Recently I placed an order online that got canceled. Imagine my surprise to see the very item I ordered (same color and everything) available the following day for sale online. I immediately called J.Crew to see if I could still get the item, when J.Crew's customer service rep decided to "sales pitch" me the J.Crew credit card as well as upgrade my shipping for a fee (which in the end didn't matter because my item was no longer available). I was taken a bit by surprised as I was more focused on getting my item than anything else at the time.Well, thank goodness for this blog's members- because I have been reading so many accounts of members experiencing the same "up-sale" by J.Crew recently! (For a minute, I thought my experience was a strange, out of the norm, encounter.)
For example, in the "Expect Some New Arrivals At J.Crew Stores! ;)" post, Melanie shared the following: "Also, is it just me or has anyone else noticed an increase in upselling when you call in an order? I was on the red phone yesterday and the woman asked me if I wanted this item, because it sold well with the item I'd ordered. That's happened on my last four red phone orders, but has never really happened before that. I didn't know if it was a new trend or if I have only just been paying attention more recently." Casual-Crew in the same post mentioned "...I called CS to ask a question about my order and I had to listen to a 4 min speel about JC credit card and other stuff before my question got answered..."
So chances are, when you call J.Crew (through the red phone or elsewhere) you will hear some sort of sales-pitch. I realize J.Crew is thinking of ways to promote their services (like the credit card and more costly shipping methods), but I am not sure if this is the most effective method.
I always enjoyed shopping at J.Crew stores (and over the phone) with *out* getting the sales pitch (which I normally do hear at most other retailers like the Gap and Macy's). But maybe those days are over... :)
Did you recently get the "sales pitch" when you called J.Crew's customer service? What are your thoughts on the up-sell? Do you think it is a smart move (there is the opportunity to get customers to buy more!) or a bad move (there is also the opportunity to annoy customers)?
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ReplyDeleteWell, when all else fails . . .
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've used the red phone & purchased items twice at J.Crew this week & I've never received a sales pitch from an associate or phone rep. Ah, life is grand.
I get the sales pitch everytime. The funny thing is, I'm familiar with most of the line and tell them why I don't like the particular item they're pitching. I guess they're hard pressed to move more than one item at a time!
ReplyDeleteI got the sales pitch for the first time yesterday, when using a red phone. The CS rep tried to sell me several additional items and also gave me extra info on the things I ordered.
ReplyDeleteThe CS rep was very friendly but I felt the sales pitch was a little over the top and slightly annoying.
I ordered a shrunken cashmere hoodie which was cancelled so I ordered the other cashmere hoodie they had in stock. Approximately 2 weeks later the same shrunken hoodie (the size and color I ordered) that was cancelled on me was available online.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened with the uptown tote-I ordered a light gold one which was cancelled so I bought the platinum gold one (they did a "we'll find it for you" on the light gold tote without success). A little later the one that was cancelled on me was available online again...J Crew sold me two things I didn't really want and the items I originally wanted were available again AFTER they said they definitely didn't have them in stock.
I honestly felt like they mocked me. I read people's comments on this blog saying "I have my fingers crossed, hopefully my order won't get cancelled"-everyone knows there is a chance we can lose our orders like we're gambling and not shopping.
Yes, I got the sales pitch all the time and that's why I prefer shopping in stores and save online shopping with JCrew as my last resort :/
I never had similar issues with any other retailer online.
I have also had both issues - I called with an order during the last day of one of the last promotions and was told that the item was no longer available, only to have it show up online again the next day - after the coupon expired. Also,for the last couple of months, every time I talk with customer service, they try to sell me more items. They are always sweet about it, but it is a bit annoying, nonetheless.
ReplyDelete1) They are pushing us to upsell bigtime; they supposedly automatically fail our call grades if we don't upsell or push the card.
ReplyDelete2) If you noticed an uptick in credit card pushes, it's because they doubled our incentive for a limited time a few weeks ago. That recently ended (and they knock us down a few points if we don't offer)
3) I never, and most associates don't pitch over the red phone. You are in the B&M; the store associate is supposed to do that.
4) We are require to reinforce every singe product. They like us to suggest things that go well together.
5) Anon at 1:33 - Mention this to someone. We can look back into your previous orders and see the cancelled one. It's ridiculous that this happened, and you shouldn't put up with it.
J. Crew seems to post very low volume items online rather than only posting items that they have at least 10 in stock or some other cutoff. I think it is inevitable when there is only one item left that more than 1 person might place an order for it at the same time and only one of those orders will be able to be fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed the going in and out of stock issue and I have always attributed the reavailability to returns of the item, either from a consumer or perhaps moving stock from the Store Channel to the Direct Channel. In any case, any time an item has been cancelled on me I watch the website for it diligently and call immediately when I see it back in stock. I reference my previous order number with the cancellation and I have always been able to have the item reshipped at the same price I placed the order at with no additional shipping. Lately they have been adding shipping to reship a cancelled item, but they take it off when I protest that the original orders had free shipping (they did). I had a jacket cancelled from an order over the weekend and I asked them to check the stores for that one. They did, found it and it arrived for me even before the rest of the original order!
I have had items cancelled from orders at other retailers as well when stock availability gets low and have had very good luck at eventually finding the items I want if I keep checking inventory via website or phone.
I have not experienced any attempts to upsell recently.
Oh,how I hate the upsell - I have not received it personally, but I really try to limit my calls to CS because it's such a crapshoot.
ReplyDeleteI find the inventory counts unreliable as well - I have ordered the patent-leather Sonia clutch 4 times and it has gotten cancelled every single time. Last time I tried to order it said there were 6 in stock. Now I just add it to an order to boost the total so that I can use the FS code, knowing that it will get cancelled but I can still receive the items I do want with FS. It keeps showing up on the website every time that they update.
I actually experienced this while on the phone with PS Tammy discussing my LOST Maggie PreOrder...she KNEW the mess that was going on with it, and while trying to place a new order on it for me, she told me about the Cascading Flowers Astrid and asked if I wanted to PreOrder it...WHAT??? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! J.Crew just LOST my Maggie PreOrder, but you want me to place another PreOrder for a $425 Jacket??? GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I found it to be COMPLETELY insulting...why in the WORLD would I preorder another jacket when you can't even find my current preorder? I think upselling sucks!
ReplyDeleteI found that there was more emphasis on the upsell then answering the question correctly, she even wanted to activate my cancelled order that I cancelled myself saying it was a system error!
ReplyDeleteI have experienced this sales pitch3 x this week twice to get my tracking # and the other to inquire about an order.
I hate it, I can see the purpose of it when you place an order but not when you have a problem or a general inquiry about an existing one.
Yes, got a really hard sell yesterday when I red phoned an item; the CS asked me no less than 4 times to get the jcrew card & did I want some other items that went well w/ the cardi I ordered. Annoying.
ReplyDeleteFFM: I had the exact same experience.....problems with my preorder and the lady on the phone (I have her name but won't post it) had the nerve to be saying, "Your next preorder will go smoothly I'm sure." I said, "I will never preorder again after this exhausting experience" (In side I wanted to scream but I was polite:)
ReplyDeleteI used the red phone in the store recently, but did not get the up-sell. Unfortunately, J.Crew sent me an e-mail saying that one of the items became unavailable so they had to cancel it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I checked online the next day, and the item WAS available so I called them and they fixed it. I keep checking my order status online and they have not shipped the item yet. I'm a little paranoid that that they might cancel it again.
Sorry for going off track....