Snubbed China shopper makes luxury shop staff count US$84,000 cash then leaves

Mainland social media has taken delight in an act of revenge meted out to the staff of a luxury brand store by a wealthy woman in China.

Describing it as the “most spleen-venting incident of the year”, the woman, who felt she had been snubbed by staff at a Louis Vuitton (LV) outlet, returned to the store with 600,000 yuan (US$84,000) in cash two months later to get her own back.

The woman, who uses the alias xiaomayouren on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, shared her “infuriating” experience at the StarLight Place shopping centre in Chongqing, southwestern China, in June, Sohu news outlet reported.

In the initial exchange, the woman, carrying a Hermes handbag, said she went to the LV outlet to buy clothes and staff behaved in a stand-offish way towards her.

They ignored her request for drinking water and merely pointed to old seasonal garments while she hoped to see the new arrivals.

They even rolled their eyes and looked impatient when she asked them to show her some dresses to fit.

The customer said after leaving the shop, she called “the headquarters” of the luxury brand, but was ignored.

After bearing a grudge for two months, the woman took a big bag containing 600,000 yuan to the same store. She was accompanied by her personal assistant and a friend.

They tried on some clothes before telling the sales person they would buy them. The woman then presented the shop assistants with a big bag of banknotes to pay.

After the sales staff spent two hours counting the money, the woman told them: “We don’t want to buy now. We are leaving.”

“After they finished counting it, I just took away my money and left. How is it possible for me to buy their products to improve their work performance?” she wrote on Xiaohongshu.

The woman’s story went viral online, attracting widespread praise from internet users.

“This ending is so delightful. I have always wondered why these shop assistants are so arrogant,” said one online observer.

While another said: “They sell luxury goods, but it does not mean they are luxury goods themselves.”

The China office of Louis Vuitton had not responded to questions from the Post at the time of writing.

Disputes caused by the dismissive attitude of sales staff often captivate social media in China.

In 2021, a woman customer in eastern China’s Zhejiang province told the media that she was shooed away twice within 15 minutes by a sales assistant in a luxury beauty store while she was sitting there to have a rest.

The woman said she felt discriminated against and insulted because she was dressed casually and was not wearing make-up.

The manager of the store apologised to the woman after the incident was widely reported.