Brooks Brothers

Pros:  Of course, the clothes. Wide selection, and their online specials are hard to beat.

Cons:  Worst customer service ever experienced.

The Bottom Line:  Go to a store. If you can. If not, steer clear cause you might end up without their clothes anyway.

Full review
I'm sorry, I need to vent my anger against this online store which has let me down for the third time in a row, like unreliable men, they've let me down again when I needed them most.

I can't afford the prices that BB has in Europe, although my father and my brother both love their shirts. And I haven't been to the U.S. since March, so when I started browsing their online store I thought I finally had found the perfect solution.
Let's start by being fair.
Kudos to their site. It's well constructed and easy to browse. The graphics are eye-friendly and the look is the conservative, classy one you'd expect from Brooks Brothers. Merchandise images and details are accurate, and you can really get some good buys on the sale and clearance items.

If you ever get them.

I've made my first online purchase in mid-April, for a birthday present I was expecting to receive in Italy by the end of May. They DO feature international shipping.
I got my package Nov. 12th. The suit I'd bought had no adjustments to be made, was currently in stock, was a regular fit, but for some weird reason, my credit card was charged 2 days after my purchase and my package was sent out on Oct. 18th. I began following up on the order in the beginning of May and must have spent more on phone calls to incompetent customer relations personnel than what I spent on the suit. Nobody knew what to say about this delay, in the end they excused themselves with an e-mail and a phony story concerning international customs.

I thought, well, from now on I'll ship their stuff to my mother (who is in CT) and she'll forward it to me.

I fell in love with a dress which I intended to wear in Sept at a wedding reception. I had it ordered by my mother online on sale in July. By the end of August my mother hadn't received the package (but her Amex DID get the charge). I called them and yelled at them that this was the second time I experienced this sort of trouble, their reply was that they have a client history file and that I was lying because it was my first purchase! So I explained the whole story of the suit, which hadn't arrived yet, and they apologized and said they had sold out my size in the meantime, but that I could have the same dress in a different color within 2 days. But full price, although rush delivery would be on them. Yeah, right. I wore a Banana Republic dress purchased online that same day and my mother got her refund.

I thought I had just been very unlucky, so in Oct., when I figured that I wouldn't be able to go to the U.S. for Christmas shopping, I ordered a suit for me and two monogrammed shirts for my husband and my brother. My mother has my suit at home since Thanksgiving and is still waiting for the two shirts to send the package out. The shirts were on sale for 29.99 each, so I won't even waste my money by calling them again. I just reply to each e-mail update they send me (practically every day, one 10 minutes ago)that I won't be buying anything on their online store ever again and to stop sending me updates.

Needless to say, those two shirts are going to be returned as soon/if they get there. To the retail store where my family has been satisfactorily buying quality clothes for three generations. But bye-bye, brooksbrothers.com.


12/13/01
Just an update on yesterday's review.
Brooks Brothers just e-mailed me an "our gift" e-mail and I thought, oh, they've finally caught on. Not so mojo.
Ah, the irony of it all. It was yet another advertisement for free shipping and GUARANTEED pre-Christmas delivery. Has anybody seen my paid-shipping, two-month-order shirts?