Kate C.

Tip for consumers:
I hope I've provided some useful info above re JoAnn's. I'm new to this site and I think it's a great addition to the internet, providing more space and some guidelines on what to include to be helpful to users than most. :)

Products used:
I gave them one star because I'm out over $40 for items I paid for. If they felt I reached a threshold for returning items without a receipt the legally acceptable recourse is to simply inform me of that and refuse to offer a refund, not to take the items, issue a store credit--which I used for few dollars towards something the same night--then zero out the balance retroactively, after I drove 34 miles to pick something up--due to a coupon, of course. If they play dirty like that, you can't rely on their stated policies.

Otherwise the stores vary in quality of service and selection. Besides offering a wide variety of items for a wide variety of crafts in the low to medium (decent) quality range, the only other benefit I can think of is that they offer excellent pattern sales, which I'll miss now that I'm boycotting them. Even though they've doubled the sales prices from what they used for years--unless this is because I've moved to another state--they're still the lowest you can pay for patterns anywhere. (That is the only reason I would suggest them to anyone, just as my own dissatisfaction with being stiffed is the only reason I would recommend avoiding them. Otherwise...they're convenient and practically the only game in town for some items.)

Per the questions: They do have free shipping with a coupon--when available--and with a minimum purchase amt but that means you can't apply any other coupon. It's not cheap otherwise. Shipping time varies. They have a refund policy but apparently can simply keep your merchandise and cancel store credit, so keep your receipts and ID whatever you've just purchased on them asap as they're impossible to figure out after you've accumulated a few if you have multiple items on them (& I have a ton, but won't in the future). They change their return policies constantly, so don't depend on whatever's current, even if it's posted. It has been pretty relaxed recently, but I didn't count on them stiffing me. (If they don't rectify this I will take them--minimally--to Small Claims Court. I've never sued anyone but am really ticked off with this. I don't steal myself and I'm not tolerating a badly managed corporation thinking they can get away with it--and they're idiots for using an answering machine to handle this type of issue.)

Other comments: they charge well over the competition for most items and you have to use their coupons for their prices to be competitive--it's a marketing tactic to make you feel you're getting a bargain although with variable quality--be careful if making items for resale and don't trust the labels ('agate' is actually glass or resin for a number of items). Given the variety of craft items, it's a convenient place to shop, but the coupon business can be really aggravating. Still, online competition has driven a lot of the independent craft stores out of business--bead stores are particularly hard hit--and these are the type of products it's nice to see in person, so I hope they survive, which I'm not sure they will, as they are badly run on the corporate level and have the worst website ever for the size of the company. One positive is that you can order items online to pick up in a store and the stores give you a few days to come in to complete the purchase. Service varies from store to store: some have super nice and helpful mgrs & employees & others are pretty rude. Added this all here because I used up my space above.)