Montblanc

Frustrated with the service I received yesterday. I’d gotten an email from Montblanc regarding their Customer Appreciation Week in which we were entitled to a complimentary service evaluation of our fancy pens and a free gift. I schlepped across London to make sure I had an appt on the first day of this special week and had my pen serviced speedily, which I appreciated as I had another meeting to make. (Though I do so wish I’d checked my pen right away, as today I’m noticing the nib is mis-​aligned and scratching somewhat!!)
Back to yesterday, there was no mention of the gift as I got my pen back, and so I, as the customer, was left awkwardly to raise the topic — and then to somehow prove my deservedness by finding the original email on my heinously slow phone… (Despite already having made an appt by *replying* to this original email). And then after they fudged around a bit, I was told that they’d run out of one option and that the other they didn’t have at all.
The girl serving me had the grace to blush as she was so obviously lying. I pointed out that I’d made the appt on the first day of this offer exactly to avoid this situation and she just wriggled a little more in embarrassment. In the end I asked for some cartridges as a sort of make-​up and she agreed hastily.
We can break it down into figures (a £3 box of cartridges vs a £9 worth gift) but that seems to be missing the principle somewhat. For a luxury retailer like Montblanc to leave me feeling like I’d been treated like a 2^nd-​class customer feels just a bit shitty — esp as the original pen was worth a ton and meant to make me feel special. Perhaps I wasn’t glammed up as much as their normal customers are — I felt like I’d been shuffled away basically.
If they’d not gotten the shipment of free gifts or had a genuine reason for the mistake, I would have preferred to have been told honestly and offered some small compensation. As it was, I felt like I had to haggle and ask for something that I’d already been promised as a valued customer. All in all, it left a bad taste in my mouth :(