Pierre H.

My mother served as in the WAAF in World War Two. I already knew her service number. I went on this site and found the right entry. They claim to have millions of war records. So I paid a monthly fee to find out more about my mum's service. All I got was her name and her service number! Something I already knew! This site is a ripoff.

I have been buying LL Bean since the late 1960s and the workmanship in the last 10 years or so--maybe longer--has gone way downhill. I bought their so-called Wicked Good slippers and the stitching came out where the upper is attached to the sole. I did a little home repair on them but it didn't last long. My son-in-law bought the same slippers and the same thing happened. Unlike the LL Bean of yore, these slippers were not made in Maine or the good ol' USA but in China, land of shoddily made products. Now I admit these shoes weren't new. They were a few years old and I don't expect them to last forever but the sheepskin slippers I bought from Bean back in the 1980s lasted for more than 20 years. And the fact that both my slippers and my son-in-laws had exactly the same problem tells me they were poorly made. I wrote a letter of complaint to Customer Service, mentioning that I had once written a laudatory article on LL Bean for The Montreal Gazette's Travel section in 1990. (I included a copy of the article with my letter.) No response. I resent the letter, this time addressed to the president and CEO, Stephen Smith. Again, no response. C'mon! At least respond to a customer of more than 50 years, especially one who was once a devoted buyer! At least acknowledge the fact that I had taken the time to write. But they didn't. In the old days they had a ridiculously generous return policy. You could return something at any time and get a refund. I think some customers abused their generosity and LL Bean started cutting back on giving a lifetime guarantee. I totally understand, but they have now gone too far the other way.