Wednesday, January 7, 2015

"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.

28 comments:

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  2. Ah, somewhere I can vent about the girl at the J.Crew cash wrap! I got a drapey keyhole tank in bright eggplant for Christmas, but it was way too big. I went to the store to exchange it and they only had red and black. I just went with the black. I figured it was a straight exchange...same shirt, different size, right? The cashier doesn't even smile or apologize. She tells me I owe $30.00 (or whatever the difference was) like I should have known. Of course, I didn't know what the original price was, since it was a gift. I decided against it and she automatically refunded the money back to the original card. Since it was my sister who gave me the gift, I let it go, but I was really turned off by the crappy service. I used to work there too! It really was a bit of a shock. Not only that, she marked my return as "changed mind" and not "wrong size". Hah, that must bother my OCD side.

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    1. That is so annoying! I can't stand that stuff either.

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    2. And at the very least it should have been an even exchange.

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  3. I placed a Factory order on the 31st which sat in a released state until yesterday. I had ordered 2 pairs of the wool Skimmers - now only 1 pair has shipped & the other (navy) is sold out in my size after it sat there for DAYS fully stocked. I'm hoping they ship! I'm going to be really irritated otherwise - I've been wanting navy wool ankle pants for a while & they were a total steal! #firstworldproblems

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    1. I placed a Factory order two days ago, still in the "released" state. They cancelled an item as "Sorry, but we didn't have enough", yet it is still on the website as "only a few left". I emailed them, but still not response.
      Irritating, to say the least.

      The Factory Wool Skimmers are great....I have a pair in my order as well....who knows if I will even get them, after reading your experience.

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    2. dianespainting - my Skimmers JUST shipped so I hope yours do too! I have many pairs from years past that I love so I am stoked to get them in such a staple like navy.

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  4. @umeboshi, "changed mind" is one of my pet peeves! Whatever I say about a return, the receipt reads "changed mind." Too big, too tight, seams split, arrived damaged, pilled after one wear, ordered pink and received orange - changed mind.

    They must be doing it for a reason: my guess is they want to skew the statistics, since we all know JC is a statistic-driven company.

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    1. Glad I am not the only one! I don't understand why they'd want to skew statistics. It seems like it would be in their best interest to know if quality is going down or if a style isn't sized right. Money, money!

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  5. For Christmas my husband purchased me a cashmere scarf during the 30% off and free shipping sale. Not being an online shopper he forgot to put the code in so did not receive the discount. The next day he realized his mistake and emailed customer service to have the price adjusted to reflect the discount…the promo was still on but free shipping was now gone. The CS rep told him there was nothing she could do and he would have to reorder (and now pay shipping) and return the original scarf. This is ridiculous. Especially since we live in Canada and returning an item via Canada Post cost him $16 and he lost out on the exchange. So to correct his mistake it cost him shipping, plus return postage and the hassle of having to do all of this. Now if this had been me I would never have accepted this response from CS but he did not know better. When he told me this story after Christmas I immediately called CS and complained. They refunded shipping but we are still out of pocket the return shipping!!! Going forward I just won't ask for anything from J Crew again.

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  6. I called and closed my J.Crew card this morning. I've been a J.Crew junkie since college ( many moons ago) and realized I'd only ordered a few pair of khaki shorts and a pair of pajamas in the last 6 months. The PJ's didn't hold up and I'm now a devoted Garnet Hill pajama lady and the overpriced khaki shorts can be found at the gap. I'm sad to say, the strange fitting sweaters with huge dropped shoulders, see thru tees and cheaply made shoes have made me throw in the towel- and cancel my card.

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    1. I haven't cancelled my card but my purchases have dwindled so much that I have thought about it.

      It's not only the quality issue for me because I personally am not seeing many other mall retailers doing that much better in the quality department. It's design and fit. J. Crew garments used to be better quality, yes, but they also used to be unique, special, well-fitting and flattering. Chasing the "trends" - normcore, athleisure, whatever - has lead to a sea of mediocre, shapeless, generic-looking styles that you can buy anywhere and at any price point. "Trendy" by definition is also meant to last only a season or two, so I'll add disposable to the list. J. Crew doesn't really produce many "wear forever" items these days in terms of quality or style - witness the burgeoning sale section of seasons-old items, and the significant decline in the volume of resale buyers and sellers on the Exchange every week.

      All that said, I'm still hopeful the company can turn it around and bring back not the "old" styles per se, but the old "specialness."

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    2. Completely agree, I ordered a beautiful pink cashmere sweater from Joe Fresh at $44.00 last night, would have loved a JC cashmere but the cost is ridiculous, and the quality is not that great. Hope JC turns things around, but have to say not many stores have items that last forever anymore...

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  7. I placed an order early this am so things would not get sold out. I knew they were 50% off in store but knew by the time they opened the stuff would be gone. I called CS to explain and the girl said she would adjust the prices, only she just took 10% what I had paid not the original sale price. Hope this makes sense. I paid $35.99 for the shiny puffer vest, but should have been $29.99. They only adjusted it to $32.39 (10% off $35.99). When I called back another CS gave me the "one time courtesy" speech and said the girl should have never done it in the first place. Told me how I should go into the store and if they don't have it, use the red phone. Duh, I have only shopped JCrew 10,000 times, I know that. She read me the riot act over $7.60, which I guess I should have just let go to begin with, but it is the principle of the matter...I can't help the first girl didn't know that taking extra 10% each item was not the same as taking 50% off the sale price. Vent over...Have a good day!

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    1. That's such a pet peeve of mine: 40% off + an additional 10% off doesn't equal 50% off! It's also annoying that you got a lecture. At least she eventually gave you the discount you deserved.

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    2. Hey Doodle Daschund - you have saved me money AGAIN. It hadn't occurred to me to get a price adjustment on my online order from this morning (to the 50% off store prices). Thanks! I ordered some accessories (hey - its cold today and a $16 cashmere hat sounds pretty good), some kids items and the midnight tweed pencil. I can return any of these if they don't work. Final Sale to kick in tomorrow???

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    3. Glad the lecture was not in vain! You go girl!

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    4. I should say overall, I saved about $20.00 off my entire order after they gave me the other $7.60. Not too shabby.

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    5. They would save everyone these silly games if they just kept the store & online prices consistent. I don't have the energy for these price adjustments so I just bite the bullet but it does bother me that I often pay more because I don't live near a store.

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  8. The origami skirt in elephant parade went on sale today, so I rebought that and got a few winter things for my fiance as filler. I hate the rebuy/return game, but I also don't want to be out $30 for no reason, especially since I haven't even taken the tags off the skirt yet.

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  10. Longtime J. Crew Men's customer here and curious to see if any other men on this blog feel the same way, but I am sick and tired of the lack of color in the Men's line. Everything is Blue and Gray and even though those two colors happen to be two of my favorites, I'm tired of it filling up my closet/being my only option. It's obvious Frank likes those two colors, but shouldn't force them on the rest of us guys. Give me the vibrance of the colors in the Boy's crewcuts line!

    On a side note, I have also recently been very disappointed in the quality of the fabrics and stitching of products. I have found way too many loose threads, loose stitching, and hole in the fabrics recently for the (large) amount of money I spend.

    The culture and community of J. Crew is what's is making it hard to leave, but I have certainly lost a lot of enthusiasm and namely, trust, in the company lately.

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    1. Preach it! :-)
      I agree completely, only I am on the women's line. The crewcuts stuff is often times lots more interesting than the adult's.

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  11. Wool scarf in blue multi popped back. Ordered. Cancelled by JCrew. "Wish we made enough."

    Same scarf, still available in sale section next day and day after. Ordered. Again cancelled by JCrew. "Wish we made enough."

    Same scarf, popped back today. Did not order, learned my lesson the first two times.

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  12. I was at Madewell and spotted the pouch wallet, which online was on sale and with an additional 40% off. I would have ordered it online but they were out of stock. I asked the cashier to honor the sale price, and she did, but refused to give me the 40% off. She said that since the price ended in .50, it was a promotion price and not subject to the % off. But if I had bought it online, the code would have worked (I later bought another one online without any problems). The item was in the sale section of the website, and I thought it was ridiculous that it would be eligible for the additional % off online but not in the store. I let it go since I really wanted it but it would be nice if both online and the store had the same policies!

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    1. just to clarify, the store was also having 40% off sale items.

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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.

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