move over, henry sy. the tantocos are taking over my shopping self

everyone in my immediate circle knows how much i love SM.

when i want to hide, i go to SM.
when i'm feeling uber sad, i engage in SM retail therapy.
when the pressure was too much for me when i was reviewing for the bar, SM was my refuge.
and, oh, 75% of my bar review was inside a tiny starbucks at SM sucat.

when i get married, i'd have to have my pre-nup pics at SM.

SM & rosa -- it's just like tuyo and champorado on a cold rainy day.

in the past couple of years though, rustan's has been sneaking into my heart. it began when i worked in the court of appeals and the nearest mall was not an SM (gasp!) but robinson's with an uber tiny rustan's. and so, while i never was comfortable with the thought of entering plush rustan's makati's glittering entrance, this rustan's was more accessible to me. and, with their sales that make my eyes pop out, it wasn't long before rustan's became my dirty little secret.

i may be married to SM, but rustan's was my mistress.

since i moved back to the ortigas area, i've basically cut off my affair with rustan's. while shangri-la is nearby, sm is not only where i park but it doesn't hurt that it's accessible via fx for those afternoons that you just want to sneak out and buy something. unfortunately, twice now, SM has disappointed me with it's "surprise price changes" wherein the tag price is lower than what appears on the cash register. the excuse: they just haven't changed it yet.

yesterday, i went to rustan's alabang to pick up something i had repaired. last december i bought this cute cube tdk speaker as a gift but i never got to give it so it pretty much stayed inside my closet until last holy week when i decided to finally use it for myself. after an hour or so, it stopped working. since i couldn't return it anymore, i brought it to rustan's and with some jiggling, it worked again so the speaker went home again. after another hour, it stopped working again so i brought it back and told them that they'd have to really fix it.

that was may.

after almost three months (with one drop-by follow-up in between) they finally called me and said my speakers were fixed. when i saw the speakers however, i was disappointed. the bright orange speaker cover was dirty (and the kind of dirty one couldn't live with, not just dusty dirty). i asked for their manager and said that in no uncertain terms would i accept speakers looking like that especially since the one i turned over for repairs was clean and almost brand new. they volunteered to clean it but even the manager was shocked when we flipped it over and saw that the rubber thingees protecting the "feet" of the speakers were also worn out and falling out in some places. the verdict: give her the speaker on display.

yay.

i guess what i love about rustan's that SM can't give me is the fact that their customer service is superb. i could have created a major scene at sm and they still would not have replaced my speaker. at most, they would have sent me to the upper floors to talk to management, and they'll appease me by saying they'll do something about it, but in no way would a problem like that be resolved in five minutes. no more going back for me, no more negotiating, no more threatening. i was the customer and they wanted to make me happy. end of conversation. now THAT is the kind of service i want to experience each and every time i shell out my hard-earned money.

p.s. of course it doesn't hurt that the wrap their presents the most fantabulous way ever.