Success Stories: J.Crew CEO Gives Man 30 Shoes Because They Lied To HimBy Ben Popken
March 2, 2009
Paul now has 30 free pairs of sneakers from J.Crew for calling them out on some bullshit.
It started off with me shopping in a store in NJ. I really liked the sneaker there but the store was closing and I had to head back to Brooklyn. The sales associate told me to just go online and id be able to get the shoes for same price via website. They were 50% off in store, plus I had 15 % student discount. I call J.Crew online, and the sales person is super nice. She places me on hold to confirm with store the price.
She tells me that she spoke to the manager and that the shoes were never 50% off. I asked who she spoke to. Hang up and call store myself. Turns out there's no manager in there by the name I was given.
I call back J.Crew. I am told salesperson who i was working with left for the day, only to then find out she's actually still in. Basically lied to non-stop.
I call CEO. His assistant takes care of me. I have 30 new pairs of sneakers now.
Awesomness defined.
Wow! That is great that he got so many shoes from J.Crew. I am sure he will be a J.Crew customer for life. Considering this outcome, I wonder how many phone calls J.Crew's CEO Mickey Drexler will be receiving now that this {great} news has been shared. :)
This story reeks to high heaven. No full names, no fully named sources, just one vague reference after another.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 10:19PM: I don't know if this story is 100% true either. :) The Consumerist is a pretty good website, but the story does need some more proof/verifications.
ReplyDeleteJust a warning... do NOT buy JCrew Rainboots. I love JCrew but their rainboots can't even last one season (I currently live in NorCal). Not worth the money!
ReplyDeletethis is bizarre!! How did he call the CEO?? "put me through to your CEO?"
ReplyDeleteI swear by my Hunter wellies.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteIf the rainboots don't last for some reason you can always take them back to the store and get an exchange or something like that for "defective" merchandise. I was in store when another customer came raging in about her defective boot even after one year of owning them. They swear by the 100% non defective guarantee so I'd give it a try. That customer walked out of the store with brand new wellies! TRUE STORY!
Um...I dont understand why they would send him 30 shoes.
ReplyDeleteThe reporter at least should have emailed J.crew to check if this is true.
ReplyDeleteMickey Drexler is AWESOME. He responded to an e-mail I sent him last week in less than 45 minutes. I believe he'd give free shoes - although I'm not sure about 30 pairs - that seems like a little much. I mean, what if the guy's taste in shoes changes?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bellwethersblog.com/2009/02/one-last-j-crew-post-for-day.html
If this story is true it totally renews my faith that the Crew gives a crap about how their customers get treated. Or should I be paranoid that it is a planted story, letting us believe just that- that they "care" and nothing so choice would ever happen to a mistreated customer IRL? Corporate goodness or nefarious conspiracy? My head hurts now. Just the fact that I only question the outcome and not the fact that some poor dude was treated so shabbily makes me think I should join the shopping ban.
ReplyDeleteI also emailed Mickey with a minor complaint a few weeks ago, and he took care of it right away, and apologized. Sometimes it is necessary to bring complaints to the right person in the chain of command-- it's difficult to manage every single employee to make sure they are following the corporate philosophy. However, if the story is true, it would be quite disturbing if the customer was taking advantage of the situation. 30 pairs? Seriously?
ReplyDeletemickey is SO GOOD about keeping in touch. in fact, i hear it's part of the reason his emails aren't perfect, spelling and otherwise, 'cause he's always just tapping away at his blackberry (or whatever) on the go. i used to be an associate there, and i remember when we forwarded to him some email a customer sent about a great associate at our store and the fantastic service she received, he wrote an email back to the store and to the associate congratulating her. AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteoops, wrote back within hours congratulating her. :)
ReplyDeleteThis strikes me as an urban retail myth, quite frankly. 30 pairs of shoes as "compensation" for his mistreatment seems quite excessive - I mean, wouldn't one or two free pairs have sufficed?
ReplyDelete30 pairs of shoes . . . how many styles do they carry for men again? I really wouldn't know what I'd do with 30 pairs . . . heck, I don't even own 20 pairs . . . Good for him though.
ReplyDeleteOh whatever. Does JCrew even have 30 different style of shoes? LOL
ReplyDeleteMickey always takes care of his customers. Now don't you crazies out there go and take advantage of him...you know who are...same ones that b*tch about not getting this, getting that...
ReplyDeleteI am not sure about 30 pairs of shoes but JC did mistakenly refunded me twice and sent me a giftcard in a larger amount than it should have been before. I thought they were some administrative errors.
ReplyDeleteThis has got to be a joke. OR a publicity stunt (if it is the later...BOO to JCRew!)
ReplyDeleteI can also personally vouch for Mickey Drexler's commitment to J.Crew customers. I sent him an email over the New Years' holiday - over what I thought was a fairly minor issue (items kept getting canceled from my orders, many MANY orders were showing up with incorrect or missing items, etc.) and he responded withing five minutes. On a Sunday morning - WHILE he was on vacation! A few minutes after receiving his email I received additional emails and calls from his assistants and more emails directly from Mr. Drexler's Blackberry throughout the day (before/after getting on a plane) to make sure my issue was resolved.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not this story about the 30 pairs of shoes pans out, you can bet dollars to donuts that Mickey Drexler DOES care about his customers. In a way I've never seen from any other retailer, ever.
**just a sidenote - I called receiving incorrect items fairly minor issue - obviously it was a big enough issue to me to feel compelled to contact the CEO. Five out of ten orders over the course of a few weeks all coming up with missing/wrong items just seemed unacceptable, and I let him know what I thought. But I never in my wildest dreams imagined they would do everything they could to make sure I was satisfied. And they did.
ReplyDeleteThey've lied to me too - several months ago I had a lot of cancelled items, and a phone associate told me I could choose *whatever I wanted* to replace them. So I spent about 8 hours *carefully* choosing items, and then she told me I couldn't have the items I chose. Mind you, I didn't choose any $3000 sequin dresses - I basically chose full-price versions of the items I had cancelled, since the sale items were the ones being cancelled. She offered a lame compromise, but if I couldn't have *whatever I wanted*, she shouldn't have put it out there in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if I should complain to Mickey. ;-)
Working for a large corporation I don't believe that Mickey is personally answering complaint emails. The CEO is paid to manage much more strategic issues than day-to-day customer complaints. If he took the time to respond to all the emails he would never get his real work done. It is likely his email is handled by assistants with proxy to his account, via blackberry or PC.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I've also gotten that "I spoke to the manager" line, when really they haven't. How do I know? The phone associate said, "I just spoke to the manager, and *he* said..." when I know for a fact that all of the managers, in fact, all of the *employees* in that particular store are female. Not ONE SINGLE MALE works in the store. So the phone associate was both dishonest and sexist in assuming the manager would be male.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone is saying that Mickey is that good at contacting and caring about customers, why doesn't anyone get anywhere when they e-mail him about website issues or otherwise? He still hasn't addressed the IP blocking, to my knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mickey cares about his customers, but this story couldn't possibly be true. How would the guy know if a sales associate was there and they were lying to him over the phone? Also, as others have mentioned, how was he able to just call the CEO? I agree with others that 30 pair of shoes is crazy and a gift card along with the shoes that he originally wanted would suffice.
ReplyDeleteBut I have a story: A friend of mine was in a B&M about 3 years ago and asked the sales associate why they didn’t have any size 12s and 14s in the store. The SA told her that JCrew was trying to change their store image and wasn’t interested in that kind of shopper. My friend then asked what kind of shoppers she meant by that and the SA told her that fat people would have shop on line from now on. My friend who was a size 12-14 was appalled that the SA would say that and to her face. She walked out and called a different BM where she knew the manager personally and told her what happened. The manager was very apologetic and confided in her that it was now JC policy to not carry the larger sizes because they were trying to revamp their image but that SA were not supposed to tell customers that, especially in that way. The SA was fired and my friend got a personal note of apology and a 200.00 gift card.
But there are still tons of 12s in the store! In fact, half of the associates are 12s - several times I've returned 12s that I've ordered online because they're too big, and the sales associates have said they were going to keep those items for themselves. Why would JC hire people who wear a 12 if that's not the image they're trying to project?
ReplyDelete(Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm in the south, where a 12 is considered slim by many!)
This makes no sense. If he was there, with the shoes he liked in his hands, he would have just bought them. No SA worth her salt would tell them to buy them online when he was already there in her store, with the shoes. The store was closing? All the more reason for both of them to make the transaction quick. I can't believe either the customer or the SA would behave as described in the story.
ReplyDeleteanon 8:33
ReplyDeleteThis was in Arizona and 3 years ago. That might have been what they initially tried to do, but quickly realized they were losing business. I would imagine a "image plan" such as this would not last long. They also used to carry Talls in the store, now that they don't, I am forced to shop on-line as well.
anon 8:33
ReplyDeleteThis was in Arizona and 3 years ago. That might have been what they initially tried to do, but quickly realized they were losing business. I would imagine a "image plan" such as this would not last long. They also used to carry Talls in the store, now that they don't, I am forced to shop on-line as well.
anon @ 7:41 you are right...he doesn't respond to them personally! But it is still nice that they are responded to so quickly.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this story is total BS.
Talls and larger sizes should go hand in hand - a healthy weight/size for a tall person is greater than for a short person. Since taller people tend to earn more money and have more power (other things being equal), eliminating talls and larger sizes seems like a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite common for a secretary or top assistant to have access to his/her boss' email account, and to answer emails, so yeah, I imagine that's what's going on at jcrew. I like the image of a CEO who cares (Bernie Madoff, listen up), but I don't want drexler bogged down by daily emails from shoppers.
ReplyDelete"Considering this outcome, I wonder how many phone calls J.Crew's CEO Mickey Drexler will be receiving now that this {great} news has been shared. :)"
ReplyDeleteOh come on, Alexis. It's so transparent what you're up to. I like your blog and most of the posts, but this is truly stirring the pot. Mickey isn't like you, he has a real job and doesn't have time to mess with your reader's everyday complaints...
How can I contact Mickey? I want to tell him my story...
ReplyDeleteI was the Dallas Northpark store in January, and I was shopping their sale. I wanted a turtleneck, and was looking up at the ones hung on the rack. I am not that short (5'6"), but the rack is very high and I had to lean my head way back in order to look at the sizes.
I'm still not sure how it happened (and this moment has played many times through my mind), but I think I swallowed and my saliva went down the wrong "tube." My throat closed completely and I could not breathe. I started gasping for air, but my throat would still not open up. I turned to look at another shopper and he ran the opposite direction with a frightened look on his face. I was panicking because I felt that I was dying. My eyesight was dimming.
Suddenly, I felt a firm hand on my back. I heard a clear voice, "are you ok??" She led me to the back by the fitting rooms, sat me down, and told me to relax. My throat opened and I started to breathe. She brought me a glass of water and sat with me until I felt better. She asked me if I was with someone (my husband was at Bacharach across the hall), and since I still could not speak, I shook my head. She told me to stay put, and returned with another glass of water and a mint. She told me that the mint would help my throat. I sat there for a while longer, and she let me go when I felt better.
Her name was Vanessa, and I always look for her when I go to the store, but haven't seen her since. I couldn't speak very well afterward, so I couldn't tell her this, but I really appreciated her for helping me when others couldn't. She's an angel!!
"30 shoes"? What does that even mean? It kind of sounds like the shoppers version of the "30 virgins" that a martyr gets when he dies. Is it actually 30 pairs of shoes or is it 15 pairs? And how did he just "call the CEO"? This sounds completely ridiculous and false!
ReplyDeleteWho is the guy in the red shirt in the photo? I just read the article on consumerist, and the photo of the guy claiming to have gotten these "30 pairs of shoes" looks completely different. This whole thing sounds fishy...
ReplyDeleteWhile I certainly don't believe that Alexis is "stirring the pot", I do think it's kind of ridiculous to e-mail the CEO of J.Crew with issues like website problems and rude sales associates, and even recognition of good service. I can't believe some of the issues that have been posted here as being sent to Mickey! And please realize that this is just some alias e-mail address that goes to their marketing or CS department. What would be more remarkable is if you ever heard any follow-up from Mickey or the way higher ups.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Consumerist, that site thrives on unhappy customers getting the shaft at stores, even if the screw up is the customer's own fault. The site has even been known to block comments that criticize inept shoppers, and has basically turned into a forum for whining and complaining about how much companies are screwing consumers.
Take this story with an enormous grain of salt!
I've had excellent and terrible experiences with J.C. customer svc. One of the best I remember was that I bought a bathing suit (final sale $9.99 each for the top & bottom) and had regular shipping. Someone from j.crew.com called me personally (nice touch)to tell me that the top sold out but the bottoms would ship. I told them sorry not good enough...I mean what would I do with bottoms?! I was going away the following week and there was basically nothing left in the sale inventory either. I spoke to a manager and he actually let me pick out a full price bathing suit and gave it to me for the price of the final sale suit I had originally picked out. He even gave me over-night shipping free! Last week I was treated (in my opinion) rather unfairly by customer service. I called a manager that had helped me in the past and told her my story. She agreed with me and not only found the item in question I had fought with customer service over but she had them over-night it to me free and gave me 20% off even though that deal had expired the day before. I got the skirt at 7 a.m. the next morning and was able to wear it to work! I think it's really important for stores to make good when they screw up and j.crew really does that. Things like that make me stick with J.crew even in these tough times!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura and others--yes, sometimes bad things happen, but I have found that JCrew goes the extra mile and then some to make things right. Too many stories too long to tell, but I have gotten free stuff shipped overnight too, to make up for huge CS gaffes. It helps to make a contact locally or in Lynchburg. I am a huge fan of Mickey Drexler and his staff--keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteCall it what it is!: LOL! I do have a real job. I am teaching several real classes this semester and I get a real paycheck for it too. ;)
ReplyDeleteI also didn't mean to "stir the pot" with that comment. I have said this before, but please don't read the worse in comments- b/c usually that is not how its intended by the author. :)
I don't mean to be rude, but let's not ask these rhetorical questions of "I wonder how many phone calls J.Crew's CEO...." will be receiving. You're seemingly encouraging people to contact him directly to bitch and moan about nothing. Sure, it's great news, and what a nice thing for Mickey to do...but putting it out there is kind of a put off.
ReplyDeleteI kind of expect to see an article like this on jcrewaholics.com. It's shady, the guy looks shady, and the fact that he's showing off like this is probably to get some 5minutes attention. This is an article that is on Leigh's level. This is a disappointing read. :(
ReplyDeleteI don't believe this story mainly because they would have no way to verify whether some random person lied to him. If I called them up with this story I wouldn't expect them to do something unless I was a famous person who would raise a stink that would do more damage than the money they lose giving the shoes away.
ReplyDeleteI do believe though, that J.Crew is really great with it's customers because I've gotten excellent service from it's corporate people as well as people in store. :)