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.
Boy, I have not been having great experiences with J. Crew lately. It all started with a pair of Matchstick jeans I bought last fall. Within eight months, the fabric was wearing thin to the point of holes (and for reference, I work in an office, not in a gravel pit or something more hard-wearing). I wrote to JC's customer service and they told me to take them back to any store.
ReplyDeleteI went to the J. Crew in the Somerset Collection mall in Troy, MI. Admittedly, it's a pretty fancy mall, but I did not expect the attitude of the manager, who sneered at me and said, "We don't normally take these things back." When I explained how I'd written to customer service and they said to bring them in, I handed her my J. Crew credit card statement showing that I had purchased them at *full price* (not even on sale, what an idiot I was), and she took her sweet time visibly weighing how much money I spent in the store from the other transactions that were listed on the page. Then she said, "I don't expect MY $120 jeans to last a year." It was so hard to stay polite, I was shocked. In the end, she gave me the refund on a J. Crew card and then told me they were having a sale, but I high-tailed it out of that store as fast as I could.
I used the card to buy a few things from J. Crew Factory, but when they came, everything but one top was ill-fitting and went back. They put the refund on a new gift card, and proceeded to send it to the wrong addressed. I called them within minutes of getting the email thanking me for my J. Crew order (the new card), and the customer service agent made a note of the correct address, but the card got dispatched anyway, and I had to call back to make sure it was really cancelled, fearing some stranger would get my credit. It took another week for them to send out a card to the new address.
All told, it took me six weeks from returning that first pair of jeans to the awful woman at J. Crew in Somerset to today, and I think after I spend this card one last time, I may be done with J. Crew forever. The quality just isn't as good as it used to be - I don't know anyone who hasn't had to return something lately for material defects--holes in t-shirts after two washes, silk shirts pulling loose at the seams, etc. What a disappointment, this used to be my favorite store!
L. Goodrich - I concur that you were treated horribly. Nothing excuses her behavior. I will say that when I have a problem with an online order, I call customer service so they can make notes. When the SA pulls up the return, they see the notes. It's a good way to have your issue recorded. The SA definitely shouldn't visually rifle thru your previous orders. But I will say that their computer system sucks when trying to pull up an item via credit card. I think it pulls a number of matches, even if they put scan the ticket item. The match doesn't seem to be instant. I've been able to help them narrow it down if I know the store & approximate date. You might've wanted to have the customer service correspondence with you that 'authorized' your return. However, like I said -- she was in the wrong and you shouldn't have to go into the store armed with proof that your defective return should be accepted.
DeleteI encourage you to find out the district or area manager's name and report the incident. I love J Crew, but when things aren't right I've definitely discussed them with management.
I would definitely write to someone at corporate about her, that's inexcusable and her comment about not expecting $120 jeans to last one year is moronic, I hope I'm never so flippant with my money that I don't equate price with quality and just spend money without hoping the item actually lasts. I've worked retail, J. Crew actually almost 12 years ago and I never said anything rude to a customer and returns are part of their job.
DeleteI hate it when the picture in the catalog doesn't match up with the actual item online. I was interested in the ruched halter one piece bathing suit, but the picture online had a thin strap (vs. the thick strap that I wanted as pictured in the catalog). WTF, Jcrew?!!!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I am starting to think they change designs somewhere in production before items ship (but after they do catalog shoots). Sloppy.
DeleteAlso on my vent list this week...more of a miss list...I miss the cosabella partnership and summer dresses with built in shelf bras....sigh.
I often wonder about this, because it always seems the differences are for cost-cutting purposes and are being made fairly late in the production process.
DeleteThe final garments never seem to reflect a change to MORE fabric or BETTER tailoring, only less.
Where's the July 4th promo? A sales associate called me yesterday and told me that starting today there is an additional 40% off sale items in the store. But I was hoping for a online promo!
ReplyDeleteThe promo code is Style40, it ends July 7th. But beware of the price differences in store vs online.
DeleteOrdered 3 items from the Factory with CARDPERK promo; nothing I needed, but the price was good for all.
ReplyDelete-Factory Bead & Crystal Necklace
-Emery flats (best price I had seen after nearly paying full price at the beginning of season)
-Clare Cardigan
Opened the box to find no cardigan and a Men's v-neck tee. Emailed CS the issue and asked they if they could expedite shipping so it would come in time for my vacation. Response-no problem, verify size and billing/shipping and which CC. Verified via email, received shipping confirmation-email-regular shipping. Ughh.
Clearly should've called and resolved everything at once, but had ASSUMED the rep would read the prior communication and note the offer for expedited shipping. Now need to make sure someone grabs my package for me while away. And it is easier for me to write a quick email on my phone.
Seriously, can no one do the smallest part of their job anymore?!? Why burden the consumer? Expedited shipping should be the standard when they make the mistake.
Shopped the sale like crazy...over a period of about a week, I hit the NYC SoHo store, the Flatiron store, the one near Grand Central, and the Rockefeller location!
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm pleased with the deals I found, there were a few gripes I had. One: price tags were often nonexistent or showed different prices within a single style. Also, I noticed that prices were different at different locations! And the prices were definitely different from online (lower prices in store). I can understand sales staff having a hard time keeping up with updated sale prices if they're in a rush to replenish the sale racks, but it sends a confusing message, and who knows how many sales they lost because a tag was marked $59.99 when the sale price was actually lowered to $19.99.
Also: sales staff were not at their best at any of the locations, although SoHo and Union Square weren't too too bad. At Grand Central, fitting room staff gossiped about coworkers AND customers, and a girl took my selections to start a fitting room for me while I was still on the sales floor, only to have one of her colleagues put the items back OUT on the floor before I arrived in the fitting room less than 10 minutes later! I explained to the attendant in the fitting room that my items weren't there, and he said he'd find them for me but I never heard from him again...I ended up just going back and pulling all my selections again. Rockefeller Center was awful. Really unpleasant and disinterested and borderline-incompetent staff. It was swamped in there, but there's no reason you can't smile and at least attempt to be helpful. There's no excuse for that. I say this as someone who worked retail for several years before starting my current career.
One plus from Rockefeller's ineptitude, though...as I was on my way back to the office after making a couple purchases there, I noticed that the cashier had accidentally given me an additional 25 percent off my 25 percent ;) If it had been a case of being given 10 dollars extra in change, I would have brought it back, but this was a data entry error and I consider it fair game!
Bought two items; a watercolor cardigan and a poppy print scarf at the Factory store while on vacation at the beach. Have not shopped or looked online due to such high priced differences. Last online order I think was in March. Just refuse to play their pricing games. So many online retail stores have the exact same price online as in store. Until J.Crew makes that adjust I won't buy from them online. Maybe, probably, highly likely they have lost me as a customer...unless I happen to be in their store which only happens 2-4 times a year.
ReplyDeleteHeads-up-one of my stores is still only doing 30% off, not 40%. Per CS, YMMV, so you may want to call before heading out if this makes a difference to you!
ReplyDeleteJust returned from one of the stores I go to. I tried really hard but spent only $17.99 on a bracelet. Lots of short shorts, tees, a few dresses and skirts. Not much of anything left. Saw the beginnings of fall clothes. New Tippi and Mini colors. The Tippis were in weird colors. I didn't like any of them. It was pretty dead in the store. There was a new sales associate I've never seen before. My first thought was that she was dressed very UN-crew. I guess you don't have to dress like a Crewster to work there.
ReplyDeleteJust had to vent a little...I'm SO TIRED of the warehouse mistakes on J. Crew online orders. I order a lot online b/c I live 50 miles from the nearest store and often buy petites anyway. During the recent promos, I placed a couple orders, and purchased the linen cap sleeve dress in both a size 00 and a petite 0. The dress in size 00 was completely missing from my box and the petite dress that showed up was a P00. I wish they would get this resolved already. I get incorrect orders on average, 25% of the time. That seems ridiculous to me.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, both CSR's I spoke with were helpful. One offered to do a WWFI for one dress since it was sold out online; the other overnighted the petite dress in the correct size.
I wanted to vent about annoying SAs...
ReplyDeleteLet me first say that the MAJORITY of J. Crew SA's are friendly and helpful. My gripe is about three I have encountered in my lifetime. They must be newer hires because they kind of stalk you ....maybe while you are at the register paying for your item (to ensure you "remember" to tell the cashier they "helped" you)... or incessantly badger you about items you are not interested in. My favorite story was when I was looking at a necklace and an SA said "That's beautiful! Jewelry really makes an outfit!" Um, no kidding, I don't need to be told that.
What do I want in a SA? Read my blog to find out!
http://what-i-bought-today-tc.blogspot.com/
This is not necessarily a gripe, but a "the one that got away." I think back in 2006 J. Crew had a strapless navy blue tiered eyelet floor length dress. I bought it and returned it for whatever reason. No one seems to be able to find even a picture. I contacted J. Crew about it and no luck. To this day, I dream about reuniting with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's 40% off but final sale is back! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteWell, final sale is back - we all knew it was coming. Looks like some of the promo items (Merino Tippi, school of fish Tippi) are showing up as FS as well. I think the new website changes have FS hard coded in there so we won't see the random items not marked FS like we used to.
ReplyDeleteAt least they didn't say it's the "sale you've been waiting for". Yeah JC, I've been waiting for a sale where I can purchase a non-returnable item and when it comes in the mail it:
a) looks nothing like the web picture
b) is a different fabric/color/length than the item description
c) has wadded-up Kleenex in the pocket
d) pops a seam/wears a hole/button falls off while trying it on
e) is a crewcuts tee when I ordered a women's dress
f) is $20 cheaper in stores
g) gets marked down $20 with an additional 30% online tomorrow
(of course we can return defects, but you get the gist)
If the promo items are going to be FS as well, that's just ridiculous.
Final Sale...ugh! Not a good way to celebrate the July 4th holiday, now is it?
DeleteIt does look like they are having the normal glitches that they do whenever the switch the website over, and even some regular priced items (along with several promo items) are showing up as final sale. Hopefully in the next couple of days they will get it all worked out, and all the regular and promo priced items that are showing up as FS will go back to showing up as returnable.
Not even a good sale update to go with it. Ugh, I am so off of the Crewlade, and I don't even want to be. Even on the big sale update days, there is nothing I want. Final Sale isn't going to help.
DeleteLOL. Great way to explain how most of us feel about final sale and its return.
DeleteSo annoyed...so I received Factory emails on Friday, 6/28 and Sunday, 6/30 advertising the 50% off sale plus additional 10% "VIP" savings code. The email language on both notices clearly advertises the promotion being in effect through July 7: "**Offer valid on purchases made in J.Crew Factory stores and at jcrewfactory.com from June 28, 2013, 12:01am ET through July 7, 2013, 11:59pm ET. Offer not valid in J.Crew stores, at jcrew.com or on phone orders. Offer cannot be applied to previous purchases or the purchase of gift cards and cannot be redeemed for cash. To redeem, present this email in store at time of purchase or enter code VIP in the promo code box when checking out at jcrewfactory.com. Limit one promo code per order. Offer valid in the U.S. and Canada only. Terms of offer are subject to change. Store associates: Scan bar code on email and retain at time of transaction." Well, lo and behold the code wasn't working today. I called CS and they advised that the promotion expired yesterday. Ummmmm, what?!?! I read the language to the rep., and she sort of suggested that I was confused -- I explained that I was reading the legalese VERBATIM! She gave me the whole song and dance about making a "one-time exception" and that I shouldn't expect the same in the future. Clearly someone made in error in the email communication not once but twice, or the decided to pull the plug on the promotion because someone's sales projections were off. Either way, you lose J.Crew -- get yo'self together!!!!
ReplyDeleteI wish the fleur de lis critter flip flops would return from a couple of years ago. I absolutely love the pairs I have - flat and wedge.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually about Madewell but...I bought the Boardwalk sandals the other day at a B&M. When I got home, I reviewed them online (Madewell lets you review their products) and said that although they are very cute, there is something wrong with the strap in that even my skinny ankles require the last hole on the strap. I got an e-mail back two days later saying that my review wasn't posted and to review the guidelines! The guidelines don't say anything about criticisms, just no obscenities, etc. WTF? Seriously, I wasted my time writing that review but now I'm mad because the straps on those sandals are messed up and people should know.
ReplyDeleteI have one problem with jcrew, the huge price discrepancy in online pricing versus store pricing. I mean thankfully I have a store in my state, but even that doesn't always help. Today I attempted to purchase the drapey elbow striped tee in store at the same price that it was offered on line, 32.50 with 40% off. First it wasn't on sale. No problem the SA gave me the price adjustment with no problem, one catch though, after talking with someone on the red phone, she revealed she couldn't take the additional 40% off! Bummer!! I did't get the tee. Instead I purchased cafe capri in stone for 18.00 dollars (they are still 89.50 on the website/and aren't even on sale, I mean at all).
ReplyDeleteJ Crew & their cart dumping. I was just on the site. Clicked the cart again and *poof*
ReplyDeleteI'm spent a lot of money on J. Crew over the years. I'm spending less and less now. The Matchstick jeans look great, and tear sometimes after a few weeks. I should have taken them back. None of them will last a year. I've had other issues too. All my trousers seem to come apart at the seams, and what's up with unlined wool trousers anyway? I've started buying mine elsewhere. We've also had split seams in several places, and holes. It's getting ridiculous. I won't buy anything now that isn't seriously on sale.
ReplyDelete