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.
I get irritated when J Crew re-releases identical pieces. Current case in point - the long sleeve striped maxi dress (item F1725).
ReplyDeleteI paid full price for this last spring because it's a great piece and I thought it would sell out (which it did).
It appears the re-release is well received and the dress will be popular again this year.
I understand why they would re-release a successful piece, but couldn't they at least tweak it a bit? A solid color? A different stripe?
I know this kind of thing happens often from one season to the next between the retail and factory store - but I find it especially irritating to see the exact same dress in the retail store again.
Yes, JC has been especially bad about this. They re-release the same exact outerwear every winter too. It's also one less new thing for people wanting something new to look at, and contributes to a feeling of boredom with the options.
DeleteI think re-release is a good idea for those who missed it the first time.
DeleteI feel 100% the same way! I have the long sleeve maxi from last year and was dismayed to see it offered in exactly the same design again. We brought up in an earlier thread that it would have been awesome in black-- I would have scooped one of those up in a heartbeat.
DeleteI was similarly frustrated when they re-released the striped cap sleeve sheath a couple of years ago (the one that had lovely blush colored stripes on ivory). It didn't feel special once I watched it flood the sale section the following year, and I paid closer to full price than I normally would when it debuted since I expected it to be limited release.
Isn't this a damned if you do damned if you don't situation? If they change it, some people will say the original was better either because they missed it the first time or they want another one. Then, if they don't change it, people will say they're bored why don't they offer something unique, new or different.
DeleteFrom a strategic perspective they shouldn't be re-releasing duplicates because it doesn't help people feel like they need to pay full price for something or they will miss out. It's really kind of lazy short-term thinking rather than figuring out how to rebuild a value perception in the brand long-term. Most retailers don't re-release items each season and people know that if they want something badly enough, they need to buy it now.
Delete@st, Yea, I think that's it a bit of a Catch-22 situation. I guess from JC's perspective, they might like to re-release an item that was a sure hit, if only because at least it'll be a sure sell? I do recall hearing complaints about the selection of coat silhouettes needing a revamp -- a few years of say, the Chateau Parka, might mean that customers are ready for something else.
DeleteI really wish they'd bring back the Painter tee in the original knit fabric they used. No problems with holes, beautiful heather colors and I loved the ballet-like neckline.
DeleteIf a style is successful, they need to introduce one or two additional colors. People who really like it will buy it in more colors, which equals more sales.
DeleteAnother goodbye - our hometown paper sees the bigger
ReplyDeletepicture.
Thanks for this!
DeleteThanks for sharing, WFF. Good article. I will miss her at J.Crew.
DeleteI read this article while going through my FB feed yesterday. The comments ranged from 'about time' to 'will miss her' to 'i shop at J.Crew and I never heard of her or knew she was the public face of the company.' <---that last one, huh??? I wasn't shopping J.Crew back then and even I knew who she was.
DeleteTM93. Clearly some people must live under a rock.
DeleteFactory had new arrivals up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. Some nice natural fabrics again this time around! Added some things to the wishlist.
DeleteOBSESSED with the plaid heels!
DeleteI love both the tweed lace dress and the doby dress! But the initial "sale" prices are never the best, so I'll wait! -lep33shops
DeleteThe 25% off $100 with free shipping is tempting, though! I love my wedge espardrilles in black & navy; maybe the silver would be a good neutral. (I can no longer wear open-toed shoes to work.)
DeleteI like a few of the print tops in cotton and cotton/ linen but am playing the wait for the best price game which I dislike. Today's offer seems like a great deal with additional 25% off $100 but of course the items I like are not 60% off but more like 40% off it does not seem like such a great deal. I agree that it always seems to be a bit cheaper a few days after the release. Taylor- I feel your pain. I cannot wear open toe or open back shoes. My summer sandals are neglected most of the time. I should sell some but can't part with them.
Delete@JessF - I have sold some of mine but could stand to rid my closet of a few more. I just don't wear "fancy" open-toed shoes in my non-work life so I have no need for them now!
DeleteI'm tempted by the dobby dress too, but JC dresses rarely work on me (the waist usually sits too high for me). I did a mock check-out on exactly $100 of items, and the discount came to $24.99. 25% off x $100 = $25 savings, no?
DeleteRecent victim of the final sale. Girl flannel shirt for 15 and shirt dress for 20. So ugly and unfit. (Size 16 like adult museum) My daughter won't wear them. Waste of money.
ReplyDeleteOT - I don't really shop Madewell but ordered a pair of sandals on Saturday and they still haven't shipped...is this typical? It seems like a long wait time. The status on my order is open and says delivery by 4/11. Ten days - yikes.
ReplyDelete10 days--- whether or not it's too long, not the point; consumers expect a much quicker turn around on an order these days, and when a big company like this can't DO IT, there's a problem
DeleteAnne, I'm a madewell shopper and I've never waited that long for a shipment, and that includes even before I was an insider (with free shipping). Try calling them, they're always super helpful!
Deletenot an answer, but which sandals did you buy?? -lep33shops
DeleteI've had a few orders from Madewell and J.Crew that seemed like they took forever, about ten days.
DeleteWelcome to the service we get in Canada...And we pay $12 for it. I forget what I have ordered by the time it arrives
Deletethanks for the feedback ladies :)
DeleteLauren - I ordered the Kaia ankle wrap sandals! And placed an order today for a few things with the 40% off sale including the ornate floral tie skirt which I'm going to try again - I think those sandals will be really cute with the skirt for Easter as well as a few other things I have picked up on Posh lately for spring/summer!
Also OT but following up from another post, I ordered the red Merona suede Marcella block heel sandals from Target and for $28 they're super cute. I might grab the black too. I'm a 9.5 in most JC shoes and the 9 worked perfectly in these.
10 days for shipping is silly especially when Amazon can turn things around in 2 days. J Crew should be able to do 5 days or less.
DeleteIf a store is in my city, I rather visit the store and buy from there rather than wait for shipping only to be disappointed in the items. So it's annoying how J. Crew picks and chooses what to sell in the store.
Here we go again. The love hate relationship that is J.Crew. All I did was pop-in a buy a vintage cotton v-neck tee shirt for my birthday in navy, to go with some J.Crew pj bottoms from a prior season. I was looking in the mirror over the bathroom sink while washing my face and voilla - I see something amiss at the vee neck. Of course, a nice sized hole has developed just left to the seam at the lowest level of the vee. Can't hide that!! C'mon - after maybe six wears and like 3 washes in The Laundress Darks Detergent, gentle cycle, hung dry. Lousy and unacceptable. Ha - 40% off today no thanks. I mean the overall style, fit and feel is a winner, ripped may be trending, but holes due to poor fabric is a loser. I just submitted a review saying such. Thanks for reading my rant y'all. P.S. Wowzers on Miss Jennas departure...not sure what to make of that at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain! Stopped buying their knits a few years ago due to constantly finding pin sized holes in odd places. Now I am finding their woven shirts are really shrinking. Recently gave a bag of clothes to Goodwill and it was mostly JC. While I will miss the cool factor of Jenna, hoping the product will get better
DeleteNearly all of my vintage cotton tees are full of holes. Only buy them on super sale and only wear them with my pj pants because you never know when a hole is going to appear. Sad but true!
DeleteSo glad to hear I am not the only one. So ladies where do you buy decent tees that you could wear out?
DeleteI haven't had issues with the perfect fit tees. The new, longer sleeve version is really nice!
DeleteAlmost every t-shirt and tank I have from J Crew has developed a hole. I no longer even bother. I have $10 shirts from Target that have held up for years.
DeleteI have a t-shirt from Madewell that looks like a dog chewed on it and its very annoying. I almost returned it, but not sure how that works. I'm pretty sure they are cutting their tees from the same fabric as J. Crew, just slapping a different label on it.
I am also a fan of the perfect fit tees, but mine shrunk dramatically after the dryer. I have a long torso and it was perfect to start but now it's creeping up. Aren't tees supposed to be pre-shrunk?
DeleteI have this problem with pretty much every tee I buy at Jcrew. The vintage tees are especially bad! I feel like every time I get a tee out and put it on I find a small hole somewhere. The perfect fit tees have definitely faired better. Everlane has some nice quality t-shirts. Maybe check them out?
DeleteLiz, long torso woman here, too! Never put tees in the dryer. Flat dry or hang to dry.
DeleteWas sent earrings in a paper bag packaging... and to top it off they were the wrong color. Luckily customer service was outstanding and are overnighting me a new pair. I hope it comes in an actual box 🤷🏻♀️
ReplyDeleteThis qualifies for both a love and a hate.. hate the quality, love the customer service. I ordered a girl's cool pineapple rash guard last fall to use on a vacation this winter. I wore it once, then followed the wash directions - machine wash cold, no dryer. When my friends pulled it out of the washing machine in our vacation apartment, the pineapple print in front of the rash guard that completely been washed off, leaving only a ghost print. And area where the pineapple had been puckered and stuck into itself. My friends thought it was hilarious that my "pineapple went missing." I was furious - wore once, first wash, rash guard completely not usable again! I emailed my VPS to complain when I came back from vacation. She told me that she always handwashes her JC swim just in case (GRRRR if that's how they should be laundered, it should say hand wash only on the care tag!). However, she did look up the order from my history, then had a return label sent to me. I was able to get a full refund. She also offered to replace the rash guard with another, but I'm not taking any chances with JC printed swim anymore.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for jca's that tried the new option to pick-up your order at your local store... Did your store give you your actual UPS sealed envelope/package or did they open your package and handed your items inside a JC bag ?
ReplyDeleteWent to pick up my order today and was given a brown JC bag with one item ( of an order of three ).. When I asked about the other two items sales rep first asked if I hadn't already picked them (no)..then if I had received an email confirmation that all items were ready for pick up(yes).... Finally another sales rep stepped in and went in search of the rest of my order. It didn't take long for her to come with a second JC bag with the other two items. Receipt was inside but strangely detached ( part A from bottom part ).
While I can see the good intentions with the extra care /tissue wrapping , I think this is a recipe for disaster. The UPS package is clearly labeled while the JC bags had no indication to whom they belonged. Baffling .
Haven't tried it, but sounds like a mess...
Delete@Jazmine, Apparently the option is being heavily used (late afternoon yesterday the option was unavailable/ all stores in the area were at full capacity).. Hopefully what I experienced was a one-time thing.. we will see
DeleteI just used this option, and my tee was in a small J crew shopping bag. I like the option, but it took a while to ship the tee to my store, which was silly since they had plenty of these tees in the store already. I would love it if they had store inventory and a pick up from store tomorrow function for items that are already in the store. I like the find in store option now, but it doesn't always show up.
DeleteI've used it, but haven't picked up yet. I tried to use it for some Seavees yesterday, but the site kept logging an error each time I would select the store for pickup. It worked on my phone, but by then I'd second guessed the order, and decided I didn't need the shoes after all. 😆
DeleteYes, that's how they keep your order. I would just go slow during pick up and make sure you have every piece from the order before signing anything that says you e received your order. I like the plastic bags from the warehouse, actually. But the store might think it's more luxurious to present our purchases in bags to us, all "extras" removed. I'm OCD, so I prefer to make my own decisions about that and handle my clothes very very carefully. That said, they should at least wrap in tissue paper if they're removing packaging - they did not. Boo!
DeleteAlso meant to say that it does make sense to remove the outer packaging bc how many boxes can anyone store? But, leave the plastic sleeves on, please. The stickers ha e useful info and I'd rather not have my cashmere rolled up unceremoniously in a brown bag, with no one to answer for it!
Delete@maqsad, good points. As a fellow OCD ,I too question the unwrapping/unpacking :)
DeleteMakes no sense to ship a tee to a store that already has it in stock. Why not just pull it from the stores inventory? It's super annoying to know ship to store and pick up in store has been around for years and they are slowly rolling it out like it's a new concept.
DeleteHi Jazmine, I think the store does pull from its own in entity if it had the tee in the size ordered. I've not seen that kind of replication so far...
DeleteI went to the clearancestore this morning in Arden and they are closing in two weeks.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Is this the one that Doodle used to go to, or is this Taylor's? I do wonder what the reason for closing these stores is -- maybe at attempt to cut down on ebay resellers?
Delete@jan, if you see this, I think you're planning to stop at one of these stores soon during an upcoming vacation, I hope you make it in time! (& find some good stuff!)
Oh no, that's sad news! @TM93, you have a good memory and are so sweet! That was last year though and I was able to go to the Lynchburg one. I think you're right about Arden being Doodles location and I'm sure she'll be sad to hear this.
Delete@Ina, I hope that you found some great items!
DD is very sad about the closing (she commented on my IG. I got some great deals a d came home with 10 pairs of shoes for the family (i got 2 pair of suede booties and two pair Collettes, one pair of Ceces and one pair of Elsies for me),plus some crew cuts and Ome Drake silk scarves.
DeleteOMG, Ina, I am loving your epic shoe haul, that is so awesome!! I'm on IG now looking for your photos. What a great start to a vacation!!
DeleteI guess I can stop obsessing about going there some day! I wonder what their new clearance sell-off strategy will be?
DeleteShopgrrl my factory store had some retail and a few Madewell pieces when I went in this past weekend. The SA helping me said they received several boxes from the warehouse the other week so maybe they are going back to the good old days when you could find retail gems in the factory store. That was the first time I saw any retail items there in several years.
Delete@Ina, that's an amazing shopping trip!
Delete@JessF that would be amazing if that happened at my factory store!
Delete@JessF@MrsG, same! I'd pop into my Factory much more often if there were retail returns/overstocks there. It's much closer than JCrew and has free parking! I did score a few retail gems there about 2 years ago, but haven't seen any in quite awhile. I got my beloved Parker ankle boots there for about $60.
DeleteThe Arden store was DD's; the Lynchburg location was mine & it closed months ago. I'm glad the rest of you now get a chance to score goodies but I am completely out of luck - I feel like I have complained 100x on the blog before but the closest Factory store is three hours away from me while the closest retail store is two. Booooooooo.
DeleteI'm so sorry Taylor! I was super bummed about the closing of the Lynchburg store and always wanted to go there. It stinks that there is no jcrew or factory closer to you. I really wonder what their motivation was for closing these places as they seemed to be very popular!
DeleteI went to a factory store last night and found some retail goodies. I hate that those that were near a factory store are losing their happy place but am glad to see the factory as an alternative to sending to a liquidator. I hardly ever shop at factory, as the nearest is almost an hour away, but this may make it worth more trips.
DeleteI bet they're closing them for pure cost reasons--since the stuff was heavily discounted they weren't high margin locations, and if they are able to liquidate the stuff by sending around to other existing factory stores then they're not losing a liquidation method. As someone else mentioned I wonder if stopping ebay resellers has anything to do with it, though if they stopped re-releasing so many of the same styles they'd have less competition from ebay resellers.
DeleteUgh, so sad. I was planning to make another pilgrimage this year, but I don't think a last minute trip to North Carolina is in the cards. I'm grateful to have been able to go last year after something like 10 years hoping for the stars to align!
DeleteI will be thrilled if Factory starts selling retail items - it would definitely incent me to stop in more often. I have randomly found retail items at Factory over the year - I bought my retail black field jacket for a song at Factory.
DeleteCorrection: I hate that those near a clearance store are losing their happy place.
DeleteThank you for a great article. This is extremely helpful and very motivational.
ReplyDeleteLatest Fashion Online