Josh in Pennsylvania was in a bind, and needed his suit pressed for a job interview on short notice. Very short notice—he was called on Sunday afternoon for an interview on Monday morning. The store where he originally bought the suit offers free lifetime pressing, but they weren’t open on a Sunday. Trying to find a place that would help him, he made a useful discovery.

I’ve always been a big and tall guy, the broad shouldered former football player type. About 8 years ago, during my senior year of high school, I walked into a Men’s Wearhouse store to look for a navy jacket and I found nothing in my size. This wasn’t really surprising, as it’s never been easy for me to find big clothes, or size 17 shoes for that matter. Because of this, when I find a store that meets my needs I generally stick to it – forever.

Over the last 8 years, I went off to college, got a job in Manhattan and eventually got laid off and ended up moving back home to the Philadelphia suburbs. While in New York I began shopping at Rochester Big & Tall, the only store that I knew of that could meet my needs. They were pricey, but the service was great and the money at the time was good. I had always been happy with their NYC store, but now that I’m back in Philadelphia, I’ve had two negative experiences out of two trips to the Rochester Big & Tall store in King of Prussia. The last one was about two weekends ago. I got a call on a Sunday afternoon asking me to come into New York City and interview for a job that I never applied for. Some old networking came through and an amazing Vice President level job was thrown in my lap. The only problem – it was Sunday and I needed to pull my suit out of a storage box and have it pressed in time for an interview Monday morning in Manhattan.

I called Rochester Big & Tall in King of Prussia – who offers lifetime free suit pressing – and the salesman told me that I was simply out of luck – after all, it was a Sunday and their machines were off. Not the answer I was expecting from a place where I’d spend easily over $1000 for a suit, shirt and tie. I was stumped, but then I remembered all of the Men’s Wearhouse television commercials that I’ve seen and the stories that they portray of how their great customer service has saved the day for many people over many years. I called up their WIllow Grove store and Brett, a salesman, answered the phone. I said, “I have a weird request but I could really use your help…” Brett didn’t flinch and asked me to come on in. I arrive about an hour later – Sunday around 3:30 PM, and I met Brett and then Coley, the tailor. Coley informed me that there is normally a charge for pressing – not a problem in the least for this service – but went on to say that he’d press the suit for no charge this time since I was in a bind. However, he wanted to know if I could wait a couple of hours since he was currently with a customer. Again, of course this wasn’t a problem. My reaction was simply, “Wow, amazing customer service for someone who isn’t even a customer! I have to write in and tell everybody about this.”

But the story gets better. I literally hadn’t been in a Men’s Wearhouse store for 8 years and on this visit, what do I find? An extensive selection of Big & Tall dress shirts, belts, suits, slacks and jackets – and even better, some of my favorite brands for 1/3 of the price that I’d find at Rochester! (Joseph Abboud to name just one.) Well guess what Rochester, now I know of a more affordable competitor, important in these tough times, and they over measurably better customer service. I’m in talks to accept this new job and when I need to go buy 7 new suits, I’m going to Brett and Coley at Men’s Wearhouse.

See the power that just getting someone into the store and treating them well can have? Josh sent the above message to Men’s Wearhouse management, as well, and they sent a nice, personalized e-mail back.

(Photo: thestarshine)

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