Smaggle finds the pros and cons of Country Road and Trenery

Posted by in fashion, smaggle

I have long been a fan of Trenery and Country Road. Their pieces are clean, simple, quite well made and their sizing is standard. I thought I would have a go at ordering some of their wares online to see if I can blind buy from a store that I frequent. So, from Trenery I purchased their white cotton shift dress in my regular size. Easy peasy. Or so I thought.

I’m a Trenery and Country Road cardholder and before I could purchase my dress they asked me for my account name and password which I couldn’t remember if I my life depended on it so I reset my password and then it took me a good ten minutes to make sure every ‘mandatory field’ was filled in on the details page. After several sky-ward howls and a few frustrated couch punches my order finally went through. Thank god.

I then went to Country Road where the exact same thing happened. I forgot my password again (yes I’m serious), reset the password, got mentally slammed by pages of mandatory fields, hurled a pillow across the room, etc. I have to admit that much of my frustration was self-imposed and due to general idiocy but I do wonder why on earth you have to have an account to shop online? It’s such a useless, annoying and redundant requirement. They should at the very least have a guest check out option because I was incredibly close to chucking an uber tantrum and cancelling the sale. At the end of this experience I was exhausted and frustrated. Let’s hope the printed skirt and cotton nightie are worth it.

I did receive an email this morning (less than 24 hours after the time of purchase) saying that my items are on their way. Hopefully speedy postage will soothe the bitter taste of the online purchasing experience. Although, in all honesty (if the clothes fit properly of course) I would take the mentally explosive web shop experience over an in store visit any day. My closest Country Road is on Lygon Street in Melbourne and I would rather battle my computer screen than deal with the yuppie mothers and their pampered offspring that seem to gather there on Saturdays. Even if they force me to use their cult-like account system.

Have you ever shopped in a really frustrating online store? Or shopped in a physical store and then used the online store as well? What were your experiences?