John B.

I placed an order. It was delivered. Then I reviewed the product. A couple days later I got a message asking me if I'd received my order, but didn't give me any information about what my order was. I had to do some research to figure out what they were talking about. Then I got this survey without asking me if I wanted to do a survey. So the follow up email and survey dropped my review from 5 stars to 4.

This review is about the worst experience I've had in years ordering products online at joann.com for pickup at a local store. I placed the order while I was in the store because there was an online special offer that was 1/2 the price being charged at the store. The order seemed to work just fine - my credit card was charged, and I got a confirmation of the order right away in email. However, after waiting 50 minutes in line while the good folks at the store tried everything they could think of -- including waking the store manager at home by phone -- they were unable to find my online order, or find a way to let me walk out of the store with the items without paying for them twice. Here are the problems:

- The online ordering tools do not indicate that orders placed after 5pm are not transmitted to the store until the next day.

- Even the confirmation e-mail simply says "we'll let you know when your order is ready to pick up." There is no estimation of when that might be.

- There is no mechanism on the on-line ordering system to cancel an order -- you are instructed specifically that you can return items after you've picked them up. In this case I was asked by the lead cashier to cancel my online order so she could sell me the items in the store matching the online price - but there was no way to do it!

- Buried deep in a "Pick Up Information" web page that your order e-mail points to is an 888 number for customer service with an indication that they can cancel an order -- however they didn't answer the phone while I was standing in the store close to their 9pm closing time.

I had the sense that the folks in the store were trying their very best to be helpful. And they thanked me for not being mad -- because they said that many of their online customers are furious about the delays, not being able to change online orders, and having the store return the items to the shelves after 3 days if they aren't picked up -- with no timely refund of the purchase. However the local folks apparently have their hands tied by a hugely defective on-line ordering process - over which they have no real control.

I will likely return to the store when I need to, but I am VERY unlikely to ever try to purchase anything at joann.com again. Save yourself the wasted time and frustration. Don't purchase anything online at joann.com if you intend to pick it up at a local store.