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Jcrew's Quick Response to Quality Issue

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I thought I'd share because I still love jcrew most of the time and a one off issue I contacted them about was resolved immediately and satisfactorily.

I ordered a lovely cotton Indigo popover last year in March. I wore it maybe 5 times. The other day I was read to wear it when I noticed a large shredded "tear" in the top near the side of the pocket. The material was disintegrating! This top was in no way tight on me or in no way handled roughly - I wash on delicate cold and air dry my nicer tops like this one. I looked up and realized I had paid $80 for this top! I was very disappointed to say the least. That really puts a hit on your CPW, right?

So thinking about some other similar quality issues with their tees and such I decided to look up the design director and sent him a letter directly as well as cc'ing the personal stylist e-mail (this was after my first attempt at e-mailing my original jcrew personal stylist that resulted in a "no longer here" e-mail and even a try at sending to investor relations which bounced). I explained the above and wondered how they would handle it.

This morning I received a prompt reply along with a full credit for the popover and a nice letter asking me to please let them know of any quality issues or suggestions as they take them very seriously. I did not hear from the design director but can't help but wonder if that had anything to do with it.

I think it is always a good idea to let a retailer know when you have a real quality issue - esp. when you are paying a full and fair price on what you expect to last. I gave some of my personal thoughts about what they might do in the future for their solid whisper and similar light weight tees in particular which have gotten a *very* bad rap on their online reviews.

Shopping

16 replies

Latest reply was from Suz

Anonymous

I think I've said this before here, but if you read about the shake-ups at the high levels at J Crew, the business press seems to think that the company's declining sales are design-related. And that may indeed be part of the problem. But it you actually shop their site and read reviews, it seems pretty obvious that decline in quality is the #1 complaint of customers.

Maybe they are finally catching on?

I do hope so. Their clothes usually fit me well and the more basic pieces are very much my summer style. But I walk away from lots of items over the thin fabrics, and a number more because of the poor quality reviews from people who, like you, have worn and laundered them a few times.

K.M.

Veteran

texstyle, I've had them reach out to me after posting reviews online! Not with refunds, but I appreciate that they are reading our input.

Ryce, you are right. I've decided not to order many items after reading reviews about pilling, loss of shape, tears, etc. But how to keep quality standards without raising prices too much? (This is a genuine question--I'm not a business or fashion person so I don't know...)

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

Ryce - I agree that quality is a big issue, well, that and I would guess staffing and maintaining physical stores is another huge one in the world of online ordering.

K.M. - I still own a large number of high quality jcrew items, some older items, some newer so it's not like everything they have has lost quality. They seem to excel in things like jackets, coats, swimsuits, nice slacks, etc.

I feel like perhaps they were trying over the past several years to offer lower priced items to attract more buyers during a particularly difficult retail period. I mean look how many retailers have failed or are failing right now due to that same period. I don't think they area best suited to try and fit into the <$30 per item category but they have to keep up with their store leases, staffing, advertising, etc. I guess they also wanted to offer some basic items like simple tees to go under their jackets.

Maybe now is their chance to focus back on the things that people loved about them in the past.

Anonymous

This is an encouraging story, TexStyle. I'm glad you reached out to them. I'm even happier that they responded.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

That is a great idea, and I'm glad you got such a response.

I'm really off of JCrew at the moment. Their cuts aren't working for me, still, and the things that do work for me -- knit tops -- have been really meh in quality. I have nice sweaters from them that pilled after the first wear.

viva

Veteran

Im so glad to read about this excellent service experience! It's really nice to take the time to give feedback and be treated so well.

I have a couple of very positive recent experiences with knits - my bright striped lightweight sweater and my bright orange light cashmere turtleneck are holding up really well even with frequent wears. I don't trust non-merino wool or wool blends from JCrew but cashmere and merino seem to be in good shape right now. And I bought a couple of featherweight tees and sleeping shorts from Factory to wear to bed. I only want a season or maybe two out of them because I wear the heck out of nightclothes; they were cheap and they look like they will last.

I think one has to be choosy with JC and follow your lead when things go awry.

BTW Tex, how was the personal shopper experience?

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Wow! That's a nice response. I wonder, sometimes, what I should do or what remediation I could expect to receive when purchases fail to meet my expectations.

Anonymous

That's a great response and I also enjoyed hearing that you took matters into your own hands and went to the top!

One thing I don't understand is: Madewell, their sister company is as expensive or more so , and I don't think they're any better quality, from my experience. Yet Madewell is doing very well apparently.

So maybe it is the design. The problem is, I don't want JCrew to turn into a madewell! I feel like we have enough stores geared to teens/twentysomethings.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

That's a fabulous response. I'm so glad you did this and reported to us; thank you!

And, what Smittie said re the design!

I've had mostly really good experiences with J. Crew. Lately the fits have seemed a bit off at times, but then again, I've gained a bit of weight, so that might contribute! I have some really high quality pieces from them -- jacket, wool trousers, poly jogging trousers, linen trousers, a cotton sweater, a few cashmere sweaters, a merino sweater, some cotton shirts and a silk blouse, and linen tees. Plus two coats!!! Oh, and a sweatshirt and sweat pants, too!

Wow, now that I name it all, that's a lot, and a really good batting average!! When you consider that I've purchased a great deal of that on sale, I think it's safe to assume that my wardrobe has done very well by them over the last four years.

I've also had some items (thin merino knits and cotton tees) that seemed to wear out awfully quickly. And a pair of shorts that I didn't bother to send back but that really don't wow me.

I'm still ordering from them, though, and will be all the more inclined to continue after your report.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

That's great to hear--thanks for sharing this experience. So much of what we hear and what gets passed around is negative. It's good to know when companies are trying to get (or make) things right.

Gigi

Veteran

Thanks for posting. I'm glad you got a refund. That's a lot to pay for a top that sees only a few wears.

I have one of the vintage tees, and I got it last year. As I was doing a closet edit the other day, I happened to look at it and noticed that there were already holes in the armpits. I usually don't see that until a tee has seen heavy use for some years...not for just one summer! I wash it in a lingerie bag and air dry it, so it shouldn't have had that issue. I did notice that J. Crew had a duplicate in my size on clearance, so I bought it because this is a workhorse of mine. I'm hoping that the new batch will be better quality. At least I got both of the tees on sale and paid only around $20 for them, I think.

Jeanie

Veteran

Glad to hear you got compensated and that they take the issues seriously. I usually have good luck with items I buy there except the cotton tees. However, I find issue with cotton tees across many lines. They just all get holes. I suspect it's due to the change to the lightweight fabric they have all moved to. I think we should all start reporting these issues. I did report one issue to LOFT and was fully compensated. It's just rather time consuming to think about reporting holes on all the tees I've bought.

April

Veteran

Well done you!

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

Glad to hear everyone's thoughts.

Viva, you asked about the personal shopper experience and to be honest the main thing I use it for is to get free shipping on full priced items (that's one of the bonuses offered). I have once or twice also used it to find out details about a garment - specific measurements, fit input, etc. I never seem to get the *same* personal shopper however - seems they are moving around quite a lot and I get mostly "out of office" replies and end up having to just send to the default personal shopper e-mail address. I guess they don't "tie" you to a specific personal shopper, but I would think if you spend over a certain $$$ amount a year they likely should.

I agree that the tees and sweaters seem to be one of the main quality sore points. Most of my button downs from t hem have lasted really well prior to this experience.

I own I think 4 Madewell short sleeve button downs that all seem of good quality. I haven't put them through too many wears yet as most of these are more recent purchases so only time will tell. My Madewell tees (the light weight ones) have not lasted as well but then again they get washed often and were not overly expensive.

K. Period.

Veteran

Tex, this is so interesting to me! I love JCrew, but I've been frustrated with their quality issues so it is good to hear that others feel the same. I am so so frustrated with tee shirts that get holes after light wear. The airy, lighter weight tees seem to be the worst for me. I've just sworn off anything with modal from JCrew, no matter how lovely.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Interesting. Most of my J. Crew tees are linen and all except one has worn like iron (still going strong 4 years later). The one that was no good and was immediately relegated to sleep wear was a short sleeve tee. The others are the boatneck linen with 3/4 sleeves. But even if I have been lucky, it is frustrating to hear about such widespread problems.

I also have a lovely lightweight cotton tee with metallic that got a hole...I am still wearing it, shhhh, don't tell...the hole is down in the pesky belt area, so I think I must have put some strain on it somehow...)