Old Navy produces solid, inexpensive clothing, but isn’t a brand that one normally associates with high-end customer service. Yet Ashley had such a great experience after a catastrophic coat button loss, she just had to share. She tells Consumerist that after some decorative buttons fell off her coat, the company simply gave her a store credit for the full purchase price of the coat.

In November I purchased a coat for about $99. I tend to have bad luck with buttons, and this coat was no different. I had to reinforce the buttons quite a few times because they would slowly start to come off. At one point, a button came right off without me even noticing it (it was a button with no purpose aside from giving it a double-breasted look) until it was too late.

Then, about two weeks ago, I noticed a button unraveling yet again. I didn’t have time to fix it yet, so I put it off… Unfortunately, the button came off while I was in class or on my way to campus, so I didn’t find it. I decided that it might be a good idea to get in touch with Old Navy to see if perhaps they could send me some replacement buttons. Since I’m a lazy college student, I had my mom call the [redacted] store to see what they could do. Their first suggestion was to visit a Michaels and purchase a new set of buttons, trying to match the style as best as possible. The other suggestion the manager had was for us to return the coat and receive store credit.

Now, normally I would prefer to keep something around that fits as well as this coat did, but considering the fact that we’re already up into the forties, I wouldn’t get much usage out of a winter coat anyway. We ended up taking the coat in and we were able to get a store credit certificate for the full price paid for the coat, despite the fact that I had lost my receipt, and I paid in cash originally. Now I will be able to buy spring clothing in exchange for a coat that I certainly got my money’s worth over the past four months. Considering that this was the outcome despite my lack of receipt, I am incredibly pleased with their actions, and felt as though this experience was worthy of sharing on your awesome blog.

This is a true case of “above and beyond” – the customer called the store up looking for a packet of new buttons, and walked away with a full refund for the coat she had been wearing all winter. Amazing!

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