JCPenney.com--It's All Inside, And A Bit Hard To Find!
Written: Feb 28 '02
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As I detailed in a previous Epinion, I've got a husband marvelous in many ways except that he is a jeans snob. As it turns out he is also a t-shirt snob as well, meaning only the JCPenney Stafford brand will do. Since these do last forever I indulge him his request and head off to JCPenney periodically to replenish the supply, however since we no longer live particularly close to a retail store I headed to JCPenney online to see if they did indeed have "It All Inside". I found that they more or less did, but it's rather hard to locate it all. Read on to see why I'd skip shopping here again (unless it's for the t-shirts).
Website and Navigation-
JCPenney.com has a more or less navigable site. It's main page has links to all the departments
Women's, Men's, Children's, Shoes, For The Home, Toys, Sports and Recreation, Electronics and Music, Gifts and Registry, Outlet. There are also lots of other links cluttering the page. Several sales were featured at the time I visited, however the link I clicked on didn't work. The site also connects to the other handy spots you may require on a visit such as Customer service, store locator, request a catalog.
As I said, it's basically navigable, but dead-end links and all that clutter are a bit underwhelming for such a big name site in my opinion.
Selection-
I give JCPenney.com high marks for selection. I found the shirts I was looking for and then some. I also browsed around in the other departments a bit and found plenty of items and brands to choose from in all areas. Some of their featured brands are Levi's, Nike, Reebok, Carter's, and Dockers.
I did have a hard time finding the shirts I wanted however. I navigated through the Men's department and got a whole page of options, to search by size, department (shirts, pants etc.) or by brand. I chose Underwear-socks and was met by more clutter. More sub-menus like socks, underwear, t-shirts as well as all the main catgories down the left margin and an extended search feature. I clicked onto t-shirts and found 2 pages of offerings. More than enough to choose from
The items are all represented with thumbnail pictures and brief descriptions and price ranges (they may vary by the size you select). I found two possibilities of the shirts I'd need and tried in vain to discern between the two.
Time to call customer service. The number was easily found and the rep was able to help me pick the ones I need. The site descriptions were a bit vague, but thankfully customer service was of assistance.
Once I was able to figure out the shirts I needed I had to go through 3 steps to add them to the cart. I first had to select the length (extra tall) and then it jumped to another screen to pick the size and then another to pick the color. Very time consuming when most sites do it all as one step.
Finally they were in the cart and I went again in search of the socks I'd seen on sale on the front page (and couldn't access by the home page). I tracked them down through another method and added those to the cart as well.
Checkout-
Nothing too out of the ordinary here. New customers need to register and existing customers use their e-mail address and password to enter. New users will need to input billing and shipping information and select a password. Two checkout options are available Express (for simple orders and returning customers) and Regular (for everything else). I used the lengthy checkout in order to use a gift card I had. I love it when websites accept gift cards. But wait, only certain giftcards are acceptable, those with an extra 4 digit code (which wouldn't you know it mine didn't have). It's been that kind of a shopping day here at JCPenney.com
Payment-
You may pay for your JCPenney order by the following methods; Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and JCPenney. They also do accept certain kinds of giftcards as well.
Shipping-
Shipping on my JCPenney.com order was an unbelievable $7.20 for my packet of t-shirts. Wow, that's a new high for me. I tried to access the shipping rates link, but it too was unavailable, although JCPenney did apologize for my inconvenience. So, shipping seems high, and I would recommend calling to check on charges if you aren't planning on ordering no matter what the cost like I was.
Delivery-
Delivery was right at 1 week for my order. Delivered by UPS. I saw on the website that USPS may also be used. Order and shipping confirmations both are sent to the user so you are kept up to date on shipping.
There is also an option to have your order sent to your local JCPenney store for pick-up, so if you have one near you that may be an option.
All In All-
I think I forgot to mention that when I went to check out to top off the forgettable shopping experience here, the sale socks I'd gone to such trouble to track down and add to my cart didn't reflect the sale price anymore. Grrr. that was it. I was not going to call customer service again, nor was I going to waste one more minute or one more penny at Penney's. I'd never go back except for the fact that in about 6 months I'll need more shirts.
I think I'd rather tote my two BUSY toddlers through the nearest store 30 miles away than brave this website again. It's not the worst I've ever been to, but it's far, far from the best!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Washington State
Reviews written: 212
Trusted by: 205 members
About Me: Working on school! Hoping to finish soon.
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