bear, if i had a nickel for every time i have contacted joanns, i could buy joanns. they give me a sympathetic line about how sorry they are about my experience, and an upper manager will get back to me for a more detailed explanation of exactly what happened. have you heard from him? neither have i. in my joanns, after i spent over $200 for customer's fabrics and notions, i had to use the lady's. they actually told me, THEY HAD NO BATHROOMS. when i questioned that, they adamantly denied having one.
they told me to use the one all the way down at the other end of the mall belonging to a muscleman's grill, right next to a men's gym. not. i now drive 40 minutes each way to shop somewhere else instead of 5 minutes each way to go to joanns.

I have often found that the folks at Joann's can be a little under qualified. I think you handled it better than I ever would. So crazy!

The other annoying thing about it was that I got increasingly frustrated because I knew this was batting, and the woman kept insisting it wasn't, despite the sign for the product saying "packaged batting." She finally got a little snotty about it, and was like "You won't remember this in 20 years, there's no point in getting upset about it." I felt I was staying remarkably calm throughout the whole thing, despite her blockheadedness -- it's like I was standing there talking about the sky with someone, who refused to admit the plainly obvious fact that it is blue. It's hard not to get a little frustrated/upset in that kind of situation.

I did send an email to Joann about it, and suggested that maybe their employees should be a little more well informed. I don't expect anything to come of it, but come on! This woman was a manager -- she should know something about the products that she sells...

Well I hate to say this, but..... that's one reason I don't like Joann's. Not only that but you have to have a coupon all the time.

Hancock doesn't do that to you they know what they are doing! (at least my local one)When it is advertises 'on sale', it is and you don't need any coupons!

As my husband often says...YOU CAN"T FIX STUPID! I am still laughing LOL LOL LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

this brings back memories. A few years ago about a week after Christmas i went to joanns. there was a big sign on the door when you walked in ALL CHRISTMAS 75% off. They didn't have much in the way of Christmas fabric but for 75% off I was going to take what they had. One was flannel that had baby foot prints and written on the fabric was BABIES 1st Christmas. Another with decorated Christmas trees and the last with pinecones and holly berries. I went to the cutting table to get the slip you need to buy it. I was taking all they had. I was told it wasn't 75% off. It wasn't Christmas. I said are you kidding it says Babies 1st Christmas. I asked for a manager, she told me the same thing it wasn't Christmas. I asked for the phone # for the excutive office, they didn't have one ( Right) I 411 it but the office was closed. I went back in the store and asked if they could hold the fabric until the next day. They wouldn't so I took it and hid it in the back under pillow forms. I called the exuctive office the next day and they said yes it was Christmas. I went back to the store with the phone # and the persons name at the exuctive office. They said they didn't know who that person was and still wouldn't sell it to me for the 75% off. I am from NY I don't take crap from anyone. Standing right at their cutting table with my cell I called the exuctive office and told the guy what happened. He in turn had to call the store. They finally sold it to me at 75% off. Sales people kill me you would think the money was coming out of their pocket. Needless to say I never shopped there again.

As I read though all these experiences, I sympathize. I have a JoAnn's less than 5 minutes from my house, but I rarely shop there. I did go in Sat. nite to take advantage of the BOGO thread sale ... worth it for me. But I also picked up a little muslin (4 yds), and a few FQ's. You'd have thought the girl at the cutting counter needed to be tazed for some energy.

Now, I know that it was the end of a really big sale week, but you'd think a little smile would be not too tough, right? Apparently not. And also, when I got the FQ's home, the adhesive on the label was seriously STICKY. It still hasn't washed out yet and it's in the middle of the pieces I bought. Gawd! You'd think I'd have been smarter AND that they would know better.

On the plus side this trip, the girl at the checkout rang up my thread in 3 batches because I had spools at 3 different prices and she knew that if she rang up the last 4 spools, I'd get the 2 cheapest for free instead of 1 of each price.

I chalk it up to the fact that with the economy so bad, they don't do their "due diligence" and check out the backgrounds of the applicants to make sure they understand the types of merchandise they sell. Instead, they offer the job to the first person they see who is clueless. I'm always amazed at how poorly some of them cut fabric. I always count as they measure it out to make sure I'm not getting shorted, because it has happened to me before - ask for 10 yds, they measure out 8 or 9 and charge me for 10.

I always wonder why they are still in business......

I had a run-in at Joann's this weekend, too. In the dollar bins they had spools and spools of both black and white thread for $1. I picked up 2 spools of white, and the guy at the cash register tried to tell me they were like $2.35 each. I told him they were in the dollar bins. No, he says, they're ringing up at $2.35 each. So I said if they're not $1, forget it, I didn't want them. I did, however want 2 other spools I had chosen, and there was a sign saying--you guessed it--buy one, get one free. Once again, he tried to charge me for each of them, at which point I explained that if they weren't going to honor their own signs, they shouldn't put them up. Maybe they needed a sign that said, "SOME things in this bin $1," for "MAYBE buy one, get one free." He did finally give me the two threads for half off, but he wouldn't relent on the thread from the dollar bin. I guess the person with the brain was out sick that day, so they sent him instead!

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it illegal to advertise one price and then charge another? I wonder if reporting them to the Better Business Bureau for false advertising would get managements attention!!!

This is exactly why I won't shop JoAnns.

I love my Hancocks though. Wonderful helpful people work at the one here.