My husband took me to Santa Barbara Eyeglass Factory (SBEF)--have been a customer for years and miss them in Thousand Oaks. I simply wanted to buy replacement frames for broken frames and was selecting, matching size, color and style. A lady customer was being helped-- and the person behind the counter, Samantha Z, as described by Nunyabiznez, was loud and rude to the customer, saying that SBEF is the cheapest anywhere in her 20-something years in the business, that there is nothing more she can offer, that that is the way it is. This is not to say the customer was the easiest to please--she complained consistently. I waited my turn, and she was equally abrasive. There were now two other customers in the shop. Samantha Z told me to come back in 4 hours; I questioned it politely and mentioned without raising my voice that there were reviews which I read stating the prices might be reasonable/unreasonable but the customer service was terrible. She changed her tone 180 degrees and asked for my cell phone number in the event they could replace the frames sooner. We left; she called back in an hour to say the job was ready for pick-up. We returned and I thought it was another person. Her tone, her demeanor and service had totally changed. My husband mentioned that it looked like her boss' door was now open and a male was going in and out. Bottom line: they need to hire people who are customer service oriented; happy to work (I realize it can be difficult working with demanding people). I will still patronize this shop because they have old fashioned frames which I cannot live without...but....
Pros: finding obsolescent frames
Cons: service
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