That pretty much sums up the evolution of ll bean.
What once was the gold standard in customer service, calls being answered quickly, returns/exchanges being made easily and customer service advocating for the customer have gone.
I used to love the store and even visited yearly for "Sparkle Weekend", but they have a new CEO and the things that made them great have gone the way of New York.
I recently sent 6 oxford shirts back as they were guaranteed to 'Never need ironing," they did!
I downloaded their forms from their site filled them out as they asked and wrote in what I wanted for an exchange in the exchange area.
This used to be a week to 10 day process. Now, 2.5 weeks later they have my shirts and have sent payments back to 2 banks I no longer do business with, an American Express gift card which I no longer have and 3 seperate checks sent to my house AND THEN charged my debit card $274.75!
1. I never gave them permission to debit my account!
2. Their form clearly shows this as an exchange, hell, its their damned form and included were notes outlining specifically what I wanted in exchange.
3. I had spoken to bot a customer service rep and manager before and they knew and understood what I wanted in case they couldnt understand their forms. All to no avail.
4. Now, 3 plus weeks later I am waiting another 10 days or so for them to sort this out.

THE BIGGEST QUESTION IS WHY HAVE THEY SAVED MY DEBIT AND CREDIT CARD INFORMATION?

In this day of people hacking accounts I would prefer they only used my credit information when I give it to them and not store any of that in their system for further usage!

They have botched a system that worked, albeit an old system, it worked.

Their policies have also changed!

This is not the ll bean of days gone by.

Leon Leonwood Bean would roll over in his grave if he saw what was happening to his store.

The younger generation has taken over and it is now a typical store, no different from any other department store!

What was taken out of my account without my permission or even the courtesy of a call is nothing short of stealing!
Top that with them asking for another week or so to put my money back is both disgusting and pathetic.

They are no longer a model of anything except a typical store.

R. I. P. LL Bean, I appreciated the years we did business together, you are now in the hands of a CEO that is clueless about what you stood for!