Aerie

Purchased $250 of Aerie merchandise online. Needed a different size in a few items and went to the store to return (Cool Springs Galleria, Franklin, TN). I was told that because about half of my items purchased and shipped from Aerie's website (3 tank tops) were actually from American Eagle that they would not return them at Aerie. Instead after waiting in line to make my return at Aerie, I was told they would return one of my items and for the rest to walk downstairs to American Eagle, wait in line again and make my return. When I questioned this, the salesgirl and then the manager stated that this was a new policy, they were short of staff, etc. So making these returns took more than 30 minutes. Not worth it to me to shop at Aerie with poor customer service and deceptive practices regarding returns. There are so many other places to shop.

I ordered a bathing suit top, bottom, and a tank top from a big aerie sale almost a month ago. I end up receiving a t-shirt, a tank top, and a pack of socks that was supposed to be delivered to a girl in IN. I call and a girl told me she would send me a return label for those items. After waiting 10 days for the label, I called again to talk to another lady who continued to send me the label and tells me she will give me the $35 refund and I will have to reorder. (major inconvenience because now I won't have this bathing suit for my beach trip in 2 weeks) I call again when I realize the $35 won't even pay for the exact three items I ordered in the first place. The employee tells me that only one of my items is still in stock and the others probably won't be in stock for 2-4 weeks but he has no way of knowing when things will be restocked. I am not put on a list to receive these items when they are restocked, I have to watch for myself for them to be restocked, and wait for 20+ minutes to order my things at the discounted price I had originally ordered the items at. Very disappointed because I am always impressed with aerie's in-store service and quality...

While it's really easy to navigate the website and your discounts are easily tabulated while you shop, If you decide you need to change or cancel your order with Aerie within hours of having ordered it, Aerie customer service will not be helpful at all and hide behind their "fully automated system."

In my case, I signed up for a third party service that guaranteed free two day shipping and it was not applied at checkout, nor was there a way to verify whether it had been applied. I called Aerie customer service to see if the order could be canceled or altered and they basically gave me the run-around " Oh I'm sorry we have a fully automated system we can't do that." I even said, "ok, I just want to cancel the order" and they could not guarantee that it would not be shipped while my request went up to corporate. A simple request like canceling an order should NOT have to go up to corporate, it should be able to be handled in-house and should be able to be done within a few minutes on the computer while you delete the order.

Having a poorly designed system is no excuse for bad customer service. Being an internet retailer is also not an excuse for poor customer service. I've worked retail before and you do whatever it will take to make sure the customer has a good experience. It's how you build your brand.

I am very disappointed and will never shop with this company Aerie or American Eagle again.