Pandora Bracelets an Unhappy Pandora Experience

Last week I tried to buy a Pandora Bracelet!  This is a worldwide company and they pride themselves on offering the Pandora Experience but like the Pandora of Greek Legend opening the Pandora box can lead to a nightmare.

The Pandora advertising is lush and inviting, the web experience is all that can be asked for. The new products for Xmas are gorgeous and are displayed enticingly so after a evenings deliberation all that is needed is one's credit card and a visit to the local Pandora agent.

Simple? Well no! For me trying to buy one of these bracelets was very difficult indeed.

And this is where the experience turns to custard, for me anyway for Essence the product that is heavily marketed on the web site is not so easy to buy unless you live near certain Pandora stockists. In the strange world of Pandora marketing certain stockists come first, the rest second and the poor customer who actually wants to buy that which is extensively marketed last.

I do not live near a favoured store, the store has to pay Pandora for the privilege and I found that my local stockist although they do all the donkey work of showing me the initial range cannot sell me the advertised items. Initially I found this unbelievable. To buy these precious  mass produced objects I have to travel many kilometers through traffic to parts of the town I usually do not visit or wait until well after Xmas when Pandora may let my local stockist sell them or may not.

When I complained to the Marketing Division in Australia I was given plausible explanations of why it was impossible for Pandora to help me like sending the wanted articles to my local stockist.

It seems it is all my fault. I did not read the small print at the end of the scroll down saying that this major collection could only be bought at selected stores. Silly me as I though as they had advertised it so widely they wanted to sell it to me. It seems that the only place these bracelets can be bought is in a few stores in Australia and New Zealand as it is an experiment so poor old New Yorkers who are featured cannot buy these either.

It is my fault I do not live near a franchise and there is nothing that the customer services can do to help! This was a first for me. Never before have I met a marketing PR  department who turned away business. Usually customer services  fall over backwards to help. Not at Pandora.

It seems although Pandora rules the waves when it comes to who can sell what but when it comes to special offers that it supports, the stockist is responsible. I missed on one by three days as when I bought my bracelet the assistant who knew of the offer did not tell me until after I had purchased and when I asked Pandora later could my purchase be considered for a gift  was firmly put in my place. Not their responsibility. Pandora has nothing to do with stockists except  to arrange special offers and have the power to not let them stock what the customer wants.

After a week of trying I came to the conclusion that Pandora does not want customers that actually buy what the customer wants. It is all for the retailers. My local stockist only has outdated goods.

It is no surprise that Pandora's many imitators have such an easy ride as in desperation one turns to them. Once one makes the change to another brand one is unlikely to change as the idea is to make a collection.

So that was my Pandora Experience for what it is worth. I write this in the scant hope that the Pandora bosses will take on board that all is not well in their world. Customer satisfaction used to be number one priority not with Pandora.

Now every time I look at the bracelet I  managed to buy I remember what grief it has caused me. I am even writing about it now! But this is the last as I am cured and no doubt my bank balance will be much improved by the experience.