Things Remembered In Northpark

I’ve had engraving done before; a Tiffany’s Wine Glass & here as of late a Yeti rambler for my dad. Both occasions they were prompt and very satisfied with their work. $ 16 for any three words engraved for items valued under $ 100 is a good deal, well in terms of taking a regular gift to one that’s personalized I think is a good value.

I’ve been using this location for engravings for 5 years now, on and off. This isn’t because I’ve been blown away by the quality of their work but b/​c I haven’t found another place in my area (granted, I never did much hard looking). The good thing is, if you have something simple and easy with no room for error, they will probably do an ok job. The staff is always pleasant and helpful.
The bad news is, when something goes wrong this company has never taken the right course of action, which speaks volumes to me about a corporation. It’s easy to be pleasant and friendly when everything is going right. Real customer service comes into play when things go wrong.
They have made mistakes on many of my items but recently, I had my «last straw» with them. The lettering actually cut off on the piece (as in, the right and left side of the letter were missing). This is because they took their stamp template and simply punched it on there, even though there was not enough room on the item. I warned them of this potential complication when I dropped it off but they reassured me they could handle it. They didn’t offer a refund (in fact, the employee didn’t even apologize for the error, just acted confused and surprised). She did say, «Well we already gave you a discount on the price because the other girl didn’t write your ticket correctly.» Of course I refused to leave until I received some kind of partial refund. I also find it laughable that they had no recourse for fixing the error, physically. They don’t buff or sand items, etc. So if your item gets messed up, you’re left in the dust.
FastFix is a jewelry store across from Toni & Guy in the mall. The gentleman is very friendly and he does engravings (which I wasn’t aware of or I would have gone to him in the first place). I suggest doing more research before you take the easy route with Things Remembered. Their work is mediocre, their options limited, their creativity non-​existent, and they are overpriced.

If there was a way to not leave any stars for a review… this would be the one to do it on. I should probably preface this first by saying my wife had already been waiting to be helped for about 25 mins (in a pretty empty and slow store) when I walked in.
4 employees working at the time. One manning the register, one on the sales floor, one at the engraving machine (more on that later) and one milling about acting busy but not engaging any customers.
First off, my wife fills me in on what I missed for the previous 25 mins while she waited patiently for the gentleman sales guy to say hello or to even give her the time of day. See, he was helping a mom and daughter (who was about to be in a pageant of sorts) and was giving them 110% of his attention and slimy sales this and that. All we wanted was a money clip, when my wife did get someones attention, she was handed a form to fill out which she did and wasn’t spoken to again. I stepped up the plate and politely interrupted simply asking «can you help us?» with probably that crazed I’ve-worked-in-retail-and-you’re-killing-me-look in my eyes. But, it got his attention.
He did help us out, again referencing the form… which had been filled out now 37 mins prior. He directs us to the checkout line where the manager is glad-​handing every situation in the most «I’m overly cheery because I’m a bad manager» way. While waiting in line, we notice the employee at the engraving machine, which after all, lets face it that’s why you’re at Things Remembered, to get the overpriced silver thingy s engraved. This individual, inappropriately dressed for work much less someone probably in her 2^nd tri, is eating. Eating behind the counter, in plain site, over the engraving machine. Not only are they eating, they are scraping the easy-​cheese disaster with their finger, licking their fingers, and continuing to work. Who does that?
The long and longer of it is we easily burned an hour there and still needed to come back the next day to pick up our money clip, with fingers crossed there weren’t crumbs or cheese smudges on it. There weren’t any smudges. Crisis averted. It’s retail, your customers, or even patrons browsing, keep your lights on and money on a paycheck for you. Greet everyone, and learn how to spin a plate. That’s retail 101. JC Penny once said «either you or your replacement will greet the customer within the first 15 seconds.» Understaffed and overworked? Maybe, but it made the experience bad enough for us that we won’t be back.

Not only did they not have my order ready, but I as greeted with a RUDE attitude as if it was may fault. The stuff is cool but be prepared to deal with an unorganized staff with a horrible attitude.

Julia saved the day!!! I’m the idiot who decided the wait the week before thanksgiving to shop for a gift. The store was slammed!!! Slammed!!! Julia kept her composure and gave me personalized attention while balancing many other guests. Nate slaved away at the register but still
Acknowledged every guest. Bernisha, on the other hand was useless. She pretended I wasn’t there. She decided to help the people in line BEFORE Me because they were her friends. Not cool at all. Unacceptable work performance

Please, stay way from this location. I went on Friday to buy a business card holder for my friend, who founded a church group that helps the disabled. The guy who did the engraving forgot a letter in the sentence. So, I’m thinking, «We all make mistakes.”(I probably made a few writing this review) I patiently wait another one and half hour, in addition to the time it took make it, and leave. The next day, I go back to the store thinking that they misspelled a word, and while we’re looking up the word she (THE MANAGER) ask me, «Where are you from?» WTF! I stay calm and ask, «What does that have to do with the word we’re looking up?» She says with a sly smile, «I am from here.» At that point, I tell her my reasons for wanting my refund. She complies and starts the refund process, but stops after I told her she shouldn’t have raised her voice. She then tells me that she has to call the district manager, and will call me when she gets a response. While I am walking away she calls me a jerk-​that is not fair, I’m more flawed then a jerk. Two and half later, she responds that they will refund something like 21 dollars of a $ 57.97 purchase. The only thing that I remembered from this store is to be cautious of store that do not use positive adverb in describing «Remembered.» You may want to forget shopping at «Things Remembered.»

I wanted to buy a special Christmas ornament for my son and his wife who just got married in October 2013. I went to the NorthPark store and ordered a silver heart shaped ornament with OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS engraved in the middle of the heart. The ornament opens like a locket and the left side is a heart shaped mirror to engrave on and on the right is a heart-​shaped frame to place a picture in. The frame is a heart-​shaped metal piece. I waited for the ornament to be engraved and when the clerk showed it to me, the mirror that was engraved on fell out of the locket. The store personnel then spent about 20 minutes trying to re-​glue the mirror into the ornament, but failed. So they got a new ornament, same kind, and re-​engraved it. I waited for this also. When they presented it to me, the metal frame fell out of the locket. The manager of the store told me that the metal frame could easily be put back in, and she clamped it back down. I had some misgivings at this point about the ornament, but the manager assured me it was in good order. This purchase was around $ 70.00.
I had a special party for my son and his wife and was thrilled about presenting such a special ornament to memorialize their firstr Christmas together. I had the ornament engraved with their names and, All I want for Christmas is you! I presented the gift to them to open. They opened the gift, and then opened the locket, and immediately the mirror with the engraving on it fell out AND the metal frame popped out. It was a very embarrassing and disappointing moment for me and them.
I called the NorthPark store to let them know that I was bringing the ornament back and over the phone they told me that would be fine — they would alert the manager. A couple of days later I brought the ornament back and when I approached the counter, the clerk asked if I was purchasing something. I told her, no I am bringing something back. She said «is it engraved?» and I said Yes. Without asking me anything about my return, she immediately said no refunds on engraved items. Her rash comment made without any understanding of the situation, plus my extreme disappointment at presenting this «piece of garbage» ornament to my son and his wife, made me very upset. I told her that yes she would take it back. The manager (the same one I had dealt with earlier) told me there is no need to be rude. I told her that I was not the one who was rude, her clerk was and then explained the problem. The manager was flippant, rude, uncaring, and did not give a damn about my situation. The manager then agreed to give me a refund. When I asked her who her supervisor was, her attitude changed dramatically and all of a sudden she was very nice.
I am upset that your store would sell such inferior items. These items are given to memorialize special events, but in fact, what this memorialized was an inferior product Things Remembered in NorthPark Mal, which is something I would rather not remember! I will not be shopping at Things Remembered again.

I have been here twice and have had terrific experiences both times. Excellent, friendly service, quick and reliable. They even worked with me on pricing for a larger order and were very accommodating.

I wish I could get that time back…
Picture this… It’s the Friday before Christmas. You decide, as a father, to get your son his first knife. You hear about a place that will personalize the gift. You find the perfect knife and have them put his name on it. They tell you to come back in a few hours to pick it up. When you return it looks fantastic except for one thing… The face plate with his name is just slapped on their overlapping on one edge and dipped in on the other. You tell the clerk thinking its a small oversight and a quick fix only to be told ‘don’t worry it won’t come off.’ I’m not worried about it coming off as much as the fact that its something that is to be kept and remembered forever and it’s Sloppy. Their response… That’s just how it’s done and they are all like that. At which point I got my money back and walked away… forever. It wasn’t a defect, it was just sloppy work and rather than fix it and earn a customer, they made excuses.
Sadly for me, that is the only thing I’ll remember.