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'm over the overblown images online. They're either shooting w/a lot of light or adding some enhancements in Photoshop that distort the colors, imo. I'm not getting a true sense of what items look like and colors are vastly different when I see them irl. Not encouraging for final sale.
ReplyDeleteOr I can sum it up in a hai-crew:
Photos are too bright
Colors are not what they seem
Final sale still bites
I agree with the colors. My cashmere sweater that I got was not really the camel color I thought. Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteMy vent also is moving things to sale and then off. I went to check out this AM, and the vintage v necks are no longer on promo. What-evs.
Final sale, of course.
ReplyDeleteB&M's not honoring discounts in the same manner.
Agree that the colors are different IRL.
gigiofca - your hai-crew is brilliant!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteFinal sale still bites, Gigi is spot on.
ReplyDeleteI know other retailers do final sale, though usually it's for items that are 70% off or more, and not for sale in general.
The stitches starting to unravel in the underarm area of my tissue turtleneck that I bought last month and the serious amount of piling on my Cambridge Cable Sweater that I bought last month and have worn a handful of times. Grrrrr
ReplyDeleteGigi, brilliant! Says it all!
ReplyDeleteI think I am not meant to own the cashmere l/s tee in fiesta purple...several weeks ago I ordered on promotion and vented about receiving a white bathing suit bottom instead...should have done a WWFI but held off deciding I didn't really need it.
ReplyDeleteSeveral weeks later I saw someone at work wearing it and decided I needed it...the color popped back up (or so I thought)last week during the 25% off sale and did not show up as final sale in my cart.
Received my order yesterday and was disappointed to receive a cashmere l/s tee in heather hyacinth, mispackaged and labeled as fiesta purple. NOT fiesta purple. Grr. Briefly contemplated keeping the lighter purple but it really isn't what I wanted...
ps - @gigi love the hai-crew!
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ReplyDeleteIronically, so far I have found that Madewell seems to be able to portray colors as they actually are (eg I got a dress that was the red color/tone IRL that it appeared online, and I think red can be tricky, same for an off white tee - and JC is notorious with their various versions of white that are not actually white). So therefore why can't J.Crew when they are the same company. Even though I am kind of resigned to it by now it continues to be really annoying!!!
ReplyDeletegigiofca and pathos: I agree with you both. The colors on line are not in the catalog or in the store. I'm sick of the final sale being 40% or 30% off. You really want to clear out that crap, then make it 50 and up. The rest of us who know better and monitor the inventory online, know what is good quality and what sucks (this is why we join blogs like this one).
ReplyDeleteAnd, now that it's January and you have added some early spring "key" pieces to the line up, how about a real promotion because I want more Jackie pullovers but I know the minute I buy at FP, they will go on sale right as they are shipping out.
And while we are ranting about final sale, when I looked earlier this a.m., it was ar 1016 items, and just a minute or so ago it was at 859, so somebody's buyin' something! Brave souls indeed.
ReplyDeleteAt, not ar. Enough pirates on the scene already.
ReplyDeleteThe colors online at J.Crew have always been inaccurate and appear much more muted than they are IRL. I'm not sure why they haven't ever fixed the problem, but agree that it is something they should definitely address (along with a wish list feature, reviews, etc).
ReplyDeleteMy complaint today is the price differences between stores and online, as well as the % off promos being different amounts. I don't see why J.Crew cannot follow Anthropologie's example and offer their online and retail inventory at the same price. It is extremely unfair to online shoppers and even store shoppers who don't get a lot of inventory or have sizes sell out quickly to significantly reduce the price on items in-store while they are still much higher online. This goes for the extra % off promos, too. Why make it 40% in stores but only 30% online? I have been told it is to drive shoppers to the store, but what is the point of that if your size or the item you want isn't even available there? I'm sure they think once you get there you will find something to buy, and while that may be true, it isn't always a guarantee. It seems to me they would be better off offering the same prices online and get a definite sale instead. These differences along with the ridiculous Final Sale (that now lasts longer than regular sale does) do not make for a very convenient or pleasurable online shopping experience, IMO.
I agree 500%, FFM. The price discrepancies chafe me more than anything else. It is NOT HARD to do, they just clearly don't care to do it.
ReplyDeleteI am so angry at myself for continuing to buy their clothes. I really am. I wish I could find anything I liked half as much anywhere else, but I just haven't yet.
Fabulous Florida Mommy, I despise the price discrepancies since I can only shop online most of the time. There are usually much better deals in stores and although I can understand the desire to drive customers to the B&M, for me it takes a few hours on a plane so it's a moot point.
ReplyDeleteMy vent: Someone at J.Crew recently emailed me out of the blue. They said that they saw I had ordered a particular item and were wondering how I liked it. I responded and let them know that the item had not even shipped yet so it would be difficult to give an opinion. I resisted the urge to say that if they were looking at my recent order they could have at least checked to see if I would have had received the item yet.
The person replied to my response and thanked me for "reaching out" to her. I replied that although I realize she was following a J.Crew form letter response, it was not appropriate to thank me for "reaching out" since it was she who contacted me initially. I did not hear back from her again.
What kind of ridiculous customer service is this when people are asking you about things you haven't received and then thank you for contacting them. Waste of time all around.
I bought some of the toothpick cords with the zipper at the ankles in my regular size in navy; fit great. Picked up the snowy thistle color in the same size (should have tried them on first, now I realize!) and they are so tight it is like they are a mislabeled as a size smaller-- how frustrating!
ReplyDelete1st time wearing Betsy sweater- pills and shedding
ReplyDelete2nd time wearing Betsy sweater- gaping hole at neck
Tres chic, J.Crew
XOXO, that's funny...it must be scripted, as I got the same 'thanks for reaching out' reply when I e-mailed them (per their instructions) to say I accepted a delayed ship date on a waitlisted item. :/
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ReplyDeleteTotally agree about the colors! How about "vintage elm," which appears to be a shade of brown on the site but is green IRL?
ReplyDeleteYes it is a script. I have gotten the reaching out email too many times myself!
ReplyDeleteFinal sale on items I have never seen before! arrrgh!
ReplyDeletegigi, I agree with the images. I have noticed the new style of images they are using are SO bright-white in the background and the colors look super saturated. I really hate the way they look and we know they aren't accurately depicting the clothes.
ReplyDeleteI am annoyed that they don't offer free shipping on petit sizes. They don't carry them in-store, so why should I be forced to pay shipping just because my body is a different size? I'm sure it is the same situation with tall sizing (though I feel like I have seen tall pants in store...). I will say, though, that I exchanged a pair of Minnies I had gotten for Xmas, in store, and the girls in the store agreed to order the petite size I wanted on the red phone so I could get free shipping. I guess that is what I will have to do from now on, and hope the salesperson in store will be accommodating and order for me. So silly, though.
ReplyDeleteI have 5 or 6 J. Crew shirts that all got holes in them after only wearing a couple times. I'm not hard on my clothes and I always wash on delicate, then line dry. One cardigan I had got so many holes it looked like it got run over by a lawnmower! Rip. Off!
ReplyDeleteAll 5 of my tissue tees and merino v neck sweaters have holes (glad I'm not the only one with this problem). Also, the new fabric they used for the v-neck long sleeve tissue tee pilled so badly after one wash I can't wear it in public. I have the most expensive sleep collection of anyone I know.
ReplyDeleteAnd why do they continually change the fit, length, and fabric of their clothes? I LOVE the v-neck merino sweaters from 2008 (thin and shorter, really accentuates my features); now they never have merino v-necks and their other merino sweaters have a much thicker fabric. Same is true with denim. I bought a pair of ankle twill black denim jeans three years ago and WISH SO BADLY I could find another pair.