Amanda has been having a hard time getting Macy’s to reverse an incorrect charge on her credit card–a charge that was canceled less than five minutes after it was made last week. Her story includes almost all of the things that can go wrong with customer support, including random transfers, rude employees, and broken promises. If she’d just been made to hold for 45 minutes before one of the disconnections, she’d have collected the set! [More]
department stores
Should Retailers Verify Customer Income Before Extending Credit?
By 12.7.09
One provision of the CARD Act requires credit issuers to verify income and debt load before issuing new credit, and the Federal Reserve is now looking at how to enforce that. That’s scaring retailers, who have come to enjoy the benefits of pushing “instant credit” offers at the register. [More]
Lord & Taylor Bans Items Containing Canine Fur
By 12.5.09
Poor raccoon dogs. For a long time, they’ve suffered a severe identity crisis at the hands of the fashion industry. Their fur has been mislabeled as “raccoon” fur on clothing labels, and even more insulting, as faux fur by some labels. That’s an insult not just to the canines, but to conscientious shoppers who think they’re buying items with fake fur trim. Another retailer, Lord & Taylor, has joined J.C. Penney in promising to stop selling products that contain the critters, but mislabeling runs rampant. [More]
Buy A Mattress, Get A Free Video Camera
By 11.28.09
A few weeks ago, Macy’s ran this somewhat mystifying promotion. Simple enough: Buy a mattress, get a free video camera via mail-in rebate.
It’s interesting to see a department store modern enough to openly market to aspiring amateur porn stars.
JCPenney Tries Out Mobile Coupons In Houston Stores
By 9.29.09
If you live in the Houston area, you can now use your mobile phone to redeem coupons for JCPenney through a trial-partnership with Cellfire. You have to register with Cellfire in order to receive the promos via SMS or email, and if you register today you’ll receive a mysterious “$10 in$tant gift” [sic].
Anna Wintour Doesn't Understand Why Price Fixing Has To Be Illegal
By 7.30.09
The editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, proposed a novel solution to the problems that plague clothing retailers at a recent industry meeting. And by “novel” we mean “she’s completely clueless.”
This JCPenney Coupon Doesn't Understand The Term "No Exclusions"
By 3.27.09
Hey, JCPenney, an asterisk isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. You can’t just say anything you want and then asterisk it away into meaninglessness. Here, we’ve fixed it for you.
Fortunoff Files For Bankruptcy (Again)
By 2.5.09
Regional jeweler Fortunoff has thrown in the towel and filed for bankruptcy today. The retailer cited terrible holiday sales, a “severe liquidity crisis” in January, and the cost of expanding its jewelry line into Lord & Taylor stores as reasons. Fortunoff was brought out of an earlier bankruptcy about a year ago by a private equity firm, but it didn’t take.
Is JC Penney Going To Close Some Of Its Stores?
By 1.29.09
This is rumor only, folks, but a tipster tells us that JC Penney plans on closing 11 stores this year, and that they’re freezing salaries on all employees. The retailer isn’t doing as badly as some of its competitors—it has no debt maturing in 2009, for example, and plans to have $2 billion in cash on hand at the end of this month—but considering CEO Mike Ullman has said he’s planning business conservatively for 2009, it wouldn’t be that surprising if it turns out to be true.
Mark Your Calendars: Massive Cosmetics Giveaway Set For Inauguration Day
By 1.17.09
Americans face a tough choice Tuesday morning: watch Barack Obama’s historic inauguration, or storm department stores to take advantage of a first-come, first-serve cosmetics giveaway worth $175 million.
Macy's Closing 11 Stores
By 1.8.09
Looks like it’s time for Macy’s annual closing of the stores! This time it’s 11 underperforming locations that will be shuttered, and Macy’s says clearance sales will begin at those stores next week. Here’s a list of the stores that will be saying goodbye.
Kohl's Marks Up Jewelry, Then Discounts It
By 12.26.08
A Maryland woman bought some jewelry on sale at the Kohl’s in Westminster, then discovered cheaper prices under the price tags.
Get Your Expired Bloomingdale's Gift Card Balance Restored
By 10.1.08
Pam had a Bloomingdale’s gift card that went unused for a couple of years, and when she tried to spend it last weekend, she was told it had expired. Pam found a way to get the balance restored fairly quickly, though. If you’ve got a card from before February 2008, try Pam’s advice below.
Sweatshop In Queens Produced Clothes For Macy's, the Gap, Banana Republic, Urban Apparel, and Victoria's Secret
By 7.24.08
New York state labor officials are bringing one of their largest cases ever against Jin Shun, a clothing factory in Queens, New York that employed Chinese immigrants. Inspectors say the company
- cheated its workers out of more than $5 million in pay;
- instructed workers to lie to state inspectors;
- required 6 and 7-day workweeks, sometimes for up to 120 days at a time;
- didn’t pay overtime or minimum wage;
- kept two sets of timecards to fake-out inspectors.
Macy’s says they’re “very concerned” about the case and are investigating it, the Gap says they’re cooperating with authorities, and Victoria’s Secret says they have a “zero tolerance policy” for factories that are unwilling to work with them to achieve compliance—all of which makes us wonder whether any of these companies ever investigated the factory personally. (It’s not like it was in some remote part of China.)
By 5.23.08
../../../..//2008/05/23/after-a-successful-pilot/
After a successful pilot program, Macy’s is putting fancy Japanese-style vending machines in 400 of its stores. They’ll sell things like iPods and cameras. Looks like Macy’s will have to add another list of things excluded from its not-very-valuable coupons. [Reuters]
Latest ACSI Survey Is Out: You Really Like Dollar General
By 2.21.08
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its latest scores of retail businesses, so we thought we’d take a look at the department store rankings by constructing a handy graph. When it comes to customer satisfaction, apparently Dollar General is doing something right—and Wal-Mart, as usual, is doing lots of things wrong.
Macy's Sales Down, Will Eliminate Former Marshall Field's Headquarters, Fire 2,550
By 2.6.08
Macy’s Inc. plans to eliminate the former Marshall Field’s headquarters in Minneapolis and cut more than 2,000 jobs as part of a move to consolidate regional offices and boost sales and cut costs.
