When I found out that the Old Navy in my home town started carrying plus-sized clothing, I was excited. Checked them out and bought a few things. Loved them, everything fit well. So the next time I needed some new things, I headed over to the closest Old Navy and was surprised that I couldn’t find anything in my size! I asked one of the clerks about it and she informed me that the plus-sized clothing selections were only available at certain retail locations.

The closest was the store in my home town, 2 hours away.  And when I’m there, I’m cramming too much into 48 hours and I just don’t have time to shop. However, I made a trip home and planned to take the time out to do a little shopping. Only to arrive at Old Navy and be told that the plus-sized clothing was now an online exclusive.

So I really gave up on Old Navy at that point. Someone who wears a size 4 knows that most anything in that size is going to fit them. Someone who wears a size 24 knows that at one store that may mean 22 and 26 at another. I’ll never understand how there can be such a huge difference between companies. I just need to be able to try things on before I buy. Even in the stores, you see them on the mannequins but you know that isn’t what it will look like on you. At most, you might be lucky enough to see a size 12 mannequin with a size 24 pinned up in the back. I won’t get started on that.

As usual, I gave in to a bargain a few weeks ago. I’ve been wearing the same swim suit for 4 summers. A maternity suit at that! It’s cute and covers everything that I want covered, but it was time for something new. I just can’t justify spending $80 on a swim suit that I use a few times each year. I was browsing OldNavy.com one night – anticipating a shopping trip to stock up on fall and winter clothes for my daughter – when I found an awesome swim suit for $23! I grabbed it right away. Absolutely love it and it fit great.

Last week I was thinking about the cool weather coming and how I was dreading the hours of shopping for clothing. Don’t get me wrong, I love to shop. Just not for clothing for myself at all. So I headed back to OldNavy.com and started digging around. The deals got me again, I couldn’t pass them up. I piled things into my cart but hesitated over and over about “checking out”.  In the end, I took the plunge.

Today I received my order and my nightmare came true. Everything was too big. I know, I should be happy, right? And believe me, I was excited at first. Until it hit me. “Oh no, what kind of hoops am I going to have to jump through to return these?” So I grabbed the invoice and the laptop and set out on a mission. I’ll be honest, I was prepared to get on the phone and start griping about how it’s ridiculous that I only have the option of shopping online and then if it doesn’t work out, I just lose money for shipping and return shipping and then have nothing to show for it.

But I couldn’t have been more ill-prepared for what I was about to find out. First of all, they still have everything I need in stock – in the sizes I want. Had I needed to return them, I would have been able to print a pre-paid shipping label and return the package and have $6 deducted from my refund for shipping. But for an exchange, I print the label and there is no charge to me for the return shipping or for the new items being shipped to me.

I put in a quick phone call to their customer service so that I could make sure I understood everything correctly. I have to say, it was the nicest and most helpful conversation that I have ever had with any customer service representative. She explained that I could go ahead and put in a new order for the items that I need to exchange. In my case, this is beneficial because I’m afraid things will go out of stock in my size before my exchange items make it back to Old Navy. I will have to pay for the new order, shipping excluded, but once they receive my current items, they will refund me for those.

I also noticed that some of the items that I purchased had gone up in price by $30. She assured me that it would be an even exchange and I would not have to pay the difference. Then to my surprise, she informed me that if anything I purchased was now on sale… they would actually refund the difference to me!

So tomorrow I’ll be sending some items back and putting my order in for the new ones at no extra cost to me. Terrific customer relations! I may have a new go-to clothing source.