Wednesday, March 18, 2009

J.Crews Infamous Green & Forbidden Screens

At one point or another, Aficionadas and Aficionados have seen the dreaded green screen or the words "forbidden" and "error". As of lately, many of you have mentioned seeing this screen way too often.
A big "thanks!" to Teresa (in this post) who shared the following insights on this {troublesome & annoying} issue:

Anyone still having problems with forbidden, green screen, not being able to add items to shopping cart, etc? I may be able to help. I contacted JC repeatedly (restarting my router was no good), and, after about 6 weeks, they found a solution: I needed to change some settings on referrer info (yikes) in my antivirus software. I canNOT believe it took it them that long to resolve the issue, and I did NOT spend $ with them I otherwise would have.

...Depending on your antivirus brand you can find instructions online to adjust the settings... Hope this helps!


I am happy to hear that there is a solution. I have also read comments here and there from several Aficionadas mentioning that they had to change their IP addresses to access J.Crew's website. Hopefully this issue is not happening too often for Aficionadas and Aficionados.

Incidentally, J.Crew offers some advice on their website (click here to view a larger version of the image above, or click here and here). Unfortunately, it does not offer too much in terms of remedying the issue.

Have you been getting the "green screen" and/or "Forbidden" message often, as of lately? Have you been able to clear up those issues? If so, please share with us your solution. :)

25 comments:

  1. OT- But it there was some uncertainty regarding the Extra20 code, the website is now advertising that it expires 11:59 pm this Saturday. Enjoy the sale!

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  2. Yeah I hate when I get the green screen shot! So annoying! Especially when you reeeeally want an item before it sells out! That screen usually goes away but one time I got this FORBIDDEN port 404 "you do not have access to this site" nonsense after viewing their catalog online. It took a while before I was "allowed" to view their site again. I had to clear cookies, restart my computer and finally it worked. I'm just never gonna look at the catalog for fear that that'll happen again!

    Whenever that kind of stuff pops up.. I'm just like "Fine. Okay. It's just not meant to be. I'll save my money."

    But then once it starts working again there I go filling up my shopping cart. I'm pretty obsessed!

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  3. Try not being able to access the website for 2 months now! I have recently relocated to Korea where my husband is stationed, and everything was fine. I viewed the website normally for about 2 weeks and then one day I get an "access denied" message that I still get to this day. I have contacted J.Crew to find out what the issue is and they tell me that many people in Asia have reported problems. And later, I was told that its due to restrictions on Korean IP addresses. They said it would be resolved in a matter of 2 weeks, and its been 3 since then. I would have tried the option you gave in this post only I have a mac, so I guess I'll just wait on their resolution or try to figure out something else. I also would have ordered many things had it not been for this problem. I have no other issues with other retail websites and have since ordered more from others than J.Crew. I guess its their loss and others gain. Still love me some crew though.

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  4. Also, I appreciate all the updates you and all the other jca's give, as well as pics of new items as its my only access to viewing J.Crew product.

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  5. I found a solution to the green screen problem, but I'm not sure if it will work for everyone else.

    When checking at work, the site worked fine. Once I got home, I could get to the main page and section pages, but once I clicked an item I got the green screen.

    My husband finally suggested that maybe it was because at home we use a Firefox browser, not Internet Explorer. Once I changed the settings for jcrew in my Firefox favorites, I made it only open jcrew pages in IE, problem solved! In order for all JC pages to open in IE you have to set it to *jcrew.com* in Firefox.

    I hope this works for some of you. I feel you.

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  6. I am also located in Korea due to my husband's employment and cannot get access to J.Crew, either. It happened in late January and I have emailed them and an IT person told me that they don't know how to fix it. The only way is to order by phone.

    Rachel, how long have you been in Korea? It's funny that someone likes to shop at J.Crew in Korea.

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  7. My solution to the green screen and JCrew's very poor customer service...after 7 years I shop elsewhere. And let me tell you I used to spend in the thousands a month there....no longer...I still look a this website about once a week and when I can get to the site but I don't buy much if anything...I spent about $50 there last week. (no stores nearby so online is it)

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  8. Wow, that is crazy Kathy. I actually used to work for J.Crew for about 5 years up until I came here at the first of the year. So naturally I am obsessed. Ordering without the discount hurts though. Ha. If you don't mind me asking, where is your husband stationed? How long have you been here?

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  9. Sorry to hear so many have been having such trouble!

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  10. JCrew's website is down and cannot even handle the extra 20% off final sale going on right now. This might be the last straw for me.

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  11. I have the problem with the green screen when I try to bookmark an item in my browser. This has been for months now - I check every now and then but if you make a bookmark and then go back to it it just gives you green screen! Anyone else have this problem?

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  12. That's crazy that there has to be instructions on to view the site. I've gotten the green screen several times and I simply refresh the page and it's okay!

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  13. I get the 403 forbidden message
    You don't have permission to access /home.jhtml on this server.
    Port 80 on the server.
    comes up every couple of days for six hours then resets.
    Have it again now. Am dealing with a few people there but no solution.
    . JCrew says:
    "The "403 Forbidden" error message you have received is related to technical issues having to do with the total number of requests our website servers have received in a given period of time from your computer's IP address. The existence of this temporary block system has nothing to do with you personally, but rather is there to prevent unwarranted and repeated access to the site from those who have no intent to shop jcrew.com. Most regrettably, this current fix to the issue is pulling in, and adversely affecting, a number of our very good shoppers, such as yourself."

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  14. I usually only get the green "forbidden" screen when I use the back button on my browser, and then I just have to refresh the screen or go back to the original page. When I avoid using the back button, the site usually works (that is, when the site isn't down for another reason!).

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  15. I have been in Korea for about 10 months. I used to ordered stuffs on J.Crew online but I can't anymore because of denied access. The IT guy just flatly told me that they cannot fix it. I am so surprised that they do not have experienced IT people working there to solve the problems. One of their revenues is through online. No wonder they have losses each quarter.

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  16. The green screen issues may be browser-related; however, if a website is built "standards compliant" (i.e. no errors in the code), this problem should never happen. I can assure you, this problem is poor web development/maintenance. It should not be up to us to try to "find a solution". J. Crew should get their stuff together.

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  17. I have yet for the IT people to tell me it will not be resolved. In fact, just the opposite. They tell me they are working around the clock to find a resolution. I send them an email every week or so to ask for any updates, but nothing so far. I am trying to be optomistic something will come to fruition, but with all the problems people are facing even back in the states, I just don't know. It's about time J.Crew gets it together. On a different note, Kathy, is your husband in the military? You said he's employed here but weren't specific. I apologize if I am prying, its just interesting to me to have found someone who's here and also has the same love of J.Crew. I just got here Jan 1st and have yet to find anybody I have anything in common with. It gets kinda lonely here.

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  18. Yes, he is in the military. I also find it interesting that someone from this website lives in Seoul. We should get together someday. DHL at Yongsan, perhaps? There is another site you can get into J.Crew but it's only for viewing. It does not allow you to order, pictures cannot be enlarged and there are a lot of pop-ups.

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  19. It's apparent to me that J.Crew is making little investment in technology.

    They've botched their attempt at disallowing deep linking such that not only do you get the green screen if you've bookmarked a page but also from clicking the back button within their site or opening a link from their site in another tab.

    The fact that technical support cannot or J.Crew chooses not to fix these issues and others (the "forbidden port") is sad. And it's really hard from me to understand that they cannot provision their site sufficiently or robustly enough to support high-volume visits.

    The only good thing about all these issues is that finding solutions or workarounds for them gives me the opportunity to learn something more about technology and programming. :)

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  20. Are you speaking of shopstyle.com? If so, I do know about that. It's the only way I can see what I would like to order. Otherwise, I usually have friends send me catalogs from home. I just recently found out they send them to APO addresses though, so I had a friend sign me up. Hopefully I will start receiving them soon.
    Not really too familiar with the area still, so I'm not sure where Yongsan is. My husband is stationed at Camp Casey but we live in an apt outside base. We're about 40-45 min away from Seoul.

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  21. Wow - I finally got fed up with not being able to access the JCrew site and found this site. Like Rachel and Kathy - I'm also in Korea! Geez, I hope they get this figured out soon...

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  22. It's now Sept of 2009, and the problem of not being able to access JCREW's website from Korea still persists! I've been trying for 2 days to get on their website and I keep getting the "Access Denied" message. I even called our internet provider (QOOK/KT), and they are not blocking any websites from their end. So frustrating.

    I guess, they have no grasp of how much business fashion-loving, fashion-driven Koreans would bring if we were just allowed in! ;)

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  23. Raphel or anyone else who is here in South Korea,

    I called JCrew again and to see if they would at least send me a catalogue so I could also shop via phone.

    Well, it appears, they don't even send catalogues overseas!! Bummer! Of course, if you had an APO address, not a problem, but we are not linked to military. My husband is here via a private company.

    Does anyone want to share a copy of their JCREW catalogue with me?? ;)

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  24. Hyanne: I have heard from other international JCAs the same thing- not being able to see the website & Catalogs overseas. I am not sure why J.Crew does that. Especially since so many still make purchases through family members back home.

    Hopefully J.Crew will fix the visibility issue with the new website. :)

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  25. jUST REC'D AN ORDER FROM j cREW, WANTED more -- DENIED ACCESS FOR THREE DAYS. loft HERE i COME

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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.

And now back to J.Crew! :)