Men's Warehouse

[Toba]

You suck.

My DH wears a suit and tie to work every day. Unfortunately, his job requires him to be in a board meeting one minute and working on medical equipment the next. Back in the day, we used to buy his suits from Nordstrom's because their service is just impeccable. We haven't bought any suits for a while for financial reasons. During the past two months, DH has ruined three pairs of pants (rendering the suits useless) and at least two or three other suits are just at the end of the road. He NEEDED suits. So, we go impulsively to Men's Warehouse for the first time. Bought two suits, two single pairs of pants, two dress shirts, two ties, a belt and a pair of shoes (the shoes were my fault, I fell in love with them). With tailoring, the bill was almost $1200 ... which we really couldn't afford. I almost fell over.

Anyway, one suit was tailored wrong and had to be redone. One pair of pants, tan-ish color, were hemmed in BLACK thread, so he made them re-do it. The other suit was too snug in the shoulders, so they had to order another and told us it should be in within a week. They ordered a 40R instead of the 38R he needed, which I don't understand since the other suit (same brand) was a 38R and that's what they measured him for. So we go back there tonight for the fourth time in the last 3-4 weeks to pick up the first suit (which was fine finally) and get fitted for the second suit. Only the girl that was helping him (she's a manager and makes commission) isn't there (she's supposed to be) and apparently has taken all her paperwork home with her (huh??). So they can't find the second suit, if it's even in yet. Then they bring one out and try to tell us that that's the one he ordered ... nope, it's not, not even close. Then they got snippy with me when I expressed frustration because now it's going to be another 7-14 days for a suit that we've already paid for. That he really needs because he's really low on work clothes and there's a lot going on at work, which means lots of meetings.

Whenever we purchased men's clothing at Nordstrom's, it was high quality stuff. Yeah, you paid for it, but he got serious use out of it. The tailoring was superb and done in a timely fashion. They gave the suits to you on solid wooden suit hangers (MW gave us a cardboard hanger for the one suit he's gotten back). They sent a hand written card EVERY time thanking us for the purchase (over the course of years). I am completely even questioning whether we really saved any money at all by going to MW, instead of just waiting/hoping for a sale or something at Nordstrom.

I guess the old adage is true ... you get what you pay for. Learned a lesson, definitely. Men's Warehouse, you will NEVER be making money from us again.

[TwinFoxes]

Ouch. Well, if it's any consolation, you've convinced one person (me!) to never let her DH shop at MW!

Two weeks to get something tailored sounds crazy long to me, on top of all your other issues.

[kijip]

Men's Warehouse sucks something terrible. My brother (for some insane reason) arranged for all of the groomsmen at his commitment ceremony to rent their tuxedos from Men's Warehouse. My husband owns a tuxedo but my brother was really hung up on everyone matching exactly, so we went to get my husband one. It was the cheapest, ickiest fabric ever. The styling hideous, everything was itchy. MW insisted that each tux come with a shoe rental (WTF- renting shoes???!!) even though there was no way my flatfooted husband who needs a lift on one side to even out a slight difference in the length of his legs was wearing rental shoes. The cost was really high for the quality and lack of service. And if one is renting a suit, I would assume it would be because it would be too expensive to buy...yet there is no way the tuxedo he rented would have cost much more to buy.

My husband has had luck with saving money on suits at Macy's (the clearance sales get pretty good) and Nordstrom Rack.

I am sorry that all cost $1200. That is seems high for the general lack of quality they offer.

[jal]

$1,200 at a "discount" store for ONLY two suits... two right?

The last time I bought a suit it was a JCPenny's. I only spent $200, and that included the vest (no shoes, they came from some where else).

So if you are spending about $500 for a suit at a "discount" store, what are typical prices for a Nordstrom's suit?

[mommylamb]

I keep seeing ads for Jos A. Bank sales that look pretty incredible. DH has some JAB suits and they're very nice.

[AnnieW625]

That's about right, it sucks that you didn't get good service. In 2000 DH bought a basic double breasted wool black suit there along with two dress shirts, and two or three ties and the bill was just under $600. Nine years later DH still wears the suit and it's in great shape.

On a side note I do have to give Mens Wearhouse major kudos because we got the groomsmen and my dad's tux there for our wedding and we had no problems what so ever. We had groomsmen coming for different states and they didn't complain at all. When BIL got married they used After Hours and it was a mess, tuxes weren't ordered and DH who was the best man was sent all over town looking for tuxes and we didn't even get a discount for all of the trouble we went through.

Nordstrom does have really nice stuff too, but your bill for the same amount of stuff would've most likely been around $2000. DH and I were looking for a sport coat for him this past spring and it could've just been the Nordstroms (South Coast Plaza), but they didn't have a single sport coat for less than $500 (our budget was $300). We ended up lucking out and getting a $500 one on sale at Brooks Brothers during their 50% off sale, but Nordstroms prices were definitely higher than what I was expecting.

Nordies suit prices:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/C/6015295/0~2376777~2374609~6015291~6015295?origin=6017741_S elect+a+Style6017741

[Swimfreak78]

I'd write a letter to the local district manager of Men's Warehouse. We've always had good luck there -- maybe this store is an aberation?

[Melanie]

Wow, that's awful! We always had great service but sadly they're gone now. Huge bummer since we loved the free pressing!

The one thing is you have to not buy anything but the suit. Everything else is astronomically expensive and they are SO good at making the shirts and ties look attractive with the suits you pick. We got sucked in twice with the add-on's but finally held strong the third time. LOL.

My Dh got a sport coat at Three Day Suit Broker lately and was happy with it.

He rarely wears any of these things though so I can't speak to how they hold up. The brands were ones we'd heard of.

[Melanie]

$1,200 at a "discount" store for ONLY two suits... two right?

The last time I bought a suit it was a JCPenny's. I only spent $200, and that included the vest (no shoes, they came from some where else).

So if you are spending about $500 for a suit at a "discount" store, what are typical prices for a Nordstrom's suit?

It's their shirts, ties, belts, etc. They're very pricey. The suits usually seem rather reasonable to me.

[SnuggleBuggles]

It's their shirts, ties, belts, etc. They're very pricey. The suits usually seem rather reasonable to me.

Dh bought his one and only suit (no need to dress up for his computer geek job) there a good number of years back and we walked over to the Marshall's a few doors down and bought all the accessories. :)

Sorry you had a crummy experience. :(

Beth

[HIU8]

Wow, at least we know never to go there now. DH has bought some suits at Sym's (can't be the price in this economy) and he has been happy all around with them. However, DH has to wear a suit to work every day, so other than Sym's he actually buys from Joseph A. Bank (when they have a sale). He has been extremely happy with their quality and service (athlough, since I do the laundering, I hate the all cotton shirts--can you tell I hate to iron).

[Gena]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

We have gone to Men's Warehouse several times and have always had great service and been very happy with the clothes. DH has bought several suits there, including the suits DH and his best man wore for our wedding. (They wore suits, not tuxes.) They were also able to help us when Hubby needed his suitpants altered (due to change in weight) the day before we traveled for a funeral. And we do take advantage of the free pressing often.

It sems like a lot depends on the individual store. It's too bad your expereince was so different from ours.

[connor_mommy]

Just wondering, are allsales final at MW? If not, I'd return everything and get it at someplace else like Macy's, Nordstroms or maybe even a local non chain store for suits.

[Toba]

I'm going to have to check out the Joseph Bank stores ... I'm not sure there's any around here because I've never heard of them.

The two suits were $600 each (which was their most expensive suit in the store, figures), but if you bought one, then you got the second for $100 ... so we paid $350 a suit. The two single pairs of pants were, I think, around two for $200 or $250. Something like that. The shirts and ties were RIDICULOUSLY expensive, but yeah, we (more like me) got hooked because of the pretty way they set up everything when you walk out after trying the clothes on. The belt was reasonably priced ($33) and is around what I would normally pay for a leather belt at say Penney's or Macy's. The shoes, on the other hand, were $150 ... but they are GORGEOUS and matched the two suits that he bought perfectly (which is exactly why she gave them to wear while he was being measured).

Normally, we buy his dress shirts at Van Huesen because they have athletic fit (DH is slim, semi-broad shouldered) and look MUCH better on him, and he likes the feel of the particular line they have that we've bought for years. We've never had a problem with them until the last two shirts we bought ... as soon as they were washed, the sleeves shrunk about two inches. That's never happened to us before (we threw everything out (packaging/receipt because we've never had a problem after years). I pick up ties from anywhere that catches my eye ... Boscov's, Macy's, where ever. The two ties she had picked out at the MW were two that I would NEVER have picked out on my own, but they were perfect (of course), so we got them ... and it seems like everything in the store is buy one, get one at 1/2 off or whatever, so you feel like you're wasting money by only buying one. Like I said, it was a total impulse that we stopped in there hoping to save money, and got bad service and didn't save IMO any money (and got stupidly sucked in to their sales gimmicks which is totally on us). Never again.

[Indianamom2]

My Dh wears a suit and tie every day for work (an attorney). We have always had good luck at S&K Men's store (or warehouse, can't remember!) however they went out of business around here anyway. I have no idea where we will go next.

We usually buy at least two suits and sometimes extra pants or a tie and have never paid more than $750 for the whole deal (that includes tailoring). They have held up pretty well.

I do agree that we learned early on not to buy the shirts and ties and shoes there. The shirts were way too pricey and not as nice a quality as Penney's or Macy's. The ties, though nice, I could always find on a better sale somewhere else.

Ahh, I am not looking forward to finding a new place to buy suits. They're so expensive!

Christina

[Toba]

^^^ I know, it's RIDICULOUS!! I wear $8-12 Old Navy or Gap t-shirts pretty much every day of my life.

[trales]

We do Land's End clearance or Nordstrom for suits. They are great.

[AnnieW625]

It's their shirts, ties, belts, etc. They're very pricey. The suits usually seem rather reasonable to me.

Just have to say that the two ties and the two shirts DH bought 9 years ago are still in really great shape. DH doesn't have to wear a suit to work though, just weddings, funerals, a formal here and there, and interviews so things last him longer, but still very satisfied with the quality.

[MamaMolly]

DH was been going to MW for years and the service and quality is hit or miss. We spend about $1000 every two years on new suits for him, sometimes a little more. They are one of the few places that knows how to sew in what I call pre-patches. DH wears gear on his belt to work sometimes and it can rub holes in his clothes quickly. MW will sew in reinforcements on the areas needing it.

I also know several women DH works with who get suits there and get them tailored to fit. They like all the pockets! :)

On our most recent shopping excursion we bought 2 suits and a sports coat with tow matching pants (which I thought were cheesy but DH liked). One of the suits was from their most expensive line and it has help up beautifully, the other had holes in less than a year in weird places like the sleeve. We also have to go in at least twice to get the alterations redone. Every time. It depends on who is doing the marking. If a dapper gent is doing it then the break on the cuff is way too long and DH's pants end up dragging the ground, if the ladies do it they are too short and DH is in high-water pants. :headbang:

But the price is often right. Plus if you sign up for the membership loyalty card it is easy to get $50-$100 back every time. We also got coupons for a free tie around Father's Day. DD had fun picking it out. :)

And FWIW, DH bought a tux from Penney's of all places. On line! It was only about $200 and came with everything except shoes which we got from Zappos. It isn't fancy but it does the trick.