Old Navy: Junk Clothing, Random Tall Sizing, Overpackaging, and Abysmal Customer Service

Like a disappointing Christmas morning . . .

Almost a month ago, I placed my first order with Old Navy online. Having just had a baby and being confined mostly to home with the baby and in need of clothes in the dreaded tall size (can’t find that very many places), I took the plunge. What a mistake. Read on to find out why I’ll never be shopping with Old Navy again whether online or in store.

Placing the order itself was difficult, as in the reviews there were continuous complaints about things being randomly sized. One item will fit completely differently than another item, making it almost impossible to know what your Old Navy size is without trying something on. Unfortunately for tall women, none of their tall line is in ANY of their brick and mortar stores. None. So, I tried to use the size chart provided on the Old Navy website, plus reviews to gauge which size of various items I would fit in. I own a couple of Old Navy shirts and a dress from the brick and mortar store in Vancouver, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what sizes I needed (these items were not tall sizes). I ordered three long sleeved shirts, a pair of workout leggings, and a canvas field jacket.

I then waited for my order to arrive. When it arrived I was excited. The box was not overly big, but it was absolutely full of plastic bags. Every single item was in a plastic bag, some of them huge. There was so much waste and overpackaging.

Tall women beware, inside may be disappointment.

So much garbage!

I tried on the three shirts. Two of them were the same, just different colours. While they fit my body (including a nice long torso- that never happens!) the sleeves only went halfway down my forearm. I was confused and annoyed. Hadn’t it said, “long sleeves” online? I went back to the Old Navy website and checked. It did say “long sleeves” in the description for the two shirts. Then I noticed that there wasn’t a single picture of the model with the sleeves down her arm all the way. They were scrunched up in every picture. Was this to camouflage that the sleeves weren’t long enough for tall people? Or was this just styling? The length of sleeves is actually a three-quarter sleeve (FYI, Old Navy, this is what you call sleeves that only go partway down the forearm). I don’t mind some three-quarter sleeves in my wardrobe, in fact I’m used to them as most long shirt sleeves are not long enough for me, so I just wear them as three quarter length sleeves. But I’m particularly annoyed that I ordered the tall size of a long-sleeved shirt and it doesn’t even have long sleeves. Come on! I don’t have orangutan arms. Since I’m in need of shirts, I’ll just keep them, but I’m displeased that Old Navy induced me to buy these shirts with a false description.

Plastic, plastic everywhere . . .

FYI, Old Navy, these are three-quarter sleeves, not long sleeves.

The other long-sleeved shirt was actually long sleeved. The cotton was not the greatest, but I needed shirts, so I just decided to roll with it. I mean it’s Old Navy, not Brooks Brothers.

All of the tall shirts fit pretty well (except for the sleeves on the two out of three shirts), a touch big, but they were relaxed fits so that made sense.

I tried on the leggings next. They were weird. First of all, the material was a blend and it was scratchy. Secondly, the leggings, while they were long enough in the legs, they bunched up weirdly in places. Also, the waist was somewhere between a high waist and a natural waist, so they sat at an uncomfortable place. I was really disappointed.

Then, lastly, I tried on the item I was looking forward to the most, the canvas field jacket. It had looked good online, the reviews were pretty good (although sizing seemed to be all over according to reviewers), and I really wanted a  light jacket for fall walks with the baby. Was I ever disappointed. Parts of the jacket were too big in some places, the rest of it was too snug, and the material was cheap. The thing looked badly made and ugly.

Seeing that Old Navy stood behind their products 100% according to the receipt in the box, I emailed them a picture of the sleeve length of the two shirts on me and told them about how poor the entire order had been, how disappointed I was, and ask what could be done. I received back two emails from Old Navy. One email said they would “look into” the “long sleeved” shirt. The second just said “it has long sleeves.” But I sent them a picture of the shirt only reaching partway down my forearm; it does not have long sleeves! This indicated to me that Old Navy hadn't even bothered to read my email. Why even waste one's time sending an email if no one will even read it and respond in a meaningful way?

"We stand behind our products 100%." No you don't, Old Navy.

Then I called the Old Navy customer service number. I was passed between three different agents until I somehow ended up with a Gap agent in the U.S.. They couldn’t even find my order number and had to look me up by email address. The agent assured me that someone would just come and pick the box up and returns were free. Well, in Canada, you have to take it to a shipping depot. I don’t have time to do that. I’m here all alone with a fussy infant. She asked if someone I lived with could do it. My husband travels almost constantly for work. Then she asked if a friend or neighbour could do it. Right, I’m going to saddle someone with returning this crap clothing because Old Navy can’t follow its own sizing charts or give proper descriptions online of what the items are or use proper fabric. The woman said I could take it back to an Old Navy store, but that I couldn’t do exchanges there, because they have no tall clothing. Well, I don’t care, I don’t want their crap, more landfill clothing that will wear out in two seconds.

Twenty-six minutes on the phone with three agents and they would not give me any help. They said they couldn’t do anything, even though the shirt description had been wrong for two out of the three shirts that I bought. It was their fault, but they won’t admit it. Other companies would normally admit that they were wrong and then try to fix the problem, whether through credit or something else.

Then I tweeted about my experience on Twitter. Old Navy responded fairly quickly and asked for my order number. Unfortunately, a few messages back and forth resulted in no help at all. They said they would give my feedback to their design team. Great, but that doesn’t help me, the customer who they deceived.

This Old Navy experience is truly in the top five worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had. I have no idea why this company is so popular. I guess it’s because their cheap disposable clothing goes with our consumer, landfill culture.

So, my only option is to return the completely unsalvageable parts of the order. There’s a good reason to return in person, I read online from others leaving reviews on the customer service at Old Navy that it can take weeks and weeks and weeks AFTER Old Navy receives your order back to give you a refund. No, thank you; they’ve had my money for long enough. I’ll cut my losses and go to the brick and mortar Old Navy store this weekend when my husband is in town to unload the jacket and leggings. The shirts I’ll just keep since they weren’t that expensive and I need shirts (and I don’t have time to go looking for any because I have an infant!).

But this has taught me a valuable lesson, never shop at Old Navy, especially online (and since I’m tall that’s my only option.)

Oh, and I’ll be taking all the packaging that I received with this monstrous order back to Old Navy. They can deal with their overpackaging.

Never Again.