- Report: #313512
Complaint Review: Gymboree
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| Gymboree Headquarters-500 Howard Street
San Francisco, California U.S.A. |
|
Www.gymboree.com Gymboree Online shopping cart RIPOFF!! Internet
*Consumer Comment: Never Had Any Problems With gymboree.com
*Consumer Comment: Never Had Any Problems With gymboree.com
*Consumer Comment: Not being able to make a purchase from a shopping cart where you haven't paid is not a ripped off!
*Author of original report: update
*Consumer Comment: You better stay off the interweborzzzz
*Consumer Comment: Was it really YOUR jacket ?
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Gymboree is a children's clothing store usually found in the mall that also has an online website catalog where you can often purchase items the local gymboree store may no longer have in stock, which is more convenient than driving from mall to mall to find what you are looking for.
I haven't had a problem with this company until today. I will never shop there again and hopefully others will be forewarned after reading my experience.
I was shopping online at www.gymboree.com and had placed a few items I was buying into my online 'shopping cart'. I continued shopping on their site for a few minutes before I was ready to checkout and pay for the items I had selected. (total time on their site was maybe 10 minutes because I knew what I wanted.) During checkout, I noticed that a jacket I selected wasn't showing up in my cart.
(the item was an infant girls jacket in a size 18-24 months that matched the rest of the pieces in the set).
I tried to add the jacket back to my cart again, but it showed that the size I wanted was no longer available. This was the very same size I just had in my cart and planned to purchase. I knew I didn't remove the item from my cart, so what happened to it and why couldn't I add it back to the cart??
I immediately grabbed the phone and called customer service before completing the remainder of my order thinking that maybe the rep could help but THAT was a total waste of time!! The service rep for gymboree stated that the company has what they call a 'LIVE' online inventory and although I had selected the items in the size I needed, I had not completed the transaction and until I actually PAID for the items with my credit card, the transaction wasn't complete and therefore my entire cart was still available for sale in their 'live' inventory and anything I selected and placed in my cart was STILL able to be purchased by another customer (this is where the jacket disappeared to, it had been selected by another customer and was instantly transferred from my cart and into their cart as soon as they selected it and before I was even done with my gymboree.com shopping and realized the jacket was not in my cart, the other customer had PAID for the jacket and it was gone before I was given a chance to pay for it on my end, so it became theirs. The other customer had unknowingly stolen it right out of my cart while I continued to shop.
The rep told me that they can't 'hold' items for anyone and I replied that I didn't ask or EXPECT them to HOLD anything for me, I simply placed them in my cart with the intention of purchasing them and didn't expect them to be removed by anyone other than myself. The items were in MY online cart on THEIR website and my intentions were to purchase the items I placed in my cart and I wasn't given a fair chance to complete my order before someone else took the item from my cart.
I don't notice any warnings on their site to let their customers know that in order to successfully purchase what they want or successfully purchase anything for that matter on gymboree.com, they need to rush through their shopping, make lightning fast selections and purchase those items immediately or else another shopper could possibly steal items from their cart.
Maybe this post will warn shoppers about gymboree.com and the way they operate their website purchases. What kind of company website doesn't want their customers to browse and keep adding items to their cart and end up spending more?
I could understand if I had logged off their site or left the items in my cart for several hours or something equally logical, but I was only on the website long enough to select my items and ATTEMPT to complete the purchase; but during that brief period of time, my items were purchased by another customer.
This is totally unacceptable!
I chose my items and placed them in the cart for one reason, because I wanted to buy them!!! I buy items online all the time and have never encountered such a ridiculous policy as gymboree.com and their live inventory policy". I still can't believe this happened. If you don't want to be ripped off, don't shop at www.gymboree.com
They are obviously lacking in what it takes to make good customer relations and are so eager to make a fast buck that they are willing to sell items to one customer right out of other customers shopping carts. They end up losing loyal customers with their shady customer relations practice!!
B
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
I haven't had a problem with this company until today. I will never shop there again and hopefully others will be forewarned after reading my experience.
I was shopping online at www.gymboree.com and had placed a few items I was buying into my online 'shopping cart'. I continued shopping on their site for a few minutes before I was ready to checkout and pay for the items I had selected. (total time on their site was maybe 10 minutes because I knew what I wanted.) During checkout, I noticed that a jacket I selected wasn't showing up in my cart.
(the item was an infant girls jacket in a size 18-24 months that matched the rest of the pieces in the set).
I tried to add the jacket back to my cart again, but it showed that the size I wanted was no longer available. This was the very same size I just had in my cart and planned to purchase. I knew I didn't remove the item from my cart, so what happened to it and why couldn't I add it back to the cart??
I immediately grabbed the phone and called customer service before completing the remainder of my order thinking that maybe the rep could help but THAT was a total waste of time!! The service rep for gymboree stated that the company has what they call a 'LIVE' online inventory and although I had selected the items in the size I needed, I had not completed the transaction and until I actually PAID for the items with my credit card, the transaction wasn't complete and therefore my entire cart was still available for sale in their 'live' inventory and anything I selected and placed in my cart was STILL able to be purchased by another customer (this is where the jacket disappeared to, it had been selected by another customer and was instantly transferred from my cart and into their cart as soon as they selected it and before I was even done with my gymboree.com shopping and realized the jacket was not in my cart, the other customer had PAID for the jacket and it was gone before I was given a chance to pay for it on my end, so it became theirs. The other customer had unknowingly stolen it right out of my cart while I continued to shop.
The rep told me that they can't 'hold' items for anyone and I replied that I didn't ask or EXPECT them to HOLD anything for me, I simply placed them in my cart with the intention of purchasing them and didn't expect them to be removed by anyone other than myself. The items were in MY online cart on THEIR website and my intentions were to purchase the items I placed in my cart and I wasn't given a fair chance to complete my order before someone else took the item from my cart.
I don't notice any warnings on their site to let their customers know that in order to successfully purchase what they want or successfully purchase anything for that matter on gymboree.com, they need to rush through their shopping, make lightning fast selections and purchase those items immediately or else another shopper could possibly steal items from their cart.
Maybe this post will warn shoppers about gymboree.com and the way they operate their website purchases. What kind of company website doesn't want their customers to browse and keep adding items to their cart and end up spending more?
I could understand if I had logged off their site or left the items in my cart for several hours or something equally logical, but I was only on the website long enough to select my items and ATTEMPT to complete the purchase; but during that brief period of time, my items were purchased by another customer.
This is totally unacceptable!
I chose my items and placed them in the cart for one reason, because I wanted to buy them!!! I buy items online all the time and have never encountered such a ridiculous policy as gymboree.com and their live inventory policy". I still can't believe this happened. If you don't want to be ripped off, don't shop at www.gymboree.com
They are obviously lacking in what it takes to make good customer relations and are so eager to make a fast buck that they are willing to sell items to one customer right out of other customers shopping carts. They end up losing loyal customers with their shady customer relations practice!!
B
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/29/2008 08:34 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Gymboree/San-Francisco-California/Wwwgymboreecom-Gymboree-Online-shopping-cart-RIPOFF-Internet-313512. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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Search Tips#1 Consumer Comment
Never Had Any Problems With gymboree.com
AUTHOR: Terri - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009
I place orders with Gymboree.com at least 2 to 3 times a month and have never had any problems with them. I prefer it to shopping in the store. This is in response to the lady that complained shopping at the online store was a ripoff because by the time she was checking they no longer had the item in the size she needed..that it had been removed from her the shopping cart . She thought that it was wrong for an item not to be hers until you have paid for the item...your shopping cart can be saved for weeks at a time. How could any expect for them to hold up store merchandice for this amount of time! ...it is completely unreasonable for anyone to expect them to do so. She then went on to complain about customer service...saying they were a waste of time. This is completely wrong and untrue in my experience!! I have called at all hours of the night with all sorts of questions and problems and was always treated great, as if I was their most important customer. Also anytime I have bought an item that was later put on sale all I had to do was call and they would take the difference off my credit card. What I''m trying to say is that if you go to the store with the intention of purchasing a certain item and it is no longer available are you going to never shop at this store again...come on be reasonable! Should the people who have paid for the item be put off and lose their item for someone who is still shopping or browsing and just not got around to paying yet. To me this just seems really silly, kind of the same thing as when a child was playing with a toy a couple hours ago and some kid comes in and picks it up and the child says I had it first . I hope others don't stop shopping with gymboree.com because of this posting...if so you are going to miss out on great clothes for your kids and great deals and savings for your wallet!! THANK GOD FOR GYMBUCKS!!!
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What's this? #2 Consumer Comment
Never Had Any Problems With gymboree.com
AUTHOR: Terri - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, April 25, 2009
I place orders with Gymboree.com at least 2 to 3 times a month and have never had any problems with them. I prefer it to shopping in the store. This is in response to the lady that complained shopping at the online store was a ripoff because by the time she was checking they no longer had the item in the size she needed..that it had been removed from her the shopping cart . She thought that it was wrong for an item not to be hers until you have paid for the item...your shopping cart can be saved for weeks at a time. How could any expect for them to hold up store merchandice for this amount of time! ...it is completely unreasonable for anyone to expect them to do so. She then went on to complain about customer service...saying they were a waste of time. This is completely wrong and untrue in my experience!! I have called at all hours of the night with all sorts of questions and problems and was always treated great, as if I was their most important customer. Also anytime I have bought an item that was later put on sale all I had to do was call and they would take the difference off my credit card. What I''m trying to say is that if you go to the store with the intention of purchasing a certain item and it is no longer available are you going to never shop at this store again...come on be reasonable! Should the people who have paid for the item be put off and lose their item for someone who is still shopping or browsing and just not got around to paying yet. To me this just seems really silly, kind of the same thing as when a child was playing with a toy a couple hours ago and some kid comes in and picks it up and the child says I had it first . I hope others don't stop shopping with gymboree.com because of this posting...if so you are going to miss out on great clothes for your kids and great deals and savings for your wallet!! THANK GOD FOR GYMBUCKS!!!
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What's this? #3 Consumer Comment
Not being able to make a purchase from a shopping cart where you haven't paid is not a ripped off!
AUTHOR: Mommyof1 - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Friday, October 03, 2008
You clearly haven't paid, why would you consider it a rip off? If the jacket is that important to you, then why didn't you drive to the store to purchase it.
Children's place does not have a live shopping cart. So if you made a purchase there, they email to let you know something is missing and then they send you the package-- leaving you no time to cancel the order. My friend made a purchase and brought 10 items, only 3 was in stock and she had to pay for the huge S&H. Had she known that there was only 3 things she wanted in stock, she would not have made a choice. Is that how you would like Gymboree to run their business?
It is better to know that something is not in stock before you check out. Why should a company HAVE to leave your items in the shopping cart and give you a grace period to complete your purchase. You must have no ideas how many people get online and add stuff to their shopping cart and don't check out at all. Would you rather that something you want sits in someone else shopping cart? Or do you just want the company to bend backwards to your needs alone???
Also, if you have spend a moment to read the FAQ om Gymboree.com, you can read their policies on live shopping cart.
http://www.gymboree.com/our_company/help_template.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302778335&bmUID=1223026949872#q1b
Why diss a company and get upset at the poor customer service rep because you could not take a moment to read the FAQ.
Gymboree does not have a problem with their customer service. They have always been great when I shop online and in the stores. The problem is you.
Writing here about Gymboree ripping you off when they did not, and make an issue out of your own issues of not reading the FAQ and understanding how the shopping cart works makes you look like the idiot, not them.
Children's place does not have a live shopping cart. So if you made a purchase there, they email to let you know something is missing and then they send you the package-- leaving you no time to cancel the order. My friend made a purchase and brought 10 items, only 3 was in stock and she had to pay for the huge S&H. Had she known that there was only 3 things she wanted in stock, she would not have made a choice. Is that how you would like Gymboree to run their business?
It is better to know that something is not in stock before you check out. Why should a company HAVE to leave your items in the shopping cart and give you a grace period to complete your purchase. You must have no ideas how many people get online and add stuff to their shopping cart and don't check out at all. Would you rather that something you want sits in someone else shopping cart? Or do you just want the company to bend backwards to your needs alone???
Also, if you have spend a moment to read the FAQ om Gymboree.com, you can read their policies on live shopping cart.
http://www.gymboree.com/our_company/help_template.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302778335&bmUID=1223026949872#q1b
Why diss a company and get upset at the poor customer service rep because you could not take a moment to read the FAQ.
Gymboree does not have a problem with their customer service. They have always been great when I shop online and in the stores. The problem is you.
Writing here about Gymboree ripping you off when they did not, and make an issue out of your own issues of not reading the FAQ and understanding how the shopping cart works makes you look like the idiot, not them.
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What's this?
I can see the point of 'live' inventory and never thinking I was the 'only' customer online at that time, I feel that this site, like other sites with live inventories, should let customers know beforehand that their inventory is 'live' to let them know what to expect.
For instance, as a frequent customer of ticketmaster which also has a 'live' inventory for tickets, a site that tells customers how long (15 minutes for example) they have to complete the purchase for the items they've selected (seats for concerts/sporting events, etc.) before the items are returned to the inventory for other customers to purchase.
With this knowledge, I would have immediately made the purchases I selected before deciding whether or not to continue shopping.
Other sites I've shopped on also offer to 'hold' my cart for a specified amount of time and the items I have chosen remain in the cart until that time.
Taking all factors into consideration, I do consider it a ripoff in this case because the customer is not aware of the 'rules' of the live site before encountering a situation such as the one I encountered.
If I had been aware of the 'live' inventory policy, I would have expected what happened.
Another good example to consider is if a website doesn't disclose that they have a 'no returns or exchanges' policy on purchases but a customer doesn't find out until after attempting to return or exchange the item, would they think THAT was acceptable or would feel the site should have warned them of their 'no returns/no exchange' policy ahead of time???
In that same manner, gymboree should have warned customers of their policy of 'live inventory' as well.
Simple solution - gymboree should have a disclaimer in legible font to let customers know that due to a live inventory, items may or may not be available by the time they proceed to checkout.
It would have helped me and I'm sure it would help others as well.
For instance, as a frequent customer of ticketmaster which also has a 'live' inventory for tickets, a site that tells customers how long (15 minutes for example) they have to complete the purchase for the items they've selected (seats for concerts/sporting events, etc.) before the items are returned to the inventory for other customers to purchase.
With this knowledge, I would have immediately made the purchases I selected before deciding whether or not to continue shopping.
Other sites I've shopped on also offer to 'hold' my cart for a specified amount of time and the items I have chosen remain in the cart until that time.
Taking all factors into consideration, I do consider it a ripoff in this case because the customer is not aware of the 'rules' of the live site before encountering a situation such as the one I encountered.
If I had been aware of the 'live' inventory policy, I would have expected what happened.
Another good example to consider is if a website doesn't disclose that they have a 'no returns or exchanges' policy on purchases but a customer doesn't find out until after attempting to return or exchange the item, would they think THAT was acceptable or would feel the site should have warned them of their 'no returns/no exchange' policy ahead of time???
In that same manner, gymboree should have warned customers of their policy of 'live inventory' as well.
Simple solution - gymboree should have a disclaimer in legible font to let customers know that due to a live inventory, items may or may not be available by the time they proceed to checkout.
It would have helped me and I'm sure it would help others as well.
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What's this? #5 Consumer Comment
You better stay off the interweborzzzz
AUTHOR: John - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, March 01, 2008
You clearly are clueless. Do you call and make a store empty their customers out just you YOU can get what YOU feel entitled to? You can't possibly think that out of the millions of people in the US-much less the world-that YOU were the ONLY ONE shopping on that site at any given time. A transaction anywhere is not complete until it is paid for. There is no ripoff.
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What's this? #6 Consumer Comment
Was it really YOUR jacket ?
AUTHOR: Michelle - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, March 01, 2008
As most online shoppers know "live" inventory is very common and much preferred .
look at it this way , maybe the other person had been shopping too, and already had the jacket in THEY'RE cart before you added it to yours , so then would you have been the thief if you had checked out before them ?
now another scenario , one many experienced online shoppers dread much more than the "swiped item at checkout"
You carefully pick your items out ,spending considerable time in choosing each , all showing in stock , add them to your cart , and check out .
You get a confirmation email , your order was received !! YAY ?
they bill your credit card, and you anxiously await the delivery of the new additions to your collection .
But wait ,2 days later you get an email .. sorry the item you requested is no longer available.. what , wait , why .... but that was MY item , i already paid !
Seems the website doesnt have "live inventory" and the item had been sold days before :(
3 days later the hold for funds falls off your account balance ,and your just well SOL !
See why i would much rather prefer the "live" inventory ?
Sorry but your report just isnt a ripoff , if we all reported everytime we were beaten to "the sale" there would be triple the amount of reports on here !
look at it this way , maybe the other person had been shopping too, and already had the jacket in THEY'RE cart before you added it to yours , so then would you have been the thief if you had checked out before them ?
now another scenario , one many experienced online shoppers dread much more than the "swiped item at checkout"
You carefully pick your items out ,spending considerable time in choosing each , all showing in stock , add them to your cart , and check out .
You get a confirmation email , your order was received !! YAY ?
they bill your credit card, and you anxiously await the delivery of the new additions to your collection .
But wait ,2 days later you get an email .. sorry the item you requested is no longer available.. what , wait , why .... but that was MY item , i already paid !
Seems the website doesnt have "live inventory" and the item had been sold days before :(
3 days later the hold for funds falls off your account balance ,and your just well SOL !
See why i would much rather prefer the "live" inventory ?
Sorry but your report just isnt a ripoff , if we all reported everytime we were beaten to "the sale" there would be triple the amount of reports on here !
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What's this? 
