1 /5 AnonymousSS Google User: Extremely Disappointed – Poor Customer Service and Misleading Pricing
I’m really disappointed with my recent experience at JCPenney. I was shopping for a birthday gift and found several jewelry items I liked on their website. There were three purchase options:
1. Buy online and pick up in-store
2. Have it shipped to you
3. Buy it in-store if available
Since I had an appointment near the mall, I decided to go in person to see and feel the jewelry before buying. That’s where the confusion began.
The store was filled with unclear signage—tons of sales signs that made it feel like a liquidation or going-out-of-business sale. It was impossible to tell which items matched which sale. I had to take everything I was interested in up to the register just to find out the pricing.
When I went to check out, a necklace that was listed for $23 online rang up as $125 in-store. I was shocked. The employee told me that price was only available online. This was for a cheap piece of jewelry sitting on a messy, unprotected display—definitely not worth $125.
Then I was told that only two out of the three items I picked qualified for the sale, and the third would be full price for the $125 necklace unless a manager overrode it. By then, I was frustrated. I had already spent too much time trying to figure out their pricing "game," and was being told different things than what the website suggested. I walked out and didn’t buy anything.
This is exactly why I closed my JCPenney card years ago, and it’s why I haven’t shopped here online or in-store since. The customer service is terrible, and the staff seem uninterested in helping customers.
When I first arrived, I stood at the jewelry counter waiting to be helped while three employees cleaned up a small soda spill—completely ignoring me. No one said “I’ll be right with you” or even acknowledged me. Once someone finally did, I asked to see some jewelry and was vaguely pointed in a direction. I had to tell her I’d never been in this store before and had no idea where she was pointing. She couldn’t even walk me over to the display—despite me being the only customer there.
After 20 minutes of browsing and trying to make sense of their chaotic system, I was told I didn’t qualify for sale pricing because I was shopping in the store. There is nothing on the website that clearly states the sale is online only. It’s a guessing game, and I don’t have the time, energy, or patience for that.
Unless JCPenney is having a final liquidation sale because they’re going out of business, I won’t be back. This store used to be the standard for quality service and organization—now it’s the example of what retail should never become.
If you want to keep your doors open, you need to hire staff who actually want to work, treat customers well, and keep the store clean and organized. Unfortunately, my experience showed the opposite. I’ve never seen a JCPenney so empty—and now I understand why.
Congratulations, JCPenney—you’ve officially lost me and my family as customers for good.
