Ann Taylor

I’m the one person who thought Ann Taylor wasn’t for «women like me». Seriously, when people said they shopped at Ann Taylor, I would roll my eyes and suck my teeth.
So what made me walk in? They had a sale, and the dress in the window was classic but sexy. Reluctantly, I walked in. The sale ladies were all smiling and looked so happy. I was thinking that drank the Ann Taylor Kool Aid because no one could be that happy working at this boring place.
I noticed that this place has the most beautiful dresses for all occasions. Unfortunately, those dresses were out of my price range. I get to the sales section, and those dresses were equally as cute but 50% off the already reduced price YAY! As I was looking, Alessa asked if I needed help. She promptly took my dresses in the dressing room, and she brought in shoes so that I will know how the dresses look with heels.
I stayed in the dressing room a little longer because I was amazed how perfectly the dresses fit. I felt and looked great, and Alessa made experience even better.
Alessa stated «If a dress doesn’t make you want to dance in the mirror, then it isn’t for you. She must have seen my feet moving…
I ended up with 4 dresses for $ 115, and they are gorgeous!
Needless to say, I’m a fan of Ann Taylor.

This has pretty much been the worst shopping experience of my life — up to and including the fact that I’m not sure I’ll ever consider Ann Taylor as a brand going forward. A *LOT* would have to change for me to consider changing my mind.
Here’s what’s up:
1) As I stated in my previous review, I went to this store looking for a basic, black skirt suit — which, in Washington D.C. (e.g. Suitlandia) — should not be hard to do. Even more people are required to wear suiting to work in this town than in NYC, proportionately. Yet, as stated previously, there was only *1* such suit in stock, in store, in season during my first visit. Unacceptable.
2) I inquired about ordering said suit online — you know, like one can do relatively easily at Nordstrom (e.g. DTCs [Direct to Customer]). Not only did Ann Taylor not have this capability, they turned me away — to go home, on my own time, on my own dime — to not only navigate their eCommerce site, but to create my order. Guess how businesses lose customers? Turning them away. Just as Ann Taylor did to me.
(Note: J. Crew has an in-​store capability which allows sales people to use iPads to do the equivalent of DTCs at Nordstrom for their customers. Good job, J. Crew! #winning)
3) I actually did go home and spend ~1 hour navigating their website to mix and match their separates — ensuring fabrics/​colors were the same (not fun!) and ordered approximately $ 1,500 worth of merchandise to my home. I ordered ~3−4 suits or something like that (I really couldn’t tell you now, since it arrived at my house in 1 box & 3 separate packages — unmarked, difficult to identify, and a massive pile of separates. Confusing, time-​consuming, and not worth my hourly bill rate.
4) Because I am loyal and dedicated and detail-​oriented and determined, I keep chiding myself (now) to try to match the separates myself so that all the above outlined time has not been wasted, and yet, I’m sitting here trying to match SKU #s to order forms in order to identify style, fabric type, and correct color, so that I don’t wear a skirt & jacket that don’t match (e.g. not a suit!).
This is one hot mess… :(
5) I did finally just decide to try on the separates for fit — before I waste all this time matching, and guess what? The sizing is not standardized, nor consistent with anything remotely similar to other vendors. For instance, I wear size X and bought that size at Macy’s, and yet size X+2 does not fit me at Ann Taylor! What?!?
I want to just return all this — now — but I’m going to at least do due diligence, and try on all the pieces — if for no other reason than to justify all the time wasted above to myself. Frustrating to have spent so much time wasted and to leave this customer experience feeling so utterly disenchanted.
Have I also mentioned the «personal» message to me from Kate Hudson? «I want to personally thank you for shopping with us. I hope you feel as chic as you look in your new purchases!» Guess what? I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know what I look like in said purchases, not to mention know what I purchased, not to mention thanking me «personally». In other words: outdated marketing tactics.
ProTip:
««Consumers don’t want to feel the messages have been on a shelf that need to be queued up from some master plan.» Brands that play in the social space in the hopes of having true conversations with the customers need to «be more vulnerable and spontaneous.»
Source:

I just don’t care for their sales associate and this location is always too busy. I