Registry and Gift Forum

Macy's Registry Disaster

Before you register at Macy's, make sure the items you want are going to be available online! My fiancee and I went to Macy's in Philadelphia today to set up our registry. We were excited to get started, as this was our first bridal registry experience. We found someone to help get us set up, and she talked us into signing up for their rewards program, which involved opening a credit card, and then she set us up with the Symbol scanner device and let us go. She really wasn't bad, but she eventually disappeared, and no one else in the store seemed to be able to answer any of our questions or to help us log off. We sat around for half an hour waiting for the first girl to come back, and then gave up and left. When we got home, we logged into our registry online to make sure our items came up properly, and to change a color of an item we'd selected. We were shocked to find that half of our items were available in-store only. These weren't only individual items, but pieces of collections, for example, our hand towels and wash cloths were available online, but the matching bath towels from the same set were not. Most of our guests are coming from out of town, and I know they're going to rely on purchasing gifts online - who wants washcloths without matching towels? 

We spent the rest of our afternoon dismantling the registry, canceling the Macy's Visa and trying to find comparable items online. 

This evening, we'll be going to Bloomingdales to give them a shot. 

Re: Macy's Registry Disaster

  • Unfortunately, this happens  some items.  The same thing happened to us @ Macy's and Crate and Barrel. We monitored the registry to see if items were no longer available online or aviable, period.  If the latter happens, look for a similar item.
    image
  • We had a similar problem at Macy's.  A number of items we registered for at the store weren't availbable online, including a bunch of cookware that the registry consultant had recommended to us.  It was annoying, but we went through our registry and either moved certain items to our other registries or found a similar item that was available through Macy's online. 

    It was a pain and I haven't been particularly impressed with the Macy's experience.  Just so you know, Bloomingdales is owned by Macy's, so you're not really sticking it to Macy's by switching to Bloomingdales and they may have similar registry issues.
  • It sucks that you had problems with Macy's, but (and I don't mean to be rude here) there isn't any store/company out there who has the perfect registry system.  Each store has their own quirks (Target's return policy for instance), so you just have to outweigh the pros and cons of each store's policy and then decide whether or not you want to be registered there.
  • We realize Bloomingdales is also owned by Federated Department Stores, but we went in this evening, and the experience was night and day. We were even able to register for many of the items we liked at Macy's, and at the same price. And the customer service was a thousand times better. We may have hit Macy's on an off-day, but I'm glad we wound up where we did. 
  • tldhtldh member
    2500 Comments
    You should have crossed the Ben Franklin and come to the Macy's in Moorestown.  When we registered there, we had to tell the woman to leave us alone.
    image
    AKA GoodLuckBear14
  • We had a similar experience, and it took us the entire afternoon to fix our registry!

    Fortunately we were already living together and did not need much items (more of upgrades).

    Ps. We also had our registry at http://www.funsherpa.com/, an experience site... got spa getaway gifts and hang gliding lessons. FUN registry!!! :D I shopped in San Francisco but they seem to be expanding to different states.
  • Really, if you want everything to be available online, you should just do your registering online.
    Married 10/2/10
  • try bed bath and beyond!!
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_macys-registry-disaster?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:a1d252a8-8da9-4f12-b485-56b4c51cebfaPost:0d8e1527-89b6-4987-a634-a1e3828b5909">Re: Macy's Registry Disaster</a>:
    [QUOTE]Really, if you want everything to be available online, you should just do your registering online.
    Posted by quotequeen[/QUOTE]

    I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that major items you register for at a department store will be available online.  Some of the items that we scanned instore that weren't available online were inexpensive kitchen gadgets.  It didn't really bother me that those weren't online.  But it did annoy me that that most of the Calphalon cookware we initially scanned wasn't online.  I would expect major items like that to be available online, especially if they have registry consultants recommending those items.
  • This is Siamac, Megan's fiancee.

    The issue was not simply that items were not available online, it was the whole experience, between the complete disorganization of the place, the inability of the entire staff (other than the first woman we spoke with) to answer the simplest of questions (not about products, but about registry).  Waiting for a half-hour to get checked out because that one person was at lunch and being handed a completely unbound stack of papers to walk out with, which upon flipping through at home were 8 copies of the same information.  Then what clinched it for us was that specific pieces of product lines we'd registered for were not available online.  For instance you could get the washcloth and handtowel but the bath towel in the same color was not available online.  Plus the website did not make it clear how to get the product that was not available online.

    Everyone had told us how much they'd enjoyed running around with a scanner and registering, and this was a most unpleasant and stressful experience for us.

    When we went to Bloomingdales later that night our experience was COMPLETELY different.  Had a great time.  The registry person was very organized, had great suggestions, but knew exactly when to let us go on our own.  Whenever we found a product we liked but in the wrong color or size, like a king sheet instead of queen, we showed her and she added the appropriate product to the registry.  When we left we were handed a very neat bag and folder of information to take with us, as well as a nice and quite unexpected gift.  Oh, and yes, some of their products are not available online, however their website makes it clear and easy for shoppers to find the item in a store over the phone.  Very different than we saw at Macy's.

    We realize bloomingdales is a fancier store and therefore expected a higher level of service than Macy's but we were absolutely blown away by the difference.
  • my fiance and i found it easier to register online first, then visit the store to see if there was anything that we missed, then monitor the registry afterwards for anything temporarily unavailable or out-of-stock and replace with something similar.

    so far, so good.

  • I had the same issue with Macy's when it came to towels. I registered for two different sets of Ralph Lauren towels before I finally relented and landed on Hotel Collection. I got tired of some colors becoming suddenly unavailable online. Now I'm having this issue with crystal stemware. I have complained to Macy's about it, not that they care. Their Web site is very poorly programmed and organized.
  • One of the stores we registered with is Bloomingdales and I cannot be happier with them so far. I did start my registry online, since while our wedding and the groom's side is in Chicago there is no Bloomies in St. Louis where we currently live. I agree that Bloomies is 1000x better than Macy's and the prices aren't any different comparing same brand and item. 

    Though you know who is OBSESSED with good service? Crate & Barrel. Seriously. I'm one of those nutty brides that registered at four places (WS for cookware, Bloomingdales for home decor and china, Tiffany for silver serving pieces and some vases/platters and C & B for daily use  home goods... so we have a high/low mix) and of the four places we've registered, Crate & Barrel has gone completely out of their way to make sure we're happy. 

    I registered online but then popped into our local Crate & Barrel to add a few pieces of furniture to our registry (*note: you get 10% off your registry fulfillment if you'll need new furniture by the time of the wedding anyways... cha-ching!). The SA that helped us was absolutely wonderful and helpful. Then I added a lounge chair online and 2 different people from their corporate office called to ask if I were familiar with their furniture, delivery policy or if there was anything additional they could do for us. 

    We've bought furniture/housewares from them for years, so they have really great customer service even after the sale (like, they sent repairmen to our loft to fix a bookcase they sold us a year prior... and they had offered to replace the entire thing!). Total rec!!
    "I liked it, so I put a ring on it" - future Mr. Box
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