David has a problem with clothing vendor Abercrombie Kids. They don’t know how to count to three. This would be an issue for many kindergarteners, but is especially problematic for a retailer that offers three-day shipping. Well, maybe someone there knows how to count to three, or even past three. It’s pretty hard to run a business otherwise. The problem is that the shirt that he ordered eight days ago, paying for three-day shipping, still isn’t here. It’s been shipped, but still wasn’t on its way. The shipment had been picked up, but the shirt hadn’t been shipped. It’s interesting that Abercrombie can exist outside of all normal rules of reality like that, but David just wants his daughter’s blouse already.

He writes:

Eight days ago, I ordered a shirt from Abercrombie Kids for my daughter, and requested three day shipping.  With the school band holiday concert ten days away, I was confident that this piece of her band uniform would arrive with plenty of time to spare.  Apparently Abercrombie and I have vastly different calendars, or don’t agree on what “three business days” means.

The shirt was ordered Sunday, December 2nd.  When there was no sign of the shirt on Thursday evening, the fourth business day after ordering, I called the automated system and was informed that the item would ship the following business day.  Transferring to the customer service rep, I was assured that the item had been “picked”, and I would receive it Friday – Saturday at the latest.  Guess what?  The weekend came and went – no shirt.

Calling customer service Monday was even less fruitful.  The representative told me that she didn’t know when the shirt would ship.  It had been “picked”, but there was no way to know when it would ship – much less when it would arrive.  And (according to the rep), canceling the order was not an option.  I could return it when (if?) it arrived, but could not cancel the item which had supposedly been picked on Thursday, but not shipped as of noon Monday.

At this point, I am going to have to take time off from work to go find a different shirt for my daughter.  I hope others will learn from my experience, and avoid dealing with this company.

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