Jos A. Bank

Full review
PROS:
Excellent quality men's clothing, “deals” quite common, reliable shipping process.

CONS:
Customer service (by phone) iffy, web site login process could be improved.

Jos. A. Bank is a men’s clothier that sells its products via "brick and mortar" stores, its web site and mail-order catalog. It has a strong reputation for its dress shirts but also carries the “full line” of men’s clothing: suits, sportcoats, trousers, casual wear, shoes, accessories, etc.

My own shopping experience with Jos. A. Bank is extensive as I have visited three of its stores (Boston, MA, West Hartford, CT and Stamford, CT) and made purchases through its web site several times. While this review will primarily deal with the web site, I will briefly mention my experiences in the stores (there is a web/store connection that some consumers may have to utilize).

Finding a decent selection of French cuff dress shirts in my part of New England is difficult. After speaking with various sales personnel at various clothiers, one name was often brought up: Jos. A. Bank. The consensus of advice held that Jos. A. Bank would be able to offer me the choice in French cuff shirts I desired. With the majority of the people I spoke to being in their 50s - 60s, they were mostly familiar with the store’s mail-order catalog sales. For convenience’s sake, I hoped Jos. A. Bank offered its wares via the Web. A brief search engine check guided me to www.josbank.com.

The web site’s product organization is orderly; product headers are clear and will direct you to the specific page containing what you seek. When all else fails, try the online "Complete Product Index". I personally favor the site’s lack of “bells and whistles”. (no Shockwave or Flash driven extras) The clothes are simply displayed along with product information and pricing.

As far as pricing goes, dress shirts range from $30 - $60 (depending on style and material); sportcoats start at $200; suits usually top out at about $400. Plenty of other clothing items are available but I have just included the "big three" to provide a general pricing structure. Online sales/deals are very common .

All of the clothing purchased from the web site has lived up to the reputation cited to me. As anyone who has to wear a dress shirt 40 hours a week knows, the ones of lesser quality can chafe and wear out quickly. The Jos. A. Bank dress shirts are quite comfortable and have withstood dozens of professional launderings with very little wear and tear. Exact sizing of dress shirts can be a bit tricky. My experience with this company is that they tend to make their clothing a bit small; my suggestion is to buy a size SLIGHTLY larger than you normally would. For example, I usually wear dress shirts with a 15 neck and 32 sleeve; when ordering from Jos.A.Bank, I opt for a 15 1/2 neck and the slightly shorter than normal sleeves are perfect for a short person like myself.

Other items I have purchased from the site are of good quality; buttons have not come loose; colors have faded only slightly.

I have never purchased anything from Jos. A. Bank that needed alterations (I actually go "real world" shopping for suits and sportcoats.). The suggestion is that a customer can purchase items online and then have them altered by an in-store Jos. A. Bank tailor. This is fine unless you are not near one of its locations. Also what I have been told about the cost of such alterations conflicts; one store I visited said "simple" alterations were free with only more "complex" ones costing money while another store said all alterations cost money. Perhaps it is a store-by-store decision. I have found Jos. A. Bank locations to be staffed with friendly, clothes-knowledgeable people even if they can't keep their "alteration" stories consistent.

(The other option is to find a good "independent" tailor near you which is usually not an easy task.)

Order processing and shipment works well. I typically place an online order at night (usually a weeknight) and by the next weekday afternoon, the order is shipped out (from Maryland). Jos. A. Bank uses UPS 2-day service as their baseline and I have never received an order outside of that timeframe. Swifter delivery alternatives are available.

As much I have found shopping via the web site useful and time-saving, I have discovered two areas which could use improvement. First, the web site encourages customers to register with a username and password. It does not have a provision that allows you to "save" your username and password so that you do not have to enter it upon each visit. This is problematic if you do not shop at the site often. I recently went about 6 months without an order and when I returned I could not remember my username or password.

This problem caused me to discover Jos. A. Bank's other weakness...telephone customer service. The web site tells you to call its toll-free customer service number if you need your username and password recited to you. When I called and explained my problem, I was amazed by the rudeness and incompetence that masqueraded as "customer service". I was on the phone for almost 30 minutes being transferred from one person to another. During that time, the "solution" that kept on being pushed on me was to "re-register" since they could not find "any record" of me in the system. Not accepting this, I was bluntly told I was going to be put into voice mail or that I could leave my name and number for a call-back. By now, either option did not appeal to me (especially how they were presented) so I insisted on speaking with a supervisor. I was put on hold for about 2-3 minutes. The person who then answered was extremely pleasant and was immediately able to provide me with the information I needed (she was diligent enough to do a couple of ID checks to ensure it was me). She apologized for the previous struggles and plainly stated that she had no idea why they occurred since username/password information is readily available on their system.

Before my recent "encounter" with the Jos.A.Bank customer service staff, I would have unflinchingly given the web site the full five stars. Post-incident, I am assigning a four-star rating that is closer to 3.5 stars (which is unavailable).