Referencing {FAQ}

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

"Looking to VENT" with J.Crew

This is the weekly "Looking to VENT with J.Crew" post, a place to share our not-so-stellar experiences with J.Crew.

If you have recently experienced a frustrating situation with J.Crew, maybe you might be willing to share that information with us in this post.

Please feel free to share your story on almost any topic— including poor experiences with purchases & orders, promotions/ offers, in-store visits, transactions with store associates, etc.

25 comments:

  1. Washed my colorblock striped tee for the first time . . . giant holes in the armpit. Not merely the seam unravelling, but the fabric fraying away from the seam. At $45, this was not a cheap tee. What a POS. So much for MD being aware of and correcting the hole-y tee problem.

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    1. I laughed when I was watching the CNBC special on him and he said he was aware of the problem and correcting it!

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    2. I feel your pain. I washed my tee for the first time and the hot pink bled and left faint pink stains on the rest of the tee!

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  2. Does anyone think J Crew read blogs and comments like this? I hope so!!! And this may be slightly off topic - so please delete if you consider it inappropriate.
    My comment is about their international policy. I live in Australia - and the JCrew website happily tells me that they will ship to Australia. Yee ha you would think. BUT... the price difference between the regular US JCrew site and the Australian version is staggering. A $68 dress will be $30 more expensive on the Austalian page. A pair of shoes I was lusting after was $100 more expensive. Yes, JCrew advertises free shipping to Austalia as a current promotion - I would rather pay shipping fees. Even with using a mail forwarding company that would be much cheaper - more cumbersome, but cheaper. And it isnt as though these items are located in Australia - they are being shipped from exactly the same stock as the US site.
    I would like to think the JCrew would reconsider this, but I am not optimistic.

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    1. similiar for us canadians...and we are not a ocean or two away. They just rob us blind with a jacked up price difference.

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  3. Really frustrated most b&m stores don't stock size 14. Had a SA flat out tell me, oh we don't carry size 14 in our stores (wtf??), but cheerfully told me they could order my item online. Its especially frustrating when they've carried TONS of 14's in various styles in the past. I don't want to make the trip out to the nearest b&m which is 1hr away, only to be told I have to get it online.

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  4. Hexicon,
    I had the same thing happen with my colorblock striped tee. It was one of the pieces I was most excited about for spring and I expected to get a lot of wear out of it with skirts, capris, jeans. I noticed after one or two wearings tiny holes in the armpit just like yours. The tee now hangs in my closet like a fragile elder taken out only for special occasions. I think they cut the armhole too high and narrow on that one. We are not Victorian lasses who move our arms only to pick up a teacup or piece of embroidery. We need a range of motion.

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    1. Yes! It is the cut of that shirt that caused the holes...I can feel mine pull when I raise my arms. It seems to fit fine elsewhere. I also have holes in my tee at the bottom sides, near the vents. Those are not related to fit or wear...I have only worn my tee about 4 times. Major disappointment.

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    2. Mine got a hole in the armpit after the second washing. I sewed it up and it hasn't gotten any more, but MAN is it ever annoying to have to worry about a t-shirt being so freaking delicate! Back to my trusty old Hanes tees from the men's section at TJMaxx....

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    3. ETA: I just washed the colorblock stripe tee again, and now there are SIX HOLES under the arms. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. I might as well just cut the sleeves off now!

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  5. Didn't they used to offer d-cup dresses. Especially for the strapless styles? I'm nursing right now and my 'girls' are a little out of hand. I find I can't wear a lot of Jc tops or dresses bec they are not made for large chested girls & I don't want to size up a bunch & then pay to alter items :( at least I can still get the d cup bathing suit tops.

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  6. I've got the colorblock stripe tee blues as well, I even bought an extra on promo (peri), just in case, because I'd done so much planning around it. Wasted money, wasted effort.

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  7. I bought a scarf( leopard print) a few weeks back, and wore it exactly for a day. I realized by end of day that there were tiny holes in several places on the scarf. I had not gotten out of the car for that day, so there was no way it would have been damaged by getting tangled or any other reason. Since one month is up, I am not quite sure about how to proceed with this. It costed around $60. Please advise. very disappointing.

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  8. Swapna I would still call customer service and let them know. it's worth a tr.y you might even try a couple different times depending on who you get. You may get a no from 1 ad a yes from another. I have made store return through the mail in the past no problem

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  9. I know others have complained about their No 2 cotton pencil skirt rear seams splitting on them and today it happened to me on its first wear! Perhaps they need to reinforce the seam?

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  10. I have had 3 different JC items come undone on the "hem" area. 2 of them happened after wearing just one time. That's pretty poor quality IMO.

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    Replies
    1. Yes! This happens to me all the time, too! In the past year, I've had the hem fall out of 2 skirts and 2 silk camisoles. It's annoying that it takes me an hour take the tiny little thread and stitch it back in.

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  11. It happened again, received the wrong item. At least this time it was the right bathing suit top, but the wrong color. No more online ordering for me.

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  12. I pulled a Tippi sweater out of my closet that I have worn once (!) because I wanted to compare the weight of it to one I received today (today's was SU 12 and felt lighter than my SP 12 one). I found a hole in the sweater, right above the chest! Grr! And I didn't even wear a necklace or anything that could have snagged it. Makes me think I really shouldn't keep the new one, if they are that delicate/poorly made. Also, I have one from the Fall that I love, but it shrank when I washed it (cold water, air dry). For some reason I thought it said dry clean, so I thought it was my fault. I looked today, and it says it is washable. J Crew, you are making it easier and easier to just say no!

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  13. I'm tired of the pricing inconsistencies between the store and online. Why can't they offer 30% off sale on both? I would have purchased some sale items in the store last week had they been 30% off too. Instead, J. Crew just lost that sale.

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  14. I had such a bad experience at JCrew, that it's kept me from shopping there for over a year. My boyfriend and I were at the mall and popped into JCrew 10 min before close. Since we didn't want to be rude- we didn't try on the tank and t-shirt we picked up from the sale rack. After trying it on at home and finding the fit odd, I brought it back to a closer store the next morning. The SA looked at my receipt and said "Oh nope, this is final sale, sorry". I looked at the receipt and she was right. When I said "Oh, I didn't realize, darn." She said "There are signs everywhere. Maybe you can go back to that store and see if you can find an SA that doesn't know any better. But not me- I'm a store manager." I was a little appalled at her suggestion but I was nice about it since it was technically my fault for not noticing.

    But honestly I didn't notice the "signs everywhere" and wish the original SA had mentioned that when when we were being rung up. But having a store manager, be coarse and rude, and suggest I try finding a different SA that might bend the rules for me.. (But not her!) left a bad taste in my mouth. Sorry JCrew, I thought you were classier than that.

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  15. Does anyone else get aggravated with live chat? I get on there all the time to try and check in store prices vs online prices and items I may want that are sold out online, I had a wonderful experience for the fresco floral peplum top where the rep. told me what stores had it in stock in my size, the last selling online price and the last retail store price (SO helpful! I was able to purchase the blouse :) )! However every other time I have got on chat afterwards, they act like they don't have access to retail prices, or they can't check inventory for a sale item, and I asked the price of the raindrop lace top and the eyelet shell in store and the customer service rep acted like it was a newer item and they probably weren't marked down (BOTH are marked down in store, the eyelet shell was in my nearest 2.5 hr away store for like 78? I think??) It is ridiculous how customer service is, it's the same way with the we will find it for you, some may do it on sale items, others not. So frustrating. If jcrew would just make their online and retail prices the same it wouldn't cause this many problems!

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  16. Jen, that is a very sad and strange story. I would not shop at a store where I was treated that way either!

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  17. Come on...why, why, why won't they lower the amount to qualify for free shipping?? Everyone else is at $100 or even $150. But $175 is just plain unreasonable. There is stuff that I want right now. Guess I'll go to the store and order it or get something similar elsewhere!

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  18. At the suggestion of my PS, I purchased a cashmere colorblock cardigan a few years ago. I've worn it once.

    I was about to photograph it for sale on Ebay when I noticed a hole in the weave. And then another. And another. There are 5 in total.

    These are not moth-related. I stored this cardigan with other cashmere, none of which was touched. This is an item defect.

    I contacted J Crew knowing that the return window was long closed. I admit that I did not expect the recommendation that I invest more in this cardigan by having it repaired professionally. And they offered advice on cashmere care.

    Really? I'm not sure what I expected, but the response seemed inappropriate.

    A second attempt to gently make my point drove another, more anemic response. I was told that customers are valued, and that my feedback would be passed along.

    And it's put me off. I admittedly have not shopped much at JCrew given quality issues. And this really sours me.

    A sweater I wore once should not just come apart. I'm frankly not sure what I expected but definitely a little more understanding for issues with an expensive item the cats are now sleeping on.

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Dear J.Crew Aficionadas & Aficionados: Please feel free (and encouraged) to share your thoughts and opinions. :) However, please note that this is still a personal blog. So comments that are considered inappropriate (e.g. obscene, racist, homophobic, personal attacks, rude, and just plain mean) will be removed.

And now back to J.Crew! :)