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.
OK, so I ordered the Harlow pumps on Sunday night at full price, $248. Tuesday morning I find out that there's a 40% off sale, so I send an email to customer service and then I called. The agent didn't bat an eye and seamlessly processed the price adjustment right away. Yay! But today I received a snotty email from a different agent who said that while he was happy to see that I got the PA, they would only be able to honor it on full price items going forward. HUH?? This was a full price item! And if you go to their FAQs, it says they will be glad to honor PAs on full price items within seven days of purchase. So, what the hell is this guy talking about?? Here's what I would have done if my call wasn't successful yesterday: Canceled the previous order (or returned it but it hasn't even shipped) and then reordered them using the sale. This stupid attitude is just going to cost them more business. Why don't they get that??
ReplyDeleteYes, they only adjust if the price changes, not a % off promotion code. So it only applies to the 'no promotion code' sale price, not the 40% off. The first CS agent actually did it wrong according to their newly-enforced policy. So yes you would be re-ordering and returning. But watch out, when you do a return they will try to return the cheaper item even if you have a receipt for the more expensive item. This is no different than other retailers, JCrew was previously very generous with price adjustments.
DeleteThat makes zero sense to me. What is a "no promotion code sale price"? The truth is, JC quality and customer service have both greatly deteriorated over the last 5 years or so. I've already greatly reduced my business with them and will continue to do so if they do actually enforce this bizarre policy. You cannot expect people to buy something on a Sunday night and then on Tuesday morning see it for more than $100 cheaper without experiencing major cancelations and returns. $100 is a lot of money to waste. In this case, I think I could have successfully canceled the order because it hasn't even shipped yet. I think this will totally backfire on them and I disagree that this isn't different from other retailers.
DeleteThis is their stated policy on the website today: "Do you offer price adjustments?
DeleteWe gladly honor a one-time price adjustment on full-price merchandise within seven days of the retail purchase or mail-order ship date if accompanied by the original receipt. Items not purchased at full price are ineligible for price adjustments."
Uh huh, the extra % off with a promotion code is not part of the price. The price is what you see posted. A full price item with a promotion code does not count as sale. If the item is on the sale page, the 'new' price is what you would pay. For example, the Wrap dress in 365 crepe was full price at
Delete$138.00. Now the sale price is 49.99-$99.99 and there "UP TO 40% OFF WITH CODE ADDTOBAG". IF the full price had been changed to sale price 49.99-$99.99 within a WEEK of purchase you would get a match to the sale price. But the "UP TO 40% OFF WITH CODE ADDTOBAG" promo code would not be applied.
I’ve been told no price adjustments on new promos too and have returned and rebought when I would save a significant amount of money. When you read the details on the promo banner at the top of the page, it says that it can’t be applied to previous purchases. This is really stupid!!
DeleteThanks everyone. I did get this done this time but their policy is extremely unclear and shady. I'm currently DMing with them on Twitter to get them to put what you guys are saying in writing. There's just no way I was going to pay an extra $100 for shoes when they hadn't even shipped yet. They need to stop screwing with people or some of us might cancel orders and not even bother to repurchase.
Deleteam I correct that you only have one hour to cancel an order ?
DeleteI'm unsure about the one hour because CS's hours have changed. If you place an order in the wee hours of the morning, by the time they open, one hour has passed. There was a time when you could cancel online, but I no longer have that option on my account and I actually think no one has this option anymore.
DeleteI would not count on being able to cancel anything, no matter how soon you call and request it. There is certainly no "one hour" rule.
DeleteI was able to cancel an order (actually, I individual items in an order) shortly after placing it online (within minutes of placing it). This cancellation feature was on the website under the Orders section. Not sure how long it is available but 1 hour sounds right.
ReplyDeleteI've done this as well, it is an hour. But I think if you get logged out you lose the chance - when I log back in the timer is gone even if it was only a few minutes. And since the website logs you out constantly you pretty much have to do it right away.
DeleteWe're such a treasure trove of JC knosledge =).
DeleteYou are lucky, I haven't had that feature in over a year I would estimate.
DeleteI've finally had enough, and so earlier this week I opened a complaint case with the BBB of New York over JC's attempt to make my return in the form of a gift card instead of a charge back to my credit card. I was puzzled about this but knew that the item was shipped back on time, so I thought there must have been some misunderstanding.
ReplyDeleteHere is the timeline, from the day of purchase to the day the return was processed for refund:
6/9/19 - item purchased online
6/12/19 - item shipped from J.Crew
6/15/19 - item delivered to me
7/3/19 - item submitted to UPS for return to J.Crew
7/8/19 - item delivered to J.Crew
7/19/19 - item processed for refund, but credited only as a J.Crew gift card
I checked the "We've received your return request" email message for the item and it actually read: "Your item(s) must be received by July 17, 2019."
When I called CS regarding the gift card return, the associate put me on hold a few times to chat with "the leadership" (her words). When she came back, I was informed that the reason why the return was considered late was because not only does the item have to ship by 30 days, it also has to be received AND processed for return by JC! At first, I was astonished at the absurdity of the statement but then I started questioning it. Do I have control over how fast UPS delivers the item? Similarly, how can I control how fast JC processes the return? Where is this little clause to their 30-day returns policy published? It certainly didn't appear on their website, I said. After chatting some more with "leadership," an offer of a refund to my credit card was allowed but only with the infuriating addendum of "But only this one time as an exception." That did it! I started aggressively challenging their claim that my return was late, the conveniently "amended" returns policy, and the suggestion that they are doing me a favor. Since I can't control how fast they process my return (in this case it took 11 days!), how long before the end of the 30 days would they suggest I ship the item back? If you can, JCAs, please sit down before you read the pearl of wisdom I was given on that faithful day... The associate actually told me: "As soon as possible." Yep, there you have it. Don't say you haven't been warned. LOL
The BBB was very professional in handling my complaint. Of course JC, in their responses during the mediation process, never acknowledged that CS was manufacturing the answers out of the whole cloth the day I spoke with them regarding my return. No acknowledgment, no recognition of their mishandling the case, no apology for the treatment I received. Just a vague, halfhearted apology for the "confusion." No, I assure you - there was no confusion. The facts speak for themselves.
I realize this will accomplish very little, but the BBB will publish my complaint and hopefully, someone will read it.
For me, sadly, this really was the proverbial last straw. I no longer wish to support with my money this company I no longer recognize.
Hi Ivanka, I’m so sorry that you went through that! That’s crazy, I can’t believe they did that. I don’t like the new 30 day policy (for Canada I have a package that was shipped on July 18 that hasn’t even cleared the border yet so by the time I get it it will be over a week). There have been times when I’ve sent a return and it took over 21/2 weeks to process it. I can’t believe how you were treated. Hopefully they change their thinking about including the processing time on their end.
DeleteI'm so sorry this happened. This is just another example of JC's impossible policies, and their disregard for customers. No one is happy with their "new" return and PA policies, but will it actually be reflected in sales enough to change them back? I doubt it. What happened to customer centered retailers?
DeleteHi jan and bythelake, yes, I agree, the 30-day return policy is a big downgrade from the 60 days, especially for people outside of US. Most of the time though, when I don't like the item I usually send it back within the next couple of days just to get the refund as soon as I can. This time, I was waiting for pieces from other orders to arrive so I could ship them back together (if I didn't like them) to save on shipping. Interestingly, that also came up in the phone conversation as the associate questioned why I did that and how would the warehouse employees know which orders the items came from. I had to explain that I had printed a return slip for each of the items and secured them to the appropriate item - just as I've been doing for years, btw, without any problem. But what really got to me was when they started covering up their (apparent) mistake in miscalculating the expected return date by inventing the condition that they have to process the return by the end of the 30 days. Oh, so you just shortened my 30 days to 19, because it took you 11 days from the day you received the item to process the return! Great!! And, as expected, they couldn't answer the next logical question of how many days from receiving the item do I, then, actually have before shipping the item back to comply with this condition. That's when I received the "as soon as possible" nonsense. I have never, ever before heard something so stupid coming from JC or any other store I buy from.
DeleteAnd so, I've finally reached the end of the line with JC.