What a catchy headline, eh? This is actually another venting post. Perhaps I should rename my blog to “Steph’s Venting”, considering my recent string of posts. What can I say? I guess it’s been a frustrating week.

I’m not that kind of angry at the moment though. No, I’m the cool, collected kind of angry. So we won’t be having any vitriolic venting in this post.

One would probably think that ordering from JCPenny’s wouldn’t be such a difficult or frustrating experience. They’re a big name, and heck, we even have a local retail store. There really should not have been a problem.

Well, one would be wrong, apparently.

I ordered a nice leather trench coat from them, and done so via their website because their local branch did not have any coats that caught my fancy. In fact, I found the same coat cheaper at a different online retailer, but I went with JCPenny’s because of my familiarity with their company.

Yet here I sit, totally disgusted with them and quite certain that I will avoid even their local branch the next time that I set out to buy cloths, coats, shoes, or other items.

At the root of the problem is a late shipment. Now, I expected it to take some time for the item to ship. You’re duly informed about that. However, come Monday or Tuesday I should be receiving the item, but the reality of the situation is that - if I am lucky - they’ll finally be shipping it.

Of course, I shouldn’t have to point out that I will then have to wait for it to be delivered. So let’s sum this up:

• A week’s (or two) wait for the shipping date to arrive
• A week over due to leave their doors
• Possibly two weeks to finally reach me if/when it does ship
• Total: Four weeks. One month of waiting for the coat

That’s if it’s not delivered late (due to holiday shipping volumes slowing mail delivery in general).

I really need this coat. Or just a coat. One that keeps the cold out. Why?

Yesterday we received a lot of sleet, and that sleet continued to fall off and on through out the night and into this morning. When the sleet stopped, the snow began, and we received a foot of snow today. Walking in the sleet yesterday was physically painful, with the ice biting into the side of my face, my neck, and covering my hat to such a degree that it soaked through and rendered one side of the hat more-or-less useless against the freezing cold.

The weather has been so bad that it was thundering as the snow came down, and the police informed the town (via the local news, of course) to not bother reporting any vehicle accidents unless there are serious injuries involved. Thankfully they have cleared the major roads by now and the sleeting and snowing has stopped. For now? We’ll see what tonight and tomorrow brings.

Thankfully I didn’t have to go outside today. Well, I was supposed to, but considering the weather conditions I opted to stay home. If I get fired for not going out in this mess then they can stuff it (and I’m not talking about the turkey!).

You may realize, then, how badly I need a new coat. Why? Because the zipper on my existing coat is broken, which means that all of that sleet - and the 30 MPH gusts that drove it against me - wooshed merrily over me like so many dancing little ice pixies.

This evening I decided that I would give up on this nice leather trench coat and made the decision to go buy a new coat from a local store tomorrow. I need a coat now, not three weeks from now if I’m lucky.

So I called JCPenny’s and canceled my order. Well, that’s why I tried to do, anyway.

This is where it gets REALLY cute, in that “haha I’m going to kill you” sort of way. I was duly informed, “I can’t cancel the order because it’s too close to the shipping date”.

Now isn’t that just a wonderful bit of irony? Even I, red-faced as I must have been upon hearing this, must appreciate the sick and twisted irony of the situation.

Instead of biting the head off of the lady on the other end of the phone I did manage to remember that this situation is not her fault. I think, perhaps, the tone of my voice was enough to confer that some part of me wishes to bite the head off, but really, what can she do?

Apparently, the only thing that she could do is put a note on my account stating that I called to have the ordered cancelled, but it’s probably still going to be charged and shipped anyway. Putting the note on my account was just her way of doing something for one obviously very unhappy customer, rather than doing nothing.

Come tomorrow I will be speaking with my bank and attempting to block any attempt to charge my debit card.

The bottom line of this wonderfully messy situation is this: JCPenny’s is attempting to pin this order to me, thus forcing me to continue going without a coat in this oh-so-wonnnderful weather that we’re having. When I could - and rightly should - be able to go out tomorrow and buy a perfectly functional coat.

Something that I probably should have done in the first place, but who knew that it was going to take them so long just to get the damn thing out the door, let alone to my door? Such a nice coat would really work wonders in this awful weather that we’re having, but no, JCP doesn’t care.

Nevermind the fact that the item hasn’t been charged.
Nevermind that it hasn’t even been shipped.
Nevermind that it’s a week late.
Nevermind that, while they yank me around, I’m dealing with incredibly cold temperatures.
They’re still refusing to cancel the order.
Which ties up the money for that coat, which in turn prevents me from buying one.

Yay! Isn’t it a wonderfully consumer-centric world that we live in? No, I don’t think so either.

So yes, I am definitely speaking with my bank tomorrow. With any luck, the fact that it’s a University branch (located, coincidently, within one of the buildings on campus) will mean that they will still have people on staff during the weekend.

JCPenny’s can absolutely forget receiving my money, now or in the future. Thank goodness this isn’t some present that some bright-eyed hopeful little kid was looking forward to.

Either way, it’s one big frustrating mess. A very cold, frustrating mess.

~Steph