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 don't want to bury my post in the "love" thread on the second page even though that's where it belongs. I'm thrilled to be able to pick up old fall/winter items in the middle of summer. I saw the black Britten tall boots pop back in my size last week and ordered them. They arrived today and they're in perfect condition, I don't think they were even tried on. Tonight (or rather this morning, it's 1am) I spotted the black Weatherbys on pop back so I bought them too, hopefully they'll be in the same condition as the Brittens. Now if only the Wylders would show up in my size, it would be the trifecta. :) Are these items coming from the stores as they clear out their way old sale merchandise to make room for fall 2011 arrivals? Whatever is going on, I love it. I can't think of any other merchant that keeps things available for sale as long as J Crew does!
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know when the sale section comes back in the B&M?
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ReplyDeleteOT- my apologies in advance. I need help remembering the name of a ladies shirt that came out around Nov/Dec last year. It came in two colors: orange and fatigue. It had rollup, buttonable sleeves and a silk/cotton blend I think. It was kind of sheer and came in numerical sizes.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone help? TIA!
jbird - I think you are talking about the cotton-silk camp shirt. It pops back very occasionally in the sale section. Unfortunately I don't know the item number, but hope that helps in your search!
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise! I think that's pretty close to the name, but it's not coming up when I search it. Ack- the name is right on the tip of my tongue but won't come out.
ReplyDelete:-)
jbird
ReplyDeleteI think it is the fine cotton desert shirt 33713
Mini- That's it! Thank you kindly :-)
ReplyDeleteHi all -
ReplyDeleteI feel like many of the items I want are on backorder. Whetever happened to instant gratification?
:)
I was recently at the Crewlet in Foley, AL and the sales associate that checked me out was extremely rude. After waiting briefly in line, she started scanning my purchases. I finally said "hi" because she didn't even look up at me, let alone talk to me. I know she heard me, but contined to ignore me. She finished scanning everything, yet didn't even tell me my total. The one and only time she talked to me was to ask me for my ZIP code. I know that I was outlet shopping and I was buying clothes on sale, but this sales associate's behavior was completely out of line. It honestly hurt my feelings.
ReplyDeleteI would like to vent about new arrivals already being out of stock / backordered. I mean, come on. It hits the site and there are none left? I just broke down and ordered the green double-serge skirt at full price (*DIES*) but I had to have it and was afraid if I waited any longer they may not make any more of them. Not shipping until 9/19. GRRRRRR>
ReplyDeleteI got the bizrate survey so I skewered them on everything I could in my allotted characters, lol.
Tamara, how do the Britten boots run sizewise?
ginastorm, I am with you. I really don't expect anyone to treat me like a queen in a store, but how about at least acknowledging the presence of a customer? Maybe it's the old lady in me, but I get REALLY mad when this happens to me.
oh and Tamara, I think the extreme popbacks are returns to the web / catalog, along with all the sale stuff that got shipped back from the B&Ms. i'm wondering what Aug. 18 will bring us after the current promo ends. i'm hoping a big ol' extra % off sale. like 40%. lol.
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ReplyDeleteElaine -
ReplyDeleteI saw a huge rack of the new green #2 pencil skirts at the Cambridgeside Galleria yesterday (Cambridge MA). I'd bet that they have your size.
I agree about the backordering problem. I tried to order a new arrival dress (and was willing to pay FP) that is catalog/online only and it is backordered until 9/23. The wedding that I wanted to wear it to is on Labor Day weekend. JC lost a sale...
RAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR! See, that's what's messed up. Their inventory system should be showing it as available then! I've gotten things shipped from Nordstrom before that are shipped from a store and not a warehouse. Granted, it usually takes them over a week, but at least they know they have it in stock when they allow me to add it to my cart!
ReplyDeleteI received a 20% off card to use in store through next August 14. I'm petite, so does this mean that this card will not apply to any petite sizes since those are online-only?
ReplyDeleteI think this "wait listed" thing might not always be about inventory. Wouldn't it be a clever marketing ploy to make customers think items are so popular they're selling out right away? And you wouldn't even have to try to get the inventory projections right. Heck, you wouldn't even have to put the merchandise into production till you had enough orders you'd "wait listed." Just sayin'....
ReplyDeleteHolly Tara - I often wonder about that as well, especially since they often seem to ship the item much earlier than the back-order date. I ordered the Maisie Dress (I actually ended up canceling the order) and it was back-ordered until August 23, but they were in stock in all sizes yesterday.
ReplyDeleteSimilar thing happened with the No. 2 skirts in the purple, green and flame - they were all back-ordered until August 22 but then became available online in my size yesterday.
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ReplyDeleteI would think they might be up to that if I thought they actually put that much thought into their business. :(
ReplyDeleteI know sometimes stuff happens, what with things being on a slow boat from Asia (?Italy?) and all, but overall I just think they don't draw on all the historical data that must be gathering dust somewhere to make informed decisions.
There are certain things that always sell out (even if it takes a while, and if it's on sale), and they KNOW the double-serge skirts are very popular. They knew from the success of the Casbah print that people were having a Viridian Green moment. Only an idiot wouldn't have enough in stock to sell through at full price in every size! And yes, it is possible to know how many to have and where to stock them. That information is all there somewhere. They just choose to not do squat with it.
Forget the commander in chic for the moment. They need a Commander in GEEK to sort out how decisions are being made!
Re Brittens: I normally take size 7 in other brands' boots and size 7 Brittens were correct. The foot part is pretty generous, I might have even been able to do 6.5. Definitely not sized like the shoes which always run small. The ankle is loose, don't buy if you like snug ankles. (I prefer loose both for appearance and comfort.) I got the extended calf, it fits my 15 1/2" calves perfectly. This is by far the most attractive low-heeled boot I've ever owned, and the few times I wore mine (before it got HOT), I found them to be very comfortable. The leather is certainly top-notch, nice and thick with a beautiful matte finish, the kind that still looks great as it ages. Beware of the zipper, the brown boot has a beige zipper, I'm going to color/dye mine brown. The black boot has a black zipper.
ReplyDelete@tamara.chicago: I'm glad you got a great popback. I haven't had such luck at times and I can go on and on how many times I've received things with no tags, wrong item, defective/damaged or straight out worn items.
ReplyDelete@Elaine: I love reading all your comments! Seriously, JC needs to seriously be in par in the retail industry. I doubt they are doing any kind of inventory tracking. Whenever I call for WWFIFY service and they tell you to wait 24-48 hrs for notification, I think someone is manually calling several stores to find the item rather than doing an inventory search in their data.
Okay my vent: I ordered the Casbah perfect shirt back in May and the one I received did not have a good layout if you know what I mean. The front print did not display nicely and I kept it since I loved the print so much and it was back ordered.
ReplyDeleteCouple weeks ago I placed a new order of the shirt as a ride along for an order to meet the high free ship of $175.
I received it and the print layout was much better and decided to keep it. Lo and behold I paired it next to each other and the color is different. The newer shirt which was back ordered for couple months was much faded and the print not as vibrant as the original one I had from the first run. I just can't believe the print would be so noticeably faded out. I have the blouse version and it's like that one...much faded than the first run shirt and the dress.
I'm just going to have to return both shirts.
Oh, the Casbah blouse I wore twice already has loose thread on one sleeve. I'm going to see if my store would fix it since it has been less than 30 days since I've bought it.
Okay last comment...
ReplyDeleteI talked to a PS last week at my local store in regards to so many items being back ordered. He said that the stores will still get their "reserved" amount of styles even if they are back ordered online. He said that end of this month would be a good time to shop for much of the styles.
They also have a whole rack of the green pencil skirts at the Beachwood, Ohio J.Crew. I also got to try on the Encore trench... LOVE!!!
ReplyDeleteMy vent is that the stores only carry like 1% of all the merchandise that J.Crew sells. So annoying to have to buy online constantly!
Same old bitching and moaning as always....
ReplyDeleteJcrew please bring your website into 2011, let us make wishlists and reviews. It will not hurt your sales, it will help. I buy way more from Anthro because of the reviews than not.
I was so excited to finally score the ink dip popover in violet during one of the restocks. When my order arrived today, instead of the popover, I got a yellow pair of crewcuts pants. Really, JCrew, really?
ReplyDeletejbird,
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that you got the wrong item. That is why I no longer stalk popbacks. I have gotten the wrong item so many times!It got to be such a disappointment AND hassle.
So I recently purchased the "Solana" dress in dragon fly blue online in my usual size 0, and when it arrived, it was GORGEOUS and perfect. I was SO excited to wear it to my friend's wedding. All was going well until about 4 hours into the wedding and I bent over -- the ENTIRE back seam of the dress came out, exposing my bare derriere to the other 150 guests! Has anyone else heard of this happening with this dress, or do you think it was just a random defect? The saddest part is, even though J Crew refunded my account (so nice, it was even final sale), there are no more left in my size, so I cannot get another.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, when they credited my account, they sent me an email saying it was "pre-returned", but my account has been credited. Does anyone know if there's any reason for me to actually treck to the store to physically hand them the dress, or according to J crew is this issue resolved? Thanks for the input!
mkcaffrey,
ReplyDeleteI have heard of someone wearing a JCrew cardigan for the first time and raising their arm to cheer at a sporting event and having the whole arm pit area seam rip open...
Yes, you need to return the defective item still. Either get them to put notes in your order to not charge you for the UPS or USPS label and send it back that way or have them mail you one if you did not get one with your order since it was final sale or use one from another order if you have any saved. I have done this before when it is not easy for me to get to a store and and item is defective.
Or, when convenient take it back to the store. Hope this helps.
Hi mckaffrey, I had a pre-return as well for an item and I returned it to the store and was told my account had already been credited. Maybe you should take your dress to the store and ask them to sew it up for you, if it can be fixed. I would make a point of telling them your entire story. How embarrassing! It doesn't hurt to ask.
ReplyDeleteI can't comment specifically on JCrew -- but I used to work on the Web team at Urban Outfitters and I know that items were not in stock yet but were featured in the catalog we had to put them up on the website and they would show "backordered" until the stock arrived at the warehouse. Our "backorder" date was also generally a week or so after the date the product was supposed to be recieved at the warehouse. Not sure if it is the same with JCrew, but I thought the info might be helpful.
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