Wow, super lame! I don't shop much at Nordstrom, but I'm pretty sure my returns add up to a greater dollar amount than my purchases. I don't have a brick-and-mortar store anywhere near me to go try things on in person, and this makes me much more hesitant to order.

Chris, that’s crazy! I remember when this happened to JAileen with STP. I would definitely escalate to a higher level of management.

As someone who is losing the nearest Nordstrom store (which has been under stocked in the last couple of years anyway), and is forced into shopping online more and more, I would not be happy with this policy either. In these days when retailers are struggling so, I doubt they’d want to lose their remaining customers with such draconian measures.

Good luck and let us know what happens!

How disappointing. I suspect kkards is correct and it is algorithm related. And I suspect it could be overturned.

Angie’s advice is sound. See how you feel after a day or two and whether you want to be reinstated or not. And I think they would be wise to have clear policies on this.

I have had issues with three retailers over the past 20 years and two I have returned to eventually (a supermarket where my two year old and myself were very rudely spoken to about him eating a tomato, and an appliance retailer). I have never returned to the local boutique who didn’t value my custom over faulty trousers.

Chris, your example is maybe a solid one - that's how I feel about $$$ purchases versus $ multiplying returns. That's the impression I've got from a Rack' representative. Similar for Lucky Brand it's about 75-80% return I think ( maybe I'm wrong ). Keep us posted - it's an important issue for everyone. Good luck - I'll keep fingers crossed!

How insulting.

Did you use a Nordstrom debit card, Nordstrom store card, or Nordstrom Visa card? I can see (sort of) closing a Nordstrom account, but how could they close a Nordstrom Visa card which can be used at other places?

Did they close your credit card account or tell you that you they no longer want you to shop at their stores? While both are upsetting, I can somewhat understand the rationale behind closing a credit card account. When there are multiple returns vs. the % of merchandise kept the account becomes suspicious for someone who is using it fraudulently. For example, making a purchase, wearing the item once, and then returning the item. All department stores try to eliminate this type of activity and have algorithms to weed it out.

That is really upsetting. Hopefully you will be able to sort it.
I often worry that it will happen to me because I shop online mostly exclusively and have high return rate. One retailer that I use often is tracking percentage of returns, and if you are over certain amount they start charging for shipping, and if you are under, shipping is free. I think that is a fair approach.

I’m just chining in as one more who is really hoping this turns out to be a mistake that gets corrected, but I’m angry on your behalf. I return a ton of items to N and have for years. I order all sorts of items I can’t view in my four nearby stores, and often end up having to try a different size. If I can’t continue to send back colors, styles and sizes that didn’t work out IRL, I can’t really shop there. I definitely return more than I keep.
I’ve always felt like this was part of their business model to ensure customer loyalty and it has indeed made me a very faithful customer. This seems like you are being scolded for asking them to hold up their half of the deal.

I like what anchie said about maybe charging shipping- though I suspect it would be hard for them to do a lot of customer- specific approaches to ongoing customers ; they need one- size fits all.

I had this experience with Yoox (now part of net-a-porter) 4 years ago. I was returning about 60% of dollar value because I was buying and trying lots of shoes. I’ve since stopped buying shoes online. In my case Yoox refused to refund my money after accepting and acknowledging my returns. I turned the matter over to my credit card company and was refunded. I shop very carefully online now. Which is a shame because shopping in my city is limited!

I guess I see this all slightly differently as someone in a country where we just do not get the kind of service that you get from Nordstrom. We frequently pay shipping although we may not have to if we order over a certain amount. My recent olive boots at over $200 also had a $10 shipping charge. Since I ordered during our lockdown with specific lockdown discounts I was happy to pay it, and they used a special eco biodegradable packaging. ( The addition of the shipping when combined with the discount still had the boots cheaper than they would have otherwise been). As I kept them I don’t know how much shipping back would have been.
I understand what you all say about their having such customer loyalty partly because of their great service, but all the free shipping back and forth must also cost them a lot?
So I guess as a business owner, nowhere near on the same scale of wealth as them, I do wonder if I can also see their point of view, and as Staysfit says there may well be algorithms which picked you up rather than people? Although a pre-warning to know that your orders were of “outlier” status would have definitely been good, I agree, because how would you know? Anchie’s idea on paying shipping once over a certain amount also sounds fair to both parties but again difficult and possibly costly to work out.
I presume that their business must be suffering in this time and maybe what they offer will change for all of you!
This doesn’t mean I don’t feel sympathy for you Chris, I just am in a different tiny country where business has a lot of issues currently and has to watch costs!

As a fellow petite person I am also outraged. When I complain in stores about the lack of petite sizes I am often told to order online (not necessarily at N) and fit can still be very difficult. This really makes me hesitate to order from them.

This is very strange. This past year, I made a lot of returns to Nordstrom, and I even mentioned something to the SA about worrying that I was going to get cut off eventually. She brushed it off and said that that wouldn't happen, that there was no list of frequent returners or anything like that. I'm guessing that for whatever reason, the previous commenter is correct that there was something about your buying habits that triggered a fraud warning. I'm not sure whom to call, if you can call someone higher up directly, or if you can speak with the floor manager in-store (can't remember if you said your store was open), or if you could call the main line and ask to speak with a manager.

I think that they should let people who wear extended sizes return more than the average bear. It's just not fair when your size isn't carried in the B&M store.

Don't have much to add but it was clearly an algorithm not a person making the decision and a person with real authority should be able to override it or explain it better. This is really no time for Nordstrom to be risking its reputation as a safe on-line store.

Chris, I understand your shock and frustration given the Nordstrom reputation. This is a symptom of the serious issues retailers are facing. Department stores and their famous service may well be a thing of the past. That is most definitely the Australian experience, our department stores have been contracting in their market share for years and have been operating at a loss for a number of years. As they try to return to profitability through cutting back on staff, less store renovations and cheaper products, things have gone from bad to worse.

Most Australian retailers (similar to those in NZ) do not allow refund returns, or if they do, in a very narrow window and on full price stock. Returning items is just not something we do on a regular basis, even when ordering online because in many cases we have to pay up to A$50 (US$30) for the privilege of shipping. Given the demise of so many retailers locally, we have accepted a scaled back retail experience.

I feel sad for you and also sad for Nordstrom that things have come to this in the US.

Yours seems to be an example of why we have real people like this Vice President working at Nordstrom’s and other places with good customer service reputations. Your business patterns added up and tripped some numerical formula programmed into their credit card software. Their computers diligently spit out your letter. (Create a picture in your mind of a nerdy programmer in a back office with a printer...).

Wow! This is really troubling. As someone who lives a 5-hour drive from shopping with true variety and a range of sizes, I order almost all of my clothing and shoes online. I do return a fair percentage, especially of shoes. If Zappos cut me off, I would be barefoot. I wear an odd shoe size, and literally no B&M store I have been in carries my actual size/width combo. I sure hope this is a mistake you can get resolved to your satisfaction.

Found this from last year
https://www.retailcustomerexpe.....who-return

I remember hearing about this tracking company a while ago
https://www.abcactionnews.com/.....-for-too-m

Hmmm best I could find was a three year old article

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyl.....ndary-retu

And honestly they way the Nordstrom website is seriously lacking in size info, I don’t blame you for returning
I often find myself going to other sites for more specific information. I know that Net-a-Porter and other sites have actual garment measurements which help.
Nordstrom often uses a useless generic size chart. Even their search function is less than stellar. For example when sorting by size, designers that call a US 8 a Large, they get lumped into the large sizes (12-14 by the drop down)
So they should being doing more to make our shopping easier

That sounds crazy, especially with NAS around the corner (well, later than normal).

They have received probably 85% of my clothing budget the last few years. I often have to order multiple sizes, especially in brands I’ve never worn. I would probably not shop as often at Nordies if this is in fact a new policy. The nearest store to me seems very sparse in content so I almost never shop in person.

I don’t think this is a new policy—don’t remember details, but think people on here talked about it a couple years ago.

I bet it’s linked to policies I’ve learned of since then, of destroying clothes that are returned. Doesn’t quite make sense for Nordi’s though, because I know I’ve seen returns at the Rack. Maybe those are just things brought back to the local store and internet returns are destroyed?

In any event, if they are throwing away clothing that is returned, they need to fix that practice, no matter how much or little a person sends back annually.

Oh wow! I'm not American so I don't shop Nordstrom, but I think my experience with ASOS is similar (free shipping & returns even to Hong Kong). I often do a big yearly shop & then send back what I don't need. I'd love to do more local shopping instead but I acknowledge how difficult it can be - most local women are shorter than me so sleeves are always too high on me (& not in a cute 3/4 length way) or the western brands that *do* cater to my body are often sold at 5x the price they would be back home.

I sympathise because I'm also a hard-to-fit kind of size (curvy but also just on the cusp of petite) so I often have to buy multiple sizes & lengths just to see what works. I can sometimes get away with regular sizes, but other times I'm in between dress sizes too - so that can mean having to buy up to 4 versions of a pair of trousers, just to see which ones fit! ASOS haven't cut me off yet but I did see a disclaimer go up on their website recently saying they'll be going in the direction of Nordstrom's way of dealing with 'overreturning'. But the most frustrating part is that they also don't give any concrete explanation of how they work that out!