Comments on Experience: The Blog: Transparency (or Lack Thereof) on Kohl's Facebook ...

Kohl's ripped me off. I went to the store to ...

2010-03-19T22:25:37.364-05:00

Kohl's ripped me off. I went to the store to pay my bill for $123.40. Wrote a check for 23.40 and gave them a $100 Kohl's Cares for Kids card They gave me the proper receipts. My next bill arrives showing my payment being reversed and I am billed for the entire $123.40. I wrote the appropriate protest letter and they then found my check and gave me credit for that, but they would not give me credit for the $100 KCK card because I didn't know the serial number! Do you know the serial numbers on currency you spend or gift cards you use? Shouldn't they recognize their own receipts? Kohl's owes me a hundred bucks. Burned in Iowa. Anyone at Kohl's reading this can take it up with Denny at the Ankeny store.

The company lies, it tells you that you can shop o...

2009-11-27T07:24:08.075-06:00

The company lies, it tells you that you can shop on-line after 12AM EST, 1PM CST time. I go online and the site is down, I tried few minutes later and the site ais working, I tried to checkout and I could not check out.

I am posting this strike against Kolhs false aderverstiment on all the blost that find.

Anonymous, Thanks for understanding my position o...

2009-10-07T16:37:26.625-05:00

Anonymous,

Thanks for understanding my position on this. I will just add this: If you want to shake up employees who are not disclosing, there may be a better approach than cataloging the transgressions here: Why not reply to them on the Facebook board, point out they may be violating Federal Trade Commission laws governing endorsements made by people with material connections to the brand, and share a link to the FTC guidelines. I suspect that might grab their attention!

Good luck!

I respect your position on your topic. Perhaps I ...

2009-10-07T14:56:54.191-05:00

I respect your position on your topic. Perhaps I was confused by your topic, which reads "Transparency (or Lack Thereof) on Kohl's Facebook Fan Page." As you can see, every example provided supports a lack of transparency, whether it be from Corporate, or each store. In fact, the very woman I mentioned above, Sarah J. Mavis, just posted this when someone suggested she was a Kohl's employee: "Who says im an employee? for all you know im playing devils advocate!" As I posted before, she herself announced the day before that she was a Kohl's employee!

While I understand your empathy and perhaps fear that your blog from a few months ago has opened a can of unrelated worms, I feel your latest blog further supports the issues discussed here (and perhaps was inspired by it). http://www.experiencetheblog.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

Lastly, thank you for both blogs, which are truly eye-openers into what companies and their employees are capable of.

Anonymous, I appreciate your passion, but I am no...

2009-10-07T11:33:15.630-05:00

Anonymous,

I appreciate your passion, but I am not interested in having my blog become spot for anti-Kohl's sentiment. My blog post was about a mistake that was made and what Social Marketers can learn from it, but I do not have a beef with Kohl's. I shop at Kohl's, like their selection and stores, and feel the company is by and large well run.

I agree with you that Kohl's employees should be disclosing their relationship before posting positive sentiment on the Kohl's Facebook group. Having said that, I think that's the end of this story, as far as I'm concerned.

The purpose of this blog is to share news and insight about Social Media and Social Marketing, not to report every transgression made by a Kohl's employee. I believe if you care to continue to report and discuss these matters, you should use the Topix forum that someone created for this sort of communication:

http://www.topix.net/forum/topstories/TN7EGU33PE349AVLG

From now on, unless there is evidence Kohl's is directing employees to post (which I do not believe is the case) or otherwise violating FTC rules, I will be deleting further comments that merely report another store employee posting to the Facebook site.

I appreciate your passion on the topic, but I also want to be fair to Kohl's as they struggle with the same things other brands are addressing in rapidly developing and changing Social Media.

I forgot to include the Kohl's employee's ...

2009-10-07T11:17:40.788-05:00

I forgot to include the Kohl's employee's name above; it's Sarah J. Mavis.

And another one: Kohl's FB Fan Page: "Th...

2009-10-07T11:16:38.582-05:00

And another one:

Kohl's FB Fan Page: "They dont ask employees to add positive comments! If they did none would "care" to post because most do not have a facebook account. Plus, there is no benfit for employees to post these comments in the first place. "Oh but you get more... people to shop!" simply not the case. shopping is some ones free will and so is posting a positive comment!"

Hmmm... do you think she's a Kohl's employee? SPOILER From this link: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=17648521247&share_id=142630847966&comments=1

"I work for kohls. there is no inact fee! chase is the provider of the kohls charge card. if you have a fee you are uncertain with then call the 1-800 number on the back of your card! we have no annul fee nor done we have any hidden fees. refer back to your card contract you recieve upon approvel!
have a great day!"

Found two more employees posing as customers on Ko...

2009-10-07T10:16:28.269-05:00

Found two more employees posing as customers on Kohl's fan page:

Kelly Reisenbuechler - FB post: " I love my new store in downtown Napa! What a great addition to the neighborhood and the local economy."

From her linkedIn profile:
Senior Territory Marketing Coordinator- Kohl's Corporation
April 2006 — March 2007 (1 year)
Territory Marketing Coordinator- Kohl's Corporation
November 2003 — April 2005 (1 year 6 months)
Product Development Specialist- Kohl's
May 2002 — November 2003 (1 year 7 months)

------------------

Another one: Joshua Tomaszewski
Kohl's Facebook Fan Page quote: "THE MORE YOU KNOW,
THE MORE YOU LOVE KOHL'S !"

"first off kohl's is not asking there employees to post here, why cant an employee show there dedication and appreciation for their company... Kohl's is great why cant they express that?"

From http://www.mlive.com/living/livingston/index.ssf/2009/05/young_citizen_of_the_year_josh.html :
"Tomaszewski somehow manages to fit in 18 to 20 hours of work per week working at Genoa Township's Kohl's department store."

In Tomaszewski's defense, he seems to be a nice young man. Kohl's is to blame for this deception.

Check out KOHL'S facebook page now - they are ...

2009-10-03T22:54:45.803-05:00

Check out KOHL'S facebook page now - they are posing as fans and running off their most profitable client base. http://www.facebook.com/kohls

Kohls Fans - Not http://www.topix.net/forum/topst...

2009-10-02T09:27:40.574-05:00

Kohls Fans - Not http://www.topix.net/forum/topstories/TN7EGU33PE349AVLG/p2#lastPost

Here's a place to discuss Kohl's since the...

2009-10-01T07:27:24.560-05:00

Here's a place to discuss Kohl's since the Kohl's facebook is being edited to remove comments Kohl's doesn't like: http://www.topix.net/forum/topstories/TN7EGU33PE349AVLG#lastPost

Thanks Sarah, Those of us in marketing hope that ...

2009-06-29T14:36:06.022-05:00

Thanks Sarah,

Those of us in marketing hope that it DOESN'T happen a lot. It's really a poor practice (not to mention--as suggested in my blog post--dubious ethically and legally). Organizations and executives caught doing this will pay the price in lost brand trust and reputation!

I would guess this happens A LOT, since social med...

2009-06-29T14:21:34.223-05:00

I would guess this happens A LOT, since social media is so popular, and it's free advertising/marketing.

Thanks Nicholas, At this point, I'd suggest t...

2009-06-29T10:31:11.973-05:00

Thanks Nicholas,

At this point, I'd suggest to Ed and Marjorie that they consider coming clean in the community. I believe they ought to admit their roles at Kohl's and promise to adhere to more transparency. I'd also suggest they keep posting (with full disclosure) to demonstrate that their desire to participate was real and not driven by a desire to masquerade as consumers.

This is hardly fatal, but Kohl's really should be considering written Social Media communications guidelines (if they don't have them) for all employees. (And if they do have them, then they need to be reinforced to those involved with the Facebook community.)

There's a lot to lose when employees stumble through the Social Media landscape without guidance.

Excellent research. You make a great point that th...

2009-06-29T07:22:37.775-05:00

Excellent research. You make a great point that the trust social media depends on is quickly betrayed when you learn things aren't as they seem. I hope Gawronski puts Kohl's in his profile and comments here.