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.
Final sale is back. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteBoo! Final Sale is back.
ReplyDeleteFinal sale, ahhhh, that should help my pocketbook.
ReplyDeleteIs it final sale in the stores as well or just for those of us who only have access to JCrew online?
ReplyDeleteFinal sale. Need I say more :-(
ReplyDeleteThe fine print on the sale blurb says online only. Perhaps things won't be on sale in-stores. People are still shopping for gifts. I think fs will hit the stores after Christmas and if they have an addtl %.
ReplyDelete?
Final Sale is horrible enough on its own, but bringing it back right before Christmas makes J.Crew the epitome of Scrooge.
ReplyDelete...and cue a whole bunch of first markdowns in Final Sale. JC, come ON. Do you seriously lack the IT capability to not make FS apply to in-season pieces, or do you really not care if customers are satisfied and just want the items off your books?
ReplyDeleteIt's really a bummer for those people (and not necessarily in-the-know JCA's) that receive JC gift cards for Christmas. My sister got a $100 one last year, went right to the site on Christmas Day and couldn't find anything that she wanted to 'gamble' her gift card on. I imagine some people attempting to shop the site online this weekend may find themselves in a similar predicament.
Bah humbug.
Blah! I almost bit on a pair of sandals but quickly regained my self-control.
ReplyDeleteDoes this ever happen to anyone: a top sits around in sale at a low price forever, you don't want it during all the promo's, then when fs hits, suddenly you want the top? Maybe JCrew has done their psychological homework and found the words 'Final Sale' trigger some impulse shopping chemical in the brain!!
I saved some Spring 2011 pic's in polyvore to help remind myself there's more to come (including promo's, free shipping & at least the ability to return).
Boo. I will not buy during final sale, even if I know it fits. It's the principle of the thing. Thankfully there's nothing I want at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI have never had to do an exchange with JCrew but I am horrified at how looooooooooooooooooooong it's taking. They say they need two weeks to process a return before they can ship out the exchange? I don't understand how these antiquated practices survive in the age of Amazon.
ReplyDeleteThe same night that I'm scrutinizing the fine print on my receipt trying to figure out if I'm going to be charged a 5.97 return fee for my JCrew exchange using the USPS return label, my husband hops on Amazon and processes an exchange in literally 5 minutes and two days later his new product arrives. I'm coming up on the full two weeks and still haven't heard anything from JCrew on my exchange. NOTTHING.
Kind of ridiculous. Seriously.
No little gift for "our best customers?" Nothing - not even a $10 tote bag or pocket calendar?
ReplyDeleteand I am still waiting for a tracking number on a gift order I sent 12/5. The stories I've had from CS, and the failed promises, have been, um, beyond creative. But I am still waiting.
ReplyDeleteWFF, 12/5? That's inexcusable!
ReplyDeleteBibliophiliac, I've had a similar experience with a return. I returned several items in one box on 12/6 and they processed some, but not others. After nagging them a big, they finally credited me yesterday but never said if they actually tracked down the items... and I'd be willing to bet that they decided to just write it off. I can't imagine the pieces would just magically show up at the warehouse over 2 weeks later. It must be a madhouse there this time of year!
Sun
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else that final sale is definitely something to vent about. I hate it, it doesn't matter what time of the year it is! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, at the risk of repeating last week's vent, my returns have been taking very long to process. Perhaps their man/woman power has been going to shipping things out quickly. They used to process my returns pretty consistently on the day of or the day after they received it. It is now taking 5+ business days (I'm still waiting for processing on a return they received last Thursday). And I've also had two items go AWOL like others. My sympathies--I share the frustration!
ReplyDeleteNot all items in sale are FS, how do they choose? Its very odd. And the return process, don't get me started. I sent a box of returns that based on the tracking number was received a week ago but still no credit on my account, what takes so long? I'd rather not even ship the items back but its better than dealing with a potentially rude SA in store, IMO.
ReplyDeleteHey J.Crew, If you HIDE your merchandise, we can't buy it. I've never seen a company run my so many idiots.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to jump on the final sale bandwagon - it seems they've heard other things we've vented about so here's hoping...
ReplyDeleteFinal sale at the prices they charge is simply ridiculous. Talk about not standing behind your merch. When most other retailers have final sale, they've marked the item down significantly, like 70% or more, and it is out of season. To have final sale on first markdowns of in season items is screwing your customer, plain and simple. Tells me you couldn't care less what I think.
As with silver_lining, I think JC lacks serious IT capability. OMG, Mickey is making millions and nothing invested into the company to make the online shopping experience better for the customers.
ReplyDeleteI have daydreams about sitting down with Dear Leader and letting him have it re: our frustrations and their very clear lack of sufficient technology. I really do. I'm a schmuck and I don't know anything about anything, and even I know something is terribly wrong here. This is supposed to be the age of improving the customer experience, of retailers understand it's consumers who are driving the shopping/buying process, not merchants.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is, I expect more. Because I love the clothes and the store's concept and style so much, I just expect more.
Come on, man. Kohl's has it together better than J Crew does. Wal-Mart does too! Not to mention an apples-to-apples competitor like Banana Republic.
I have visions of us storming the HQ -- an army of ladies in sequins and ruffles and double-serge pencil skirts and Bella jackets from 2007 -- waving high our hole-y tees, pill-y cashmere and side-zip blouses!
We demand a better experience. Who's with me? lol
@ Elaine- I am with you, though I don't know how Jcrew 2007 looked like... but because I have had two frustrating experiences this season.
ReplyDeleteI just returned a pair of Jcrew boots that were falling apart only after wearing for a while and I paid full price for them ! The threads sewing the leather flaps were breaking and I already went through the same thing happening to one of my Jcrew coats. I forgave them last time but his time I have decided I am not shopping at Jcrew without witnessing the items IRL. Totally not worth the dollars.
I just received one of my 30% off plus free shipping over $150 orders. The Cloud Paisley shirt was not in the box. Instead I received a Men's sweater inside plastic that had the paisley shirt item number on it. Since it was sold out online, I called two nearby stores to see if they had it. They didn't. I called CS and they offered to do a We Will Find It For You search. I mentioned that I thought that was only for full priced items. The CS rep said he would do the search anyway. I woke up the next morning to the inevitable email. They can't find the shirt in any of their stores. Although I'm in NJ, I decided to call three New York stores. What do you know? I found the shirt at one of their NYC stores.
ReplyDeleteI sent an email to JCrew about this, and I attached the We Can't Find It email I had received from them earlier. I also told them that the shipping from the NY store better be waived b/c the original order came with free shipping. They said they would make sure of this if I gave them the last 4 digits of my credit card. I did this and received another email. They can't find a record of my We Will Find It For You search, nor can they find my "customer profile." I've been ordering from them for 8 years!
I don't get it. I didn't request a We Will Find It, but I got one anyway. After all it did generate a We Can't Find It email. Is it that this particular service is flawed? Is it that it doesn't search for sale items? Anthro does a better job at this. As a matter of fact, most stores do a better job than this. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this.
I purchased the Marled Thandie Blazer in heather graphite online on Monday on crazy sale (not final sale). I received it today and thought the package felt a little on the light side. Low and behold - there was a crewcuts boys t-shirt instead of my blazer. The blazer is now only available in a size 0, which wouldn't fit my left arm...so now a "search specialist" has been assigned to find the blazer in my size. SO frustrating - just add it to my list of reasons why I haven't been buying as much @ jcrew.
ReplyDeleteI bought a waxed jacket and I could smell it before I opened the box. By the time it was out of the plastic my eyes were watering. Not sure if that is normal or maybe I got one that was "over waxed" but it smelled to high heaven and there was no way I could wear it. Back it went.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder what and how much chemical processes are used to prepare the fabrics used in the clothes I buy, especially the dyes. I would really like to see *that* included on the garment label.
I'm so frustrated with the price discrepancies in store vs online. I just bought a pair of the leggy denim online during the 30% off promo...they ended up being around $50. I went into a store today, and they had the same jeans for $20! Same with a pair of cords I bought...so annoying.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure people have complained about this many times, but .... it drives me bonkers that many of the sweater descriptions say "hits at hip" which is utterly useless when both cropped and longer sweaters are described that way. Why don't they just give the actual length of the sweater for some particular size, like M? Also, I'm hating their photos which often times do not show the color anywhere true to the actual color. My most recent example: Khloe cami. Looks totally ivory on the web site, but it's a dark peach in person. It's not that tough to take true-to-color pictures, many other web sites get it right on. OK, done ranting. :)
ReplyDeleteWow I am expecting 3 packages today from UPS and judging from all of the miss-delivered items ladies have mentioned above I am bracing myself for disappointment. Who knows I might just get what y'all are missing in my deliveries!
ReplyDeleteAs for the online experience I really LOVE how LANDS END and LE CANVAS (Amazon & others)have customer reviews on each and every item — helps me determine if I need to size up or down and if the quality/fit is good or not. Now that is CIVILIZED e-commerce in my opinion. It's SHAMEFUL how at J CREW we are reduced to doing it by ourselves here on this blog (Bless you Alexis).
On Friday I bought a cardigan on sale in the store. When I got home from the mall and checked online, I found that the price online was 25% cheaper! I wish I had checked the price online before I went to the store! So I called customer service and was basically told that the only way to get the lower price would be to return the sweater to the store and then repurchase it from online. Seems like a lot of extra work for both me and J. Crew, when the other option could be to simply make a price adjustment and have a happy customer. So I send an email to customer service explaining my disappointment with their poor pricing policies, and I get a response back that says "while normally we can't offer a price adjustment on a sale item, we can do it for you this time, just call this number and we will process it." So I call the number, and they proceed to tell me that they can't offer me a price adjustment on a sale item. I tell them that I have an email from CS that says they would make an exception this time, but they refuse. So I respond back to the CS email, saying that I called the number and they refused to process my request. I get another email back saying they can offer me a price adjustment if it was a full price item. Ok, I officially give up. Such a frustrating experience!
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again- please stop deleting my shopping basket items! If you insist on doing this, then give us the option of a wish list or save for later feature. Honestly, I'm kicking myself for not printing the list of items I had so I could reference it in case this very thing happened! Do you realize I won't just sit and take the time to go through your inventory again to find the things I was interested in, and you are therefore losing out on my orders?
ReplyDeleteI purchased a skirt on sale in my B&M last Tuesday. Then stores started offering 30% off sale items the next day and when I popped in this week on Monday to get a price adjustment, the employee informed me it was the same prices. I said "I know, but you're offering 30% off and I purchased it less than 7 days ago." She kind of looked at be blankly and said getting an extra percent off isn't a price adjustment. I replied "Yes but since it's still brand new with the tags attached, can I return and repurchase it? I mean, it's still in the sales area so I can buy another one if this is a problem." She kind of sneered at me and said it wasn't a problem while processing the additional percent off.
ReplyDeleteI know employees aren't responsible for the crazy promos and customer-unfriendly rules but I really wish she wouldn't have been so nasty about what I thought was a reasonable request. I did not appreciate being made to feel bad for asking for an adjustment of an item THAT WAS STILL ON THE FLOOR. It seems like it's becoming part of J. Crew corporate culture to shame customers into buying their clothes at full price when so many items just aren't worth what they're charging. I've already drastically reduced my spending at J. Crew over the past few months and if this becomes a thing I may have to take my $$$ elsewhere permanently.
I received a lady's order in my box, and she mine. We are on oppoosites coasts....call CS and they credited my order and processed a new order less a FEW items that were no longer avail...grrrrrrrrrrr and when I checked the confirmation online three items are now FINAL SALE when the original purchase was NOT. I am unsure of fit on most of these and will be unhappy if they do not fit or I do not like grrrrr JC!
ReplyDeleteI entered the recent sweepstakes and that stupid Urban Daddy started sending me newsletters that I couldn't unsubscribe to. After clicking the reset password link and changing it to go to hell, I was able to get in and figure it out. Still took a long time after that. Thanks for hiding it UD!
ReplyDeleteNot.
Lauren - If you have a problem w/the new order, cite the original one and let them know your items weren't on final sale at that time. They should be able to see it w/their own 2 eyes and let you return if something doesn't work out.
Grrrr. I'm so annoyed that items nearly sold out online the day before final sale (even regular priced items) suddenly are in full stock in every size the day final sale starts. Why? Why? They don't want us to buy them? I would have ordered 2 double serge pencils last week...at full price...but I don't even want them any more.
ReplyDeleteAnd has anyone had a problem with items missing on a return credit when you mailed the box? I got credited for my returns except for the most expensive item in the box! I've emailed.