Wednesday, November 21, 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.MATEARL

29 comments:

  1. Absolutely dislike the new cart page. Given that there's no wishlist, I take a snapshot of the screen. It's pointless to do so now that the page is so big. It's white space happy and doesn't make for a faster or smoother shopping experience. It baffles me why J Crew consistently tries to make shopping with them difficult. I like to think that they mean well but it just ends up being Charlie Brown.

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    1. agree....I dislike it and like the old one better.

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    2. Gigi, I hover my mouse over the shopping bag so it only opens the little window then I copy and paste the thumbnails and item names into an email or document. Maybe that would work better for you.

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    3. Totally agree! Most retailers WANT you to see each item for less = more likely to buy. I always copied and pasted my cart to send to my personal shopper. (xoxo when I have copied the smaller cart from a product page after hovering, when pasting to copy, it would break up and print funky.) The FIRST day I noticed the new version when trying to send her my items, she said she would let them know. Massive email campaign needed here. We should all bombard Mickey with emails on the same day.

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    4. Hmm, it always copies fine for me, links and all.

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  2. Having been a loyal J Crew customer for many years but only able to shop when I travel to US, I was so pleased when the Canadian stores started to open and most recently in my city, Toronto. Unfortunately, my first visit was not a great customer experience. I was looking for a vest to match a Ludlow suit I owned and it was not in stock. How could they be out of a size on day 2 of being open. Nevertheless, the sales person gave me her card if I wanted to have it ordered, which I did. Two weeks goes by and I have not heard anything. In my follow-up email, I inquired as to it's status and asked that she put aside a flannel Ludlow in my size. I was told the suit was not in stock but could be ordered...also the vest I wanted was not ordered either.

    Later that day, I happened to be in the mall and decided to stop in and much to my surprise, the suit I was told was not there, was actually there! Disappointed and frustrated, I spoke to the store manager and explained the situation. He took care of the situation and explained they had a few issues during the initial weeks.

    I took the opportunity to email Libby Wadle and expressed my concerns and was so pleased to see her return note almost immediately and put me in touch with the Canadian Market leader. Austin and I spoke to make sure the situation was resolved and made sure he was in the store the next time I was going to be in to pick up the vest.

    While the initial experience was poor, J Crew's leadership demonstrated their commitment to the customer.

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    1. Received my last promo orders this week ( yes it takes this long in Canada)
      - the lulu frost necklace (the long leaf one) is very large . Check the online pic of the earings...huge. I came wrapped in bubble wrap...nice presentaion J Crew ( what if it was a gift for Xmas ?)The chain is cheap as is the leaf..darn. I was expecting more form the lulu line. Most of the items I ordered were either too small or too big I seem to not be able to fit into meds. or larges ??? size inconsistent..ugh !I had to phone twice for price adjustments and got them...they had better or items go back...Most of my orders in the past 6 mos...have been 20% keepers 80% returns...what does this say...Carolyn from Vancouver P.S I do have a BM close so its not like I have not seen any of the items Irl.

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  3. Recent "Style Guide" is the subject of my rant. If I followed J. Crews outfit suggestions, I wouldmp certainly not make any best dressed lists - quite the opposite. The upside of their ridiculous pairings? My husband would always be able to spot me in a crowd.

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  4. I agree.. if I layered as much as they do I would look like a big round ball....

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  5. Why fix it if it isn't broke?? I came to vent about the check out screens too.

    ->It feels like there are even more pages to go through than before.

    ->I can see the thinking behind placing the 'click to the next step arrows' where they did, but they change location and on the Billing Page, the Continue arrow is cutoff, with only a smidge of black visible at the bottom of the screen. The arrows should be consistently placed on each screen or the user has to take time to scan the page for it.

    ->Too many boxes. Just bring back the dropdown boxes. Intuitive to the user and takes up less space.

    ->Please add final price paid per item before user commits to purchase (as it was before this update).

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    1. OMG, I cannot agree with everyone more regarding the new cart experience. What is the matter with them? This is one of the things I do for a living as a content strategist is make the user experience easier. Do they even have a user experience team?? It won't even accept the CARDMEMBER promo code until AFTER you enter your card number. I want to see my total BEFORE I submit payment. Who doesn't? DUH! How stupid.

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    2. I agreed 101%! It was annoying yesterday (overnight) trying to check out (I also like to add the promo and SEE the prices before moving to the next page - no more!), adding a different card painful...argh...too many boxes!!! At least I was able to score 2 sweaters on 25%off promo + the new 25%off color25! And already got the shipping confirmation! :P

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  6. I was in Seattle for a conference last week and stopped into the Pacific Place store with a colleague. She decided to try on a felted mini because the table sign said "felted mini - $79.xx" and then decided to buy it. At the counter she asked the SA if she could look at a necklace in the case as well. The SA told her he couldn't open that case, that he needed a manager and she was busy, but he never told her that the necklace she was pointing to was on the floor. There were tons of them that I noticed (I wasn't really paying attention to her in line and didn't know what she wanted until we were leaving). Then he rang up her skirt for $149. She said that she thought it was $79...he said no, its not. I wasn't next to her, she told me this as she was walking away from the counter. I grabbed another SA and pointed out what the sign said and what had just happened. She was great and fixed Amy's bill immediately and with a smile.

    I've never encountered an SA that knew so little about the product; he didn't know that there were dozens of the necklace on stands around the store and he didn't know that the skirts were on promo and he didn't offer to check when she questioned the price. Fail. Plus, the girl I was with is not a JCrew shopper and this was her first purchase there. I suspect it will be her last.

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  7. I'm kinda pissed that I was up until 1 a.m. placing an order last night with the 25-percent off promo, and now in my email I see that I an get 30-percent because I'm a cardholder. Curses!! I am not wasting my time trying to get an adjustment over a few dollas, but it's the principle of the matter.

    Also, seriously. I am a really intelligent person, and for the life of me I can not understand the Rewards details when I log into my account. I just really want to know when the hell I'm getting a reward. I don't understand why J. Crew doesn't do it like Gap brands or Express or Macys. As soon as you hit the point threshold, they send you your reward. Done and done. Also, I like when the companies let you easily access them online. You log on and your reward code pops up. Take notes, J. Crew!!!

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    1. Susan - The rewards info is convoluted and often inaccurate. For the longest time it told me I only had 75 points for the recent quarter. Impossible.

      I would email for an adjustment request whether is $3 or $30.

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    2. Hmmm. I am a card holder and I didn't receive that email. Was there a promo code attached? Would much appreciate a share if so!

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    3. The code is CARDMEMBER. Code is good from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25 online and in store.

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  8. OT...I follow this blog as well as many of the bloggers that post here...I would love to see everyone clean up their blogs ( This one too Alexis) as there are so many that are inactive...Last post was eons ago...sorry to give you all more work but others (new people)would probably appreciate this as well. Just too many listings that are way too old....thanks

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    1. You can subscribe to the blogs you like via Bloglovin or Google Reader, likely other methods as well. Sometimes people take a bit of a hiatus and then return. I keep those blogs up on my blogroll for that purpose. One of these days, I hope Dinster will be back.

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    2. And lest we forget, CheeseyGoodness.

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    3. Oh my goodness, I feel so chuffed by this! I received a comment by Yippee on my other blog, which led me here.

      Here's the story: I moved back to Indonesia for work, and I closed the shopping blog because my job is sort-of high-profile, and I just felt it inappropriate to keep the shopping blog on. To make things worse, for some inexplicable reason, I CAN NOT read blogspot on my browser at HOME, which is about the only time I have free time to read. I am able to read this now because I'm at a playground where they have free wi-fi, and it's Saturday.

      I try to check my fave blogs (this one, Ema's, Dani's, Gigi's and ShopwithM's) when I am back Stateside, which is about every 2 to 3 months. No one is more SORRY than me that I haven't been able to keep up and chime in!!! Anyway, if I ever have enough time between work and family, I had planned on cleaning up shoppingonthefly so that it's not too embarrassing if my boss ever read it. You are free to take me off if you like, but I thought I'd let you know what the deal is with me.

      As I said, I feel so heartened that you think fondly of me, and believe me, I completely reciprocate!! I still order J Crew and the goodies sit patiently in boxes at our home back in Maryland.

      FYI, I have loved most of the recent stuff: the double-breasted schoolboy, the elbow-sleeve tees with the circle embroidery, the Ce Ces in candy colors. I have my eye on the Collection blue etched plaid pants, although they will likely look ridiculous on short old me. J Crew is also about the only label I can order from here -- Anthro won't let me order from an Indonesian IP, neither will other retailers.

      OK a tropical downpour is on the way... ciao for now, and bless you all for your kindness.

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    4. Dinster! Soooo good to see you. I thought you made your blog private & I wasn't invited. That's my own 'stuff.' You are definitely missed. It's good to hear that you are well. I hope you're able to spend time with your parents, which I recall being of great importance as they get older. Hope your husband & kids are well, too! Can't wait to see you blog again :)

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    5. I am a little late, but happy to see you again Dinster! :)

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  9. Some items that were just added to the sale section are showing up as Final Sale, even though final sale is purportedly over. I.e. double cloth slim trench in caribbean pink. I called CS and they said there is no more final sale and that the item must have been "leftover" from prior final sale (um...it was just added 2 days ago), but they could mark my account that I could return it if necessary. I had them do that, but it's a hassle to have to call CS for this.

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  10. I tried to place a phone order for 1 item with my very personal shopper and get the card member 30 percent of applied and she said it only was 4 orders over 150 dollars not just for 1 item I wanted that was under that amount. that seems totally wrong.

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  11. I just started shopping at JCrew on a regular basis and have had to return four shirts that have gotten holes in them the first or second time I've worn them. I bought the painter stripe tee which got a hole, returned it, bought another and just brought it back today because it got a hole too. I also got a hole the second time I wore a plain c neck tee and a hole the first time I wore a shirt from factory. I always get a refund no problem, but good grief I get better quality at Target! Clearly tshirt material is not their forte.

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  12. Stacy

    I have recently discovered the children's line last spring. Since then I have made it a point to go to the J Crew outlet first for my children, located in Hershey PA. I had spent $36.50 for a pair of pants for my daughter. When she put them on at home they were an inch too short. When I went into the store to exchange the size they had told me the item was no longer available and that I couldn't exchange the item, because it had been over 30 days, just over 30 days. To my amazement the store manager wasn't going to do anymore for me! I was especially amazed, because the receipt she was looking at was $600.00 dollars worth of purchases! As a frequent customer I had asked for an equivalent exchange, the store manager said no! I explained that I work too hard for my money and wanted a solution that gave me equal value, or else I wouldn't shop in any J Crew store again! She offered to exchanged the item, but not until Monday, and today was Saturday. I asked that it be done today and the manage said no! Finally she agreed, but when I thanked her she purposely ignored me! Very rude! My husband agrees and wonders if I should ever go there again! I don't know that I will suggest this store to the other parents at my daughters private school!

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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! :)