TL;DR don't bother shopping online from Madewell, even for in-store/curbside pickup.
I am an essential worker, and I also was in the middle of moving when I placed my order online for curbside pickup. I ordered for curbside pickup because I wanted to limit my contact with employees for their protection. I did end up having to go inside to return my order later on, as I wasn't going to risk anymore issues dealing with any of the online services that I might need to return via mail, and this location is close to the store I was working at at the time.
Let me be clear: the actual store itself is great, and the people who work there are great. I do understand that COVID-19 has changed the way things work and run, and has made things difficult. However, my issue is with Madewell's online customer service.
I ordered online for curbside pickup. Once I was actually at the store everything went fine.
The first issue I faced, however, was before I'd even contacted the store. It was that I didn't receive a confirmation email notifying me that my order was ready (an email which is REQUIRED to be accessible upon picking up an order). The pickup is time sensitive, and I already was working full time and was preparing to move cross-country. Once the confirmation email is sent out, you have 7 days to pick up your order before it will be processed as a return. So, I emailed the customer service email when the 7 days from when I placed the order had passed (the max number of days I was supposed to have waited; which I would have absolutely understood if it was just taking longer since, I know very well that delays have happened for many businesses due to COVID-19). I was informed the email had already been sent out and was probably in my spam box. I checked the spam box and didn't find it, and double and triple checked my inbox. I felt like I was going crazy searching, since I'd been checking my email daily to make sure I didn't miss the email. The representative offered an extension, which I did appreciate.
I replied that the extension would be good for me, and let them know that I thought my not receiving the email might be a bug in the system (the associate who processed my return also mentioned that she's heard from other customers who've had the same problem). All I received in response to my email was that they were glad the extension worked. No comment whatsoever about how I hadn't even been able to find the email in my spam.
When I went onto the Madewell website to see what was needed for picking up an order, I discovered that I was required to have the confirmation email to pick up my order. The online customer service representative had not only not mentioned this, but hadn't offered to resend the email or even give me any information in it. Up until this point I had assumed I didn't need the confirmation since I had my order receipt. I ended up calling the store and they allowed me to pick up the order so long as I had an ID with me.
However, I felt as if my problem had been completely blown off by the online representative, as I'd already explained the major inconvenience this had caused since I had so much else going on. What if the store wasn't able to give me my order without the email confirmation? There are companies who won't allow anything but the information in the confirmation emails for people to pick up orders. The representative seemed rather convinced that the problem was on my end, not theirs. I have never had this problem with any other company or emails to the email I used for the order. I had also been receiving all of their promotion emails.
I emailed again to explain the whole situation again and that I was upset with the service and that I'd felt as if I hadn't been heard. I reiterated that I had been extremely busy and this whole process had added extra, unnecessary stress to my weeks, as well as how unhelpful the representatives on the online customer service had been.
All I received in response was a thanks for letting them know that I was unhappy with the curbside pickup. I frankly would have been willing to try again in the future if I wasn't so worried about not getting issues resolved the way it occurred this time around. I am upset about the customer service, not the curbside pickup process. I have not been reassured in any way that it would be any different if I tried again. I received no apology for the dismal online customer service, and I won't be ordering online from Madewell again because I don't feel as if the online customer service has given me any indication that things could go differently in the future.
I would be willing to shop in-store once COVID-19 is sorted out, since I do need to try on clothes. However, the nearest store to where I currently live is almost 2.5 hours away by car so I doubt I'll be shopping with Madewell anytime soon. read more