As a kid, the Naidu Hall discount sale that is on, during their anniversary every year was something that I used to look forward to, since that’s when I used to get my Diwali dress. 🙂 After the Vinayaka Chaturthi pooja at home, we used to rush to the shop, which used to be so crowded that one had to squeeze oneself through the crowds to reach the rows and rows of dresses hanging from the shelves. Unlike how it is now, at that time, the sale used to be on for just one day. (It was later extended to 3 days and today the sale is on for more than 2 weeks!) The general opinion was that the dresses though of excellent quality, were a bit expensive at Naidu Hall. So I guess everyone wanted to shop there during the sale. I have no idea how my Mom managed to pick all those nice frocks and skirts and tops for my sister and me amidst all the chaos! This shopping during the sale continued till when I was in my class 11. Though I went there during the sale when I was in my class 12 too, I somehow didn’t like anything at all there and that’s when we decided to stop going for the sale. I did buy a few dresses there after that, but not during the sale.
But this year, the saree-crazy girl that I have become, I wanted to check out the saree collection there and the sale seemed to give me the perfect excuse to indulge in some shopping. 😛 I remembered a beautiful black and maroon raw silk designer saree that a friend had got from Naidu Hall a few years back and I had decided that I would surely get at least one saree there. I went there with my Mom on a morning during that looong weekend and at that time, we happened to be the only ones there on the floors having sarees. Lesser the crowd the better it is to do shopping. Generally, when you go to some shop where there are fewer customers at that time, you will find that you will have the undivided attention of the salesperson and they would patiently show you everything that’s there. But this wasn’t the case here and we didn’t buy any saree at all, thanks to the poor customer service there!
We went to the second floor that had the designer sarees. I told the salespersons there that I didn’t want to see synthetic designer sarees at all and asked them to show what other designer sarees they have. There was a silk designer saree lying on the silk designer saree section and we just had a look at it. When we asked the lady at the counter to show more sarees, she wanted to know our budget. I had neither a pre-decided budget nor the type of saree that I was going to buy. All I wanted to was to buy some nice saree. So when I told her that we didn’t have any specific budget in mind and I first wanted to see what all varieties they have, the reply that I got was to just have a look at the sarees in the shelf and see the colours and she would take it out only if we wanted to. So we asked her to show some 3-4 sarees. I would have been ok with this if she had already showed sarees of different types and asked us to choose the colours. After all, I too wouldn’t have wanted her to take out all the sarees if I didn’t like the work. But how will we know the different varieties that they have if we have to see the colour alone? If you take out a saree from the shelf, it might not be like how you imagined at all. Sometimes the work will be so nice and go so well with the colour that you may end up buying it even though that colour may not be your favourite. But when the person showing the sarees doesn’t seem to be interested at all, how long can we ask her to show the sarees? We went to the next section only to find that there were no more designer sarees to see. Are there so less designer sarees there?
Though there have been many instances when we had done shopping despite the bad customer service, I really didn’t expect this here and was so disappointed. I was ranting about this to my friend, only to have her tell me that the customer service has been bad in Naidu Hall for the past few years! Since I have got only salwars there and those were all hanging in the hangars and we didn’t really need the help of any salespersons to see the collection, I have never felt that way before. Anyway, here I was willing to splurge my money and that didn’t seem to happen. 🙁 But anyway, splurge I finally did. 😀 And that too at a shop where the customer service was excellent! Wanna know where? Stay tuned! 😉
and this is exactly why i dont lik to go shoppin with the ladies! 😛
I remember my mom being one of them.. I used to dread going fo undies shopping thr though!
Not sure if this is true…but seems Naidu hall is spilt between 2 brothers… They have the naidu halla nd the Naihaa stores now? And apparently this naihaa thingy is overpriced and Naidu hall is dying a slow death!
But yay, to the shopping!
I don’t know whether Naidu Hall is the only one with bad service. But, I remember going to quite a few stores in India – and all of them said the same thing, “Look at the sarees in the shelf and pick a colour” thing. How annoying!
But, unlike us, there are people(women mostly) who go and look at sarees. They have no intentions of buying, and after going through 500 sarees, they say, “oh we are just looking”! Maybe that’s why the salespersons adopt this strategy now? 😕
Naidu Hall, what a strange name? Do we hav something called Naidu Kitchen?
> Wanna know where? Stay tuned!
What a suspense! 4 paragraphs of dense text & still not over? 😛
Guys, This is what happens when a celebrity blogger goes for shopping. It gets blogged, the readers celebrate it & the shopping nvr gets over!
just to keep up with “comments” mood… 🙂
Wondering what could annoy a guy to an extent that he would write such a long blog about his shopping experience for a shirt or jeans? 🙂
Prasad,
😛
Curious,
Both Naidu Hall and Naihaa are one and the same. They have just given the shop a new name. I don’t know why.
> But yay, to the shopping!
Yes! 😀
Gayathri,
Oh. Spoils your shopping experience doesn’t it? But I have experienced this only in few shops.
That’s true. I too thought about that. But I wonder how they expect someone to buy the sarees there if they don’t show what they have. It might also be because of their laziness to fold the sarees and arrange everything again.
Ranjhith,
LOL! 😛
>Do we hav something called Naidu Kitchen?
No idea 😐
Naane,
🙂
[1] The business is split between Aravind, son of late Ramaswamy, and his uncle Venugopal.
[2] Aravind changed over the store brand name to Naihaa, which is derived from NAI-du HA-ll A-ravind to distinguish between his stores and his uncle’s stores.
[3] The business was started by Aravind’s grandfather G.D.Naidu, who started a small tailoring shop. He grew in popularity, particularly building a strong client base among the film actresses of those years.
[4] The name Naidu Hall was coined many years ago. Naidu is a the name of a caste in south India. Hall usually signifies the biggest name in a house. Therefore, Naidu Hall.
Vaapas,
Welcome to my blog! Thanks for the info.
Yes Naidu Hall naihaa is Arvind business and Naidu Hall is Venugopal business. the naidu hall is down because Venugopal’s only son Navin had died in 2004, so Mr. Venugopal was devastated by the loss of his only son and couldn’t concentrate on his business, so the bad servie must there in Naidu hall. Naidu hall naihaa is currently doing well and opened many stores in chennai
Ramesh,
Welcome to my blog! Oh. I have no idea where that poor service was. Should remember to see the shop the next time I go to Pondy Bazar…
Thank you very much Aparna for your work.
Further Spceial Thanks to Vappas and Ramesh.
Now got clear picture.
Could you please provide some more contact details about Mr. Arvind? It will be helpful for me.
TY
I bought a chudidhar Material @ Naidu Hall Naihaa (Valasaravakkam, Chennai) in the month of Sep’09. In the bill they mentioned that the material cannot be exchanged (Very cleverly), since I liked the color, did not consider the bill. But after 2months when I gave it for stitching to a local tailor, he returned back saying that the length is very short and cannot stitch from it. I went to Naihaa immediately and explained them about the material defect. The Floor manager (Sudharshan), he asked one of his tailor to check the size of the material. Their tailor also mentioned the same saying, it cannot be stitched. But still the manager does not want to exchange the material; he was keep on arguing that I need to exchange it within 10days. Then again I mentioned that I am returning it, as I could not do anything with it. And the argument went almost an hour, but their answer was no. Their answer was, the material brand which I purchased has only short length and it is not like a normal chudidhar. He said, that the customer has to tell the sales person about their way and sizes for stitching, then the sales person will tell the customer whether the particular material will fit or not. Bullshit answer he gave.
Then I realized that Naihaa is well planned in looting money from public by selling rejected garments. The next day I called up the customer care of Naihaa and explained my problem, but no use. They asked me to change my way of stitching according to the garment.
“EG: Naihaa is selling Towels in the name of blankets. When we ask about it, their answer is “this particular brands blanket size will be short as much as a Towel” (they will tell after purchasing it only, they won’t say before purchase)”
I am going to file a case against Naihaa, if anyone can help me in getting Mr. Aravind Ramasamy’s Contact details, it will be really appreciated.
FYI: I have recorded all the conversations in my cell phone for future purpose, which will help me to win in the Consumer redhressal.
Lenin,
Welcome to my blog!
>>selling Towels in the name of blankets.
LOL!
I am a native of Mumbai, in september 08 while I was at Chennai, my friends at office asked me to check out the Naihaa Anniversary Sale. On my last day of stay, made a quick trip to the showroom in Adyar. Since this discount is much sought after by women in Chennai, I found the showroom slightly crowded. Amidst all the rush and purchase spree I missed to collect an emb kurti that I had purchased for my younger sister.
I realized this once I was back to my hometown. I noticed that their customer care number was a Chennai Local number and I had my apprehensions to call. I also happened to see an email Id on the bill and wanted to try my luck. Was quiet surprised to see a reply mail within a few hours asking for a convenient time to talk to me. Later that day the call came promptly and the girl who called took the details. To my great luck, the package was kept safe at the shop. My joy knew no bounds when they took the trouble to courier it to my address.
I think lenin can try and email them at customercare@naihaa.com to see if the trouble can be sorted out. It worked for me, might work for you too!
Anyways enjoyed the shopping experiences at Chennai. A little crowded but they treat the customer with a lot of respect. Very hospitable….Also the food is fantastic…I am in luv with Rasam….Sharavana Bhavan Sambar and Coconut Chutney.
Priti,
Welcome to my blog! I am also surprised to know that they responded to the mail.