From the inbox: When a local business provides exceptional customer service, I think it should be publicized. I was in a Kingston shop yesterday and bought some things totaling a little over $100.00, the owner, called me to say there was a mistake in the charge.

Customer is Pleasantly Suprised with Stores Honesty

From the inbox: When a local business provides exceptional customer service, I think it should be publicized. I was in a Kingston shop yesterday and bought some things totaling a little over $100.00, the owner, called me to say there was a mistake in the charge.

Dear crownheights.info,

When a local business provides exceptional customer service, I think it should be publicized. Sparkles, the gift shop on Kingston, has only been open a couple of weeks, but already they have earned my support.

I was in yesterday and bought some things totaling a little over $100.00. A few hours after I was home Levi Eckhaus, the owner, called me to say there was a mistake in the charge. Naturally, I thought I owe HIM money. But no.

It seems I was accidentally overcharged. I was stunned & very impressed. I’m ashamed to say I never check receipts (I wonder how many mistakes have gone unnoticed before?) and together, we figured out the correct items which I had bought & should have paid for. He told me he’d calculate the refund & have it waiting for me.

Again, I’m impressed… it was just before 10:00 AM today when I drove by and the store was open! Sure enough, Levi had an envelope waiting for me with the huge amount of… $5.89. I would never have noticed. But he did, and being an honest businessman (which I am certain applies to every merchant in Crown Heights) he made sure to take care of this error.

We have great businesses here in the neighborhood. There is very little we can’t get here. Maybe we should be more supportive of our own; times are tough and where there are comparable pricing we should patronize our own neighbors first. I will definitely go back to Sparkles! To me, customer service is as important as cost and quality.

Thanks again, Levi!
An appreciative customer (not a relative!)

If you had an experience or an encounter that you would like to share with our readers, please send it in to editor@crownheights.info and we will gladly publish it!

30 Comments

  • nes godol hoya sham

    common, ppl, we r frum, is it really your first time experience in a frum store ???

  • it happened to me

    the same thing just happened to me with top fashion! they overcharged me by $5 and made sure i got it back asap. another kingston ave. business with exceptional customer service is oraita. we should have more businesses like those!

  • a friend

    Levi,

    Kol HaKavod! Good for you! I am thrilled to hear this little piece of news–though knowing you, not surprised.

    It is comforting in today’s “anything goes” business world were frum people categorically are immoral and unethical in their businesses, that a chassidisher yungerman takes honesty, halachah, the law, and just simple decency seriously

    Ashrecha and Ashrenu– you should in zchus of this be zoche to parnasa beshoofi

  • dovid

    B“H
    this is good !!!!!!!!

    the only thing that i don’t understand is , –
    that when a Yid ( and a frum Yid ) is honest , – it makes the news , it is on the net ,
    comments , publicity ……….

    the poshet , simple , normal , “Yirey Shomayim” stile behavior ,
    is out of the ordinary , it is news that needs publicity …….

    what is next ? …………

  • Pathetic

    This is what editorials come down to? Is the neighborhood lacking that much that a refund gets press? Essentially the proprietor did what is expected of any local merchant. Whats next a store owner praising a customer who caught a mistake in his favor?

    This to me is a reality check. Or it could simply be that this site has little content and has stooped to a new low.

  • Crunch

    I also have an amazing story:

    The other day I bought a bottle of milk in Kahns, and I wasn’t overcharged!!

    Would you believe it?!

  • on the news?

    This should be without saying, the owner is a frum yid, and this is the ONLY correct thing he could have done, why is it on the news? good PR though.

  • ce

    this comes to remind us how powerful Hakaras Hatov is!
    May we find it in more times during our day!

  • Ir Hakodesh

    Maybe this is news in Brooklyn, but in Lakewood this happens every day.

    And another thing – when we have a dispute, we go to a Din Torah.

  • Heartwarming

    Levi,

    In the merit of your honesty and integrity, Hashem should bless you with success beyond your imagination.

  • kingston stores

    Go Oraita The best service ever and the best sofers
    go Gad Sebbag

  • Open before 10am?!

    I think the most amazing thing is that he was opened before 10am. Extraordinary for a Kingston Avenue store 

  • Ch resident

    To Dovid:

    YES Good behavior deserves and in this case HONEST business conduct truly deserves an abundance of praise especially when bad people doing bad things are usually what we only hear in the news!!Levi and Chaya may you be blessed with an abundance of success!!

  • mother in ch

    why do we always want bad news? I think we should publish the positive!

  • to 6

    is this how low you’ve stooped to?? someone is proving the honesty of a new store, and you throw u[p all over it?? think about what you write b4 you write it.

  • SomeJustDontGetIt

    About 20 yrs ago, I bought Luvs Diapers at a pharmacy on Coney Island Ave.
    When I told my wife (on the phone) that I paid $11.00, she told me that it must be a mistake and should cost more.
    I returned to the pharmacy and sure enough the price was really $16.00. You will never guess what happened when I walked up to the shikse cashier and showed her the bill, the mistake, and a $5 bill.
    She took the money, looked at me, at the money, then shouted:
    “YOU ARE CRAZY!!!!”

  • Fellow Crown Heightser

    Com on ppls!! Even if this is an advertising stunt, who cares? Be happy 4 another person. And YES it is refreshing to hear this news. Thanx 4 posting.
    Hatzlocha to Levi and Chaya’le.

  • The writer/customer

    I am the writer. Some people know who I am because I already told them what happened, but I decided (at the suggestion of my adult children, actually!) to publicize this. As one poster says, it’s nice to be able to show Hakores Hatov & to say something nice for a change, instead of complaining.

    I feel really sorry for all you cynics who make such snide comments. Living in New York has really made you jaded, hasn’t it? But for the record…this isn’t a publicity stunt. I guess all you people don’t ever see the glass half full, only half empty. How sad.

  • resident

    After what a store in the ch just went throgh with one of it’s workers stealing & cheating its customers and employer its good to know we have some good people here

  • 50 50

    Nice story – but to put it as a news story infers that it rarely happens, which is in fact, maligning the rest of the CH community

  • NOT UNION LIMO

    I am not from crown heights but whenever I’ve needed a car svc or A limousine union limo has always overcharged me and never were willing to give anything back and always they lied about the price. i once had a union limo driver taking me from crown heights to LGA who threatened to beat me up if i don’t pay him more money because it took an extra 4 minutes to load the luggage and when i refused to pay more as they were already charging $45 he stopped the car in the middle of j. Robinson and told me to get out… the story got worse afterwards… but when i contacted union for a refund for what i went through (because i was never actually brought to my airline and had to walk very far)they said ITS NOT OUR PROBLEM, so i told them if won’t gimme my money back i reserve the right to spread my story AND THEY SAID OK.

  • OUT OF TOWNER

    Im not from here and I moved here recently. I find that crown heights is really like a shtetl in every way. As much as people try to dress ‘modern’ and act all ‘with it’ their really not.
    There is really bad costumer service in almost every store besides for Benz’s and I guess this new store and maybe Sweet expressions as well. If you have any perception or concept of how a bussines or store is supposed to run you would say the same. Costumers don’t have to walk inot your store and don’t owe anyone anything and should not have to wait on the cashier or manager, it should be the other way around. You may think its normal because thats all you know, but its not normal and quite embarassing and fusturating, especially when things are over priced. Everybody says Benz’s is over priced, well maybe their right, but maybe they deserve it for their hard work and effort at being such a good bussines, this is how it should be done. Sorry y’all, thats the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If allyou store owners shape up like benz’s you’ll make much more bissines> One more thing, what is up with the credit limit?? that is so unprofessional and 1995, were in frikkin 2010 and not in Russia!
    Thank you, I hope I made my point clear.

  • OUT OF TOWNER TO #6

    Dude, you are so out of line. This is not the New York Times, this is more of a blog. and even if it was the ny times, why do you care? there is something very special about a small business doing well, part of what America was supposed to be like, if it weren’t for the liberal agenda.

  • disappointed

    I’ll tell you wht it makes news.
    I shop in one of our local supermarkets regulary.after leaving the place I cheked my receipt and found that I was charged $1.99 for something that said “produce”. All I had purchased were 4 items. NONE on them were produce. When I asked one of the managers what this is all about, his reply “I don’t know,_____knows the computer much better, leave me the receipt and I’ll check it out with him. When I came back, about a week later, NO ONE WAS HOME. He never remembered that I brought a receipt in, made me sound like a fool, like a shnorer, and then dismissed the whole thing.So yes, it is very nice when someone is honest, and it’s nicer to be recognized. Out of customer courtesy, he should of credited the $1.99, as I am a good customer.