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.

Amazon Prime: Big Boxes for Little Products

I ordered a little hairbrush for my baby and a potato masher through Amazon Prime. It arrived the other day I was confused by the size of the box, wondering just how big the potato masher and baby hairbrush could be.

When I opened the box there was a bit of bubble wrap and tons of empty space.

Once the bubble wrap was removed, there was a little brush (maybe four inches long) in minimal packaging and a potato masher, (only in a plastic bag) that while substantial, was not big enough to warrant the size of the box used.

Look at all of that empty space.

Couldn't a smaller box or a bubble envelope be used to mail items like these?

Wasn’t there a smaller box available? Or how about a bubble mailing envelope? I know that cardboard is recyclable, but it takes a lot of resources to both produce cardboard and then to recycle it.

Another box for my recycling pile!

I love that Amazon Prime usually gets things to me in the time quoted (a couple of times they have failed to deliver in their Prime delivery guaranteed dates, but their customer service is excellent) and that it is quick- this is particularly useful when you discover you need something for your home or baby. But I wish that Amazon would review its packaging procedures to reduce the amount of and size of packaging it uses. This was definitely another incident of Amazon overpackaging.

Amazon Prime: Boxes in Boxes

When I found this box by my house I wondered what I had ordered. It couldn't possibly just be the box of diapers and the turner could it?

I have an Amazon Prime membership and in addition to being able to watch The Grand Tour, I use my membership to order various items and have them delivered to my house. This has come in handy since I recently had a baby.

This is the second time I’ve ordered diapers from Amazon and since they repeated their giant box method, I feel I need to post this. The diapers that I ordered come in a big sturdy cardboard box. Strangely, Amazon feels the need to put this box into a huge cardboard box in order to send it.

This is a seriously big box.

In this order from Amazon there was also a turner or flipper for cooking, but this was not very big. The box that they sent these two items in was huge and had lots of vacant space (partially occupied in transit by many many feet of brown paper).

Lots and lots of packing paper once removed shows how big this box really is and what a waste of packaging it is.

It’s strange they wouldn’t just wrap the diaper box in paper and send it as is and then put the flipper in a bubble envelope or something of the sort.

Look at all of this empty space.

While cardboard and brown paper are recyclable, it still takes a lot of resources to produce them and since I have no use for a box or packing paper, they’re just going straight out in the recycling. It seems like a waste. And since the diapers already come in a box and are not breakable or anything (the diapers are wrapped in a plastic wrap in the box too to protect from the elements) this is another example of overpackaging.

We need to rethink packaging as a society or there won't be any cardboard left to use in the future.

Another Sephora Order Comes With Yet More Waste

I received another order from Sephora the other day. My order came in a cardboard box.

From the size of the box you're always expecting bigger items than you actually end up receiving.

Upon opening this box and removing the paper receipt and the mass of brown paper, the box appeared much too large for the order.

Why is this box so large? Surely a slightly smaller box at lease or a bubble wrap envelope could be used to mail this instead.

I only ordered three items, Ren Moroccan Rose Glow Perfect Dry Oil, Kate Somerville Eradikate, and Tarte’s liquid eyeliner called Sex Kitten. Everything else in the box was samples, either 100 point reward samples, the normal samples that come with each order, and bonus samples.

These are the only items I directly ordered.

The packaging of the three items that I ordered was mostly fine. I understand why the Ren and Eradikate products had boxes because the bottles were glass, so this was not superfluous packaging. I was confused as to why the Tarte eyeliner came in a box though. Why couldn’t it just have had a sealing sticker on the cap? I see this again and again with lipsticks, mascaras, concealers, etc.. We could reduce the amount of packaging that we produce in the realm of cosmetics by getting rid of these boxes that serve no purpose other than looking "pretty." Why not just stick a plastic seal or sticker over the cap of these items so that people can tell if they have been used or not when they receive them? I don't think that most people would object to these redundant boxes disappearing.

Why do we need these cardboard boxes? Put a sticker seal on the eyeliner cap and reduce packaging.

Some of the samples came with an incredible amount of packaging, for instance Tatcha The Water Cream, which was in a box about three times too big and the sample of Atelier Cologne Sud Magnolia perfume which came as a glass vial with a postcard inside a paper envelope.

This tiny jar does not need this giant box.

Does a little perfume sample in a vial need a postcard and a paper envelope?

So, from ordering three items, I ended up with ten items. And a bunch more packaging. Overpackaging strikes again. . . .

From ordering three items to receiving ten and all the packaging that comes with each item.

A World of Waste

A world of waste.

After hoarding packaging from beauty, cosmetics, and skincare products for the last few years, I have decided to do this one last project with the packaging and then recycle what I can and throw out the rest. Three garbage bags full of waste is too much to carry around forever.

I couldn't believe how many packages I ended up with after just a few years.

When I think of all of the packaging that comes with beauty, cosmetics, and skincare products, I think of the world. What impact does this have on the world? Our future? The future of future generations? The floating island of plastic waste in the ocean?

Doesn't matter how fancy the packaging is, it's still waste.

There’s a world of waste being created every day.

One package at a time, one person at a time, one city at a time, one country at a time. Every little bit of packaging adds up, especially when it's not recyclable.

Couldn’t we decrease the amount of packaging that comes with these products? Couldn’t we decrease the packaging the products are in themselves? I understand that pretty packaging sells products, but do we really need this much packaging? Some items come with a box (cardboard), a leaflet (paper), the product package itself that is made from perhaps three different materials (plastic, metal, and glass or rubber). This makes it very difficult to recycle the packages once they are done when they are made of mixed materials. Couldn’t we simplify? Or why not have reusable packages like they used to with lipstick and makeup compacts (a limited number of companies do this now, but it is not widespread)? And what about samples that come with purchases? Do we really need a new makeup bag every season? Do we really need that ugly lipstick they give us with a purchase? Or the serum we don’t end up using? Maybe if they let customers choose a couple of items a la carte instead of giving a bag full of set items (some of which the person will never use or perhaps the colour will not suit them) then we’d have less waste.

All these pretty packages don't look so pretty once they're piling up in a landfill, floating in the ocean, or even waiting to be recycled (if that's possible).

We need to rethink packaging before our world becomes one big pile of waste.

I'm only one person. Imagine how much waste is generated every day from the place where you live., the country where you live, the whole world.

Sephora and its Boxes

I’m not entirely sure why Sephora always insists on sending orders in boxes. I could understand if it was a huge order, but for an order with only a face mask, some face oil, a lipstick, and three little samples, why not use a bubble envelope mailer? Wouldn’t this both pad the items and use less materials for shipping?

Why is this big of a box used for these little items?

All that packaging for three tiny samples, a lipstick, and two small skincare products.

Also, why is it that companies insist on double packaging items like lipstick (why not use a safety seal or sticker instead of a whole box on top of the tube of lipstick)?

For items like a glass bottle of oil, I suppose a cardboard box makes sense to pad the item and the same with a glass jar of face mask, but there’s no way that they need these boxes plus an entire huge cardboard box, bubble wrap, and a bunch of packing paper too.

Does Sephora use these big boxes for every order just so that its devotees can have unboxing videos on YouTube?

Go Pro Hero 5 Blue Water Snorkel Filter from Best Buy

My husband ordered a Blue Water Snorkel Filter (red filter) for our Go Pro Hero 5 for snorkelling on our trip to French Polynesia (see our travel blog) from Best Buy online.

On a plus side, it arrived in one day. On the downside, this tiny filter that can fit in the palm of your hand arrived in a big box, surrounded by mountains of paper (seriously, the mass of paper was over six feet long when removed from the box), and then in its own box as well (which had several component parts both plastic and cardboard).

A mass of paper covered the tiny box in the big cardboard box.

Why did Best Buy use such a big box to send this tiny box?

Acres of packing paper.

The filter's box is wrapped in plastic.

Inside the box is the tiny red filter with its little carrying bag.

Why couldn't this little group have been put in a bubble envelope instead of a big box?

The tiny red square is the filter in a sea of packaging that's mostly unnecessary, overpackaging for sure.

Why couldn't Best Buy have used a bubble envelope to send the little box that housed the tiny filter? This is definitely a prime example of overpackaging.