[REVIEW] jcp Ship to Store - Not so great an experience

[Crewfish13]

So, I just had my first experience with the "new and improved" (and seemingly soon to be "old and lousy again") jcp, and have to say I was rather unimpressed. I somehow managed to order a couple of their much-talked-about oxfords with a promo code before the price jumped up last month. The downside? They were back-ordered, but I was willing to wait. Since I didn't hit the magic $75 threshold, I opted for ship-to-store to save $8 and give me an excuse to check out the store in person. Three weeks later, my back-ordered shirts shipped when they were expected to, so all was good. Their website said that they were be in store in 4 to 7 business days and that I would be notified when they were available for pickup. Figuring I'd kill two birds with one stone and not wanting to miss them if discontinued, last week I ordered the Claiborne khaki suit for shipment to the same store, as sizes were scattered across the different stores in Cincy.

After being utterly in the dark about the shipments for a week, my cell phone rang yesterday. It was a jcp robocall telling me that my order was available for pickup in store. I swung by, and approached the register in the men's department, gave them my phone number, and had the two oxfords in hand, and their backroom guru was able to tell me that my suit would be in on the 9th.

Overall, not an unpleasant experience, but a couple gripes for a company trying to get "with it" and turn itself around:
- Availability in "business days". jcp is not a bank or post office. They're open for business 7 days a week. Why list availability in "business days"?
- Cell phone robocall. I don't pick up unknown numbers on my cell, and despise robocalls. There's this new thing people seem to like called email. Check it out!
- To boot, the robocall only told me that my order was in, not which order. I guess it's a big surprise when you get to the store.
- Similarly, you use my phone number to look up my order? I have 3, and now I have to remember which one is on my jcp account? I guess it's the one you robocalled. How about you look it up by my last name? I only have 1 of those.
- Why can the person in the stockroom see when my item will be available, but the webpage only tells me "4 to 7 business days"? Maybe that information would be useful to the customer.

Overall, I felt like I was ordering out of the Sears catalog circa 1990, which in all honesty is probably what their systems were designed for. The whole process feels dated and within the comfort zone of a stereotypical 60-year old woman. As a 30 year-old male who's been shopping online for a decade and is used to amazon putting things on my doorstep in 2 days and just about everyone offering up-to-date tracking info at my fingertips, I was not impressed.

That being said, the store was more appealing than the JCPenny I've grown up with, and the shirts are solid, so it's not a complete loss. However, I'm sure I'll have second thoughts about ordering things online from them in the future.

Am I just being unfair, or do any of you have the same thoughts/experiences?

tl;dr: jcp - new look, decent in-store experience, same stone-age e-commerce.

[splitplug]

I used ship to store recently with them, they told me my order was back-ordered. I waited and waited, and finally the e-mailed me telling me that my order was cancelled. Why even let me pay?

[greg_s]

Hmm.. seems suuuper pick, IMO. I have not dealt with jcp, so I am not defending because I like them. Just seems like overall a decent experience with a few minor flaws. One could find minor flaws in any store experience if pressed to.

Most places use business days because shipping services are generally open during business days (some on Saturday).

[Furious Styles]

Sorry for that experience. I ordered a pair of chukkas with ship to store and didn't have much of an issue. They were in stock and I had them sent to a local florist (!) who accepted JCP packages. I got the usual purchase and shipped email notices. Saved me the trouble of driving far and I got a great deal. (I didn't like the shoes, but that's another story.)

[bjmcgeever]

I've had a similarly unpleasant ship-to-store experience with jcp. Both times I've been unable to even view my order online, even though I placed it with my online account. Once the order was placed, I too had no way of tracking it. Upon arriving to the store after the aforementioned robocall, I was informed that there was only one computer in the store that could find orders from online. Then, both times, they couldn't find my order based on my phone number. I had to find the order number in the confirmation email and give that to them.

Unpleasant? Yes. Worth saving shipping costs? Certainly.

[Crewfish13]

I agree I'm probably too harsh. Overall, the experience was decent, and I can't complain about the shirts or prices. I think with online shopping being as easy as it is today, the expectations are a mile high. I understand that not everyone can be amazon, but I guess there was a bit of disappointment with jcp seeming to have taken steps to "get with it" and falling well short, and a little extra frustration that I had no tracking ability between the several orders, while the store did. Otherwise, I would have just waited until everything was in and made 1 trip at the end of this week. Again, not huge, but an annoyance.

And having a seemingly phone-centric order system just struck me as more of the stuck-in-the-past mechanics of most major department stores.

[yooni]

Wanted to add my experience with JCPenny ’s Ship to Store ... which caused a mess on my credit card statement!

03/15 - Purchased item from jcp.com. It took over 3 weeks to arrive to store, which I wasn't notified of until I called and emailed (a week apart) to get a status.

04/06 - Credited after being told by email that it was damaged during transit. However, an hour later, I received an email that it was ready for pickup and without damage, so I did.

04/06 - Credited again because I ended up returning (on the same day) to the store.

04/09 - Charged me to correct the double refund, which I understood until ...

04/10 - they charged me again.

I was told I was being recharged because it was my fault that I did "not confirm[ed] receiving the merchandise". Does that make sense?

I had to send another email restating my side, show them proof from statement that I was overcharged, and scan them my receipt to prove it was returned to the store. I can't believe to save $8 on shipping, I had to go through this. I do not recommend ship to store.