KH
Kaiyuan Hou
May 23, 2026
Extremely poor service. I strongly suspect discriminatory treatment at this Alo store, especially from the blonde Asian-looking female staff member and the manager, Estella, who appeared to protect and excuse her behaviour instead of properly addressing the issue.
My friend and I were interested in a black jacket. Alo’s official website clearly showed that another version/size of the jacket was available in this store. We asked a female staff member standing near the fitting rooms, who had blonde hair and appeared to be Asian, whether the item was available. She immediately told us there was no stock, without checking the system, asking for the product details, or making any effort to verify it. Her tone was very casual, dismissive, and disrespectful.
Later, my friend showed her the Alo website page showing the item was available in-store. She still insisted there was no stock and again refused to check anything. However, when we went upstairs and asked another staff member at the till, that staff member was patient, actually checked, and successfully found the item for us. This proved that the first staff member had dismissed us twice without making any reasonable effort to help.
When the original blonde staff member later moved to the till, we wanted to check out with her and ask why she had refused to help us properly. But just as it was almost our turn, she left the till and appeared to go into the warehouse area, then never came back. This made the situation feel even more suspicious and disrespectful.
We then spoke to the manager, Estella. Although she gave a basic apology, her attitude was unfriendly and defensive. Instead of asking the staff member to explain or apologise, she repeatedly made excuses for her, saying the store was busy and that staff were familiar with the stock, so it was normal not to check. She even said she believed the staff member had “done her best,” despite the fact that another colleague found the item after actually checking.
Our request was simple: we wanted the staff member to explain why she refused to check the stock twice or apologise directly. Estella refused to help and said “there is nothing she can do.” When we asked for the staff member’s name, Estella also refused to provide it.
This experience made us feel deeply disrespected and raised serious concerns about racial discrimination and staff covering for each other. If there was a legitimate reason for the staff member’s behaviour, why could she not explain it to us directly? Why did she avoid us? Why did the manager keep defending her instead of taking our complaint seriously?
This was not just bad customer service. It felt like unfair and discriminatory treatment, followed by a manager protecting the staff member rather than addressing the problem. Very disappointing experience from Alo.