JCPenney — Local services in Hurst

We had an terrible experience here for 2 reasons: Personnel & sale items. Personnel: our cashier was SO rude, lazy or incompetent, & difficult to work with. We had MANY problems w/ her. #1: I told her I wanted to pay w/ an e-gift card. She grumpily stated, “You can’t use it. It needs to be swiped.” I explained that I’ve used e-gift cards in JC Penney stores many times before. She repeated, “You can’t use it.” She began to begrudgingly tap the screen for a few minutes & the cardreader prompted us for a giftcard number/pin. I entered it & the system accepted it. This employee was lazy, dishonest, & rude. #2: While ringing up jeans my husband wanted, she asked, “you have $10 off. Do you want to use it?” I thought she was referencing the in-store coupon I set on the counter in front of her, so I said, “yes.” Then, I quickly realized she was referring to something on my JCPenney account & I said, “oh, no, I’ll save it.” To our complete SHOCK, the employee blurts out sassily, “too late!,” & continues touching her screen. Too late?!? What the heck?? What kind of customer service is that?! Hopefully the $10 is still on my account. #3: The lady claimed that I couldn’t use an extra 30% coupon w/ my $10 off in-store coupon. I didn’t want to argue, so I let it slide, but I’m almost 100% sure she was wrong because 1) the in-store coupon states “dollar-off offers applied prior to companywide percentage off discounts or coupons” & doesn’t state anywhere that the in-store coupon cannot be combined with another discount. 2) the 30% off coupon was emailed to me IN THE SAME EMAIL in which I received the ad about the in-store coupons. This shows that they are a package deal & not mutually exclusive. Again, another example of this lady being lazy & rude. #4: When ringing up my husband’s jeans, she claimed that we couldn’t use the $10 off in-store coupon “because they‘re on sale.” However, the in-store coupon says it’s valid on sale items. The signs on some items in store said “doorbuster- excluded from coupon,” so we intentionally avoided those; we came to the store primarily because of the coupons being handed out today. We also noticed some brands listed as excluded on the in-store coupon, so we tried to avoid those too. I explained this all to the employee & she sassily replied, “well then, we’ll just have to call for help,” implying that I would wait for awhile. She then stormed off. About a minute later she then rudely & impatiently asked a coworker, “Can you explain to these people why their coupon doesn’t apply to these jeans??” That was frustrating to experience. She didn’t ask, “hey, could you come see why this coupon isn’t applying?” or “could you help me apply this coupon?” Instead, the “help” she asked for was essentially “bully these customers.” The coworker came over to the register, carelessly & rudely told us, “these are name brand. They don’t apply to the coupon,” & left. Our cashier asked us rudely, “so, do you want them??” At this point, after her being rude & unhelpful FOUR times in a row, as well as not being able to use 1 of the coupons we came there for, my husband & I were unwilling to spend any more money here. We declined the purchase & left. JCPenney lost revenue b/c of a TERRIBLE employee. I think it’s best for profits & future customers that this lady be fired. The other issue we had w/ the store: ~ 90% of the items on the 1st floor were listed as “doorbuster-excluded from coupon.” This is malevolent, as customers have to walk through EVERYTHING to find just a few things to use the coupon they likely drove to the store to get. I was intrigued by the in-store coupons, which brought me to the store today, but I will not fall for this again. I will probably never visit this Penney’s store again either.

Response to owner who commented: which facebook/Insta profile? I don’t see one for the...

I am giving you all a 4.

Wins

Store layout and quality of brands. It looks like you have really started from scratch. I did not see Under Armour but I may have missed it. Good expansion on Nike, Adidas, Reebok. They are all solid sellers. Nice selection of Lee's and Levi's

Opportunities

Pricing on line is better than in your store. Your store deals were buy 1 pair of Levi's at regular price and get one 50 percent off. On line - it was 39.99 for 1 pair of 505s. I would rather just get 1 pair of jeans not 2. I asked an associate and they did not have an answer.

Too many cooks in the kitchen- I understand how corporations work. All of your big bosses want to come out and see the new layout. I get that. As a consumer, it is annoying, at least for me to be asked every 1 min if I need help.

Price point sign was incorrect or misleading. I bought a pair of straight leg regular fit Lee Jeans. They were priced for 24.99 on the shelf. I get up to the register and they ring up 29.99. I had to look for your app to get them to 25.49. Either you flexed merchandise over, the sign was wrong or the pricing was wrong.

Perception - I was coming down the escalator from the second floor around 11am. I overheard a customer service manager tell a cashier- here are some bags (they were filled with freebies). Give these to any disgruntled customers. I think it should have been approached by saying give these out to our customers as they make a purchase. You should appeal to all customers not just angry ones.

Coffee bar pricing

Way too high for Penneys shoppers - we are your normal working class folks. Paying several dollars for a coffee is crazy.

Conclusion

As a store and for my visit, I would give you a 'B' grade. Working on pricing consistency, signage, customer experience, better pricing on your value added service like the coffee bar, associate and team leader training.

Overall your layout, minus signage accuracy was good and better...

Long line of customers, when I finally got called up to pay. The cashier named "Gina" began the transaction then told me to hold on as she walked off to the very last register to assist another customer who had completely bypassed the line of customers waiting to be checked out. Looked to be a family member or friend of hers. She legit let this woman cut in front of at least 8 other customers including myself. I got stuck at that register trying to get help from two additional cashiers as I could not grab the items she had already taken from me. One cashier said "Oh she must be looking for a price" and a customer chimed in "Yeah that's probably it" when I then pointed down at the register where she was assisting the customer who jumped the entire line. Finally, a third cashier states "We will find someone to assist you..." Why my original cashier couldn't assist anymore was unclear. So I proceeded to wait until a fourth cashier comes out and seems confused. Until I explain to her the situation and wanted to speak to the manager. She states "He ain't here today" I said then his name? She mumbled Marcos.. and I said her name as I pointed at the cashier who had left me stuck mid transaction (She was still assisting the VIP guest of hers) and the fourth cashier now finally ringing up my three items reluctantly told me "Gina". When I paid and began to walk away the original cashier who left me standing there yells "Next guest, please." No Apology, No explanation, Nothing. Not even "Have a nice day"

Customer Service is a huge thing in the retail world. I would know, being a Customer Experience Manager once before. You do not have a friend or even family member bypass an entire line of customers who were patiently waiting to pay for items that literally pay your bills. Complete disregard for my time, and the remaining customer's time. Rude, unprofessional, lack of communication.

Gina...