J.Crew Forbids Access to Some Online Shoppers

Posted by Siv on March 1st, 2009

32 comments

As most J.Crew shoppers know, the retailer attempted to update its website last summer. With that update came a slew of problems. J.Crew even posted an apology on their website last summer. Click here to see the posts.

I have even had many readers write in to tell me that they have been blocked from accessing the J.Crew website. Tonight, the same thing happened to me. I received the following error message while browsing the site. Luckily, some IT folks in the family are helping me to get around it.

I am very curious as to why J.Crew is blocking potential customers from browsing its website. At a time when the retailer is laying people off to cut corners, J.Crew should welcome all visits to their website.

Has this happened to you? What did you do to get around it?

Posted in Behind the Scenes

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457432 Responses2009-03-01+06%3A08%3A23Siv to “J.Crew Forbids Access to Some Online Shoppers”

Helen says:

March 1, 2009 at 3:21 am

I am time and time again disappointed in the maintenance of jcrew.com. I’ve abandoned shopping baskets more times than I can count – good for me, horrible for J. Crew. I think of my situations multiplied by thousands and it accounts for who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars lost. Furthermore, these technological mishaps is seriously damaging J. Crew’s brand. According to Compete.com – they’ve doubled their traffic since Nov 08. Double the traffic = double the revenue = spend some quality money on IT & servers!

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dinsquared says:

March 1, 2009 at 8:13 am

I’ve never seen a major retailer with IT problems like that. It was awful when they were trying to upgrade.

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JeanineBean says:

March 1, 2009 at 10:19 am

Maybe the IT guy was one of the 95 employees laid off?!

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Sarah*I"mOver It* says:

March 1, 2009 at 10:39 am

they have really blocked you from visiting their site??? that is crazy.

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Miranda says:

March 1, 2009 at 1:04 pm

I haven’t been able to get onto the website for almost 5 days now. It’s maddening. I emailed technical support at JCrew to tell them that I was having this problem (a colleague was also unable to get onto the site) and I got an email response that there was no problem with the site! I have never seen such technical problems with a retail website and it’s never ending. I am sadly very close to not shopping on jcrew.com anymore.

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Rachel says:

March 1, 2009 at 9:32 pm

I thought I was the only one! I have been so out of the loop since moving overseas until I found this blog and saw that I am not the only one seeing the exact message I have been seeing when trying to visit jcrew.com for weeks now! It’s been making me crazy but I chalked it up to being here in Korea. Could you give us the instructions your IT peeps are giving you?

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Am says:

March 1, 2009 at 11:33 pm

It’s crazy! Have you ever tried to do a “sort” on their website? Try clicking on sale>sweaters>90 per page>price low to high (just an example — you can do the same thing by picking multiple categories and mixing up the display of the results). It’ll show you bikini bottoms, flip flops, *everything* — not just sweaters (or whatever category they picked). It makes absolutely no sense. They really should’ve stuck with the old website, or get some user interface interns in there to work on the website!

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CJ says:

March 2, 2009 at 12:51 am

My brother has worked in IT for years so I decided to ask him if he had any ideas, as I have never had this happen to me when trying to visit J.Crew. He said the “Forbidden Error” is usually not due to the actual website you’re trying to access, but is a problem with your Server or Browser. If this happens on a continuous basis you could contact your internet server, i.e. Comcast, or you might need to clear your cache or delete temporary internet files on your browser. Generally, websites, especially retail websites, do not “forbid” access to anyone. I hope that helps!

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Robert says:

March 2, 2009 at 8:21 am

I’ve noticed the same problem when I cut and paste the URL. Like don’t try sharing a URL with your friend to ask how they like a specifica item you’ve found while searching. It would appear their web site doesn’t like people messing around with the text, but rather you have to navigate via the web links on the site?

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Miranda Blackstone says:

March 2, 2009 at 7:26 pm

Doesn’t it seem odd that one person having the same name as me (a coincidence only) can have troubles for 5 days reaching a web site when few others are encountering the same difficulty?

Like many others who reported troubles reaching the JCrew web site during Obama’s inauguration, I was totally frustrated for a while! Usually when I’d get that stupid message about the server having some sort of technical troubles, I could just hit the browser refresh and the page would finally display. The good news is it’s been a while since it’s given me any errors.

Miranda honey, I’m thinking if you still can not access the web site, it’s not jcrew’s problem, it’s your PC’s problem! My employer’s computers block all kinds of online shopping web sites, which means I have to shop from home when I’m off work. Duh, I guess they want me working while I’m at the office! LOL

You think maybe that’s what is happening to you Miranda?

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Miranda says:

March 2, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Actually, I don’t think it’s my computer’s problem since I shop on jcrew.com on a regular basis from the same computer (my work computer) and I have been able to get on the site today (again, from my work computer).

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Kristi says:

March 5, 2009 at 10:59 pm

@Am, I have the same problem with sorting on the site. It drives me nuts, an leads me to abandon what I was looking at to begin with. Forget it. I don’t want to see bikinis when I’m shopping for sweaters.

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Yh says:

March 18, 2009 at 10:10 am

I’m currently residing in Korea, and haven’t been able to access the website for over a month now. I emailed them to see what was going on, and they replied back saying that they had gotten several reports from customers in Asia unable to access the website. They asked for my IP address and said they would contact me again when they had more information. After I sent them my IP address I got a reply back a week later advising me to try to website again, and that my IP address should now be able to access the website. ACCESS DENIED again. I replied back saying it still wasn’t working. They replied back thanking me, and that they would continue to work on the issue. I haven’t received an update since, and that was February 7th 2009. Get it together J.Crew!

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JY says:

March 23, 2009 at 7:38 pm

I also live in Korea and have been a regualr jcrew.com shopper until now. I get the same Access Denied error. I have tried accessing the website using three different computers in my home, and I went to a friend’s house and tried to access the site on her computer. Perhaps they have blocked all of Korea.

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Leigh says:

March 24, 2009 at 9:59 am

Wow. I am sorry to that two readers are being blocked in Korea. J.Crew has offered some suggestions to fix this problem. I have posted the links below. I hope that helps you!

http://www.jcrew.com/help/encryption.jsp
http://www.jcrew.com/help/128explorer.jsp

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Maranda B says:

March 25, 2009 at 12:49 am

I just used the search engine and asked to look at like 90 items, it looks like the sort works for once…. wow, progress in small baby steps!

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erin says:

March 25, 2009 at 7:59 pm

I also live in Korea and I’ve not been able to get on to the j.crew website.
I thought it was a problem with my home and work computer, but reading the comments above, I guess it really isn’t.
It’s really annoying.

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Cara says:

March 30, 2009 at 1:14 am

Hi! I also live in Korea. As a birthday gift recently, I got a gift certificate to J.Crew. But I can’t get on the freaking website to shop! So frustrating. I tried to go to those links above (Leigh’s post) but they also say acess denied. Please help me! I’m in need of a bathing suit

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RP says:

April 6, 2009 at 3:19 am

I’m living in Korea, too, and am having the same problem! (for the last month)

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Miranda says:

April 6, 2009 at 11:19 pm

they don’t ship out of the US so why does it matter?

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- No J Crew in Korea says:
  
  June 2, 2010 at 4:47 pm
  
  They ship to APO addresses (i.e., military overseas) via USPS. There are 28,000 US Military in Korea plus their families.
  
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Miranda says:

April 7, 2009 at 12:42 pm

There are a lot of Miranda’s on this post (although I think one of them must work for JCrew)! I spoke to someone at J.Crew because I have been getting the “site temporarily down” message when I try to check out recently, and was told that there is still some technical difficulties left over from the transition to a new system last June. At least someone is acknowledging the problem now! But I agree that it’s annoying, and apparently especially so if you are living in Korea!

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catherine says:

April 10, 2009 at 3:55 am

@Miranda April 6th:
You’re right THEY don’t. But family members of people living out of the US for work do. Why do you think so many people are in a huff? Do you expect YOUR family/friends to do your shopping for you? Or even know what you’d wanna buy?

To everyone trying to access the site (and a shout-out to fellow expats in Korea!): use a proxy server. There are proxy lists all over the internet, so just copy and paste a proxy address to your internet conncections settings thingy and you’ll be good to go. Note: it might take a few tries until you find a connection that works, and make sure all your ‘jcrew’ cookies have been erased before you start. Once you have the proxy connection, you should be able to switch back to your regular connection and continue to use the site. If you close the browser window, you’ll have to do everything again.

Good luck!

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Jess says:

June 13, 2009 at 7:52 am

I live in South Korea and am unable to access the site.
Also I am an American citizen and have stuff shipped to the US with a US credit card, but need to access the site from overseas, so it doesn’t matter whether they ship outside the US or not.

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Jess says:

June 13, 2009 at 7:53 am

I live in South Korea and am unable to access the site.
Also I am an American citizen and have stuff shipped to the US with a US credit card, but need to access the site from overseas, so it doesn’t matter whether they ship outside the US or not. We have just as much right to access the site as anyone else.

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Noëlle says:

August 9, 2009 at 6:16 am

One more American living in South Korea and unable to access J. Crew . . . I’ve been trying since I got my first month’s teaching salary in May and have never been able to connect, on either Firefox or Explorer, from four different computers. I’ll have to try the proxy thing listed in #22 above and see if I can get it to work. In the meanwhile, I called their 800 number and placed an order, had the stuff sent to my parents in the US, and had them send it on to me . . . seems to be the only way I can get J. Crew stuff these days, unless you account for eBay.

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HSP says:

September 3, 2009 at 9:47 am

I too am an American citizen, temporarily living here in South Korea, and I was so shocked to see my access to JCREW’s website blocked! I tried clearing my cookies and temp files, but no success. What’s going on? Doesn’t JCrew know what kind of business fashion loving shoppers in South Korea could bring??

If it’s not JCrew blocking our access, then why would our local server block our access to JCrew of all websites? I can access Gap, Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, Ralph Lauren, etc but no beloved JCrew. UGH! Please help!!

And I tried using the 2 links sited by someone above, but they too didn’t work. Help! I want my JCrew back!

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Megan says:

September 25, 2009 at 5:14 am

I’m another J.Crew devotee who’s living in South Korea for 4 months. Unfortunately, I also wear a size 10 shoe, and since it’s impossible for me to buy good shoes here I wanted to order some and have my family send them to me. No luck! I guess I’ll just search images and have my mom order them. . .OR I’ll order Cole Haan or something. . .they don’t deny me access.

I really think that there would be a huge market for J.Crew here in Seoul. The women here are amazingly fashionable, and J.Crew would make a killing if they opened up a store or two! So if there are any employees lurking here, please pass it on.

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Lolly says:

October 19, 2009 at 9:46 am

I am also in South Korea and I believe it is just our server here that doesn’t allow access to the website. I was living in Prague a few months ago and had no problem getting onto the J.Crew site.
If any of you have friends on the army bases you can have J.Crew ship to them and the shipping price is the same as if you were in the states.
Good luck!

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Mai says:

November 28, 2009 at 6:40 am

So…is there a way we can access it? I tried those two links and they didn’t work either…can you get the IT people on it. PLEASE!?

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Robert Edwards says:

February 14, 2010 at 11:05 am

WOW, I though that I was doing saomething wrong so I just Googled it and found all of this. I bought from J-Crew back in 99 from S.Korea when I was stationed here before and now this!!! It really sucks!!!!!

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HSP says:

April 13, 2010 at 6:40 am

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!!! I just learned from a friend how we can all get onto JCrew’s website. It’s called “Hotspot Shield” – just google it, and it a program you download (for free!) and it basically shields your international/Korean IP address so that websites/web hosts can’t figure out where you are loading up their websites. So NOW, I CAN SEE JCREW’s website. Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been in Korea for 2 years and I just found this out! And once you have this program shielding your IP address, you can go onto American TV websites and watch all the shows you couldn’t before – here I come Desperate Housewives! I hope this helps! Happy shopping at JCrew!

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