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.
Combo vent. Still disappointed that my closest store closed earlier this year. My spending is way down because of this among other things. Second vent is that because of the store closure I now mail my returns to be processed, This is the second time I have mailed returns to be processed and for the second time I was only credited for some of the items. It makes sense to me to send my returns from multiple orders in one box but apparently that makes the return difficult to process. Now I have to spend time getting my full refund. Oh and I also caught the Calf hair Academy loafers on pop back with no extra % off. They were supposed to be an 8H and I received an 8. Not sure I can make these work and have a pair on the way from BR that is $60 less. Just frustrated lately.
ReplyDeleteI am able to take returns to a store. arrived at store at opening.
ReplyDeletefist customer. returns mot put through right away. I tried on two pairs of jeans and browsed the small (undiscounted) sale section.
askedd if my returns had been put through and was asked "oh are you in a hurry?" I said yes...and since I know this process by heart they said they would get to it and i could leave.
well...I had to call the store 3hrs later and ask when are my returns going to be put through. finally they werre and one item was omitted. I called again and was told . "no they all were done." after waiting on the phone...I KNEW i was right...they found my item. they did say sorry ...but gee..I was not lying !
lesson learned. count all returns. have them processed in front of you. and do not leave store until email confirmation of returns are received. this way...no calls when you get home/ or worse maybe not getting credit for return.
Why wouldn't they just do the returns right away? Sounds like lazy staff?
DeleteI asked the manager (when I called 3 hrs later ) the same thing. she apologized...the SA that should have done the returned ...just really didn't care that I was returning and not buying. I have returned at this location before and I think they do not like that I always shop online and rarely in store. as there was not extra% off sale in store I always find prices/sizes better online...why would I? I have been asked numerous time.."why do you shop online so much?" like its anyones business.
DeleteI cannot believe they'd ask you that. In the age of dying malls and stores closing retail locations and Amazon, they would ask you a stupid question like why do you shop online? I mean... what?? Please complain about the SA who asks you that question. You're right that it's none of their business, and it's just ridiculously rude. That is basically a stranger whose job is to sell you things asking you to defend how you spend your time and money. It makes no sense and it makes me so mad to hear this.
DeleteI have never had a problem returning items to stores, but then I live in NYC and there's lots of JCrews. In fact I always return first and shop later, because if I want to shop properly I'd want my hands and arms free. It totally makes sense as a customer. I also can't believe you were asked if you were in a hurry. Did they expect you to hang out in the store for hours? Argh, this whole thing that happened to you is making me super angry!
You just leave your returns with an SA? I’d never do that. I watch them like a hawk when they’re processing my returns and carefully check my receipts.
DeleteI hear ya! in the past I have left returns. never again. thanks for the responses. glad I am not paranoid that they have flagged me as a serial returner...therefore treated poorly at checkout..* I was also asked "how much time do I spend shopping online ...and do I look everyday?" and again is it really any of their business. does anyone think they are asked by head office to ask these questions?
DeleteUnknown, mind if I ask which store? I think we may both be in Vancouver. The last time I made a return, I was getting a bit of attitude too from Robson, from a manager who normally is so nice. I was shocked. She was asking me about each item, which is fine, but she seemed skeptical when I was telling her why each didn't fit me properly -- like, why would I lie? It's not like buying and returning things is a hobby -- it takes so long to order and receive, it's totally frustrating when the items you hoped would work don't. If I could ship items back without penalty I would even though I would have to wait much longer to have things processed, just to avoid the attitude.
Deleteit was the park royal west vancouver store.
Deletebut I love the pacific centre store the best. have had "issues" at Robsen st store too.
Aug 31 order (long weekend) still not receive. CS said it was in Canada and i should have received it two days ago. now CS says it is not in Canada and i should get it next week at the latest. wow. it was not worth the wait.
ReplyDeletewhy is there not an extra % off sale ? items lingering. IMO.
ReplyDeletelately I have noticed the day of new arrivals ..more sale items and better promo. i think it would be better for business to get rid of all the older/summer (swim suits!) items now...( % off sale) and when new arrival hit online next week we can focus on these items instead of still trying to get a bargain on summer stuff. just my two cents.
I know it's crazy. Why would I spend double now what I did three weeks ago on past season's items?
Deletehave spent $96 Canadian on shipping in Aug/sept. I return in store...but I almost always order online...so I guess I could shop more in store....if they carried tall sizes in pants and jeans. no free shipping since late July early Aug. for Canadians. no 15% off codes...because we do not get style guides delivered to homes. just venting because I hope someone at J Crew takes notes...and throw us a bone!
ReplyDeleteI agree re. shipping. At the end of the day, I am willing to pay for shipping, but I truly wish that we were allowed free returns by mail, or attitude-free returns in store. I'm in the same boat for extended sizes, but I typically need petites (in pants anyway). And for the $12 shipping fee, I think the items should arrive much sooner. At least 2 weeks for shipping to Vancouver? It's just ridiculous.
DeleteI would really prefer it if J. Crew had larger, but less frequent rollouts, or just did trickle-in without the fanfare of a "rollout." I feel like it's stuck in between. As a result, there's constant speculation about rollout times without the anticipation of previews or a style guide, etc. I know we got a style guide recently but it had items already on the website.
ReplyDeleteNext week is rollout and style guide will be out every three month.
DeleteInteresting news. Your updates are always terrific! Thanks
DeleteThank you Ina . you are a true gem . I unfortunately just don't really trust J Crew anymore...roll outs when? style guides ? some people getting two coupons codes in a guide others nada.
DeleteWish I received a style guide. It would be nice to see things styled to give me ideas.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t bought much from jcrew lately. I’m just uninspired. The last items were the heart lake tee, Sophia long sweater blazer, and the navy liberty print shirt. Even with pretty decent promos I just haven’t had to have anything.
Unfortunately the recent style guide had very few styling ideas. I wasn’t a fan of some of the crazy Jenna era styling, but the styling in the latest style guide was just sad.
DeleteI miss the old ones. I even just liked that I could see it on pinterest . It was a real treat !
DeleteI received mine last week. I do appreciate the effort, but you honestly aren’t missing anything if you didn’t get it - other than the extra 15% promo card. It’s nothing like the beautifully editorial, destination style guides of yore. It looks like something from The Gap, in terms of merchandise and styling. The website redesign looks the same IMO, very Gap-like.
Deletedislike the new website design. does anyone else find they can't use the search ?
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DeleteThe most recent Style Guide was awful. Waste of money for J Crew. How in any way would it inspire anyone to buy anything?
DeleteThanks ladies for your input on the new style guide. It sounds like I don’t need to feel sad or left out.
DeleteI was really hopeful for the September “relaunch” and new style guide. Looking forward to the new roll out - hopefully it’s not as lackluster as of late.
It was not a style guide, since there was nothing stylish about it. A style guide would have had aspirational styling! This was a catalog. It reminded me of early 90s JC mail-order styling, just really basic.
DeleteRelated: Does anyone know of Pinterest accounts that specialize in old JC catalogs? I know there's a Flickr and IG account out there, but I hoping there's something on Pinterest that has even more images. I've only seen Pinterest accounts that specialize on covers, not the inside pages.
I am with you on the new website design...a lot going on. My main vent, however, is the lingering sale items. Why is that collection strapless wool jumpsuit still on the site at only 30% off? It made its debut a while ago and the price has not gone down anymore with the exception of the occasional promo discount. Collection piece or not, what is that about???
ReplyDeleteMy order last week was all messed up - they shipped me two leopard pencil skirts and Narvar showed that the red pleated skirt was delivered with the leopard skirt on Monday so I assumed that the second skirt was shipped instead of the red. I reordered the red and then yesterday received BOTH red skirts even though the first red skirt had showed delivered on Monday. Umm...
ReplyDeleteAlso, my color block skirt was shoved in a huge bag and shipped in a large box that could fit two shoe boxes. What a waste. I really wish they did free mail returns too.
And I echo the website sentiments, I just can't get in to it and it seems busy to me.
I received two of the same sale item (a slub cotton cardigan), but CS said I was only billed once. It looked like the first item was never recorded, it never showed up in the order status. You may want to take a good look at your card...
Deletethanks for the tip...trying to decipher my bill half the time is so confusing, I wish they'd list detail on the transaction. When items ship from stores I think it adds to the confusion since it shows up as separate transactions.
DeleteGetting my return issue fixed that I posted above was more hassle than it needed to be and now I have another return for the academy loafers since I was sent the incorrect size. I feel like everything is slipping including order fulfillment and customer service. Nothing in the fall rollouts really interests me. I have been looking elsewhere more and more and will continue to do so. Will shop my closet and add pieces sparingly.
ReplyDeleteDid any one else "lose" the +199 rewards points from signing up? Mine vanished and were deducted from the awards total points.
ReplyDeleteI "lost" mine for two weeks, and then everything updated overnight with like... 5 weeks worth of purchases.
DeleteToday I went to order something on J Crew on line website and there were four items in my cart that I did not put there. It was children's clothes and my kids are in college so it definitely was not mine! So I called them to report this and I quickly changed my password. Please beware- now people are trying to hack in to online shop sites so they can use your credit card and rewards!
ReplyDeleteI would never leave returns, way too easy for someone to decide they like them, deny the return was left in the store and you can't prove it.
ReplyDeleteI just take the stuff and wait while it's processed
as how to answer the ? why do you shop online so much "because you never have anything I want in my size in your dxxn store"