Kevin sent a message to Marvin R. Ellison- the President of J. C. Penney Company Inc.- email address that said:
Dear Mr. Ellison:
I would like to relate my recent experience with JCP online. First I would like you to know that my wife and I for the past 38 years have shopped at JCP and while the company has suffered setbacks we have faithfully shopped at JCP stores. This year I decided to give JCP.com a try. I ordered a kitchen cart for my mother in law online from jcp.com. Upon the products arrival we assembled it (it took 1 hour). When we got to the final step of the process we discovered that the unit is defective and the drawer falls out of the tracks when it is closed, rendering the unit unusable. On 12/8/2015 at 8:15 am I contacted customer service on the telephone. After holding for 18 minutes I spoke with a rep by the name of Lakoshia. I explained the problem and she informed me that my only 2 options were to return it or accept some type of "product allowance" which I assume is a discount credited back to me. I told her that the product is not useable and that I could return it, but perhaps JCP could offer me some type of consideration for assembling a defective unit, and now I will need to assemble another unit. She interrupted me and very rudely told me that those were my only options and loudly asked "what do you want to do sir?".
I told her again that perhaps JCP could offer me some type of consideration for the trouble of assembling a defective product, she told me "I already told you sir we don't do thatâ¦what do you want to do?". I asked her to stop interrupting me and let me speak and she yelled into the phone" you interrupted me!". I asked if I could speak with another rep who could deal with this issue on a more professional level, and she told me "Sure, you can call back", and hung up the phone on me. I was truly shocked by her rude and unprofessional manner. I ordered this product in good faith and expected it to be functional. I paid for a functional product and spent time assembling it because i had a reasonable expectation that it would function. The fact is I did not get what I paid for and when I contacted your rep to resolve the matter I was treated with disrespect and in my opinion contempt.
So I decided to call again, this time I spoke with Stephanie in Baltimore. This rep apologized for my trouble with the product and the poor treatment I received from Lakoshia. She informed me that the product is out of stock and so I would have to send it back and receive a credit. This would mean I spent an hour assembling a defective product and now would have to spend more time returning the product. So this time I asked to speak with a supervisor. Eventually I spoke with Rene in Milwaukee. She offered no apology and told me my only option is to return the product. She too was cold, unfriendly, unsympathetic to my situation and even told me that "you knew you would have to assemble it when you purchased it", completely ignoring the fact that I was sent a defective product. In my opinion she displayed a couple disconnect from me, the customer. She was completely uninterested in my experience with the rude rep on my initial call, in fact when I told her how I was treated she simply did not respond at all. I had to ask her "are you on the line?", she responded " yes sir how can I help you?"
I am a business owner with my own employees who interact with customers everyday. In todays competitive business climate how we treat our customers and resolve concerns is at the top of my priority list.
I will tell you that this incident has caused me to resolve to never order from JCP.com again, and to reevaluate any future business with your chain at all. That is sad considering I have been a customer since 1977. When large retail chains lose business and customers en masse as JCP has in recent years, many times they point to market changes, competition, and other external pressures, but if my experience with your customer service reps is any indication, JCP might do well to look within itself.
Thank you in advance for your consideration. My telephone number is (210)669-2940.
Sincerely,
Kevin