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Yesterday we reported that Barneys experienced a technical glitch in their online order management system and has cancelled several holiday orders. Late last night, Madison Avenue Spy overheard an employee in the Madison Avenue Barneys store say the company would be offering disappointed online shoppers $100 gift cards and personal shopping assistance to pick alternative holiday gifts.
According to Madison Avenue's Spy's source, here's what went wrong. There is one warehouse that houses all the online offerings, but when the warehouse runs out of an item, the product is pulled from the shelves of the Madison Avenue Barneys. This creates an inventory issue when in-store shoppers purchase the item before it gets pulled for the web order.
The Racked tipster who who originally passed on the order cancellation email reports having no word from Barney's about a gift card or personal shopping assistance as of 10:45 this morning. So chances are looking pretty slim that replacement gifts—at least replacement gifts that come in a Barneys gift box—will be arriving in time for Christmas.
•Barneys Cancels Online Holiday Orders, Offers Sincere Apologies [Racked]
•Barney's Scrambling to Fill Customer Orders [Madison Avenue Spy]
•Barneys Is "Scurrying" to Fill Web Orders With In-Store Items [Racked NY]