Wednesday, December 5, 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.

37 comments:

  1. If my birthday is in the month of December (aka the 10th), shouldn't I have received my birthday discount by now? For both regular and factory (since I'm both a cardholder and a factory club member)?

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    1. As far as I know, there is no birthday discount for retail cardmembers. Not sure about the Factory First discount, though - has any JCA with a b-day in November or December received theirs yet?

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    2. I'm not part of factory first, but as for the regular retail, there's no bday discount. (My b-day was last month and I'm a cardholder).

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    3. Factory First member with a November birthday and no discount. I do think a cardholder birthday discount is a great idea!

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    4. I got bday discounts/free gifts from Anthro, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Starbucks, Cole Haan and Tory Burch. :)

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    5. I could've sworn I got a birthday discount last year. Maybe I made that up!

      But it says when you sign up for factory first that you're supposed to get a discount. Hmm. Well, I guess 20% isn't better than what they're offering anyway.

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    6. Another November birthday girl here who didn't receive a birthday discount. I was okay with it though since the promos in store and online were better.

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  2. Every single time I do a WWFIFY I get charged the wrong amount. Last time it was about an extra $65 and it took 3 weeks to get the adjustment. Not even an apology. Get it together, J Crew!

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    1. Uh oh, I just received notification of a WWFIFY. I better check it carefully. Thanks for the heads up.

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  3. The Factory web site merchandise selection seems worse than it used to be. There has always been a better selection at the Factory store compared to the Factory web site, but now the web site never seems to have anything interesting on it. It's very blah now, I'm pretty much done with it.

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    1. Also, they hid the sale section but you can bring it up by searching on "sale".

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    2. Yeah, it is so lame how they hide sale items. And there are tons of sale items that don't even appear in the sale section (which as JustVisiting said is hidden as of today!). They must really not want to sell stuff.

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    4. It's also lame how they have each color of each item as its own item. If they didn't do that, it wouldn't look like they have very much inventory, which they don't. I think that option is available on Boden's web site, but it's an option to view inventory that way, and it's not the default.

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  4. OT: Looks like the sale section finally got an update.
    Vent: Everything (dresses, tees, sweatshirts) is so short and boxy now. Dislike.

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  5. Two vents balanced out with two loves (because it's the holiday season and I'm trying to play nice):

    I preordered the embellished sweatshirt (yuck, BTW) I asked my VPS to use my rewards card towards it but when I got the email with the order info, it was all charged to my credit card. So I called CS to double check but their systems were down. (of course). Someone got back to me later that day and confirmed my rewards card was not used and apologized for the error. Then I get an email 2 days later apologizing again with a $25 gift card to make up for it!

    The other vent was with factory cancelling my jeans even tho they were still in stock online. After a couple back and forths with CS (for the principal of it and because the jeans were less than $40!), they finally said yes, they're in stock, gave me the sale price I originally would have paid and free overnight shipping.

    And to whoever mentioned the straight and narrow jeans in factory are the same as retail, thanks! Much better deal! And perfect fit! :)

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    Replies
    1. Meant to say same as retail matchstick jeans.

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    2. Agree yuck on the embellished sweatshirt. So disappointing, short, boxy and unflattering. Looks much better in the catalogue.

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  6. Ordered the bow coat in cabernet about two weeks ago. Waited a week for it to ship and then this week I get notification that my order was cancelled - sold out. ): Also ordered the back-ordered wild side bangle aaaaages ago. The ship date on that has been pushed back, so I probably won't get it in time for the holidays. #whinycomplainer

    On the + side, Vancouver JC store has the most AMAZING customer service. I sometimes call there for charge/send and they are just fab every time.

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  7. I bought the metro (i think) double cloth wool coat last year. I used it Jan -march, then pulled it out again last month. I see it has a hole worn through an elbow! Not like a rip, like it tore on something, but from actual wear. I would try to get it fixed, but it reminds me of all the idiot painters tees that i bought this summer that immediatly got holes, i fixed, and got more holes. Do i have to toss it already?!

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  8. My in-store PS sucks. She has no styling ideas, she never calls me when I ask her to let me know if an item goes on sale, won't do a "red phone" search for an item I'm looking for, etc... She basically does nothing. She's very nice, but I feel like I'm stuck w/her b/c she swoops down on me whenever I walk in the store. And I don't try to use my online PS much, b/c I do like to shop the sale section, and I don't want to risk losing out on an item while I email the PS and wait hours/days for him to get back to me. It's fine. I do my own legwork and that's fine, but I find the VPS or whatever they're called a basically useless feature. At least for me. I know some of you have fabulous PS's and I'm happy for you guys. But my experience has been lame.

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    Replies
    1. pretty much my story too - I probably would use the online people more, but mine seems to work once every 2 weeks. Slowwly.

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    2. Exactly, WFF. Every time I have tried to contact him, I've gotten an "out of office" response.

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  9. I just opened a shipment to find a pair of worn, unwashed Matchstick jeans. Worn so badly that there is a hole in the inner thigh region, the cuffs are frayed and the color is off. I am livid and grossed out.

    I called CS and they didn't seem to upset or shocked by this either.

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  10. @Cate, my thoughts exactly. A little empathy and understanding would have made me feel a little better. She just acted like it was something normal. I've read many complaints from other JCAs about it happening to them, I guess it was bond to happen to me too. The worst part is that they smell... not in the "new" jean way either. BLECH.

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  11. I placed a cyber monday order over the phone since the website kept crashing. Wonderful customer service. 3 days later still no charge to my bank account and no items listed on my order history on my JCrew account. 8 days later my husband receives his order and I still have no updates. Called JCrew to ask about my order and they had NO record of my order. Frustrating, but I get it. Cyber Monday is a nightmare for computer systems. Placed my order again over the phone and they honored the 50% and free overnight shipping. I expressed my concern that I had given my credit card info for my original purchase and didn't see it charged to my card. They confirmed there was no order anywhere in the system for me on 11/26 and I would not be charged. Fast forward to yesterday when my overnight order arrives AND my original order that was confirmed by multiple associates to never have been in the computer! And the charge went through on my card 8 days later. Now I have a double charge! Best they could do was say oops and refund me for the order I placed on Monday of this week and not credit me for return shipping. Nice enough, but REALLY! Seriously, I confirmed with 3 people, including managers that I would not be charged for my original order, it was never placed, and low and behold that is exactly what happened. My order history and amount spent deserves more than just comped return shipping. Infuriating to explain myself over and over again and not have them make the extra effort to keep a valued customer happy. Not so valued I guess.

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  12. This is a vent and a praise. I ordered a necklace from J. Crew Factory. It arrived today in a box that was completely crushed. The necklace inside was smashed to pieces. I called customer service. They immediately refunded the cost of the necklace. They told me to dispose of the necklace. However, they only refunded the cost of the necklace and not the shipping! Grrr....

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  13. I received an order today for a Madewell necklace that I'd been drooling over since I first saw it on the website. Kept hoping I might see it in a store on sale since it was a little on the expensive side for me, but I never even saw it in a store. Finally ordered it during one of the recent promos, still full price, but with 25% off. It arrived with a store tag on, with a sale sticker on it, for less than the price I paid with the promo. How tacky! And the quality was not quite up to par with other Madewell pieces I have. Doesn't really leave me wanting to keep it.

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  14. Jcrew. What happened to quality. It's just so disappointing. My daughters crew cut items are so overpriced and cheap! Bye jcrew hello ZARA! I know baby gap is not as cute but the quality is so much better.

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  15. I ordered the pepper tweed sheath dress and got matchstick jeans instead. I can understand maybe sending the wrong size by accident during this busy holiday season, but a completely different item?! I took a picture of the jeans and sent it to CS with my order number telling them I was sending them back, and asked that they either send me the right item if in stock or refund me immediately. I wrote that I shouldn't have to pay for return shipping since it was their error. They did issue a pre-return refund within a few hours of my email, and a CSR sent an apology and a note indicating they were sending a prepaid shipping label. I'm still annoyed at not getting the item I want (don't list an item as in-stock and inconvenience me with having to return a wrong item), but at least their response was satisfactory.

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    1. This has happened to me so many times over the years I have lost count. Sorry to hear your news but not surprised at all.

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    2. I would have traded you! Almost the same happened to me. I contacted chat and phone. Varying responses across the board! It was infuriating.

      It was a defective. Tried to exchange it {didn't know about their pre-return deal, which I think is stupid} Anyway, the short of it: Went to a B&M to repurchase & give back the other. Well, I thought I had squared it all on the phone, they said they'd put a note and everything!
      Get there and the Manager gives me guff...He starts to speak to me like I'm an idiot!!
      I asked him since I'm here & repurchasing the item may I also get the Educators discount... He was saying I'd be paying the same price as I bought it? WTHeck?{I made sure there'd be a note I'd get the price w/ promo before I came over, so THAT was fine} I should also be awarded the 15%, so I thought it'd come out $30 less... He got frustrated & said ok, I'll do this slowly so you understand. He's the IDIOT.
      HA!! After several attempts on his part because he couldn't believe it ..It did in fact come out $30 cheaper. He sure shut up after that. Ugh!
      I would have loved to tear him one, but nope. I don't want to appear as the Villain. Ya Know?

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  16. Anyone have the collection cashmere striped boyfriend sweater? The fit is drastically different than the pictures on the JCrew website. The sweater is extremely wide and so the armpit seam fits oddly. I'm petite so maybe that's part of it but I did get the smallest available the XXS. The fit is actually much boxier than how it looks on the model. I get so annoyed when the fit or sometimes color is very different than on the site. Am probably going to return it.

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  17. My factory plaid skimmer pants are pilling where the fabric rubs together... after ONE WEAR. I wish I could say that I am surprised!

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  18. Oh and another vent! The necklace story reminded me...

    I ordered the Biennial Satchel.. I come to find it in stores for less as well. WTHeck?! Does anyone know why there's such a huge price discrepancy??
    That's not the only time. Interweb says one the stores say another? So pretty much could have gotten the Biennial for $115! Seriously, WTHeck.

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