A Mommy Story

Have I mentioned how hard it is to dress Cordy? The kid has a long torso, shorter legs, and isn’t lacking in hips or butt. (More proof that she wasn’t switched at birth.) As a result, very few clothes fit her well. Anything that fits her waist and hips is always too long, and if the length is right, chances are it’s skin tight around her middle.

But I still had high hopes that Old Navy would work out. After all, she can wear their shorts and t-shirts without any problem. She’s never been able to wear jeans, but it was time to try the jeans – she’s four years old, and she’s noticed that other kids wear jeans and she doesn’t. Just to be safe, I ordered a pair of boys jeans, which are always looser in fit than girls. I also ordered some knit pants.

My mom paid for the online sale as a birthday gift for Cordy. When the package arrived, it was a disaster. Everything was way too long – far too long to even hem. The size 6 pants fit well in the midsection, but you could fold the extra length back over her feet. The boy jeans were a little too relaxed – not only were they too long, you couldn’t even tell where her legs were in these clown pants. I had to return them.

When I went to Old Navy today, my primary worry was that the store wouldn’t have the same items in a size 5. But I found each item easily, and decided to try two pairs of jeans made for girls instead of boys. I walked up to the register and explained that I needed to exchange two pairs of pants, return one pair of jeans, and buy two pairs of jeans.

“Oh, we no longer do exchanges for online returns,” I was told, “We can only do a return and then you can buy them again.”

“But these were purchased as a gift. Can’t I just switch the sizes? Or get a merchandise credit?”

“No, they must be processed as a return and the money returned to the card it was paid with. If you have the same card, you can charge it back to the card again.”

“I don’t have the card – I told you these were a gift.”

“Well then you’ll have to use another form of payment.”

I was sure she wasn’t understanding me. “Let me get this straight: if someone buys my children a gift online and I need a different size, I have to return the items, and the money will go back to the gift-giver, and then I can then pay for the items with my own money. How does that make sense?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the policy.”

“Well it’s a stupid policy then.”

I’m more than a little angry with Old Navy over this. Unless you read some fine print written on a different page on the website, you’d never know this was the policy. Instead they advertise their “Returns can be made online or in-store!” making you think it’s all so easy.

While I do like Old Navy’s clothing, this has discouraged me from ever buying from them online. Which means I’ll be buying less from them in general, since how often do I get the chance to go clothes shopping?

And I’ll never again suggest Old Navy if relatives want to buy clothing for the girls online. I don’t care how big the sale is – having to pay for the exchanged items myself and then ask my mom to send me a check when she gets the refund to her credit card is a hassle. Old Navy is unnecessarily complicating the returns process when I only wanted to exchange two size 6 pants for size 5 instead.

Sorry, Old Navy. You need to change your policies or you won’t be seeing me in your store again anytime soon.