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The sad truth about anf, from the inside:
I have been reading many of the complaints on this and many other web sites involving abercrombie & fitch stores. I have been working for this company for nearly 5 years now and i am the store manager at a busy location.
Let me clear some things up for you. Most of these complaints are very reasonable and even if they seem astounding to you, trust me when i tell you that these are very typical problems that come up. Believe me when i tell you that i am truthfully on your side, but our penny pinching corporate office keeps our hands tied so tightly that we often seem like the bad guy in these events.
Everything i will tell you now is true. I am hoping that maybe sharing these secrets will help this company make some changes, especially in customer service areas because we all know that it is needed.
First off, there is no excuse for the rudeness and bad attitudes that many of you say you've experienced. I know that working in these stores can sometimes get stressful beyond belief, but i am able to keep myself composed so others should also. Abercrombie requires its managers to work 45, sometimes 50 hour weeks without overtime pay. We spend that amount of time in the same high - volume music pumping, cologne - drenched store you visit for a short time. Imagine the headaches we go home with everyday! All these complaints that are a result of ridiculous anf policies, we have to handle all day, every day - with very little we can do about any of them.
Abercrombie is all about the dollar. It doesn't matter who it takes it from. It's not just the customers, it's also its workers. Store associates make minimum wage. Managers are the lowest paid of all major retail stores, yet they have strict requirements that managers have at least a 4 year degree and meet the company's "look policy. " < - more on this later! Most managers want out, but no other reputable company will hire us because of the hole anf digs us in. So we are stuck!
Another not so well known fact about anf is its use of foreign labor, sweat shops, and even rumored to use child labor in its manufacturing! Don't believe me? Google it! Abercrombie was inducted into the "sweatshop hall of shame" for its unethical practices. Look at any item of clothing you own. Nothing is made in the usa. The most productive factories used by anf are now in indonesia, vietnam, china, india, guatamala, and even pakistan. It is said that these workers are forced to work all day for pennies! All so anf can make that mighty dollar.
One of the complains i read actually said "i will never step foot in abercrombie again. I am taking my business to hollister. " i am surprised that many consumers still don't know that hollister is owned by abercrombie & fitch and practices all the exact same poor policies.
I wish i could address all the issues here, but it would be impossible considering how many issues there really are. Every day i come across incidents that i know should be on a television news special like dateline nbc. Chris hansen, take notice. The truth is out there, but it isn't in the public eye. I really believe if all consumers knew about anf's practices and policies, the company would be either out of business within a year or the necessary changes would finally be made.
For example, the company requires all management to "recruit" the greatest looking associates. This is a requirement. Every time we find a beautiful person to hire in, the least attractive worker on the roster falls off. They aren't necessarily fired right away, but they just aren't scheduled anymore. Eventually that employee just gives up. We are able to track how often that employee comes in to check their schedule, which is done on a computer system, so once that employee goes 2 or 3 weeks without checking his or her schedule, we terminate them for "job abandonment. "
Next, management is required to hold at least a bachelor's degree in any fiend. Mine was in a fine art. It doesn't matter, as long as we look good in their clothes. For the low pay we start at, nobody would take this job other than fresh out of college graduates. This is how most of us got our start. We are actually "recruited" also by management staff. They go to local colleges in search of good looking students who are near graduation. They are hired and trained from scratch. For this reason, most of these managers have never really worked with the general public and don't know how to handle any situation. I have gone through many managers at my stores, and yes i can teach them the rules and how to fold, but it's much harder to teach them common sense or people skills.
Now lets talk about company policy. Of all the important things we are told about in our stores, customer service is never a focus. In writing, maybe, but never truthfully. I have been told to outright lie to customers if it makes things go the way we want. And yes, this year the company stopped their customer service phone number and turned it into an email address instead. Good luck getting a response on that one!
Our district managers are trained to spot secret shoppers, which our company sends out weekly. (You wonder where all your ripped - off money goes? There is one answer!) as long as we get good secret shop scores, the company leaves us alone.
All new employees are required to watch a video about loss prevention. It shows employees how to steal. Theft is a huge problem for anf, and the company loses many, many millions of dollars annually from it. That is the reason management is told to deny most refunds / exchanges unless there is almost certain reasoning that everything is in perfect order. This is why so many of you experience issues with returns. Even when the manager knows he will return or exchange the item, it is his job to make it as uncomfortable for you as possible, to discourage more returns in the future.
It is true that the company cares more about whether we have a hot new girl working than if we made a customer angry or not. We are to keep the store looking up to "standard" so assossiates have to constatly fold and replenish, regardless if there is a long line at the register.
We have two main positions for associates. One is called "model" and the other is called "impact team. " the model is called that so we can legally hire based on looks. You will not ever ever ever, unless there was a huge mistake somewhere, never ever ever ever find an unattractive model nor an old model nor a fat model working at one of our stores. I have hired some models i considered good looking, only to take heat from my regional manager. They have actually said to me about several of my hires, "that person should not be working for our company. " this was before i learned the now commonly practiced drill of changing schedules when we are being audited. Yes, we actually switch shifts around when we know our dm or rm are coming to town, in order to have the best looking workers on duty at that time. We simply lie to the "ugly" models and tell them that we are over on budgeted hours and we have to cut some random shifts. Easy fix.
If we did a company wide age demographic study of all models, i absolutely guarantee you will find that 95% or more will be under the age of 25 and that 75% or more are under the age of 21. Even though we start hiring at age 18, this is just to avoid the laws for minors working long hours or taking breaks and so forth. We overwork all our associates. I also guarantee that a vast majority of models are still white, despite losing a class action lawsuit some time ago about this exact thing. We do hire more minorities, but we stick them in the back. That is the second position i mentioned, called impact team.
The impact team is the group of workers who work in the stockroom, mostly unseen, processing incoming shipment and merchandise. These people do come on the sales floor to place the merchandise where it belongs, but they return right to the back when finished with that simple task. Take the race study of impactors, and the numbers will switch. More than 75% of minority workers are part of the impact team. We are encouraged to hire a certain number of minorities, but company "look policy" standards are set up so that if they don't fit the typical anf look, we can't let them be models. So we then imply that we have an immediate opening for "impact team" and voila, we got ourself a minority to meet the numbers game, but yet no customer ever has to see.
Oh, one more unbelieveable thing regarding this whole minority thing. Abercrombie & fitch actually put a policy in place earlier this year, that officially spoke about hiring minorities and in that policy, it was stated that workers of non - white backgrounds are to be referred to as "people of color. " this is not a joke. Look it up! "person of color" is the 2009 abercrombie & fitch official designation to minority employees.
I'm just hitting the beginning here. I might consider doing a follow up, or even writing a book. It is unbelievable how bad of a company abercrombie & fitch is. Our ceo, mike jeffries is a selfish idiot who got lucky once and still holds a position that he should have lost a long time ago. In fact, he is constantly criticized by prestigious publications on his imcompetence. He was voted "worst performing ceo" last year. He has been called "most overpayed ceo" by a major financial news publication. His company's stocks have plummeted.
Yeah, i threw this posting together quickly. I noticed a bunch of grammatical errors and typos. I don't claim to be the smartest person in the world, but i know i'd do a better job running this company than mike jeffries.
I wrote this thing for free.
Idiot mike jeffries gets paid multi - millions.
Yet by writing this, i probably just did more good for anf in ten minutes than he has the past 5 years.
It's time for change!
Demand abercrombie & fitch become a better company or make a stand and stop shopping at our stores. I might lose my job, but oh well, it'll probably be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Bm
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I bought 18 mens shirt and polos worth almost $200 in abercrombie and fitch in Willowbrook Mall space #137. Afterwards, I asked for an extra bag because Amanda, the manager, only gave me one bag for all those 18 items. She said, "No, we're not giving anymore bags" in a rude fashion and I saw right beside her were a ton of extra bags. I asked her again, but I got the same reply. I know that this isn't how a manager should treat a client. The date and time of this event was 2011-07-10 at 13:53 at cashier ID # [protected]. I work at customer service too and my satisfaction was not guaranteed and as a person working for customer service this deserves action(retraining). Her behavior wasn't something a manager should enact. I am hoping that actions will be taken for this matter. Thank you.
I am very upset with Abercrombie & Fitch as they never refunded my money into my bank account and its been over a month now. They keep giving me different stories everytime I call them about my due money for a coat for my daugther that I never got in the mail. They keep saying it is coming and then are going to take out $22 of my money for nothing I have to show for it. I want my full amount due me, $113.00 into my bank account. They have caused me a stressful buying experience.
Is there anyway I can get in contact with? I'm current a assistant manager for Hollister Co. and I would love to share some information with you.
Well folks, it is an extreme interesting story. Thank you for the person who wrote some of the internal structure of this corporation. I agree not only 100% but 1000%! Not only Abercrombie & Fitch but also Hollister and Gilly Hicks is horrible. I am buying clothes from all of the names but what I often experience in any of their stores is shocking and probably unique in a clothing store.
In the near future I will even video tape and upload it on youtube so people start opening their eyes, what is really going on at A&F and Hollister. I often try to get clearance sale items from them. You will not believe it, when I try to buy more than one of the same item, I often get refused at the check-out. I usually hear the following phrase from the person who works there: "We are sorry but we can not sell you all what you want to buy. Brand protection! in three years I was at least 20 times refused to buy and I could leave the store without a single item. I also noticed that, when you come to shop frequently, this company takes pictures of you through their dome cameras installed inside. I can tell you exactly how they catch you as a frequent shopper. Whenever you use a credit card and swipe it through their system, the exact time is captured and a picture of you can be taken at any time to trace you back. And now the highlight of this: If you are not welcomed anymore, they even show your picture around to all store associates that they shall report any person who is on their target list. What happens then is that, as soon as you want to pay, the manager comes and tells you that you can not buy. This corporation is so exessively greedy for money that they disobey any normal rule as a retailer. They discriminated people before and they still do it today. They pay their girls and boys a minimal wage of $7.50 per hour but get their expensive clothes produced mainly in China and pay the lowest price to get it produced. For instance, an A&F blue jeans does not cost them more than $8.50 production cost (and that includes shipping to the store in the US!). In the store they sell them for $78 and up.
This company runs several stores abroad, mainly in Germany. This nation is crazy to wear their clothes. And now read carefully the following case. Whenever they bring out new styles, they usually sell the old items as "clearance" in the store with up to 50% when noone wants to have it anymore. Not so in stores abroad! What they do instead, they ship all items back to America and sell it online or distribute it to various US stores and sell it there as clearance. Under the bottom line, lately A&F has closed many stores in the US as their profit was declining and did not reach their expectation no more. People who worked for them all lost their jobs. But their policy is: Better close 10 US stores and open one store abroad which covers up the entire profit for 10 closed US-storews. This is called greedyness pure! They do not care about their employees, they do not bother about customers, they only see dollar notes in their eyes. Give this company a "f...k!" Reconsider buying from other retailers who still have sense for people who come into their stores to buy from them.
Im a going for a interveiw for loss prevention agent. Does anybody no about this position in A&F?
My wife works for hollister and she had AAA card and her card got cancelled because she wants to buy some clothes for me and took money from me, and the person in the till refused to take the payment and telling that she can't take money from me, lol who the f*** is Anf to tell that a wife can't take money from his husband to buy some thing and the rudest and most embarrassing thing is the manager there cancelled her AAA card and trust us he was a complete jack ### and threatening my wife that he will follow up her store manager and discuss about her manager, this happened in the London store just two days back
I just started working there two months ago. I agree with these complaints but also sometimes feel great because i love working there so much. The major problem i have is not being scheduled at all some weeks or mostly call ins other weeks. If i wasn't good looking enough why did they even hire me in the first place? I think i have the "look" they want and i make sure to always follow the look policy but there are some people that work at the store that don't look very good and get shifts all the time. Since i live in a mostly african american area of the US most of the people there are actually minorities. Even my assistant manager is colored. I usually get placed as front room model when i work. I am a white female. I am very nice to customers and try to help any way i can. This is my first part time job and they told me they would train me but i have yet to learn how to do anything. All i ever fold is clearance because thats all i have been taught how to fold. I think all of this, the bad part, is all because my manager took my picture with her phone and it looked horrible and thats the one she sent in to the DM. She is really fake and snobby but i love my assistant manager and usually he is the one there when i work. But hopefully they will do something about my hours and maybe i can use this experience to find another job.
I work here now. You have to be approved by your district manager if they think you are pretty or good looking enough and those people get the most shifts. I have some really awesome managers who do not agree with the company at all and tend to not follow all the strict rules and have less attractive people who can do the job better work more often and our store tends to look amazing because of this. We are only suppose to get 1 maybe 2 shifts a week so many people complain. We have to wear very specific outfits, which are abercrombie clothes. In the associate handbook and on our associate card it says YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO BUY ABERCROMBIE CLOTHES, this is bull because if you are not wearing their clothes and their look you get in trouble and if the district manager is there you have to buy something off the AAA (which are only 50% off but we are required to wear/buy them) or you have to go home. They don't give managers enough hours to barely even cover the day with people and they let the good lookingpeople get away with anything...like not showing up. The company is extremely messed up and makes their employees feel degraded and anyone with a self image problem (Such as my self) take a lesson and DONT work their because it will not help in anyway...needless to say im leaving in 2 weeks and getting a new job, wish i had done it sooner.
I am so gladded some one posted this. I will admit that when i was younger i would occasionally drag my parents into anf, only to hav them complain that it was very expensive and smelled. but anyhow... although i thought my parents were uncool i am now 17 and realize that they were right. recently, my boyfriend who is 18 and has been looking for a job forever, was hired by anf. i dont kno if it's like this everywhere but at the mall where he was hired they have interviews every week! I am assuming it is because they lose their employees so quickly, do to their minimum wage pay and rediculous requirements. I went on their website to find a place to complain, which i could not find, but saw something interesting. They actually have an area telling about their "diversity" is this a joke? This has to be the most undiverse store ever created. their clothes all look the same and are very plain and so are the people wearing them. My boyfriend, who many people would agree is very attractive, works in the back. I now have reason to believe it is because of the color of his skin. he is mulato (half black and half white), about 6 ft tall, and does not usually wear there clothes but can pull it off fairly well. i also do not meen t0 sound rediculous but i am a fan of facial hair and they even told him to shave the small area of neatly trimmed hair on his chin. I kno its all about looking clean but trust me, hes 1 of the most clean looking people i know and it upsets me when people think they have the authority to change your individual look. It's his highschool job, not a full time job where hes actually earning a decent sallary. a friend of mine also had a interview at the same place and the desperate snobs offered her the job as well as long as she was willing to take out her new ear piercing she got for her birthday and remove her nail polish. how does having painted nails affect how u can fold clothes? needless to say, she quickly realized how they are and did not accept the job offering. I was outraged by what i heard about them before but after reading this i am just shocked. I hope they go bankrupt. It is no suprise they don't have a complaint area on their website.
VERY TRUE.
Oh gosh guys...I'm starting next week at a&f and after reading this article and all the comments I am so nervous :/ I am an 18 year old Hispanic guy. There was one black person that I saw and a cute Asian girl that has been woarking there for three years. What makes me feel better is that I came and applied on the day of the interview (an hour before it started) and later found out that I was hired that same day (a friend works thread she told me) as a model and got the call a couple days later. Buttttttt the hiring manager is gay and noticed he was being really nice to me. I guess I'm a bit glad I pretty much got the job based off my looks but its kind of sad when you think about it. I'm nowhere near buff as the typical model there but we'll see how long I last...I can't believe all this stuff is mostly true.
I use to buy several items online store as I have 3 kids, when the clearance started 3 days ago, I took the chance to buy the items at a fair price and guess what happened ?!?! They said they they cancelled my orders to protect their name and resale is prohibited by them ! Resale ? They think that they are so good that someone can make money resaling their stuff ? Make me laugh ! Look at the prices ! What a coincidence all I bought was at same size, of course, size of my kids ! What a good sales person I am, I sale only one size !
Yeh I see you a better at being a smart [censor], you are a miserable person..Ive seen it in your other answers, you like to tell stupid jokes to try to see some form of humor in your life. Na I dont have a job, I just go into expensive clothing stores without money and spend almost $400. You are an idiot..I called the police because I needed it documented. FYI, my receipt says Kempshall Jacket, they all do with the same bar code, there is no specific color on it. Please dont reply to my post if it aggrivates you so, I do believe a receipt is the paperwork neccessary for an exchange..Calling the cops for something stupid? At least I dont sit on here and tell jokes for a social life..
I have a question.. Can you actually be terminated if you never signed a write up?
I have worked for Abercrombie and Fitch for almost three years now and at all three of their stores before(Abercrombie and fitch, Hollister, and Abercrombie kids) I completely agree with everything you said and can say that i have seen all of it happen. One thing about being a model that really pisses me off is how much we get paid! I started out at $7.50 an hour and then was told raises were given to a few workers every year who"worked the hardest." this basically ment whoever was the best looking in the stores, but having been at the company so long now and never seeing anybody get a raise i have been told the company stopped raises because of their financial situation. what crap, seeing as you said the CEO has been named multiple times as one of the most overpaid CEO's. To top it all off i transferred stores when i moved away for college only to be dropped down to $7.25 an hour! Completely ridiculous so i asked why i had been demoted by a quarter. My manager told me that salaries were based on store location and there was nothing i could do to change it. Im now looking for other jobs because i literally cant take this one anymore.
Many bad experiences with A&F but the one I had yesterday tops them all. In Aventura Mall, Florida, trying to make a return of 4 items out of the 19 that I bought 3 days ago, with my receipt and the tags attached. I encountered the most obnoxious, insolent, incompetent "manager" by the name of Amanda, who could not simply take the time to search for the 4 items one by one to match the numbers while she was dancing at the music of the store. I offered to help her look through again and I asked her if she could come out from behind the counter so I could hear her better and go to a more lit spot so we could see better (everyone that has been in an A&F store knows what I am talking about). She responded "sorry I can't help you" and she literally threw the items back to me. I asked her name and she ignored me and left, walking away and starting dancing again with 2 other store representatives!
I walked out of the store and searched through my receipts again, in a lit place and found the items ...
Went back and got my refund, having waisted an hour, being insulted and aggravated from of an incompetent idiot who I found her name after a made a scene there!
I am not calling the company today but my lawyer.
AND, Mike Jeffries is NOT attractive, AT ALL. so this whole looks policy thing just kills me.
I wanted to work for this company, but everything i read about them is ALL BAD. I've already been interviewed at Hollister, but did not get the job, most likely because of the look policy. So today I had an interview at Abercrombie & Fitch. I went up there just to be told that I had to be 18 to even interview. Ok. Fine. Just tell me why in the world did the computer accept my application? I checked the box that asked me if i was under 18, and i put my ssn, and birthdate in. SO WHY WAS I ALLOWED TO SUBMIT MY APPLICATION? That was a waste of my [censor]ing time, and it needs to be fixed. I have come across any rude managers or employees though. I met one employee that didnt have the best people skills, especially when he has to work with people, but maybe he is sick of his crap job. All of the managers I met, both at Hollister and Abercrombie were very friendly. BUT, i haven't seen one hispanic worker, and i've only seen two black workers, one in each store. I also dont think its right that they ask you about your race on the application. I think the store would be run much better if there was a different CEO. They're always talking about diversity when they dont really know the meaning of the word. WOMP.
Honestly, the clothes are crap as well as the store it itself. Every single manager is a *itch and think they are the best thing since sliced bread like come on you are nobody. The don't even pay you enough to be doing any hard "labor" that they ask you to do. (I've worked there for almost 11months) That store is beyond ridiculous and everything stated above about the company is true and I could not have said it better myself. I understand that they are a business trying to make more money for the company but come on this is not a top notch place. When the clothes can last more than a month without looking like crap and the workers get paid a decent wage then it will make sense for the company to act the way they do. It's not even a matter of "If you don't like it, leave." It's between what's right and wrong. Everything the company does is wrong. The rules you have to abide by is wrong. You have to have a certain "look", that's wrong. I know this is the real world and most people would say "welcome to reality" but come on for a company that produces [censor] products, please. A&F, Abercrombie, and Hollister all deserve to go out of business. On to the next ..
I was hired for this company; today was my first day working as impact team, practically a training day, it was pretty easy, just I a little bit confusing at first but later everything went great until the manager asked me to clean the desks or tables, clean the micro and fridge, when I finished she asked me to take the trash out, that was the worst because i was hired to do something and not to clean the back room. On the other hand, I like to add this because I need to know how really this company works, when I filled the application out i put I was available anytime, today I asked her when my next shift will be and she answered " I don't need you next week, call tomorrow if ( she named some names) and I don't even know those people, i felt like i was begging for something. Now i don't know what to do whether call tomorrow to know when I have to work again or just quit and look for a job where they are really serious and care about people.
no kidding, if you're so miserable why don't you spend your time working on your resume and looking for jobs instead of using the internet to bag on A&F.
dude if you don't like working for the company then quit.
I worked at abercrombie kids and it was a complete joke. Managers had favorites and it was quite obvious, they'd be nice and super sweet and flirt with some, and ### and complain and ignore others. Another thing is, is that they knew what my availability was yet when we got a new manager, she decided to schedule me during the hours I was unavailable. Then she claimed it was my fault and I should find a replacement. So, I figured, ### that, and put in my 2 weeks notice. She then fired me for neglecting to find a person to work for me the previous night. Can I just say, the most stupid job in my entire life. I'm a minority and I was a model and I was usually stuck in the front, especially when regional managers were there...but if there was work to be done (like the wretched jean wall!) it was me that had to do it and others could just stand around. I liked it at first but it got old, really fast. Good look to the next generation of immature adolescents. You have been warned.
Last evening, we had a horrible experience with the "opposite customer service" from A and F. My children received gift cards from this store for their birthdays and we went after Christmas to "max the value" of the cards. We bought 4 t shirts.
2 weeks later after being worn twice and washed once, 3 of the 4 t shirts I noticed had holes in what appeared to be weakened material in the backs of the shirts, one of the shirts having holes corresponding with that of security tag which I did not notice initially.
Having never shopped this store before and knowing it to be "high end", I assumed they would back their product and accept an equal exchange... WRONG... they reluctantly allowed the exchange of two of the shirts with receipts but not the third...not only were we given a very hard time, but the sales clerk was rude and told me that I was taking time up at her register. when I started to make a stink, she told me that she was not going to exchange anything and that I should go and try somewhere else. ( by making a stink, I announced to the line of folks waiting to pay at the register that the clerk would not honor an honest exchange for poor quality new goods that were discovered to be damaged) The clerk threatened to call mall security on me!
The manager was sweeter but not better. The Manager gave me first name upon request but the sales associate refused to give me her name.
I decided to cut bait at that store and take the exchange for what I was able.
I called corporate when I got home...I googled the name of the company, and contact phone number... pushed the option for placing an order rather than complaints, which directs you to an email rather than a person. The customer service person was very nice, as opposed to those in the store. After listening to me, she put me on hold and then came back an told me that corporate was interested in the problem?! and that they would contact me.. I advised her although that was a nice gesture, I was going to let all my friends know of our terrible experience... those in the PTA, the sunday school, my professional association, as well as some of my friends in the media who might be interested in an article expose'"poor customer service and bad store policies in a time of economic turndown"
If that sales clerk worked for me... she would be fired. her attitude for a probable 20 year old, was appalling.
I do not recommend anyone shopping with this company unless/until they change their policies of attitude training of their sales people and how they interact with their customers.
!yep. agreed.