J.C. Penney Customer Service Center and Culver City, CA Home Store

J.C. Penney Customer Service Center and Culver City, CA Home Store

Furniture Purchase and Delivery Here is a letter I wrote to the company explaining my dissatisfaction. The customer service was appalling. Get your furniture anywhere else! I am writing this letter to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the level of service I have received from the J.C. Penny Company on several levels. I purchased a couch and chair on March 29, 2005 in your Culver City, CA store. At the store I received excellent service and I left the store feeling quite pleased with my purchase and awaiting delivery when the couch and chair reached the warehouse on April 22, 2005. Unfortunately at this point the service I received sharply declined. Listed below are several examples: My order was cancelled without my prior notification, postponing my delivery date

On April 15, 2005 I was notified that my items had arrived at the warehouse and would be delivered on Tuesday, April 19th. I received a call on the 18th from a sales representative at the Culver City Store alerting me that there was a problem with my credit card. I then immediately called the credit card company who then called the Culver City store and authorized the payment. This all occurred while I was still on the line with the credit card company. I was assured by the sales representative at this time that my delivery time would not be interrupted. The delivery was in fact cancelled without my prior notification. I was told by a customer service representative from your 1-800-777-0877 number, Christopher, in a very rude and aggressive manner that he could do nothing and it was my responsibility to straighten out the matter. He contacted the store and told me that because my sales representative was not in, there was no one, including a manger, who could access my files and thus, nothing could be done. He told me at this time there was absolutely no way I would receive my couch on the date that was previously indicated to me. I feel it would have been appropriate for me to be notified before my order was cancelled so that service would not be interrupted. I also would have been reassured had Christopher treated me in a friendly, respectful manner and offered to remedy the situation. It became my responsibility to track down the problem. Everyone blamed someone else.

The next morning I attempted to contact the Culver City store once again and was told to call the 800 number. I called the 800 number and after waiting on hold for an astounding forty-five minutes, I was told that they did not have record of my order and could not proceed without notification from the store. I then called the Culver City store again and was told I need to talk to “Carolyn in the office”. Though there were apparently further problems with my credit card, I was not notified, and was in fact not going to be notified until I took the initiative to call the store. I then dialed the store operator and asked for “Carolyn” and was transferred to a line and was welcomed by “Office.” I assumed this was correct and explained my situation again. Carolyn explained to me that the credit card charge for whatever reason had still not come through and my order had been cancelled. She asked me to call the credit card company again. I did and again they authorized the card while I was still on the line. I was inconvenienced and offered no form of compensation.

Unfortunately this process delayed delivery for a week, which was a significant inconvenience, as I had already arranged to take the time off of work to be at home for the delivery. I asked the customer service representative at the 800 number if the process could be expedited due to the circumstances but they replied that it could not be and that I would have to arrange to be at home for another four hour window, and there was no way I could find out a more specific delivery time. At this point I had accepted the situation and re-arranged my schedule to accommodate the new delivery date of April 26, 2005. At this point I would have been mollified by an offer of free-shipping or at the very least an explanation of what had gone wrong and a promise to rectify the situation. I received the wrong item on my second delivery date and would not receive my correct item for an additional three weeks

I was appropriately alerted on April 24, 2005 of my four hour window and made arrangements for someone to be at home to accept the delivery. I received a call from this person telling me that the wrong couch had been delivered. I can understand that one error in this process was made, but I cannot understand how two such errors can be made on a single order. I immediately called my sales representative at the Culver City Store who told me she would call Customer Service and then immediately call me back. I received a call from someone at customer service shortly after that. The representative this time told me the couch is on back-order and that it will be another 2-3 weeks before I will receive it. She also told me there would be no charge for shipping. I told her I appreciated this gesture, but that it does not come close to compensating me for all of the time I have lost waiting for faulty deliveries and the fact that this process has been delayed for nearly a month. A customer service representative, Rea, admitted that sales representatives violate company policy 90% of the time.

Rea told me I should have expected 8-10 weeks for delivery. This was the first time I had heard about and 8-10 week delivery time. If I had known this, I would not have purchased the couch and chair in the first place. I furthermore can’t understand why an 8-10 delivery window is needed if the couch arrived in the warehouse, after being on back-order, about 3 weeks after my initial order. It seems that this 8-10 week delivery window only exists to cover the company in the instance of employee error, which is clearly a large problem in your company and that it is policy for sales representatives to report delivery dates sooner than this time frame. I participated in a lengthy negotiation process regarding compensation after being told repeatedly that J.C. Penney does not compensate for botched deliveries further than removing the delivery fee.

I told Rea that I would like to receive a further discount on the items to compensate for my wasted time, which amounts to nearly $150.00 in missed work time. The $50.00 delivery does not come close to compensating for this time and in fact should have been offered after the first error your company made in processing my order. She then told me that she cannot authorize any other compensation and when I asked who above her could help me, she told me I would have to wait for someone to contact me. I found this unacceptable, as I feel I have spent enough time calling various numbers at your company and waiting to be contacted. She suggested I speak with the store manager. I could not contact a store manager, as there apparently is not one on duty between the business hours of 3:00pm and 9:00pm. In the future I feel it would be useful for you to have store manager on duty during all business hours to help customers with the frequent problems we incur with your business. I called the representative back and she assured me the error was not the fault of the store and the customer service agent I spoke to earlier today was aware of this. I called the 800 number once again and they claim to be unaware of this. Rea probed me for human resources information so her manager, Rosa, could verify the amount of lost wages. I was shocked at this and told her that was none of the company’s business. She told me that if the rate of pay could not be determined I would be offered a percentage off of my purchase. I find it interesting that after I was told repeatedly that it is policy to not compensate for company error that compensation was being offered. While I appreciate your employees’ violation of company policy in this case, I thought you would be interested to know about it.

I further explained that I wished to be compensated not simply for the four hours of work lost to accept the wrong delivery, but for the countless hours I spent calling the Culver City Store and calling the 800 number in a series of wild goose-chases in which each agency continuously blamed the other. When the problem occurred I should have been offered fair compensation, I should not have to call an 800 number and argue about until I am left with “The manager stepped out” and “we’ll get back to you.” My time is much more valuable than this. I was finally offered a 2.5% discount or the opportunity to cancel my order. I accepted the latter. I reiterated my frustration and that I found the negotiation tactics to be wildly inappropriate. Rea replied after sighing, “We’re just going to leave it at that.” By the way, you may want to reconsider the radio station you play for the customers on hold. During my forty-five minute hold I heard several ads for Robinsons May and found myself wishing I had shopped there. Be assured that you have lost a customer and that I will pass along the details of my experience and of the terrible customer service that characterizes J.C. Penny to anyone that I can. I am very shocked that a company of your size treats their customers in such a manner and am amazed you can maintain your business with the way you treat those who support it.

Krista Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User