Linens 'n Things (LNT.com) order processing SUCKS!

Linens 'n Things' online order processing SUCKS! Their online process via LNT.com, is a case study in how not to do online order processing. There is nothing wrong with their website's add-to-cart, go-to-checkout, pay, close process itself. It is pretty much the standard checkout process we see in most online stores. But there are underlying issues with how the whole system works, which makes for a bad customer service experience.

One small issue can break the whole chain of of the buying process with Linens 'n Things, and nobody seems to be able to fix it from there on. That is the symptom of a very badly designed system. In a robust well-designed system, a problem would be contained within a small boundary, without impacting the whole process. Moreover, it would allow for a fast resolution and smooth continuation of business. Clearly, Linens 'n Things does not have such a system/process. Talking to their customer service people, I get the impression that Linens 'n Things is not aware of the seriousness of these issues and how much they inconvenience the customers. Here's a sequential list of their issues:

1. Store inventory status not accurate on the website
The whole problem starts if you want to order something on the LNT.com website, and then pick it up from a store location of your choice. People might want to do this to avoid shipping charges and/or to take advantage of a discount or special pricing which is available through the website. Now, the LnT website does not have accurate status of the store's inventory. So, it might show that the item is available in the store, allowing you to complete the order, even though the store might actually not have the item in stock! In the age of real-time inventory updates, it is an unpardonable sin to tell the customer that you have something in stock and take the order, when you actually don't have it. Promising and not delivering results in greater customer disappointment, than if the customer was told upfront that the item is not in stock.

2. Summarily cancelling an in-store pickup order
If the store from which you want to pickup your online order does not have your item, they will immediately cancel your order. They will not attempt to get the item from their warehouse or from another location. They will not give you the option of waiting a few more days for the item to come back in stock. They will not ask you if you want to pick it up from another location in the city. They will not even offer you the option of converting your order into a shipped order, instead of an in-store pickup. They will simply and summarily cancel your order. Worse, the cancellation of the order results in a stock, automated email which does not tell you the exact reason why the order was cancelled. It simply tells you that your order was cancelled and the item you ordered is not available for pickup at the store!

3. Not being able to change cancelled orders
Once an order has been cancelled, you (the customer) have to go through the ordering process from A-to-Z, if you want to pick up the item from another store or have it shipped to your home. The customer service representatives on the phone or the clerk at the store cannot route your order to another store or convert it into a shipped order. They simply cannot do anything with the cancelled order. The result is that, if there was any special pricing or discount at the time you placed the order, you could lose it by the time your original order is cancelled and you are able to order again. Even worse is what happens to your gift card, if you placed the original order using a gift card.

4. Charging gift cards for cancelled orders
If you use a Linens 'n Things gift card to place an order, and your order gets cancelled, your gift card will still show that it was charged the amount of your order. It takes Linens 'n Things five to TEN days to restore your gift card balance. That SUCKS BIG TIME! So, if your gift card purchase item is not available in one store and your order is cancelled, but the item is available in another store, you cannot just go and buy your stuff from the other store if you want to use the gift card. You have to wait five to TEN days before the gift card can be used. Making the customer wait for no fault of theirs, in the age of the Internet and instant gratification, is the BIGGEST SIN of all online business practices!

I went through this whole sequence of issues not once but twice in the last two months. About $150 worth of money is tied-up in currently unusable Linens 'n Things gift cards. All I did was to order an item and choose to pick it up at a store, which had it in stock as per their website. After my order was cancelled, the website was updated to show that the store in question did not have my item. The last time I had a very similar problem, the website continued to show that the store had the item in stock, even after the store cancelled my order for not having the items.

There is nothing that anyone from LnT has been able to do to resolve problems 1., 2., 3. or 4. The only thing I have been able to get out of them is a weak promise of restoring my gift card balance in a "couple of days or so", and that does not include the weekend! So, including the weekend, I may still have to wait about 5 more days! I am fuming right now, and hence this rant! I hope someone at Linens 'n Things sees this and cleans up their online order processing system, which SUCKS right now.

Updated on Jan 14th, 2014 HRS:

1. I had attempted to place my first order on Thursday, Jan 4th. This order was cancelled and my gift card was charged.

2. After posting this on my blog, on Saturday, Jan 6th, I sent an email to Linens 'n Things online customer service. They replied back with the same old b.s. Worse, they told me that it would take 2 more weeks for my gift card balance to be restored. Clearly, they had not read in my blog that one of their support supervisors had promised me on the phone that my gift card balance would be restored in a "couple of days".

3. On the evening of Tuesday, Jan 9th, my gift card balance was still not restored. I called their phone customer service and reminded them of the supervisor's promise to restore the balance in a couple of days. The phone support person told me that they showed no record of their supervisor promising or requesting for my balance to be restored in two days. She said all the supervisors had gone home for the day and I should call the next morning.

4. On Wednesday, Jan 10th, I called LnT phone support again. The person who answered the phone this time told me that they did show a record of my having spoken to their supervisor the week before, and that they had over 50,000 cases they were trying to work due to the holiday gift season, that they were working round the clock, and that my balance would be restored soon, and I should just wait. He also told me that he will flag my request again and hopefully my balance will be restored in 24 to 48 hours.

5. On Thursday, Jan 11th, my gift card balance was restored in early afternoon. This is almost exactly one week after the original order, which got cancelled. I placed the order again on Thursday afternoon using the gift cards and about 3 hours later, my order was filled and ready for pickup!

Curious about what I was so keen on buying? This:
It's a Linens 'n Things Professional Stainless Steel 17-piece Cookware set. Although their website calls it "Everything Kitchen" brand, the label on the box and on the vessels says 'Linens 'n Things' brand. It is a beautiful heavy gauge 18/10 (whatever that means!) stainless steel set with encapsulated aluminium and copper disk bonded to the base, with riveted solid stainless steel handles. The set costs $199 plus taxes. I was able to get a 20% discount with an online discount code. The set includes:

• 10" Covered Skillet with Assist Handle
• 12" Open skillet
• 1.5 qt. Covered Saucepan
• 2.5 qt. Covered Saucepan with a double-boiler
• 3.5 qt. Covered Saucepan with a steamer insert
• 5 qt. Covered Dutch Oven with a steamer basket
• a whopping 12 qt. Covered Stockpot!
• Pasta Insert for the stockpot