Ideal Uniforms Not So Ideal

With school season right around the corner (one week here in our area), school supplies and clothes are currently at the top of my “to do list”. Honey grew out of all of her school clothes (not a surprise) so we need to purchase a boat load of school uniforms. Our elementary school children are required to wear navy, black, or khaki bottoms and any colored plain polo shirt.

I had the opportunity to review a new online school uniforms store this year called Ideal Uniforms. I spent one evening browsing the store with Honey by my side. She is very picky when it comes to what type of clothes she is willing to wear. We weren’t able to find a lot of shirts that were in stock in her size so instead we opted for school uniforms bottoms and a backpack.

While the selection was a little lacking I contributed that to being close to school beginning, however it turns out that was the least of my problems. I placed my order on 7/21. Since I ordered 4 pairs of shorts 2 navy blue and 2 black I only had to concentrate on shirts and a couple skirts to complete Honey’s school uniforms shopping. A week went by before I realized I still had not received my order, a week seemed a decent time to wait. I received a phone call from Ideal Uniforms but they only let it ring twice before hanging up so they didn’t get allow me to answer it or get a chance to leave a message.

After about a week in a half I decided to check my order online and saw that it was showing as received but not as shipped so I emailed customer service. Two days with no response I decided to give them a call. The phone was picked up by a live person (no automated voice which surprised me and was a plus). I explained to the customer service representative that I was trying to get the status of my order. She looked up my order while talking to someone else on her end. I was very confused as to who she was talking to me or the other person at times. Finally she asked me what color of paper I had. I was even more confused and explained I didn’t have any paper. She said they had to give me a paper so I explained I purchased online.

She said I had the wrong department and transferred me to someone to help me. When the guy answered the line I explained again what I was trying to find out. After taking all the information he asked what school this was for. I said I wasn’t ordering for a school it was a personal order. He then said he would transfer me to the person that could help me with my online order.

So ANOTHER person answered the line and before I tried to explain why I was calling I said I wanted to make sure I was speaking with the person that could help me with a personal online order. He said he could help me and the first question he asked me was, “What school is this for?” I said again I was not ordering for a school but it was a personal order. He got all my information down and then said I had to call a different number from a different warehouse and wanted to give me the number. I explained at the time I was not able to write down a phone number and asked if I could instead find the number online.  In which he replied no. I thought this was strange to not include a phone number one may need to call to check on the status of an order.

I hung up and checked online anyway and found another number and called this number. I finally reached someone who could help me with my order. He said, “No who called you?” I told him about my brief two ring call. He said I was suppose to get a call to let me know they were out of the black shorts. He also said they were really busy because it was school season. Well Duh! Since it was getting late regarding school beginning I agreed to allow him to replace the black shorts with navy and allowed them to send me 4 pairs of navy shorts (Honey won’t wear khaki).

He said he would ship my order right out. Sure enough in a couple of days we received our order. Honey loves the backpack and it is a perfect match. I wish I could say the same for the shorts. Now of course it is hard to buy online and I knew I was taking that chance. That is why I made sure to purchase the shorts with adjustable waistbands.

Only ONE problem….these were not the shorts I received. I had to double check my order to make sure I had ordered what I thought I did. You will notice there is no “brand” name on the shorts I ordered however you can see in the description that it states there is an adjustable waistband. Upon further review I was sure I received was definitely not the shorts I ordered. Though I do like the looks better, there is a small button on the front and the bottoms are rolled up, the fact that they do not have the adjustable waistband is a huge issue for me. Not to mention I just don’t like being sent something I didn’t order without being informed first.

Due to the previous issues with customer service and the fact that these shorts were purchased as part of a review for Ideal Uniforms I decided I did not want to hassle with trying to return them and exchange them. Therefore maybe next year these will be shorts that we can use. However my overall opinion regarding Ideal Uniforms is definitely not a positive one and I don’t believe I would shop their again.

Disclaimer: I received the above product(s) at no cost to me by the company or representing PR agency. All opinions are my own and mine only. You may read more of my disclosure here.