A conversation that occurred just now between a J.Crew customer service rep and me:
Me: Hi, I ordered an item last week [the Juliet patent midheels in Dusty Rose], and I just noticed the price has come down by about $50, so I was wondering if you could help me get a price adjustment done?
CSR: I can look into that. We honor price adjustments on a 7 day period so if it is within that window we can do that for you.
Me: [gives order information]
CSR: Okay, so you placed your order 6 days ago, so, that should work. Oh wait, this item was on sale. We only do price adjustments for full priced merchandise, sorry.
Me: Oh really, is this a new policy? Because I have had price adjustments done on sale items with no problem in the past.
CSR: No we don’t do that, and since you have had it done in the past, I especially can’t honor it now.
Me: What???
CSR: [Silence]
Me: So…you’re saying, because I have had a price adjustment done with absolutely no problems, protests or caveats in the past, you will specifically not do one for me now? How does that make sense?
CSR: Well it’s a one-time courtesy. So if you had it done in the past it was a one-time thing.
Me: But…no one said anything to me any of the previous times, and that is why I was asking if it was a new — oh look, forget it. So basically I am just going to return what I have to the store and order it online again right now to save myself the money. I am not going to ask you to do something you are apparently uncomfortable doing, but this way is just going to incur you guys extra time, hassle and money to ship the item to me and ship the old item back, is this what you really want?
CSR: [Long silence] Thanks for your cooperation in this matter.
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I’ve had this same conversation with J.Crew too! It is absolutely ridiculous. And then I had a similar one with Banana Republic – I received a coupon in the mail mere hours after placing an order and they wouldn’t adjust my order. Apparently they’d rather just put in the extra work when we reorder and return the first one. Sigh.
Comment by Jessica April 25, 2009 @ 2:19 pmi had the same thing happen to me- so i just returned it and used the money at anthropologie instead. i’m growing tired of j.crew’s sale game. :(
Comment by lauren. April 25, 2009 @ 3:42 pmB-stards. I over paid for the dusty rose juliets too. I tried to get a pa when they went to the extra 30 off and got a big fat no :(
Comment by shannon April 25, 2009 @ 6:01 pmgirl that is just stupid..you were right though. i would have asked for a manager. and had her note in your profile what she told you and have them email you the policy on adjustments since they are a o”ne time thing”…in this day and age customer service is all a company has to offer and if they cant offer that you might as well go to the next store.
Comment by tamstyles April 25, 2009 @ 8:44 pmIt is clearly stated on JCrew policies that price adjustments are for full price items only. The CS rep was right and you were rude. Maybe in the past you got a price adjustment but now you know the real rule so get over it and move on. I am really sick of reading posts where people are trying to haggle things from JCrew. Sorry but the policy is the policy and I bet it is clearly stated on your packing slip as well as the website.
Comment by Julie April 26, 2009 @ 7:28 amRETARDED. I can’t believe the terrible customer service these days. Today I went to H&M and wanted this jacket; unfortunately, the only one left in my size was on the mannequin. They wouldn’t give it to me, though! I have ready money! ARGH! Now I have to go to ANOTHER H&M.
Comment by Thumbelina Fashionista April 26, 2009 @ 10:00 amOr maybe, I’ll be too fed up to do so. You think these people would learn in a terrible economy that THE CUSTOMER COMES FIRST!!
Julie — Having worked in customer service for a significant period of time, I can assure you that I had no intention of being rude and in fact was not rude (I may have summarized/editorialized my last comment for succinctness, but I literally said “if this is something you are not allowed to do or would get in trouble for doing, I am not going to ask you to do that,” with no snarkiness in my voice).
My main issue was that the policy change itself (whenever it took place, I am pretty certain that it was not always this way) is absolutely dumb — like other people have indicated, J.Crew should should be at least *trying* to stay competitive in a failing economy. Policies like price adjustments exist specifically so the customer can feel secure buying something and not be worried that they should hold out longer just in case the price might drop — now I have no reassurance and you can be sure I’m going to hesitate a lot more placing my orders. It is also a service to the company itself so customers don’t do the whole return-and-rebuy deal. Stuff like this and Final Sale just makes me cranky and less inclined to buy from a company with otherwise normally great customer service and products (BTW, I have not mentioned it, but I do really appreciate at least that they have dropped their price points in the last couple of months at least.)
I also only posted this conversation because I think the way this CSR in particular explained it to me was absolutely non-sensical. If nobody else imposed the “one-time courtesy” rule on me (and did not even mention it), why the heck is she imposing it retroactively for me? I mentioned past orders only because I was confused at the inconsistency I was experiencing, and the way she worded her responses, it was like she was saying, “I’m going to *purposely* make it inconsistent for you.” There are savvier ways to talk to the customer. (I’m not even going into the fact that she really could have given it to me, consequence free, according to all the posts about how I have heard CSRs operate, and it really *would* have been less hassle/money for the company than me returning and rebuying.)
I don’t know, I feel like CS at J.Crew is filled with soooo many inconsistencies and it just randomly depends on who you get for how your experience is going to go and what policies might be enforced (heck, might even get *mentioned*) that day. Whereas I go to like Anthro or Nordstrom and my experience is always superb, no matter what. (That said I love most of the in-person CS at the Palo Alto and now the Los Gatos J.Crew, everyone has been great; a woman at one of the stores even gave me an extra red card when I mentioned to her I hadn’t received one.)
Comment by goldenmeans April 26, 2009 @ 10:04 amI actually stopped shopping at J. Crew once most of their sale items became final sale. I love their stuff – it’s beautiful and often worth the price, but I can’t handle what feels like random changes in policy.
And as far as price adjustments go, after working in retail, I don’t see why not say yes- especially if the customer is going to just return one and buy another at the discounted price anyway. It’s getting to the point that things are getting marked down like crazy and I haven’t been buying things unless I know it will sell out or I can get it 75%-80% off.
Comment by Jinah April 26, 2009 @ 10:05 amGosh that sounds so typical of Jcrew these days. Its like as the economy gets bad they decides to be all posh and enforce these nonsensical rules. An item is an item despite it being on sale. Its jcrew for god’s sake not Chanel! They make anyone shopping sale items into such low grade customers…
Comment by xiexie April 26, 2009 @ 11:40 amUsually when a CS rep is being difficult I just hang up and call again so that I can talk to someone else. Fortunately the 2nd rep usually isnt as crewless as the 1st one.
Comment by happylife April 26, 2009 @ 3:29 pmI get price adjustments on sale merchandise all the time ! I never had a problem with it and no one ever mentioned it as a one-time courtesy.
You should try calling again
slightly offtopic but how was the Los Gatos Jcrew? I’ve been meaning to check it out but never seem to get past Palo Alto…tia!
Comment by terrablanca April 27, 2009 @ 5:25 pmArgh, I also find their customer service infuriating at times. Certainly there are peeps that try to game the system but I take issue with giving customers a hard time. Standardize the policy by making it x days or whatever on all items and be done with it. PS — love the avignon peep toes!
Comment by roxy April 27, 2009 @ 7:08 pmThanks everyone for your comments here :) Happy resolution to the story — I went to my local brick & mortar store and was chatting with the manager as I was returning the shoes. She asked why I was returning them and I told her (not in a complain-y way) that they were cute but the price had dropped and I wasn’t eligible for a price adjustment, so I was just going to reorder them afterwards; she just returned them and let me rebuy them on the spot. The price was even $20 lower in store, and I got to use my red card, so I got them for a grand total of $55. Yay! Like I said, my in-person CS at J.Crew is always great; just wish they’d be more consistent across the board.
terrablanca — The Los Gatos J.Crew was very nice! Clean and airy and everyone was very helpful. It wasn’t super huge or anything, and since it was brand new, there was no sale section, but I think it’s nice having a J.Crew down there (I go there when I visit my family).
Comment by goldenmeans April 27, 2009 @ 11:03 pmYou are very lucky to be near a store. Being in Canada, and relying on people via phone I’m pretty appalled at the lack of consistency in their customer service. Not going into detail as I find it kinda heinous, but overall not impressed.
Comment by Sonu April 28, 2009 @ 2:02 pmHa! I’ve got one even better. I purchased an item on April 30th and used my 25% off red card. Went back the next day to exchange the item for a smaller size (did I mention I wanted to ‘exchange’ the item?). The SA wouldn’t exchange the item because the 25% off card expired. Finally I got hold of a manager who took care of it. I’m beginning to think it’s the work force and not JC’s policies completely.
Comment by JustVisiting May 4, 2009 @ 3:06 amThis is nuts! I thought I’d post my experience with one I just had this morning. So I placed an order for the Jayne dress and ruffle cardi two days ago – the Jayne dress in Tea Rose was on sale at a B&M (but not online) so for a one time courtesy j.crew matched the price. I thought my order was good, right? Nope! I called this morning to ensure that they had applied the free shipping, and find out that the Jayne dress order was cancelled!?! I just spent 40 minutes trying to get them to reinstate my order and honor the pricing for the Jayne dress!
Argh.
Sonu
Comment by Sonu May 4, 2009 @ 11:05 amJustVisiting — That is ridiculous. To not even let you exchange something? Verging on bizarre. Usually my in-store CS is very good.
Sonu — I’m sorry you had such a hard time! They just randomly cancelled your dress? How frustrating. Yeah, who knows what is going with J.Crew’s CS these days, these stories are so disappointing to hear.
Comment by goldenmeans May 5, 2009 @ 11:09 amWhy don’t you just pull out all your stuff from last year and take the lowest selling price on that as well? Hell, why not just keep on getting discounts until you hit the lowest selling price indefinately? It’s not like companies want to make a profit! You people who just want to keep on getting discount after discount really take the cake…at a discount price.
Comment by Not Cheap July 12, 2009 @ 6:11 pmHrm, I don’t know where exactly I’ve ever claimed that I would like to receive “discount after discount” on anything. As I have explained above, I was merely requesting a (fairly standard) customer courtesy and was mostly complaining here at the way the refusal was explained to me. Obviously though from your language (“you people” and what not) you seem to be angry at somebody or something, so feel free to vent, but maybe find a more appropriate place than my blog, where rarely do I ever give space to complain about J.Crew and their policies, and mostly just write about pretty things I would like to (and usually do) buy from them.
Comment by goldenmeans July 12, 2009 @ 11:27 pminteresting… just stumbled upon this. i bought a blouse on sale for $49.99 4 days ago and found it for $29.99 on their website today. called customer service even though their policy states that they only adjust full-price items. the rep refunded the difference, no questions asked! so give it a try anyways!
Comment by nancy November 24, 2009 @ 7:17 amSometimes you get certain CS reps who are really helpful and accomodating! I am very glad you had a positive experience :) You are right that one shouldn’t hesitate to at least give it a shot. (Though I personally haven’t tried at all since this incident, and actually I pretty much stopped buying anything from J.Crew for months!)
Comment by goldenmeans November 24, 2009 @ 7:22 amEveryone says that customer service is all you have in this economy– but fail to understand the flip side too, in order to stay in business during these times, you have to patch the areas where you’re hemorrhaging money. JCrew for many years would have rather just complied than lose any business, but what do you do when your so called “best customers” is also become your biggest liability because they like to return 15 million different things to different places, trying to say they were on sale, but from another store, because they know they’ve done it in the past. Believe me– you may not be so demanding, but policies only change because too many people are taking advantage, and it becomes impossible for the company to please everyone.
Comment by geeze November 24, 2009 @ 2:05 pmLife isn’t fair, sometime the shit you want isn’t on sale, sometimes it is. You decided to buy it days before it went on sale– I’m confused how that’s anyone’s problem but your own. Why is it today, it’s always someone else’s fault for your decisions. Always trying to have your cake and eat it too.
It’s kind of weird to me that I’m still getting (somewhat lippy) comments on this post almost 7 months after it was written. I don’t really feel like arguing or defending myself, and you are certainly entitled to your opinions, but if you actually read through my comments, I would hope you would understand it was the way the policy was stated and presented to me, and not even the policy itself, that irked me. I myself used to work in customer service and it just boggled my mind.
I still feel that price adjustments are a basic tenant of decent customer service, but you are right that J.Crew can do whatever it wants or feels it needs to keep it’s business alive, including no price adjustments and incredibly annoying “final sale” policies. I have merely chosen to cut my spending there to about 1/4th its former rate since this incident, and, without carping about it further, shifted my spending to stores that accommodate my needs. I don’t particularly consider myself to be the greedy and grasping person you have somehow made me out to be with your “geezes” and “always trying to have my cake” and whatnot, but I suppose there are such people out there that cause companies to change their policies in these ways.
Comment by goldenmeans November 24, 2009 @ 3:24 pm