Do you know where your coat is this winter?

To those who knew and loved her, Winifred Alexander was larger than life. “I called her the first African American princess because she just always ended up getting what she wanted,” shared her daughter Rosalind Jackson. 

And according to Rosalind, what Winifred really wanted was a beautiful fur coat! “She finally got it, and she just loved it,” recalls Rosalind. 

After her mother passed away, Rosalind put Winifred’s treasured coat into the Atlanta Macy’s Fur Vault for safekeeping. Faithfully, Rosalind paid an annual fee to Macy’s to preserve the coat and keep it clean and safe in a temperature-controlled environment. 

But every once in a while, Rosalind wanted to lay eyes on it for herself. Or better yet, wrap her arms around it! “Wearing the coat was king od like hugging [Winifred].” 

With all this love and history, you can imagine Rosalind’s heartbreak when she went to visit the coat and found out… the vault no longer existed! “I was beside myself,” shared Rosalind. “I was frantic! And I felt like I just didn’t know what to do.” 

At a loss for answers, Rosalind reached out to the universe for help. “I guess it was my angel, my Guardian Angel, that said… Trust Dale!”

We’re glad she found us! TrustDALE’s investigative team found out that when Macy’s department stores pledged to go “fur-free” in 2021, Winnie’s coat was transferred to an alternative storage facility - in a different state. 

“It was in New Jersey,” shared a flabbergast Rosalind. But a day after TrustDALE reached out to the storage facility, Rosalind got a call. “She told me that she did have it and wanted to know what I wanted to do.”

What Rosalind wanted was for them to pack it up and ship it out! And that’s exactly what they did.

The lesson? If you’re not getting answers from a company, turn to someone who’s an expert on the issue. They can help guide you toward a solution. Otherwise, something like this story could happen to you!