Neiman Marcus employees sound the alarm as luxury chain fires ‘greeters’

The customer service representatives who handled returns at Neiman Marcus were one of the key casualties in layoffs earlier this month, and the luxury retailer’s remaining salespeople are unhappy.

So-called “service ambassadors” who used to greet shoppers at the store entrance and help process returned items were fired across the chain on Feb. 16 in cost cuts that took 5% of the luxury chain’s workforce, sources told The Post. .

Returns now have to be taken care of by hired sales representatives, and some say it threatens chaos in stores.

“I avoid eye contact if I see someone walking through a door with a lot of boxes.” one sales rep who works on the first floor of an East Coast store near the entrance told The Post.

Another spokesman also spoke without apology about the cuts, voicing concern that processing returns has already become a distraction from critical time on the floor.

“Would I like to waste my time looking through a pair of shoes that came in for a return but they were clearly worn out and not returnable?” grumbled one of the best sales representatives, asking not to be named. “Not when it’s not my sale and the discussion will be long and contentious.”

“Even at Walmart there are greeters,” the spokesperson added.

Before the pandemic, the Dallas-based luxury icon had a dedicated customer service department that handled everything from returns to bill payments and disputes. It has been replaced by so-called welcome centers near store entrances, where hourly employees handle orders for takeout, returns, including online purchases, among other things, and were designed to “create a welcoming environment,” employees told The Post.

The waiters, who had just been fired, “had a great presence in the store,” said former employee Neiman Marcus.

“Fair or not, Neiman Marcus still struggles with the notion that vendors are unavailable and that a store can be exclusive and intimidating,” the former employee said. “Service Ambassadors have helped fill this gap by trying to create a welcoming atmosphere.”

Another sales rep accused the new management – President Ryan Ross, who joined Neiman Marcus in August from Williams Sonoma – of imposing revenue on sales reps.

Salespeople hate getting bogged down in deals that don’t bring in revenue.

In the past, management “realized that it was better to try to close a sale on a multi-thousand dollar item than to waste precious time on a return or a customer issue,” the sales rep said. “Ryan needs to understand that we are not Williams Sonoma. We sell more expensive products, we create deeper relationships and, most importantly, we don’t work by the hour.”

Neiman Marcus is already recovering from a recent interview with CEO Geoffroy Van Remdonk, in which he said the retailer is going to shift its focus to the 2% of the company’s customer base, who account for a whopping 40% of its business, or the people who shop at a retailer “25 times a year and spend $27,000,” Van Raemdonk told Fortune magazine.

The retailer’s salespeople told The Post that some of their customers were offended by the remark and had to “do everything they could” to calm the ruffled feathers.

A spokesperson for Neiman Marcus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.