on and functions just fine, sans cell service. I miss just having the lil gal in my pocket, with nothing else but my wallet, and leaving the internet at home with our PC.
Thank god I just got fired from my other shitty job, which had a work schedule app that didn't work at all (GameStop is a dumpster fire), so I got to happily delete that! And aside from a few nifty uses, I wish QR codes weren't as common, either. The only QR code I care about is the one I used to sneakily Rick-Roll my best friends with. 😂
I don't hate this but the place I go only uses it to keep my preferences on hand (ie, the haircut I got last time). I never get a single text, email, or phone call from them, but I also never have to remember what setting the clipper was at when I saw them six weeks ago.
This wasn't even that recent but in 2018(?) I went into a barbershop that only made appointments via their Instagram profile. I didn't have my phone on me, and I had no appointment. There were two barbers standing around chatting but they told me they wouldn't cut my hair without an appointment via IG.
In 2021 I was trying to get a vaccine at Rite Aid. The only way to make an appointment was to connect your Google account to your Pharmacy account. I’m not doing that lol
They didn’t even have a Pharmacy Google account they could use to book appointments for old people who didn’t have a smart phone or use the Internet. It was so dumb.
That Pharmacy is bankrupt now. I guess they couldn’t get enough
data to sell to keep themselves up and running.
I absolutely hate it when businesses are only on Instagram. Opening hours? Instagram. Menu? Instagram. Wanna make a hair salon appointment? Yep, that's right, Treatwell...Just kidding, Instagram. Great event, that you'd absolutely love to go to? F you, better have Instagram!
I don't have an account and really don't want to create one just for that
No, social media is not a replacement for a website. Everybody on the web is a web user. Not everyone on the web is a user of a given social media platform, and such platforms are only getting stingier with what they'll show you without an account.
Facebook is awful, you can't even view a page without an account, which is just wild.
I'd be happy with a simple website that just contains text and maybe some images, nothing fancy, just give me the info I need - Or at least keep your opening hours up-to-date on Google, OpenStreetMap, and/or Apple Maps 😵💫
if I can't get the info or do the thing i need in order to give you money within one map or web search, I'm just gonna move on to a business that does want my money
Saw some really cool artwork on social media just now. Wanted to see if I could buy a print. Nope, Instagram only. And the artist was in Australia anyway but still.
Similar story. Went to get my haircut. Didn’t have my phone on me. 3 barbers not cutting hair at La Barbiera in Dubrava, handed me a business card and tools me that I have to call a number and make an appt. I said why. They said it’s their system.
Fuck that stupidity. Went across the street and got an immediate haircut at Trimz Barber Shop.
I don't even have instagram and don't plan on getting one. I just feel like it doesn't make sense to require a third party social media site to run a business- it's ridiculous!
I'm not sure if they still use it, so I won't mention the name, but I know someone who had `<name-of-local-tv-news-show>@hotmail.com`. He would get tonnes of random emails from people complaining to the TV station about news stories and such.
Some of these suiting companies that popped up in the 2000’s have, or had, really weird business models. There was one around 2010 or so (can’t remember the name) that had physical “showrooms” where you could look at their suits in select sizes, but they didn’t stock any to purchase. So it’s like, oh they’re made to order, that’s fine. No! They’re off the rack, they just don’t keep them there! lol. So if you wanted to buy anything at all they would direct you to the website… even though you were literally in their store.
Yes! lmao I went into a Bonobos store and was like, "what? I can't buy this here shirt I am right now holding in my hand?" What a bizarre and inconveniencing business model.
Bonobos was actually pretty great for me for a few years, as someone who was more of an online shopper (both due to needing specific sizes I often didn’t find at stores and also just not loving to go shopping that often), but then they got acquired by Walmart in 2017, and things went to shit. In 2019, I worked with some people who had been hired from working in one of their stores/showrooms, and they said it was a really bad experience.
ha, I was on a work trip once and walked into a Bonobos store to buy a pair of pants. Imagine my surprise when the guys in the store were like, "oh, we don't actually sell anything here."
So... why did they even have a physical storefront? How did they pay the rent and utilities, if it didn't make any income?
I mean, I guess ordering online while in-store would count towards their profits and commissions, right? But it doesn't really make sense to me to go into a store and have to order a pre-made suit. Ordering and waiting is for some measured, fitted shit, not just to waste my damn time lmao!
That shit doesn't make any sense to me, and that's one reason why I'm pretty sure we're suffering from end stage capitalism now. Or I'm just a grumpy old man at 32 lol. 🤷♂️😅
The product in the store is just collateral for the data they collect. Look at it this way you go give up your information to shop and they make 2 sales, one for whatever you bought, and then to whatever data broker needs customer profiles to bombard you with whatever flavor of ads they decide on.
Why do people have this idea that their data demands hundreds of thousands of dollars? This store would receive a pittance for any customer data they may have.
Customer data has value, but it's not "Pay the storefront rent and employee overhead of a business"
So... why did they even have a physical storefront? How did they pay the rent and utilities, if it didn't make any income?
So when they open a store, they dont have to stock it with millions of dollars of inventory that other store's cant use.
This method lets them pay very little for a tiny storefront, and ALL their stores in the area share the same inventory, being a regional distribution center.
20 years ago I worked at a sporting goods store as a cashier where I had to ask every customer their zip code and if any employees helped them and people could be SO mean about it. But we got in trouble if we didn’t ask. So these companies are just signing their employees up for abuse by doing all this annoying shit.
I used to work at a place like that. Me and the rest of the cashiers barely asked the customers for this info, we just made up random shit lol I feel like they should have caught on somehow but they never did. All the floor sales people had roughly even "helping customers" numbers, while us cashiers had great "getting customer info" numbers. I forget what they called those fucking KPIs thank god
"Great, so we'll just call or text 555-1234 when your order is ready or ship it to the address on file. And the receipt will be sent to the email already provided. "
They had a guy who was obnoxious and thought he knew everything. I tried to chat with him about what I wanted and he kept talking over me. I made suggestions and he ignored them or tried to diminish my knowledge.
I did buy a suit because it was cheap enough and I wanted to give them a shot.
The suit comes in and the dimensions are all messed up. The pants are too short, too tight, and the jacket is too small to the point where adjusting the button would’ve taken it to the edge of the fabric.
I refused to pay for it and left.
If you’re new to suits, get a nice used one and have a tailor fix it for your shape.
When money is better, get a proper bespoke suit.
You can go off the rack or made to measure, but I learned it’s so much better to have a custom suit than it is to have a dozen made to measure.
This is a sign that their business model isn’t about selling suits. Their business is actually selling your data regardless of whether you buy anything from them or not.
Check out Twillory for suits. I also live in Florida and have two of their air suits - incredible in the Florida heat. And they’re machine washable which is incredible.
You used to be ‘forced’ to give up your home address just to be able to pay for anything at a radio shack store. The clerk literally would not check me out until I gave them my address (in order to receive their catalogs). I already had done so previously because I actually wanted the catalog, however, I was a regular shopper there and I would regularly receive multiple catalogs in the mail, so I refused once to give them my address saying I do not need three catalogs each month. It took a long unpleasant conversation with two separate managers to finally be able to leave without giving them my address yet again. I could obviously have given them a fake one, but I was trying to avoid the environmental waste as well..
I worked at one briefly. The store was driven by metrics games. It not only made the stores annoying, but guaranteed that only annoying people would stay working there.
My husband got a gorgeous suit from there, for our wedding. Well, it was supposed to be for our wedding but they never called to inform that it was ready, and we had already been told there was a chance it wouldn’t be ready in time so we were ready to and ended up having to buy an emergency one from primark.
Turns out it had actually been done for over a month prior to the wedding. They said they attempted to contact him, but the email was bouncing back (they had taken his email address down incorrectly). Didn’t even try calling.
Talked to the Store associate—> manager —> corporate and the best they could do was offer a FREE TIE.
please tell me you did a charge back or something that you got your full money back for a suit that you didn’t even end up needing because the store was that inept
Suitsupply customer service is notoriously terrible. We bought a suit there years ago and all 3 people in line in front of us had issues running their credit cards. It clearly was an issue with their machine. Our card has an issue, and the salesclerk implied we couldn’t afford the purchase.
The suit was decent enough quality for the price so we went back like a year later, having made an appointment online. After waiting 10 minutes to get a human to talk to us were told that the person were booked with us at lunch and will be back in an hour. No one else in the empty store can help us. If we want we can rebook for the next day.
This data harvesting shit is just annoying. Guy stopped by my house and asked if we are considering replacing our roof (we are). So he does his quick pitch and asks if he can call his office to set up a consultation (sure). We get on the phone and they say “we need to ask you some quick questions to proceed, it usually takes 10-15 minutes”. Absolutely fucking not. 15 minutes should be the entire consult, not the fucking survey to set up the consult.
The fucking surveys man. Now I'm getting texts and phone calls with surveys from literally every appointment I go to. And of course it can't be the same phone number, so for each place have like 7 phone numbers they could be contacting me with for appointment reminders, actual employees with genuine questions, OTP for their app, survey.
No, you are not being petty, more and more businesses are being provided with financial rewards from databrokers for collecting more information to add to their profiles of you.
Anytime I can remove, reduce or confound these profiles I do so. Fine, they don't want your business, I don't want their business either. This type of entitlement is become the scourge of modern surveillance and data gathering, and the more push back they get, the more they might reconsider the value in doing this and alienating potential clients.
I would have walked out and have said, I'm just noticing the prices and quality of your products, and they are way below my standards for good quality suits, so thank you for encouraging me to not waste my time at this two-bit rag store, which needs to sell my personal data to keep your doors open.
When I requested a paper menu recently, the “so sweet” woman kindly offered to “teach” me how to use the qrc. I tried very hard not to glare at her then proceeded to discuss privacy and phone reliance. I did finally suggest she not assume the reasons some want paper.
"I don't have a phone on me" or "oh, my phone is dead" is usually my go to.
Over a decade or maybe two ago at this point when the good 'ole Olive Garden had those brand new stupid ordering screens (that sucked btw), I went a few times and would sit down, move it to the seat next to me or the end of the table turned around backwards and ask to speak to an actual server (it was still optional). Once when someone dropped off a second one I also put that on the seat of shame. Wanted to make it clear it was stupid and they shouldn't get rid of their staff for the new tech.
Can't say I've been to an Olive Garden since, but I hope I was part of the resistance that at least stopped it from being normalized a long time ago.
A long time ago I was in Radio Shack. They refused to let me purchase a cord unless I gave them my zip code. I was paying cash.
It wasn't so much that I cared that they had my zip code, it was the fact that without it they refused to let me make a purchase. So I didn't make a purchase.
And then never went back to Radio Shack again. And enjoyed the announcement when they went out of business years later.
I would walk out. I have used the same fake # for my Safeway Club Card for the past 28 years, and I have an old AOL e-mail address I use to access wifi in public spaces that request it. Other than that, no. AT&T desperately wants me to download the app to pay my bill: nope. They send me a text reminder every month and I pay by text. GNC always asks for my #, nope. They changed their rules on how the discounts work and I refuse to play that game now. Nobody needs anything more from me than my continued patronage.
I've gone to the Suit Supply near me a handful of times. The first time I went I just walked in and was checking out the suits when someone helped me, got all my measurements and got me the items I was interested in. I only had to give my information on purchase at which point, that's fine. They keep all the measurements and everything in your profile so when you log in all that info. I've bought stuff from them online after that initial purchase so any info they had with that first interaction is gonna be input when I do the online purchase.
That isn't to say what you experienced is not annoying, because it is. But maybe it varies by the person whose helping you. I'd wager that most persons working there are waiting to get to the purchase point to get all that info since it's a turn off to give all the info at the beginning without actually buying anything yet.
A similar thing happened to me at a City Furniture Store. I just walked in and was stopped. I explained that I didn't want to "work with anyone" and preferred looking on my own. They "demanded" I work with someone. I was there to furnish an entire rental. I explained that and they agreed to just leave me alone. I thanked them and asked for the manager. He arrived and I told him that I was taking my business elsewhere and why. He explained their policy and I explained mine. Who won? Not the store. SO odd. I literally wound up spending $10s of thousands elsewhere.
Idk I just bought one a few months ago. Went through a fitting and everything and they never collected any information until the end when I said I wanted to look at a few more options online and the lady sent me the sizes and suits we tried on.
eh sometimes I set a minimum price range if I want things to be of a certain quality but will check out cheaper places anyway in case I can be pleasantly surprised and save some money. I understood what OP meant
Suit Supply seems like the kind of place that will sell you a suit in black, grey, and blue, and make them seem like a good deal. Six months later you will wish you spent the same money on one nice suit from somewhere else. Dillards and Nordstrom seem like better choices, or go to an actual tailor.
One time I ordered take out from a fast food place. They told me they need my phone number. I said I wasn’t going out, I’ll just sit and wait for it. They insisted they needed my phone number for all take out orders. I gave my number. Lo and behold, within the next 3 days I got 4 spam calls when I hadn’t gotten a single spam call for months before that.
Screw places that need your phone number or email address when you’re shopping in person.
I go to get a haircut at a new place. Sign says, "Walk-ins Welcome." They said to sign in on their Kiosk. It wants my phone number so I refuse. They say to download their app. Again, I say I am not doing that, I just want a haircut. I told them I will just sit and they can tell me when they are ready. Finally got my haircut, but what a pain in the ass.
Yeah that's insane. If I ever see a suitsupply I'm gonna go in and tell them I'm looking for suits for my whole bachelor party and then leave cause I don't want to give them my info. I just want them to know it's sending a few more people out the door. Will it matter idk but I will feel good about it and maybe if enough people leave because of it
I’ve been shopping at Suit Supply since 2015. All over the US, Spain and the Netherlands. I’ve never heard of this before. I’ve even been to the one you’re speaking of over by Sexy Fish; she needs to be fired. Their items are not cheap and they’re honesty not even that popular (Though I have a closet full) so turning away potential customers is absurd.
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u/williconn 5h ago
You stayed longer than I would have