. . . and then, there's L.L. Bean!

[ellenkushner]

Ellen Kushner:  I want to buy another of your Vintage Flannel Nightgowns - top rated:
http://reviews.llbean.com/1138/IG70693/vintage-flannel-nightgown-reviews/reviews.htm
but currently unavailable!  Are they coming back?

Cheryl:  Hello Ms. Kushner, I am happy to assist you.  I checked and unfortunately these will not be available again until next fall. I am sorry for any inconvenience.

Ellen Kushner: Next fall is fine - as long as they're not going away forever! Is there somewhere to put in a requset that they bring back green or blue print, too?

Cheryl: I am happy to request that for you. We usually do bring the green back, but I will let the product specialist know you would like to see the blue as well.   I buy these every year! I have do so for at least 5 years. They should return early next fall.

Ellen Kushner: Hurrah! Thank you very much.

Cheryl: Very good! We appreciate your interest. Thanks for contacting L.L.Bean, Ms. Kushner. I hope you have a good evening!

And that, my friends, is how it's done.  [Edited for length]

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

Yay! I've got the red, but I think I may pick up a blue at some point as well, if their product specialist takes your request to heart.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I knew I loved you for so many reasons. We have the green (dark) & the blue, from previous years. They're good.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

It is perhaps the least flattering nightie ever, but it makes me feel wonderfully quaint. On a cold winter night, there's something so comforting and romantic about its timeless severity.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"its timeless severity"
Just so!

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Check Vermont Country Store for flannel jammies, too.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

The world is full of flannel nighties (and I want them all!) - we love this one because it looks Period. And austere - no ruffles. Not that I don't love ruffles sometimes, but.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Ruffles and that general Lanz of Salzburg thing, not so great, indeed!

You'd think someone would sell warm PJs in winter, wouldn't you. Ha.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

OK, so I like Lanz of Salzburg, too . . . guess I feel that if there's one place I should still be able to wear Costumes, it's in the privacy of my boudoir! Nightgowns are the last redoubt of the Romantic... or were. Not seeing much these days.

Delia has conceived a passion for more of those flannel-lined ones with the shiny outsides - wonder who's got those, now?

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Brushed-back satin is the code word. It took me a few minutes to dredge that up.

Try Macy's or another big department store---may I say, one with a conservative clientele, the sort where you may well never find organic cotton anything.

Or the internets! This place appears to be the Aladdin's Cave of nightclothes.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I am wearing a pair of LL bean fleece lined denim jeans. If I had a spare $250, I might get one for every weekday.

Also, the customer service department just picks up the phone when you call.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Well, that was startling! .....I'm wearing one *right now*. (In red.)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Now I want to photoshop a Group Photo of all of us in ours!

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

I love those nightgowns, and the plaid flannel bathrobes that last forever.

I have had nothing but great service from LLB, and I say that as a lifelong Bean's customer. I once went into to the Freeport store customer service to show them how the cuffs of a down jacket I had worn for a year had frayed, just thinking they'd like to know and fix the problem with their manufacturer. They gave me a refund on the spot, enough to buy a new jacket then and there. Now THAT'S customer appreciation.

I have been miffed at them the last few years, however, since they have outsourced so many of their wares to foreign manufacturers, depriving my home state of much needed jobs. The famous Bean Boot is made in China now. I was really unhappy to learn that their Christmas evergreen decorations are now outsourced to Washington state! Wreath making is an historic seasonal job for hundreds of Mainers all over the state. And greenery arrangements from Maine's most famous company--from Washington??? Really, now. I've done my holiday greenery shopping elsewhere the past couple of years.

Otherwise, however, Beans rocks.