Update in post 12 Is this typical when you receive the wrong order from a company?

[brittone2]

If in the past you have received the wrong package from a retailer, and it is clearly the retailer's error, how has it been handled?

I placed an order with LOFT (never order online from there) a few days ago. It was for a tankini and a dress. I tracked the package, and it arrived today. Inside the package, all 3 items were incorrect. I went to the packing slip, and the packing slip has all of the correct info for what I ordered, but the three items inside have nothing to do with the three items on the packing slip. Packing slip is consistent with my email confirmation, which was accurate.

So I called CS, and provided my info. She asked for the SKUs off of the tags on the items that I received.

CS then tells me that they will now "launch an investigation. At the end of 3-5 business days, we'll determine whether to issue you a credit, do a reorder, etc." It is Friday. So by mid to the end of next week, they'll get around to deciding, and then I get to wait for the correct items?

Doesn't that seem pretty lame? I have received incorrect items before, and it was remedied ASAP. I got a case of paper that I didn't order from Office Max, and they had someone pick it up ASAP to address it. Another time I received someone else's Hanna order, and I believe they handled it ASAP.

It isn't earth shattering, I was just surprised that they aren't making an effort to get my correct items sent out to me sooner than 3-5 days of "investigating" combined with the shipping (if they decide they can reorder the items for me and they aren't now OOS). That means it could be close to 2 weeks until I receive the correct order when it was clearly their screw up. To me, that seems pretty crappy, but maybe I've been spoiled by amazon, etc. over the years.

[o_mom]

I have never had that happen. Usually they will ship the correct order immediately and send a pre-paid label for the return (which I send with DH to work because they have daily pickup from all the major carriers). A few times they have told me to keep the item because it was either not sell-able (damaged item) or it would cost more for shipping to get it back than the item was worth..

[brittone2]

I have never had that happen. Usually they will ship the correct order immediately and send a pre-paid label for the return (which I send with DH to work because they have daily pickup from all the major carriers).
Yeah, I almost felt criminal the way it was said. Very professional, but as if I had been trying to commit fraud against them. It was a big turnoff.

I haven't had it happen often, fortunately, I was just surprised that they didn't seem to feel any sense of urgency in making it right. I hate having stuff linger; when I order online I tend to try on and return ASAP, you know? I don't like it sitting around my house. I have two coats coming from LE, and my thought was that I could just return all of the stuff that doesn't work ASAP all together. Now I could be looking at almost 2 weeks until the items even show up. That just seems really odd.

[sarahsthreads]

Wow! That's terrible service, and not what I've encountered - and I do a lot of online shopping from companies big and small. The smaller companies often ask that I send the incorrect order back (on their dime) before they send out the correct items, which is irritating but understandable. Bigger companies will often send out the correct order before they get the incorrect ones back.

We do a lot of shipping in my small business, and despite our best efforts sometimes things go out incorrectly (it doesn't happen often, but we're all human). And we BEND OVER BACKWARDS to correct it, sending the correct order immediately with a return shipping label and envelope tucked in, and a discount code as an apology for a future order.

I hope you get your correct order sooner rather than later!

Sarah :)

[brittone2]

Wow! That's terrible service, and not what I've encountered - and I do a lot of online shopping from companies big and small. The smaller companies often ask that I send the incorrect order back (on their dime) before they send out the correct items, which is irritating but understandable. Bigger companies will often send out the correct order before they get the incorrect ones back.

We do a lot of shipping in my small business, and despite our best efforts sometimes things go out incorrectly (it doesn't happen often, but we're all human). And we BEND OVER BACKWARDS to correct it, sending the correct order immediately with a return shipping label and envelope tucked in, and a discount code as an apology for a future order.

I hope you get your correct order sooner rather than later!

Sarah :)
Yeah, I get a smidge annoyed but I'm totally understanding that mistakes happen. Heck, I had a job in high school one summer working in an office that sold tee shirts, and I sometimes helped in the warehouse picking orders.

It just seemed odd to me that they were acting as if it isn't quite inconvenient for me to wait 2 weeks for them to remedy things. CS rep said sometimes it takes less than 3-5 days to "investigate" after I laughed at that portion. SHe asked if it would be okay to survey me at a later date, and I said sure ;)

I was just wondering if my expectations were out of line. While I might be mildly annoyed, I totally get that there are mistakes. I just appreciate an apology and an effort to make it right sooner rather than later. They also didn't ask me to mail back what i have ASAP, which seems weird, because if that would speed up the process, I'd rather get it out of here!

[larig]

It happened to me with a zappos order, and for my trouble they gave me VIP status! A far cry from what loft is doing.

[mommylamb]

That is asinine. You should call back and speak to a manager.

[Tondi G]

I would call back and ask to speak to a manager or supervisor. You shouldn't have to wait for your items while they figure out who screwed up your order. what if the items are out of stock when they wrap up their investigation? Then you are out of luck and they can take their sweet time issuing a return label and a refund. They should be sending out a new shipment to you. It was their error not yours. What if you had ordered these items to take on a trip?

[KrisM]

I would call back and ask to speak to a manager or supervisor. You shouldn't have to wait for your items while they figure out who screwed up your order. what if the items are out of stock when they wrap up their investigation? Then you are out of luck and they can take their sweet time issuing a return label and a refund. They should be sending out a new shipment to you. It was their error not yours. What if you had ordered these items to take on a trip?

I agree. I think it's horrible service and it would make me not order from them again, ever.

[DualvansMommy]

That's really strange! I order from that vendor often, and it happened to me once. CS told me I can go to the nearest store if I wanted to, and get it refunded while they shipped my correct order after the phone call.

I just placed a big order with frontgate for counter top stools, upon receiving, it was the wrong height. CS told me to ship back the incorrect stools by putting the provided address labels and shipping labels on their dime. I did that and best part? All I had to leave those big boxes outside my front door on specific day, which they had ups pick it up. They also shipped my correct order today, after receiving the incorrect order.

It's annoying what they're asking you to do, for something of their own error.

[minnie-zb]

That is horrible customer service. They should send the correct items and send you a return label. They can investigate all they want while this is taking place.

[brittone2]

I called back and was told "there *is* another way we can handle this." So I'm calling UPS, they are picking it up, and they reordered for me. I'll have a double charge until they receive the incorrect order back, and then will credit me. It would have been nice if that was offered from the beginning.

Thanks for the sanity check. I hung up after the initial conversation and just thought, why do I feel like that was all wrong?? and then thought maybe I was being unreasonable. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

[mmommy]

Wow, I'm still upset for you. I can't believe they'd make you float a double-charge on your account for something that is their error. Unacceptable. I totally understand that mistakes happen, but for a large company like this they can stand to treat the customer right and send the correct items to you without an extra charge and without waiting for the receipt of the incorrect items.
After reading this thread, I know I'll never be ordering from the Loft!

[brittone2]

Wow, I'm still upset for you. I can't believe they'd make you float a double-charge on your account for something that is their error. Unacceptable. I totally understand that mistakes happen, but for a large company like this they can stand to treat the customer right and send the correct items to you without an extra charge and without waiting for the receipt of the incorrect items.
After reading this thread, I know I'll never be ordering from the Loft!
Yeah, I was kind of like oooooookay. I should have pushed back on that too, but I had all 3 kids in the room with me. I hate taking care of phone stuff when they are around.

Totally a turnoff to LOFT though! I have always shopped in store, but haven't really been doing much there in the last 2 years. I frequently look at the website when there are sales, but now I really have no desire to order online from them!

[wifecat]

Wow, I'm still upset for you. I can't believe they'd make you float a double-charge on your account for something that is their error. Unacceptable. I totally understand that mistakes happen, but for a large company like this they can stand to treat the customer right and send the correct items to you without an extra charge and without waiting for the receipt of the incorrect items.
After reading this thread, I know I'll never be ordering from the Loft!

I'd send an email to corporate about the way this was handled. I agree about the double floating of the charge due to their error - not cool. And that they basically made you feel like a criminal!

I wrote them in December after a HORRIBLE in store experience. They mailed me a $25 gift card and apologized. It was worth my time to complain!

[njk07]

It happened to me with a zappos order, and for my trouble they gave me VIP status! A far cry from what loft is doing.

That's how we got VIP status at Zappos as well :)

[Tondi G]

I'd send an email to corporate about the way this was handled. I agree about the double floating of the charge due to their error - not cool. And that they basically made you feel like a criminal!

I wrote them in December after a HORRIBLE in store experience. They mailed me a $25 gift card and apologized. It was worth my time to complain!

I agree with this. Write to their corporate. They need to know what this is the way things are being handled.

I probably will never order from them.

[Beth24]

My gosh I think they handled it horribly both times. I had an issue with a refund once, emailed the corporate president and heard back from corporate and the local store manager immediately.

By contrast, twice, Zappos has given me huge coupons ($60 and $30 off) just because their shipment arrived a day late. I wouldn't even have complained but they emailed about the delay and offered me the coupon.

[brittone2]

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to write corporate and complain. I really expected better from them, and found the whole thing kind of shocking!

[janine]

I called back and was told "there *is* another way we can handle this." So I'm calling UPS, they are picking it up, and they reordered for me. I'll have a double charge until they receive the incorrect order back, and then will credit me. It would have been nice if that was offered from the beginning.

Thanks for the sanity check. I hung up after the initial conversation and just thought, why do I feel like that was all wrong?? and then thought maybe I was being unreasonable. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Good to hear it was addressed. That was pretty poor handling on their part (the initial communication). I'm glad you called because I find a call (and sometimes just going direct to a manager) gets it handled properly. I once got a wrong item from diapers.com (don't laugh but I ordered Butt Paste and they sent me the moisture lotion version). I emailed and they wrote back that I can send it back, they will refund me less shipping and then they will send me out the correct product at my expense. I said uh NO I am not paying shipping back. Then they w/b again the same garbage. I finally called and gave them a few of my, um, thoughts and he was very apologetic and told me to keep the item and they'd ship out a tub of butt paste for free.

Amazon is amazing and tough to compare to though - I agree. I once intiated a return and they said please keep it and we'll refund. Which was great although I really didn't want it but guess they didn't either!

[mypa]

I have found that Loft online is years behind other stores in how they manage their system and treat their customers. Even some of the CS people were saying how the way things are run doesn't make sense but they have to follow the rules. Some CS reps said they have worked at other retailers and Loft is the worst in how the system is set up.

On the other hand, I've had nothing but positive experiences in store. It is like night and day.

Sorry you had to deal with this. I had the exact same thing happen with a recent LE order and they apologized and shipped out the replacements with 2 day shipping and didn't charge me anything.

[brittone2]

I cranked out a letter to send via snail mail to their Director of Client Services.

What a turnoff the entire experience was!

Thanks for the support and for letting me know I am not being unreasonable.

[brittone2]

I have found that Loft online is years behind other stores in how they manage their system and treat their customers. Even some of the CS people were saying how the way things are run doesn't make sense but they have to follow the rules. Some CS reps said they have worked at other retailers and Loft is the worst in how the system is set up.

Yes, I feel badly for the reps, because I assume this is a corporate policy. THey both seemed apologetic.

I assume they are doing this to weed out fraud, but violating your customers in the process is unacceptable. If it isn't an attempt to weed out fraud, then it is just plain ridiculous to operate on a 3-5 day timeline for "investigating" before initiating action to remedy an internal error!

[R2sweetboys]

Wow, that really is terrible customer service! I'm glad you have contacted corporate. Perhaps if enough people speak up, they will consider making changes. I've only purchased from Loft B&M stores and have had ok service.(some CSRs are a bit snooty IMHO) After hearing this, I will avoid web orders.

[MamaInMarch]

I ordered some maternity things from AT (not sure if it was loft or not) and it was fine but that's probably the only time I will. A friend used to work in a store for them and was telling me some bizarre policies. One that I found not exactly bizarre but sort of unfair is that all employee purchases must be put on the store card, no exceptions. Anyway, between her stories of working for them and this I won't even bother.

[turtle12]

Wow, that really is terrible customer service! I'm glad you have contacted corporate. Perhaps if enough people speak up, they will consider making changes. I've only purchased from Loft B&M stores and have had ok service.(some CSRs are a bit snooty IMHO) After hearing this, I will avoid web orders.

Funny you say this -- I find some of the CSRs totally snooty too. There are two in particular who i dread when returning something -- they seem to be so annoyed to process your return. Ugh.

[TwinFoxes]

That is asinine.

:yeahthat: Not quite the same, but LE sent one pair of PJs when I'd ordered two. They sent it out immediately when I called. The same thing happened at Zulily, I thought they'd hassle me, but they sent a second pair immediately.

[Kindra178]

That is asinine. You should call back and speak to a manager.

Bizarre. They should have said, "UPS will be at your house tomorrow to pick up the box. Your order will go out once we get the incorrect items back. Sorry for the confusion."

[mom2binsd]

I cranked out a letter to send via snail mail to their Director of Client Services.

What a turnoff the entire experience was!

Thanks for the support and for letting me know I am not being unreasonable.

I

I see that a lot of people complain on the facebook page too. It seems to generate a call from the client services.

[onyx8]

Post on their FB and Twitter pages - that will likely get you a quick result.

[brittone2]

Well, I'm not on FB, so I can't post there, or I would. I'm printing my snail mail letter today. I did mention that I posted my story online.

[Globetrotter]

So weird. I find that CS overall has improved since the economy tanked, presumably due to people having less disposable income. I would definitely pursue this as the higher-ups need to know it's not acceptable. This is why I stick with Boden- as unreliable as they can be at times, they always make it right.

I find that sometimes the CSR can make a difference. The other day I had terrible experience with one CSR (at a hotel company) who said there was no way I could use my rewards night on a particular weekend - I had to reschedule as I had the flu on the original weekend. I called back to book a different weekend and the next CSR said no problem, she made some changes and I got my first choice! The craziest thing is dh is a member of their president's club since he stays there all the time, so if anything we should be getting extra special service all around.

[brittone2]

I tweeted to them. We'll see if they care LOL.

The CSRs were both nice. My impression was that they know the policies are ridiculous. When I called back the 2nd time, it was a different CSR, and that's when I still ended up double charged until their mistake is rectified.

[Melbel]

The customer service sounds awful. I have ordered from AT but not AT Loft online without issues.

Can you return the wrong order to a B&M store in order to get credited back right away?

[brittone2]

The customer service sounds awful. I have ordered from AT but not AT Loft online without issues.

Can you return the wrong order to a B&M store in order to get credited back right away?
They didn't offer it as an option and I didn't ask. What is weird is that when I first called they made the statement about investigating, blah blah, and that at that time they'd tell me what to do with the return, and let me know whether they were handling the screw up as a reorder, a refund, etc.