Hurricane Kohl's! The Resolution, sort of.

Please know that it is our top priority to provide you, andall of our customers, a quality shopping experience. I’m very sorry that you recently encountered an unacceptable store environment, and from your pictures, clearly not up to our standards. I have advised our senior level management, they’ve been made aware, and they’re highly committed to addressing it. So, thanks again for letting me know. I do appreciate hearing from you and we do value your patronage.

                        -VP Public Relations, Kohl's Corp.

https://s3.amazonaws.com:443/slideshare/ssplayer.swf?id=18055&doc=hurricane-kohls-28058

Excuse me while I feel a little unsatisfied. After a few phone calls, that was the response (via voice mail) I received from Kohl's.  And, ever since, I've been sort of scratching my head.

Why even respond?

Now, she sounds like a very nice lady, as most PR folks are, whether they really are or not. But, seriously, I'm not the New York Times, and I think my rambling phone message made it abundantly clear that I'm not a skilled interviewer. Is that really the right response? Would no response have been better in this case?

Really, I have no doubt in my mind that nothing will happen in any store, even though this was obviously not an isolated incident. I doubt the representative leaving that message really has the power to push the right buttons to fix X and O problems like staffing. I realize they can't just say that, but, I can't help but feel empty from that message.

Take a look through the slide show. I've aggregated some comments from around the blogosphere in response to this Kohl's story, spliced with the bullshit spewed from the Kohl's website.

Anybody have a take on this one?