Woman Within

Full review
The Lane Bryant Catalog specializes in clothing for "plus size" women; the sizes start at about 12/14 and some items go up to, I believe, size 28. Most of their clothes are casual, but they also have many business-casual to business-dressy items for women. They also appear to have a good selection of shoes and boots, from casual to dressy, for women with wider-than-average feet, although I find the prices on this footwear to be a bit high. Their clothing prices, on the other hand, are quite reasonable. Much lower than the cost of items you would buy at the Lane Bryant retail stores (I'm not sure how the two are affiliated, other than the fact that you can use your Lane Bryant credit card at both); however, the items in the catalog aren't (overall) as expensive or upscale as what you would find at the regular stores. You can't return items bought through the catalog to Lane Bryant stores either.

Their shipping costs appear to be standard. A note about shipping though - I noticed another reviewer pointed out that she had a coat with a faux fur collar that was shipping in a plastic bag and it came to her smushed. I have noticed the same thing - everything I have ordered has come in a bag, not a box, and therefore pretty crammed and wrinkled. Fortunately the items I ordered were fairly casual, and the wrinkles came out in the wash, but if they ship all their items this way, including delicates, that would probably be another mark against them.

Their site is easy enough to navigate, but (as I mention below) if you have problems, your only recourse is to call or e-mail customer service, as the FAQs and other links on their web site are not helpful if you need to, for example, cancel an order. It may be cynical and I don't know whether it's okay to speculate in this forum, but their items are often back ordered, which often isn't revealed until the order has been placed...at which point a person may want to cancel...and yet you can't seem to do so via the web site, and there is no information on how to do so there...hmm. My experiences e-mailing customer service have not been good, as you will see.

I have ordered things from this catalog/web site in the past, and I have always been disappointed with their customer service and their ability to keep their web site updated as to what is in stock.

For example, last year I ordered a coat. When I ordered it, everything went smoothly. However, a week or so later I got a postcard in the mail telling me that the item was back-ordered. They didn't bother to e-mail me, even though I had placed the order online. Okay, at least I was notified...however, at that point I wanted to cancel my order. Their web site gives you no indication of how to cancel an order, so I sent an e-mail; they answered back that it wasn't possible to cancel since the order was "in process" - even though the item was back-ordered for about a month, and I hadn't even been charged yet! At the time I was very busy so I didn't follow up, and the coat eventually arrived even later than the original expected date (and well into winter, for that matter).

This seems to be a very routine issue with LBC. More often than not, if I want to order something, it is on back order, often for several months. And that is only if they tell you about it before you order it - I went to the web site after getting my postcard, and noticed that you could still order the coat and that it wasn't saying it was back-ordered (and I made sure to input the exact same size, color, etc.).

The customer service issue has also been a block in the past; the few times I have tried to contact customer service via e-mail (and I was definitely at the Lane Bryant Catalog page, not the web site for the regular store), the responses have been unhelpful at best (formulaic and didn't answer my question). It's like they didn't even bother to read my message or look up my order.

As for quality, I wouldn't suggest buying tops from them, unless you're layering. The few tops I have bought have always been very thin and flimsy. I think this is likely because they realize that you can't feel the fabric and try it on like you can at a regular store, and you can't tell by looking at the models that the fabric is so thin. The tops I did buy from them are really only appropriate for sleeping in or maybe layering, but they were advertised as regular blouses you could wear without anything else. My bra was clearly visible through one shirt in particular, and this was not the case at all with the photo they had. The coat I bought is already starting to come apart at the seams in the inside lining, the stitching on which looked pretty weak.

At any rate, I do admit their prices are very good and their selection of casual/business clothing appears to be extensive. But that's only helpful if you can actually GET the items you're ordering, and they ARE what they appear to be.

Would I shop there again? I admit I am considering giving them one more chance, as they have an item I would really like to try, at a very reasonable price. But I seriously would not suggest this catalog/web site to anyone, as I have been so frustrated and disappointed in the past. If I have another bad experience, I will never shop there again - and after re-reading this review, I am pretty much talking myself out of it! I don't need the aggravation.

Buyer beware! Unfortunately you get what you pay for here.

Another note: if you do order from them, be prepared to be inundated with catalogs. At one point I was getting about one catalog a week, as well as catalogs from their affiliates such a Roaman's (another online retailer of plus-size women's clothing, although their items tend to be dressier). I believe you can ask to be removed from their mailing list on the web site, but it's something to keep in mind.