Bloomingdale's

Full review
Bloomies online is a big disappointment. Average website, easy enough to navigate, easy checkout. You don't begin to see the seams unravel until AFTER you place your order, feeling confident that you've accomplished your mission.

In my case, I did indeed receive prompt order confirmation which stated all was well, look it over to make sure, and I'd receive an additional email with specific shipment details.

Here are the sequence of events on an order I placed 12/13/07:

Went online in search of Hardtails yoga pants which I found at Bloomingdales.com. Knew what I wanted, but checked out the available image anyway which gave one view of the pants. Easy to order, I chose the color/size/qty I wanted and placed it in my shopping bag. (Important to note that when I picked the item the web page noted that is was in stock and would ship within 5 days). Good enough for me. Rec'd my confirmation within minutes assuring me the order was placed correctly with the added notation that another email would soon follow with shipment details. Standard fare.

Well, in a couple days, I did indeed receive follow up emails. 3 individual as a matter of fact, for the 3 items placed on 1 order. Again, somewhat annoying that each item was sent on separate emails. I was surprised to read that the pants which were in stock at order placement would be delayed and currently weren't scheduled to ship until 12/25/07. The email included a line that said your order will be fashionably late. I was not amused (well maybe a little).

I WAS disappointed, but didn't get too worked up about it. On 12/18 I rec'd 3 more emails for the same 3 items on the same 1 order stating that the ship date was now estimated at 1/23/08. Ok, enough is enough!

In the meantime, I discovered a nearby boutique which had all 3 items in stock, so I figured I'd cancel the Bloomingdales order and buy locally as much as I'd prefer to just order online! Well, that was certainly easier said than done.

I tried unsuccessfully 4 times to reach Bloomingdales customer service at 1-866-593-2540. I was on hold for approaching 10 minutes the first time and was disconnected! I was crazy enough to try 3 more times for a total of about 18 wasted minutes. They gave you the standard message about high call volumes and did you know that you can do most things online... Well I did follow the suggestion to just go online to cancel my order. The only problem is there's not a simple way to do that. Many online stores give you the option to cancel orders you do not wish to wait for. Bloomingdales does not. If you want to cancel, you are provided with the Customer Service email address and you send the message, hoping for the best.

In my case, I wasn't too confident. But, since it was 12/18/07 and the items weren't expected to ship until 1/25/08 I figured I'd take a chance.

Bad decision. Before I ever rec'd a reply, I rec'd another 3 emails stating that my order had shipped on 12/26/07! Now I was COMPLETELY annoyed!!!

I had already purchased the items locally and I no longer needed this shipment. I contacted Customer Service and was once again disconnected after waiting several minutes. I tried again and was connected to a live rep in about 4 minutes.

The rep was very friendly, polite and eager to help. She assured me that she would try to intercept the UPS shipment and when it was returned to the warehouse I would receive credit. The shipment was successfully intercepted and was returned to Bloomingdale's warehouse on January 3rd.

Today is 1/22/08, and I still have not rec'd credit! Under returns Bloomindales website states: Please allow 10 days for the return to be processed once we receive it. Ok, we're nearing 20 days and despite having tracking information which shows that the package was rerouted and rec'd by Bloomingdales 1/3/08, I'm still waiting.

Contacted Customer Service again this morning, waited once again for several minutes, spoke with another friendly, polite rep who basically told me to call back at the end of the week. Really not the experience I was expecting from this popular retailer.

Finally on 1/31/08, after several phone calls to customer service, and conflicting stories from the reps, I asked to speak with a supervisor. She apologized profusely and assured me the credit would be handled that day. I followed up with a call to my credit card company and as promised it was sent through on 1/31/08.

Overall, this site itself while easy to navigate, is ho hum. Poor communication, inaccurate inventory, unreliable projected ship dates, and ineffective customer service will keep me from using Bloomingdales.com.