2 /5 Erica Williams: I absolutely love Dillards store! But today I had a bad experience at the Gainesville, Fl location. I had purchased a bottle of Prada cologne in the mens department the night before and they were out of the small white Dillards gift bags. So I was left with the brown plastic bag instead. So today, while I was on my lunch break, I decided to travel over to the womens department for Dillards (2 different stores). I go inside thru the perfume and makeup section and ask one of the estheticians there, if they had any of the small white gift bags for cologne due to the mens department being out of them. To my surprise, instead of a simple yes or no. I was met with a series of questions and a hesitance of providing a bag. I was then asked, do I have the product on me. I explained no, but I can pull the receipt up on my phone. Mind you, by this time I am already annoyed and feel some kind of way. The esthetician then tells me that she cannot just give me a bag but I can talk to the manager. In my head, im like well thats fine because I need the bag! I mean after all it is a Valentines Day gift. So we proceed over to the manager and as the woman tells her my situation. I then have to re-explain my story to her, just so I may receive a bag. The manager is also hesitant and began to ask me a series of questions. By this time I am pissed! She hesitates to ask another employer for a perfume gift bag and the other employer hands her a large white gift bag. I tell her, no maam that is not the size that I need. I need the size for a bottle of cologne. She goes back slightly reluctant and gets the smaller bag and hands it to the manager. The manager hands it to me and proceeds to ask me, "may I ask what type of cologne did you purchase"? I very proudly stated in response to her that I purchased the "Prada" (mind you it was the large bottle). The manager responded with oh ok, well normally they give you a little Prada bag to put your items in, if they dont have one. And I told her, yea they actually did. But they were little black beauty bags, etc and that wont work for me! As im leaving out of the store, mind you, with a plain as day, "Department of Veterans Affairs" shirt on, as if I would steal something with my work shirt on. The 1st lady from when I came in stopped me and was like, "its not that I didnt want to give you a bag, but I can lose my job". I said maam, I have absolutely no reason to lie about some damn cologne, just to get a BAG! She then says, yeah but sometimes people come up with all kinds of stuff. And I stated, "yeah well im not one of them"! I left out feeling so upset over a small white bag!! I have purchased many items out of Dillards and have never encountered a problem like this. This is such a shame. P.S., I am a black woman in my 40s
