Jos. A. Bank

We ordered my fiancé’s suit online and had it shipped to this store for tailoring. We came in for the fitting and I stood out in the store as he tried it on. While waiting, I watched the one employee on the floor jump around between the 4 sets of customers in the store. He was assisting a man and his teenage son and the man held up a blazer with a red sweater vest under it and asked the employee, do you like this? The employee looked at it and said «not really» and walked away. I was surprised by the employee’s tone and the customer clearly was too, looking completely taken aback. I guess the employee noticed when he turned back around that the customer looked as if he had been scolded because he followed up with, is it for a Christmas party? Then it’s fine. We wrapped up the suit fitting and waited a few days to return to pick it up. My fiancé tried on the tailored suit, and I noticed a shiny line on one of the shoulders and part of the collar. It looked like someone took too hot of an iron to it. I pointed it out to the same employee and he sent someone to get the tailor. He came over and repeatedly said he didn’t see it. Then he told me it was a line from the shoulder pad. I said no, this has a shine to it. He exclaimed «the whole suit is shiny». He had my fiancé take the suit off so he could examine it more closely. He finally sees the line and then moves to the other shoulder to show me that it is the design of the suit, only to find there is no matching line on the other side. At this point he looks at the tailoring tag on the sleeve and says, oh it was altered, it’s from the chalk, and lunges the suit back at us. I ask him what they are going to do about this chalk line on the suit valued at $ 750 that we bought for him to get married in. He said it will come out at the cleaners. I then went to the manager, wanting her assurance that if we took the suit to the cleaners, and it didn’t come out, that if I brought it back I wasn’t going to be told they couldn’t do anything because I took it to the cleaners. She just stared at me and blinked. The man appeared on his cell phone, looking irritated at me, and said «I told you it’s residue from the chalk». I tell him my concern about bringing it back and he replies «at Joseph A Banks we pride ourself on excellent customer service», (when does that start?) and he returned to his cell phone, walking away. The manager still never gave me a response or assurance that it would be taken care of. A young employee we had seen once before was very nice and said «I see what you’re talking about, and I understand your concern». I let the manager know that the other man had been rude to customers both times we had been there. She stared and blinked at me again. We took the suit to the cleaners. The chalk residue line did NOT come out. At this point, I don’t want to ever step foot in this awful store again — so he can just get married with a line down his back and if anyone notices I’ll be sure to give Jos A Banks credit where it is due.

Honestly, I would give this location zero stars if I could.
The one star is because my husband/​then-​fiancé bought his wedding suit from this location in 2010 and it was a smooth transaction. Fast forward to five years later, in mid-​late September of this year. My husband is unemployed and has lost about 30 lbs. He needed a new suit for job interviews and my sister had given him a Jos. A. Bank gift card for Christmas, so naturally we went to this location, since it’s the closest.
The initial consultation was great. The manager seemed very knowledgeable and helped us with the cut of the suit, the fit, and even with coordinating a shirt and tie. I was impressed with his attention to detail. He tried selling us more than one suit (with some buy one get 2 free sale) but our money is tight, so we just went with the one. I should also note that their computer system was being upgraded at this time, and there was some trouble getting our gift card to scan (more on this later). We finally got everything squared away, and the suit was promised October 5^th, roughly 10 days after purchase.
October came and JAB called about his suit, but upon a visit it still wasn’t right. No big deal, because two visits for tailoring (one to do the major work, and one to tweak it) are well within reason. Turns out it wasn’t right by the second tailoring visit either.
From then on out my husband was in and out of the shop – no less than half a dozen times more, with each time being more frustrating than the last. By the 8^th or 9^th visit, we had both given up. Looking back on his previous wedding suit purchase, it was a breeze! What was taking so long this time? It seemed like with every return visit the suit was either the same or not fixed, and there was someone new working on it. I think I had fewer consultations with my wedding gown! My husband even spotted an ad on a job website for a Tailor position at this location. Big red flag!
My husband had an interview on November 6^th, and the suit STILL didn’t fit properly on November 4^th, almost a month after the promised completion date! He told them that they were out of time, and that he could no longer take a chance that they will suddenly get it right after so many previous failures, and that he wanted a refund.
Remember the part about the computer systems being upgraded when we bought it? Well, this is where is gets even more maddening. My hubby used to work in IT/​QA and he said they apparently didn’t migrate the data from the old system to the new system, so they couldn’t bring up our transaction, even though we had a receipt and everything! I was about to go into full-​on bitch mode but I stayed calm. All told, we were able to recoup about $ 400. They had to eat the cost of the suit and the tailoring. Not our fault.
We ended up going across the street to Burlington Coat Factory, and I was able to find him a nice Lauren Ralph Lauren suit for less than $ 200! It fit great off the rack and was actually very similar to what we were going for at JAB. He was even able to use the shirt/​tie combo and new belt/​shoes he had bought. For what we paid, he looked like a million bucks!
Needless to say, we’ll never be going back to this location again. Apparently, JAB has been acquired by Mens Wearhouse, so there you have it. Do yourself a favor, guys, skip this shop and buy off the rack if you can find your sizes, and get it tailored at a mom and pop place. You’ll save yourself a lot of heartache, time, and a TON of money.

OK, so I am new to the Houston area and cannot figure out why I receive such poor service sometimes. It has to be because I dress so casually sometimes. I went into this store with a button down plaid shirt, cargo shorts and boat shoes… same way I was dressed yesterday when I received amazing customer service at Allen Edmonds & at the Upholstery Shop (yes, I was wearing different clothes).
I was greeted in a fairly cold manner upon entering. The employee asked what I was looking for and she began to show me what they had. I told her that I was looking for brown herringbone pants and/​or suit. She said that they did not have anything and probably would not. I tried a pair of pants on and she vanished for a while. Upon her magical reappearance, I explained a few other styles that may work. She said they had nothing. I then began to try on suit jacket myself & she just stood there acting like I could not afford to shop here and was wasting her time… seriously, it is Jos A Bank & I am the only non-​employee in the store!!! I could not believe that a salesperson would not attempt to find me something from their online inventory or get my name and # in case something comes in this Fall (I am looking for Fall colors). I guess I will just drive up to Nordstrom next week. Should I wear a Tux to ensure that I get helped? Maybe I could rent one for Jos A. Bank… nope!