When decent people get screwed over, this is the result! A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive store; ie., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. Let’s let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY!
My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the ‘Neiman- Marcus cookie.’ It was So excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a sma ll frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy The Recipe.’ Well, I asked how much, and she responded, ‘ Only two fifty - it’s a Great deal!’ I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.
Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman- Marcus Charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe-$250.00.’ That was Outrageous!
I called Neiman’s Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was ‘two fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty dollars’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge.
They would not refund my money because, according to them, ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the Recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point.’ I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the State of Texas I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General’s office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, ‘Do what you want. Don’t bother thinking of how you can get even, and don’t bother trying to get any of your money Back.’ I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I’m going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe From Neiman-Marcus…for free. She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do this.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!’ and slammed down the phone.