For luxury products, you’d usually expect a luxury service—but as one TikToker found out, this isn’t always guaranteed.
In a viral TikTok, which has amassed 426,00 views, TikToker Cassidy (@juminjuice) detailed an uncomfortable experience she had in a Cartier store as she tried to get a ring for her boyfriend’s birthday.
What happened at Cartier?
“I will never get this,” she said. “I just came out of Cartier because I was getting a birthday gift for my boyfriend, and I walk in and obviously I’m not dressed very well because I’m working in my corporate job…the lady looks me up and down—she’s not even acknowledging me.”
As a result, Cassidy said that she was left to wander around the store like a “little lost sheep.”
“Like, where do I go?” she asked.
She continued, “Then she [the worker] looks at me and she goes: ‘Um, do you need help?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m looking for some rings. Then she goes, ‘Oh, let me see if somebody can help you,’ and she couldn’t find anybody to help me, so then she ended up helping me. Then she goes, ‘Um, what do you need?’ She like, did not want to help me whatsoever. She seemed so uninterested because she thought I wasn’t gonna buy.”
Her tune changes
However, Cassidy says her whole demeanour changed once she realized she was buying something. She started being “super helpful,” invited her to take a seat, and even offered her a beverage.
“That interaction just seems so, like, fake to me,” she said. “I don’t think I can ever get used to how, like, luxury retail store workers, like, treat people based on, like, what they’re wearing, what jewellery they have on, because frankly, I just look like any other person walking in the street.”
“Did I end up getting the ring? Yes, I had to because it’s his birthday, but it’s just like the way she treated me,” she said. “I could tell she was literally looking at my fingers to see what ring I’m wearing or bracelet I’m wearing, but I’m just like, dude, I don’t like that.”
Cassidy didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment and email.
@juminjuice like sorry um help me??? #retail #luxuryretail #shopping #birthdaygift #birthday ♬ original sound – cassidy
Commenters were outraged at Cartier
As Cassidy shared her experience, commenters couldn’t believe it. “Has nobody learned anything from Pretty Woman?!” one asked.
“Funny thing is, the people working there can’t even afford what they’re selling,” a second quipped.
While a third added, “I would never give that associate a commission. I would buy online.”
A fourth was more skeptical, writing that “it’s a sales strategy to make you feel that you don’t belong there so you can buy.”
While a fifth agreed, “It’s [a] strategy to persuade you that they don’t need you, you need their product.”
Cartier didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment.
Hermes’ customer service disappoints a TikToker
Luxury brands have caused a lot of TikTok discourse as of late.
Back in October, Hermes went viral after repairing a customer’s bracelet. The problem? It took them over a year to do so.
Like Cassidy, TikToker Michaela (@michmazur) says that she and her family were overlooked by workers in a Hermes store for over an hour, which she claims was because of their appearance.
She wasn’t told until over a year later that they had to pay $110 to even repair the bracelet. “If I had to pay $110 to repair the bracelet, I would’ve paid the $110 when I dropped it off for the repairs,” she told viewers.
While the company waived the fee on account of the long wait, they refused to release the bracelet to Michaela. This was because her father was the one who bought it. However, even when he emailed Hermes on their request, they claimed that wasn’t enough to confirm his identity.
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