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We were excited when was saw that Pink Flamingo was opening a location in Fayetteville, on Joyce.  We’ve shopped at their store in Eureka Springs for years.  Finally, a place to buy Flax clothing in town!

We went there, and Jill bought a black Flax top, similar to a grey one that she recently purchased in Eureka Springs.

When we got it home, she discovered that the “V” in the front had frayed stitching.  Any pulling on it frayed it more.  So, she called the store to see if they had another one in stock.  They didn’t.  She was then told she had 7 days to bring it back in for an exchange.

Since she was on the way out of town for business for a week, I had to return the garment.

I went into the store and the owners inspected the item, and said they couldn’t see anything wrong with it.  I left, telling them that I would find out exactly what the problem was.  I talked to Jill, returned to the store, and pointed out the problem.

That’s when the owner started arguing with me – telling me that he personally inspects every piece of clothing before it leaves the store, and it wasn’t like that when it left.  (He wasn’t even at the store when we purchased it, so I never saw him inspect it.)   He said that it could fray like that if someone larger than the clothing size wore it.  I mentioned that a) she never even tried it on, and b) we have the exact same top in a different color, and it had no fraying.

He says that he could give store credit, since there is no cash refunds, and pointed to the tiny sign stating “No Cash Refunds.  Exchange Only, within 7 days with receipt.”  I inquire about that policy.

I haven’t seen ANY boutiques in the area with such a limited return policy.  He argued, saying that was standard return policy for boutiques around here.  I said that might be the case in Eureka Springs, but we haven’t shopped in boutiques with return policies like that in Fayetteville (and we’ve been supporting local businesses for decades).

I ask if we could get the credit on the credit card which we used to make the purchase.  “No.  That counts as cash.”

So, he calls his wife and practically has to get permission to give us store credit.   I ask if we can use the credit at the Eureka Springs store.  He says “No”.  They’re trying to treat them as separate businesses.  They won’t even ship stock from the Eureka Store to the Fayetteville one.

No Cash refunds?  Apparently, the customer is never right at the Pink Flamingo.  Without having a guarantee of a cash refund, it makes a business sound as if they’re not sticking around.  If Jill had noticed that policy, she would have never spent any money there.  We’d much rather support local businesses that cared about the customer.

Incidents like this makes one wary to support locally owned businesses, and makes me very wary to trust businesses in Eureka Springs.

Now we’re stuck with credit at a store where we don’t want to spent a single penny.   Hopefully that business will stay open long enough for us to actually use that credit, now that they’ve taken our money.