Complaint Review: JC Penney - JCPenney.com - Nationwide

Using your JCP giftcards online is like paying with CASH, and, if there is a problem, you are out of luck. Giftcard purchases are IMMEDIATELY deducted from your giftcard, not when the item is actually shipped, like with credit card purchases. Their online customer service is absolutely terrible.

I was given a JC Penney (JCP) gift card for Christmas and bought a pair of pants and some dinnerware at JCPenney.com on 1/5/07. The dinnerware was a 'factory ship' item meaning it was going to be shipped to me directly from the supplier. At checkout, I was told the item would ship in 2 weeks (around the 19th).

The pants, a JCP stock item, arrived in about a week or so. I was sent an email notice on the 21st saying the new estimated ship date was Jan. 21. I received another email on the 26th saying the new ship date was Jan. 25.

I called JCP.com customer service around the 28th to find out when this item would ship. I was told that customer service would send an email to the Factory Ship (FS) department; the FS dept would contact the supplier and call me by phone within 48 hours.

After 2 days and no call, I called customer service back. I was told the same thing. After 2 more days and no call from the FS dept, I called customer service again. After pressing the issue, I got customer service to actually call their FS dept and find out what was going on. The FS dept said (as told to me by the cust serv rep) they did not know what was going on, so the cust serv rep needed to send another email request to generate a status check by the FS dept.

Now, it's around the 5th of February, one month after I placed my order. By this time I'm totally frustrated and have no confidence in JCP's customer service or FS dept, so I aquired the dinnerware by other means.

I called JCP on Feb 7 to cancel the dinnerware order. I was told by the cust serv rep that I would receive a credit back to my gift card. I asked her how long that would take and was told to call gift card customer service to find out.

I called gift card cust serv and was told that my card balance was zero and that the entire amount of my refund would be credited to my credit card (the total purchase price was more than the gift card amount, so about $4 was going onto my credit card). I was told it would take about 3 days for the refund to appear on my credit card.

I checked after 3 days and of course it wasn't there. I called customer service AGAIN and was told they didn't know what the problem was, but they would contact the dreaded Factory Ship dept and find out what the delay was. You see, FS has to contact the supplier first and make sure the item hasn't shipped before JCP will give me a credit.

I waited 24 hours and sent an email to cust serv, thinking maybe I would have better luck than with the morons on the phone. First they send me an email saying the order has been cancelled and they are checked on the refund status. Then I get an email saying because the order is in process with the supplier I can't cancel it!!!! Even though they haven't been able to tell us for 2 or 3 weeks when this item will ship.

I called cust serv again and was told very curtly that my only option was to wait for the dinnerware to arrive and refuse it and send it back!!! How in the hell can I send it back when the supplier can't even tell us when they are going to ship it!!!!! Again I was told they would contact FS dept to find out when this item was going to ship.

I sent a few more emails and made another call after a few days and told the cust serv manager, who had said he would send another email, to call FS and have them call the supplier and get a status. And I will hold while they do this. FINALLY, I get some good news: My order will be cancelled immediately and I will be getting my refund.

The next day (aound Feb. 28) I get an email from FS saying the estimated ship date is March 2. I'm past anger, frustration, or thoughts of erasing JCP from the face of the earth, so I simply respond to the email telling them that this order has been cancelled.

The later that afternoon I get a call from FS (after 4 weeks of waiting for them to call) telling me that the order has been cancelled and they are going to send me a check for the refund. What about the refund to my credit card?!! They send refund checks in situations like this.

I have finally received my refund check 2 months, 2 dozen phone calls and 10 or more emails after I placed the order. If I had used a credit card, I simply would have disputed the charges and not worry about it. But with gift cards, it's like spending cash and you are at the mercy of JCP's lame, inadequate, and incompetent factory ship and cust service departments!!!

My advice: 1. NEVER by a JCP gift card (Neither I or any of my friends or family will ever again), 2. If you have a gift card NEVER use it online, only use it in the stores, 3. If you HAVE to use it online, NEVER use it to buy a factory ship item. You might have better luck with a JCP stock item (but I doubt it).

Cheryl

Mableton, Georgia
U.S.A.

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