DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Here is a copy of the e-mail that my husband sent to customer service at The Gap.........


I would like the message to be passed along to Tabatha Sierra (District Manager). I received her name from customer service.

I was at Gap store number 7155 (COMMACK, MAYFAIR store) earlier today with my wife and we were trying to exchange a pair of sweatpants that she had purchased one month ago. The pair of pants were worn once and washed. The stitching was coming apart and the material was shredding. The store did not have the same size, so we had brought the next size up to the register with us. The sales associate (do not know her name) said to us that the pants were coming apart because they were to small (actually, we wanted the same size again). She then said that she had to get approval from the store manager (Katy). The sales associate came back and told us that there was a store policy about bringing items back that had been washed. I asked to speak to the store manager and she told me that she could not take them back because they were washed and because we were trying to exchange for a larger size. We had told the sales associate that they did have the size initially purchased and if she did, we would prefer the size we originally purchased but. We would just take the next size only for convenience. We were treated very rude in the store, by the associate and the manager.

I called customer service and they called the store and told me that the return is at the discretion of the store manager. The pants in question look like they are of poor quality, after being washed. The item number on the receipt 487376. Customer service said that they could not force the store manager to do anything and suggested that I go to another store, and then offered to send me a $20 gap appreciation card.

I would like someone to acknowledge that a complaint has been filed against the store manager and the associate. A store associate should never tell someone, "they should have purchased a bigger size". My wife and I spend a couple of thousand dollars per year at the gap. I would like to be able to return this item to the store and receive an apology from the manager. I have recently purchased three pair of pants from gap online. I will be returning these pants and never buying any gap merchandise, unless something is done about how poorly we were treated in the store. This all could of been avoided by exchanging a $16 pair of pants.

I would expect a phone from Tabatha Sierra, acknowledging this. I can be reached at work *********or at home **************.


Good riddance, Gap, my money is going elsewhere!

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

I am shocked they won't stand behind their product!

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

the return policy has always stunk

they are really a pain with it!

that is why I don't like shopping there - even though it is right across the street from me

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

same thing for banana republic. my husband had me bring back a pair of pants that shrunk and wanted to get a new pair they treated me like i stole the pants and the associate was absolutely rude. quoting things from the return policy that was not there and when i asked him to show me where it says that he couldnt.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

i'm suprised they wouldn't take them back........i bought a pair of dress pants wore them twice and washed them and the stitching completely split. they took them back right away. i had no receipt either. i guess it depends on the store manager

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Awesome letter. Keep us updated. I wanna know what happens!!!

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Same thing for Old Navy.. BR and Gap are the same owners and the return policies are horrible. Sorry about that!

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

that sux, kerie....

Message edited 12/24/2006 12:58:31 PM.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

What is also interesting is that the receipt says that anything bought between November 3 and X-mas can be returned AFTER the holidays. It does not say a thing about tags having to be on.

Plus, the price had gone down from $25 to $16 and I was not looking for a price adjustment, just an exchange.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

wow that stinks, places are getting alot worse with returns lately

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Wow, I am sorry to hear this. I just returned two maternity t-shirts to the one in Walt Whitman and both had been washed and the hemline was uneven. The salesperson TRIED to tell me that maternity shirts are supposed to be longer in the front (hence the unevenness) but I showed her that they were uneven from side to side not front to back. I was credited there on the spot.

If you get motivated to send another letter, let them know that you have friends who have had great customer service from them and you are surprised with how you have been treated. I have found that if you let them know that you have had good experiences in the past, they become more willing to keep the reputation.

Good luck!!

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

I hate Gap. No matter which Gap store I went to I always found the sales associates rude and they acted like I was wasting their time.

I wrote a letter to their district manager asking them if it was a job requirement to be a rude sales associate because if it was then they found the right associates for the job.

I will never shop Gap or any of the stores that are owned by the parent company (BR and Old Navy)

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

I had a problem with BR too. They charged me twice for an item I bought and it took 4 months to get the credit.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

funy enough- i bought some tanks at old navy and they bled all over my BODY
i looked like a smurf from the blue dye

i called old navy & they took all this info. from me, apologized and said to keep my eye out for mail from them

they send me a $15 gift card
i took it to the store and...there was nothing on it! so i would have to call them again!! what a waste

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

So, if you were me, where would you shop now? The Gap clothes are my style but I'm so done with them. I like a lot of 100% cotton clothing, good quality, etc. I buy a lot of staples from LLBean, which has been excellent in customer service in the 10 years I have been buying from them, but they are not as good for looking stylish.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

try old navy

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

They must have changed their policies. I used to work at Old Navy, and we had to take EVERYTHING back, we had to take things back that were from LAST year and had been washed 1,000 times. People totally took advantage of this policy and would come back with bags of things that their kids had outgrown and said "look, it washed badly," and we would have no choice but to take it back. I thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Unfortuntately because of abuse by stupid people it looks like the company had to change their very lenient return policy.
I don't know when you were shopping in the store, and there is really no excuse for rudeness on the part of the staff at the store, but this is a really rough time of year in retail. Everyone works long days and has to deal with very rude and obnoxious people. It is possible that they had just been having a really hard day. The sales associate may not have been trying to tell you you need a larger size, but just noticed you were exchanging for a larger size and was talking about that and just said it in the wrong way.
Because of one bad experience, I wouldn't stop shopping in a store. Like you said its just a $16 pair of sweatpants, if you really like the stuff from there and have never had any issues before is this one incident really worth boycotting them over?

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Message edited 12/26/2006 12:01:03 PM.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Message edited 12/26/2006 3:56:53 PM.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

That's crazy. I can'ta believe that girl said that you should have bought a different size. Unbelievable.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

OMG - i just got back from old navy and had the EXACT same problem. i wouldnt even talk to the manager i had to leave the store before i choked someone i was so mad!


i know how you feel - seriously call and see if you can get a coupon for your troubles...

Message edited 12/26/2006 6:18:13 PM.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Message edited 12/26/2006 11:59:19 PM.

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Any updates????

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

Re: DH and I will no longer be shopping at The GAP

They are so dumb they would rather give there $ then to exchange the pants that you already paid for what jerks!!!

BTW: You can use Gap cards at the outlet store I do it all the time!

Good Luck I hope they do the right thing.