Wednesday, March 20, 2013

"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.

32 comments:

  1. Why do the employees all interpret the policies and promos in different ways? Why can't J Crew disseminate information clearly to their employees? Two separate stores emailed me the new promo info. One store's email said 25 % off $150+. Another store's email said 30% off storewide. No mention of needing JC card as pay type.

    In-person, a store was telling everyone 25% off $150+, 30% if you use your JC card.

    Online, it's 25% off $150. 30% off if you OPEN a JC card.

    Blah!

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    Replies
    1. ...and another thing...one of the stores emailed me w/a stock image from last summer!

      Blah!

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    2. Did an online chat and they told me to use code CARDMEMBER for 30% off. I tried it and it worked! Just have to enter the promo code after you enter payment information.

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    3. Thanks, SE Mom!

      (I'll take back one of my blahs)

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  2. I love their clothes - I hate their pricing policy. If you're buying from Australia, they increase the item price by about 40% - and that's before postage.

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    Replies
    1. For Chile they increase the price 20%...what's up with that?

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  3. Tiffany, as a fellow Aus resident I totally agree. I've blogged about this before. It's not just Australians who get screwed, though. It's all the International customers :-(

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  4. 1) everything is extremely overpriced, even when discounted, so that i often hate myself (on the plus side, when i find something i *love* and save for it, it is an amazing feeling)

    2) i wish they allowed customers to review items online (e.g., ann taylor, anthro, etc).

    3) i bought 5 different gingham shirts online and all of them said "cotton" under the website description. well, only one of these shirts was 100% cotton...the other ones contained anywhere from 1-5% of other materials. not cool, j. crew.

    4) i'm not sure if this happens at all stores, but at the one closest to me, the SAs will start a fitting room for you but will then hide all your clothes somewhere until you are ready to go to your room to try them on. so i spent 10 minutes trying to find my SA so i could go to my room, rather than heading towards the fitting rooms myself and locating my room based on what's hanging at its door.

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  5. Why if I'm a man and want a pair of chinos that do not look like I'm in a flood I have over six color choices? If I'm a women I get two? Even if I go for the 26" inseam I might get lucky and get three color choices. ..and one is always tan. Looks like I may have to try real boyfriend pants.

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  6. Just a minor complaint about the Stadium Cloth Boulevard Coat I recently ordered online. When I received it there was a used lip gloss in the pocket. I understand that returns are resold and I was unable to see any signs of wear on the coat I was just a little put off that no one bothered to check that another persons belongings werent still in the pocket. Love the coat, just a little weirded out.

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    Replies
    1. Let's add "used lip gloss" to the list of things that people have found in the pockets of their brand new J.Crew coats, along with "used tissue" and "part of a ticket stub for a football game". Am I missing anything?

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    2. Money...JCAs have found money in the pockets of their clothing orders. I think the top find is a $20 bill.

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    3. That's right! Well, obviously if anyone is in the habit of wearing coats outside and leaving money in the pockets before returning them, they should continue to do so, especially if they wear a size 8 coat *cough*.

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    4. DH once found a little rock in one of the pockets of his brand new J.Crew pants.

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    5. Whitney, you forgot the Penn State sticker I found in my "new" Wintress Puffer coat (the belt/tie was dirty on both ends too).

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  7. It annoys me that certain items disappear from the website when a promo is offered. I want to pull the trigger on the Tilda Rhinetoe Oxford but my patience is wearing thin with J. Crew.

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    Replies
    1. tseabrook - A rep told me that when they do inventory updates in the system, sometimes items or colors of an item will drop off during the update. However, the Tilda hasn't been online all day, so the inventory blurb doesn't apply in that case.

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  8. Nicole, that is awful. It is ridiculous that they don't check the pockets on things that are returned. I also hate getting items that don't have tags on them anymore. Obviously worn!

    I ordered a popback from Fall 2011 this morning, should be interesting to see what I get and what condition it is in. Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

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  9. What is up with all of the odd shaped knit tops? The tees I saw in the store yesterday were strangely short and wide with elbow length sleeves. The fabric on most was thin and cheap looking. I wouldn't buy this kind of quality from Target or H&M, yet J Crew is charging close to $50 for these things!

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  10. I want more pants! Not capris, not Minnies, PANTS! REAL PANTS! I buy a ton of work clothes at JCrew but it is always tops. The only choice for real pants are the Huttons which are okay but I'd like more fit options. Most stores now (Ann Taylor, Banana, etc.) have about 3 different fit options for pants. I do appreciate the insanely long inseam on the Huttons, though.

    I wish there was a way to accurately represent the colors online. I got a top in 'neon persimmon' which looked bright but wearable online. When I got it and pulled it out of the box, my husband asked if it was a workout top! It was the type of color you would wear to go running on a busy street...at night.

    One more thing. I wish JCrew's button down shirts had more of a feminine cut. I have tried the perfect shirt and the boy shirt and they both look bad on me because they are a more masculine cut. I want a shirt with more darting around the bust, and a defined waist.

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    Replies
    1. The boy shirts do have a more masculine cut (which works for me), but I find that the perfect shirts are really fitted with the darting. I personally don't love them and size up. Have you tried sizing down one size? Not sure if that will help ya.

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  11. The length of tops seems to be getting shorter and shorter. I am 6 feet tall and can only make a small percentage of their tops work for me (and that's mainly in the button-down department). A lot of their tees are practically like crop tops! Please make the tops longer or start selling a larger selection of talls! Considering one of their fearless leaders is tall (isn't Jenna over 6 feet tall?), you think that would help!

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  12. Where do I start? I placed an order three days ago for a white Perfect-fit Mixed Tape Cardigan (on sale) and a pair of white 5" chino shorts and a Boy Shirt in mint strawberry plaid (both items full price). They were due to be delivered today and then I got the 25% off email today. I contacted J.Crew by live chat online asking if I might get a price adjustment and apply the 25% off to the order I was due to receive today since some of my items were full price and I spend over $150. The answer was no. I thanked them and politely said I would just place a new order and re-roder the same items plus add a few others I was contemplating. Then my order from earlier this week arrives today and my Boy Shirt in mint strawberry plaid is missing from the box but I was still charged. Ugh! I called to complain and they credited my account. I am so glad I added this to the re -order this morning with the 25% off code because now they are out of my size in this shirt. I would've missed out because of their screw up packaging my order.

    I made a return this morning at my local store from an order I placed last week. Returns were made due to itchy unlined wool Paley pants, and suckered gingham Perfect Shirts with extremely thin fabric.

    My only high point today was checking out Banana Republic after making my JC returns to find a pair of grey Martin fit ankle dress pants for $79.99 plus another 30% off. One pair left in my size! Very cute!

    I think I am done with the Crew for a while. I am constantly disappointed with the cheap fabric used lately and shirts with a short, boxy fit. Plus, the prices and the neon colors are getting quite old.

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  14. I wish I could make sense of the logic behind styling new arrivals with old pieces that are no longer available. Several of the outfits styled on the Factory website are sporting necklaces that have been sold out for months--i.e., the feathered fan, the stone and crystal collar, the black/crystal bows. Why not style some of the new pieces of jewelry? Is the objective here to get me to work with what I already own or to buy something new?

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  15. This season's snakeskin shoes - all Collection - have a prominent and very ugly seam near the toebox. That's pretty low-rent, and I don't recall the JC snakeskin shoes having that cost-cutting construction before.

    JC has actually gotten better in the last year or so about the seams on their shoes, and I have purchased more shoes as a result.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, whoa, what is that all about?

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    2. cousy, I bought and returned the Everly snakeskin pumps. You are definitely right about prevous snakeskin shoes not having the seams. I have several from past seasons. The quality on these new shoes was just not there. So disappointing. Definitely not worth more than $100.

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  16. Has anyone else noticed that the ankle cuff pumps in black are backordered until JUNE??? So now not only is the price ridiculous but the wait time is just impractical. I don't wear closed-toe shoes in the summer.

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  17. By the time the scalloped underwire swim top entered my radar a few weeks ago, when it arrived in the sale section in all sizes and colours, the matching bottoms were nowhere to be found. I found the "ghost page" using google and they're apparently completely sold out. How did the bottoms sell out while the tops were completely in stock? I understand people mix and match these pieces but I find it hard to believe that many people wouldn't want to get both together. And if it sold out that fast you'd think they would make more. I suspect this is more an issue of wonky inventory. Anyways I will just pair the top with different bottoms, but you lost a sale J.Crew.

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  18. I know this isn't the biggest deal in the world, but if I pay full price for a necklace and wait a month to receive it, is it too much to ask for a storage bag? I mean really...

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    Replies
    1. Argh! I just received my two more pieces- same thing! A $165 necklace rattling around in a UPS box? Come on!

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And now back to J.Crew! :)