Will you visit J.Crew this Weekend?

Let me begin by wishing you all a Happy 4th of July! :)

Many of you might be going out this extended weekend. If you happen to stop by a J.Crew store, maybe you might be willing to share that with us in this post. In particular, if you could share with us a few sale items that are available, at what prices, and potential sizes the store is carrying (as well as the store location)- that would be fantastic!

I noticed that some of you have already been doing that in other posts (which by the way "thank you!") and I thought it might be a good idea to create its own post for this holiday weekend. Thanks in advance!!! :)

A Quick Note to Resellers of J.Crew

Dear J.Crew Resellers:

I am thrilled that you enjoy reading this blog and sharing your opinions on J.Crew. :) However, please refrain from adding links to your websites or email without checking with me first. I am aware that there is no clear policy on this blog about that (so I completely understand why you posted what you did). However, there now is a semi-policy which is: please check with me first. :) You can reach me at jcrewaficionada@yahoo.com. (To be honest, I am still deciding if I want to list those sites on this blog or not.) If you do not check with me first, I will delete your comment. ;)

As for individual customers who want to swap/sell/share among yourselves (and is independent of this blog), this notice does NOT pertain to you. :)

Thank you in advance!
-Alexis :)

Educator & Student Discount: Shopper's Tip

Anonymous at 9:13 PM shared with us a great tip in the "J.Crew Comments on Current Situation" post. J.Crew offers an educator's discount (of 15%) and a student discount (of 10%) on any order. I thought that this was only possible at their brick & mortar stores (either at the counter or using the red phone) because an associate had to verify your status and check the school ID. Well, Anonymous at 9:13 PM let us know that it applies to orders over the phone from home (or the office, car, anywhere besides the J.Crew red phone). All you have to do is tell them that you are an educator or a student, then provide them with your email address (that will act as a verification of your status).

There have been a few other members of the blog who said that they have been able to do this as well. There have also been others who said that this was not true.

Well, when I called J.Crew about my order from last Friday, I thought to ask the customer service representative if I could indeed, apply my educator's discount over the phone from home- and she confirmed that this was true!!!

You can apply the discounts for online orders too! Just call after the recent online purchase to confirm the discount (and school email address) with the customer service rep. Moreover, Mad about madras let us know (in this post) that you can also send an e-mail (from the school email address) with the online order number for J.Crew to apply the discount.

Are you excited that you can apply the discount from calling in anywhere ? Are you thinking about all those orders you made in the past few weeks, that you could have applied the discounts to. [I know I am! :) But I am really just happy to know that we are able to use the discounts over the phone from anywhere!!!] Thanks again Anonymous at 9:13 PM!

Oh J.Crew Website, what you do to me!

I have to say I am actually surprise to find the website not working this morning. I saw the "be back soon..." page and thought, "oh no! not again." I refreshed it and it is now loading very slowly. I really thought things were getting better on the website.

Let's hope that the website just needs a week to work out the kinks. {fingers crossed again!} Also, my "hats off" to J.Crew customer reps who have been wonderful throughout all this "upgrading". :)

P.S. J.Crew, could you please remove the Refined canvas Fiona jacket (item 90977) from the sale section? It's a retail tease! I keep clicking on its item page (in hopes that it is available in stock,) only to see it is not. (You would think I would learn to not bother checking on it so much, considering each time it has been unavailable. I would make an awful lab rat.)

What do you think about the website? Do you think you will be ordering online today or just calling your orders in? How long do you think it will take for the website to run smoothly (or 99% kink free)?

Order Status: Open versus Submitted

Rach made a great suggestion (in the "J.Crew's Website: What will happen today?" post) to define the "new" status of online orders at J.Crew in its own post. We were fortunate enough to have Blumre & Rach (in the same post) share with us what J. Crew customer service reps told them about order status type:

"Open" means the order is still being processed and is not ready to ship.

"Released" means the package has been processed and is ready to be shipped.

"Submitted" means that it has been submitted to the warehouse.

Hopefully your new orders are "open" and ready to go!!! Personally, I preferred "in stock"; "ready to ship"; "canceled by customer"; "canceled"; and "waitlisted". Now those order status categories were clear and to the point. :) Also, "thanks!" Rach & Blumre!

Planning Your 4th of July With J.Crew?

Blumre requested (in the "J.Crew's Website: What will happen today?" post) a new post about what J.Crew Aficionadas (and Aficionados) will wear (J.Crew wise) for the 4th of July.

I think this is a great idea, since I have already have been planning my outfit for the 4th. (Sadly, I was also planning the outfit in J.Crew terms. I love you J.Crew, despite your messed up website!!!) I am thinking about wearing my new Solid Frances Blouse in white (Item 91801) with my new Corrine Cotton Jacket in Navy (Item 92485) with some trouser jeans. (Oh yes! I did get the blouse in white, after already owning the blouse in both True Aqua and Sour Lemon.) :) Or, I might go with my new Printed Silk Fontana Wrap Dress in Black Dots (Item 91248). (Oh how much fun it is to play dress up!!!) :)

So what are you planning to wear this 4th of July (especially now that most of you have been receiving your purchases made from a few weeks ago)? Are you planning to go "head to toe" J.Crew or parts J.Crew?

J.Crew's Website: What will happen today?

Let's hope that today, J.Crew's website gets fixed. {fingers crossed!} Unfortunately, I noticed that there are still kinks on the website as of 6:45AM, but the day is young!

Personally, I still have not bought anything from J.Crew (online or in stores). (I spent way too much this month and need a break so my savings can catch up. ;) And I am still getting packages from last week- so I am "good" for awhile.)

Even if I could spend at J.Crew online (and use the FREESHIP offer), I probably would not have wanted to during these past few days. After roaming the website a bit, and reading people's experiences of trying to purchase online (and then just ordering over the phone), it seems like the website is still a hassle to checkout. But hopefully the website will run better & faster today!

Are you still purchasing through J.Crew's website (or calling in the orders instead)? How are your online shopping experiences? Frustrated by the new website or excited by the new features?

J.Crew Comments on Current Situation

There is a comment on the "Sale: The best ever... Really?" post that could or could not be from J.Crew. I believe that it is from a JCrew representative because of the style of writing and a few other reasons. :) Here is the comment in its entirety:

Dear Aficionadas:

More than anyone else in the blogosphere, you’re probably aware that we’re upgrading our website. Good things take time and effort, and we’re putting the finishing touches on what we hope will be a more comprehensive and user-friendly site to make your lives easier. We want you to know that during this time, all of your comments, feedback and observations have been incredibly helpful to us. And of course, we’re grateful for your patience.

We’re looking into each and every suggestion that you’ve had, and we’re working on fine-tuning our site with the help of your invaluable feedback.

Please make sure to take advantage of our free shipping offer with code FREESHIP. (And based on your online poll results, we’ve decided there’s no minimum required for this offer – thanks for the insight!).

So hang in there and let us know what you think of the soon-to-be-fully-re-launched jcrew.com. We hope you’ll be as excited as we are.

All the best,
J.Crew
contactus@jcrew.com

What do you all think about the comment? Are you excited by the company (potentially) noticing this blog?

Sale: The best ever... Really?

Okay, I know J.Crew's IT people are super busy today with the whole "super slow, messed up website" situation. However, someone there really needs to remove this image from their sale section. I cannot help but either laugh or be über-annoyed by its message. ;)

First, the wait is not over. It should really read "the wait has just begun..." as it is still slow to navigate around the section. (Although, I will say that the website is running much faster today than the past few days!) Second, the sale is not better than ever. This sale is one of the worst I have seen, because they keep displaying items we can't even purchase (either because the items are sold out or they are in fact regular-priced items). When a customer does want to purchase something, the checkout is very difficult. :(

All I am saying, is that maybe J.Crew should reconsider the message and put up another one. Something similar to the main page, where they were honest about the current situation. My vote is for it to say, "Whoops! Things are a bit slow, my bad!" :)

What do you think about the sale message? What would you rather see in its place?

Go J.Crew Website! Go!

Well it seems like J.Crew's website is starting to get it's act together. I noticed that it is running a lot smoother right now, although it's clearly not 100% kink-free. Unfortunately the sale section is still showing some items that are unavailable. Basically displaying items that are "out of stock" or not part of the sale. (For example, after you loaded the item page for 5 minutes you may see the status was "null" or that the sale applied to a different version/color of the item displayed- a complete retail tease!)

I have to say, I am starting to get "use to" the new site. I am sure, after a week of "no kinks" I will be comfortable with it. :)

I also want to say I am very sorry to hear about a few of my fellow J.Crew Aficionada's who lost part (if not all) of their orders from Friday (and around then) from the website upgrade. My order was lost too. :( I also want to say that I am impressed with the customer service reps at J.Crew who have maintained their fantastic level of customer service despite the system being down so much during this crazy website upgrading disaster. (Yes- let's face it- this upgrade was a disaster!)

What are your feelings about the new website now that it is running (a wee bit) smoother? Are you liking the new features (or missing some old ones)? Are you getting "use to" the new layout in the Sale section? Can you check out properly? Have you been able to take advantage of the FREESHIP offer?