The good: B&M customer service. I can't give enough accolades to the SAs at the stores in the Minneapolis area. Every time I go in, with VERY few exceptions, folks go out of their way to be friendly, accommodating and to make me feel like my business is important to them. Since my J.Crew obsession began, I've established a first name relationship with at least one SA in each store I shop in regularly. I receive phone messages from one and emails from another including messages to inform me she has found and put on hold items I have been looking for while she was doing her own personal shopping in other stores than her own!
I am a return-aholic, and very rarely do I feel scrutinized or condemned for my returns (I almost always end up purchasing something else). Often, when I enter conversations about the quality of items, they'll agree with me and share their own personal stories about seams gone awry or odd sizing/fits. Love this. Sometimes they even complain to me about what J.Crew does/doesn't allow them to purchase themselves. "High demand" items are off limits to them. Didn't know that!
The bad: Quality. I ordered a pair of shorts and a necklace online a few weeks back. The necklace showed up looking like crap. The enameled links of the chain looked like they'd been to hell and back. Scratched, nicked--the metal underneath the paint exposed all over the necklace. WTF? Granted, this necklace was not one of their higher priced jewelry items, but really. I requested to order another in the store, but it was sold out by then. Of course, the necklace popped back online after the 30% off sale was done, so I ordered it at the sale price with no discount and paid the shipping costs. I am thinking about calling online customer service, hoping that the BM clerk coded my return reason as "defective merchandise". I wonder if they'd give me the % off price. I guess it would be worth a try. Nothing to lose; a few dollars to gain.
More bad: Color fail. I ordered a few other jewelry items recently: the new "double crystal brulee" necklace in flame and matching bracelet in flame and in yellow. The yellow was shipped later, but I got the orange today. The color is perfect...if you hunt deer and need to wear neon orange to be seen in the woods. Yuk. Not impressed at all. And the "stones" in the bracelet are super small. I don't remember the first version of the bracelet having such small stones. I'll see how "neon" the yellow one is, but I have a hunch I'll be returning all three. Bummer!
The obsession: Statement jewelry. So this pending return almost allows me to justify my splurge from last weekend: the bubble necklace in yellow. Hefty, hefty, hefty price on that sucker, but soooooo awesome! I got a gray one on eBay this winter for around $20 (who knows if it's a knock off or authentic--who cares!) and I always get a ton of compliments every time I wear it. I have a red one coming from somewhere in the far East sometime this year for which I paid around $15 including shipping. It will be interesting to compare the J.Crew one to the one I have and the one that's coming. I'll let you know.
Although I've been invited, I haven't been in the stores for the new roll-out this week. After trucking in on a weeknight for the last few only to be disappointed in the number of new items in the store, I'll wait for the weekend.
Here are my past few OOTDs!
Today/Wednesday: (Sorry the lighting is so crappy! I'm wearing the jade cafe capris with a bright yellow tee and patent black belt. And my gray bubble necklace! The paisley sweater was an eBay purchase.)
And Monday:
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