Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores
Reviews and Complaints

If I have to learn how to weave my own fabric in order to avoid ever
setting foot into another Joann fabrics ... then that would be a skill
worth learning! As an organization, Joann Fabrics appears to have a
real gift for hiring the rudest, nastiest, most sarcastic and
condescending women (and some men) to staff their stores. Dismissive is
the word that comes to mind when I think of the humorless ogres
at the cutting counter. I have just returned from what I swear will be my last
trip to Joann Fabric's also commonly known as "Hell on Earth" by those
who have shopped there! After waiting 20 to have my fabric cut by either one
of the slowest, most dismissive clerks (standard Joann cutting clerk)
the one lady simply turned on her heels and walked off. I finally asked where
she went and with out looking up the remaining clerk stated that the
other cutter had gone on break! I had now been in line for 45 minutes!
I hate that store because the people that are being paid to supposedly
be there to help you so that you can SPEND your money there!
They wouldn't give a flying "f" if you claimed
to be having chest pains or labor pains in line. As customers, we
appear to be one Big Pain to them and if we dropped over dead in front
of them clutching our paper number thingy...they would just go on to
the next number! And... I am sick of playing hide and seek with the
other staff (they are hiding) and if you happen to site one, the game
quickly morphs into a game of tag or chase ..and.of course if they
sense the pursuit... they bee-line it behind an "employees only" door.
Hobby Lobby is opening up a store 15 minutes farther away, but the added drive time
is meaningless because of once you get there, the staff is actually HAPPY to HELP you!
I don't care if they are closed on Sunday! That is OK with me because I am willing to adjust
my fabric/craft shopping accordingly. I love the kind people at Hobby Lobby! I'd drive an extra
30 minutes in order to skip the hellish ###'s at Joann's!

If I have to learn how to weave my own fabric in order to avoid ever setting foot into another Joann fabrics ... then that would be a skill worth learning! As an organization, Joann Fabrics appears to have a real gift for hiring the rudest, nastiest, most sarcastic and condescending women (and some men) to staff their stores. Dismissive is the word that comes to mind when I think of the humorless ogres at the cutting counter. They wouldn't give a flying "f" if you claimed to be having chest pains or labor pains in line. As customers, we appear to be one Big Pain to them and if we dropped over dead in front of them clutching our paper number thingy...they would just go on to the next number! And... I am sick of playing hide and seek with the other staff (they are hiding) and if you happen to site one, the game quickly morphs into tag or chase ..and.of course if they sense the pursuit... they bee-line it behind an "employees only" door. Hobby Lobby is opening up a store 15 minutes farther away, but who the hell cares! I love the kind people at Hobby Lobby! I'd drive an extra 30 minutes in order to skip the hellish at Joann's!

I went to the Husqvarna Gallery on Dec. 17 to have my Designer 1 maintenced and repaired (it was sewing backwards) After 4 weeks I called to see if my machine was ready to be picked up. The lady I spoke with said that it was not ready they were waiting on a part to come in on Monday (this was friday that I called). So I waited until the following friday to call back and see if my machine was ready. She said that the man that worked on my machine could not fix the problem and that they wanted to know if they could send it to Tennessee to the manufacture and that it was free. So I went to the store and signed paperwork authorizing the trip to Tennessee. 4 weeks later I call to check on it and the lady said "she didn't send the machine because it was going to take 4 weeks before they would get it back and so she was going to send it to another local store" So I went by the store 2 weeks later and my machine was still sitting in the store. So I picked my machine up and took it to the other local store myself. 3 days later the other store called and said it was ready. The part that was put on was put on backwards! So I get my machine home and get everything set up and ready to sew only to see that my ankle (the part that holds the foot) is not there. So I called Joann's and they said they had it. So my step mom who was going there that day said she would go by and pick it up for me. (I live an hour and 40 minutes away from the store). So she brings me the ankle and its not mine. Joann's lost mine and gave me one off an
other machine. So anyways I sat down tonight to embroider a design on an outfit I just finished and guess what... my embroidery arm DOESN'T WORK! There was nothing wrong with my embroidery arm when I took it to Joann's and now it doesn't move at all. This is not just a pleasure machine. This machine was worth 5K when I bought it and it is my business and my income for a family of 6. Also I receverd my machine back on March 25! With scratches all over it where the guy who worked on it at joann's didn't know how to open the machine and work on it... BEWARE THESE PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! WILL NEVER TAKE MY MACHINE BACK THERE!

My mother, daughter and I shopped in jo-ann's today 2/1/14 and was completely offended by a "so-called" manager named dominique. She treated us as if we were children and was extremely rude and unprofessional. When I mentioned that I did not appreciate the attitude that she had with my mother and I she became even more rude and obnoxious and then threatened to call police on us - for what reason we are still very puzzled. She also told us to leave "her" store and do not return and that she does not need our money. She harassed both my mother and I and terrified my little girl with her behavior - which I definitely do not appreciate. She repeatedly harassed my mother by using terms that made my mother and myself feel extremely uncomfortable, like "sweety" and "darling" and when I told her to call my mother "mam", she ignored me and continued calling my mother "sweety" and "darling". (No respect for our wishes - this is a form of verbal sexual harassment). I would like to know what has happened to treating paying customers with dignity and respect. She commented that 1 on us was rude to her employees blaming me, when my mother only tried helping the employee and she was the 1 talking — I did not speak to the other girl. I have spent over $2000.00 in the last 6 months for materials and other items in this store needed for curtains in my home and have never been treated like this before anywhere. Oh yeah, she told us to never return to "her store". Wow! Is this the type of "managers" you have speaking with your customers - I would definitely recommend a 5 year course in communication skills for her because she clearly does not have the skills. "i" am a manager in my profession, and if I would speak to my clients like that, then I would not have a job. Recommend that you do the same.

Sunday morning (December 1, 2013) I received a text on my cell phone with a 60% off coupon for Joann Fabrics. I wasn't planning on going to Joann's that day, but 60% made it worth my while. Unfortunately, once I got into the store I saw a sea of sales cards on just about every item in the store. From 10% to 40%. In other words, my coupon was worthless as Joann's policy is that you can only use a coupon on non-sale items. I even asked if I could get the 60% off on the non-sale price of the item I was hoping to purchase. Nope. Not their policy. Nice job Joann Fabrics. You have lost a customer. Michael's just opened up next door ... they get my business. And anything I can't find at Michael's, I'll order from Amazon. I'm fed up with your policy.

I recently went to Joann's fabrics looking for Hanukkah products/crafts and there were none to be found. Every aisle was filled to the brim with Christmas decorations. Not even a single shelf was dedicated to other holidays. I am very disappointed with the lack of holiday diversity.

Sales flier advertised "one day only" sale on dress forms for $99.00 regular priced $259.00. Went in the day of the sale at 5:00 PM (due to work could not come in earlier). There was a dress form in the front a model I believe, none in a box went back into the store and there were 12 boxed dress forms (priced $259.00) so took one to the check out and it rung up at $311.00. told the cashier it was on sale she contacted the manager who said no that brand was not on sale the ones they had on sale was all sold out (all they had in stock for the sale was 6 boxes). I believe this is a bait and switch thing also there was no way they had enough to meet a "one day sale" but you could buy one for $311 instead since they were sold out. This company does not give rain-checks, nor do they offer another in place of product. Why advertise to over 5000 people a sale when you actually on have 6 items. I was told they have these on sale 3 or 4 times a year, when I asked when was the last sale was told it was at Thanksgiving since it is August would say they really only have one sale a year. Very disappointed in company and probably will not go back when I can get the same things at Hancock, Hobby Lobby and now Walmart again.

I recently returned some scrapbooking items to a Jo Ann Fabrics . The manager scolded me for bothering her during an on call lunch break and spit food out of her mouth. She twice had food fall out of her mouth and onto the counter. The manager slapped down the return receipt, slammed down the returns into a bin and stomped off. I will no longer be shopping at Jo Ann Fabrics.

I am a former employee of Jo Ann Fabrics and I filed an OSHA complaint and violations were found. The violations that were found were mouse droppings, entry ways into the building were rodents can get in, an unstable wall, an out of code ladder, shelf fixtures that were not properly stored, and more. I also complained about a leaking roof. The store manager let the roof leak for many years which could expose people to mold. The leaking roof was not found because m the inspection was done during dry weather conditions. There were recalls on products that contained lead paint but little was done to inform customers except post a note by the check out that sometimes was not up. For many years unsold products were not donated but destroyed and put into the dumpster. I asked management why things were not donated and they said too much paper work but later the started donating unsold items. The store manager let a relative work at the store for "free'" which kept the other employees hours down but possible gave her a bonus .

I received an email early on a Sunday morning showing an excellent deal on an embossing/die cutting machine. I immediately went to the site and ordered one. Since I got such a good deal on the machine I ordered some dies to go with it. The dies were fairly priced but of course I wouldn't have bought them without getting such a good deal on the machine. I also wanted to purchase enough to get the free shipping.

Two days later I receive an email saying my dies were shipped but the order for the machine was cancelled with no real explanation. When I made the order the machine showed as in stock. If I would have known the machine wouldn't be mailed I certainly wouldn't have purchased the accessories!

I emailed customer service and received an automated response that they would get back with me shortly. I sent another email a week later requesting a response. It's now been a month with no reply. I really think they bait the sales to get you to purchase other items on the site.

This is my second bad experience with this store and will no longer be shopping with them. Customers beware!

Don't sign up for their emails-- I tried to unsubscribe, but even after unsubscribing, they continue to send me emails (if I push the unsubscribe button on those, it tells me I can't unsubscribe because I am not on the subscribers' list!). I contacted customer service by email about it twice and never received a reply (after 8 days), and called their 1-800 number twice. Both people assured me that I would be taken off the list, but I STILL receive emails. If they can't handle taking my email off a list, I definitely won't trust them with my credit card information ever again!

Thier "coupons" and sales deals are all ripoffs, not to mention a complete waste of resources on their part!

I get these "50% off" coupons in the mail all the time, and they give specific dates you can use them and that they are only good on nonsale items.

What they dont tell you, is that during the time period of these half off coupons, nothing in the store is regular price! Everything is on sale, so you can never use these 50% off coupons! And thier sale prices are always 20% less than any coupone they send out!

Why the hell dont they just stop spending millions of dollars on these useless coupons that are nothing but landfill, and lower thier prices on everything they sell instead?
#s is what they are.

Jo-ann fabric store... So have been waiting for today to come around, this store was having a 50% off
Sale on their clearance items. I went in last saturday thinking it was last weekend by mistake, and had
Been in the week before. That said, my mom and I have been waiting for this sale for the last two weeks.
We get there today, all excited and ready to rock out their sale department... Turns out they marked
All their clearance items up so they were even more expensive than before the sale. I asked the store
Manager about it (Since obviously I was upset about this) and she then proceeds to lie to me and say
That they didn't change any of their prices. I told her that I had written prices down and this and that,
She then accused me of lying to her! This is the store manager of the portage indiana jo-ann fabrics
Store. At that point I was super upset, I also was told last week by an employee that they honored other
Places advertisements. Including hancock fabrics, then find out today that they only honor coupons, not
Ads. Which was a really huge inconvenience. The nearest hancock fabric store is an hour away from here.
Needed to go though because their patterns were only 99 cents a piece. Anyways though, upon leaving the
Store, I asked the cashier at jo-anns what their store number was. The store manager comes up, actually
Yelling at me! Then changes her story around to how corporate made them change "a few" of the prices. I will
Never be shopping at this store again and I highly discourage anyone else from shopping there also. They
Changed their prices to trick customers into thinking they were getting a good deal. Some fabrics were
3-6 bucks last week, and now this week were marked up to 9-12 bucks. Purely because they didn't want to
Lose that money and don't respect their customers. To top everything off, I then decided to call another
Store. I asked the woman that answered there if they had changed their prices on their clearance items.
I commend her for her honesty, really I do. She told me that "it came down from corporate to raise the prices
On all of their red tag items". So there you have it, this will also be going to the better business bureau.

I shopped at Joann in Newington, CT today. I purchased 29 items. Out of which 16 are wrongly billed. I am charged for the full yardage when I have actually bought a lot of remnants on clearance. If the yardage price is correct the 70% discount is not applied.

In the end I used a coupon which was for 25% on the total purchase (regular, sale and clearance) - this coupon is also applied to only a part of my purchase.

This is sheer carelessness and completely unacceptable. I asked the person on the counter again and again if he thought the bill was right. And he kept saying that he is doing it right.

Where ever the price had to entered manually he has done it WRONG.

I was supposed to pay $40 (which I know after careful detailed calculations) but I paid $85. I know I will get my money back but what about the trouble I went through. I spent an hour doing the calculations just because the guy on the counter was so incompetent. Why should a customer suffer like this?

I purchased a curtain rod on clearance from this store. I've never returned anything to a Joann's before, but decided that this curtain rod wasn't right for my decor. I repackaged the rod, found the receipt and saw the words "All Sales Final". Evidently they have a policy that forbids returns on clearanced items. This was a suprise. At the store, I spoke with a manager who said that all clearance signs indicate this and she pointed one out to me. It was in 4-point type! I went to the Home Decor section to see if I missed something in the signage. I checked every clearance sign where the rod orginally hung and NOWHERE did it state "All Sales Final". I pointed this out to the manager. She was unapologetic, kept restating "All clearance sales are final". I called an 800# to complain to Customer Relations and they held to this policy as well. Joann's Fabrics is not willing to work with their customers to keep them satisfied. I am a longtime seamstress, quilter, knitter, crocheter. I own 6 sewing machines and was considering purchasing a new one at Joann's. This is no longer the case. From now on, I will give all my business to Hobby Lobby in SW Florida.

My 19 year old daughter purchased a Brother sewing machine from Joann's fabrics online. When she received it, it was not working properly. When she came home from college, I spent 3 hours to see what was wrong with it. I noticed 2 issues with the machine. I went with her to a local Joann's fabric store. I was told by the clerk that online purchases must be returned via mail. The manager was very rude, she stated that "We don't carry this brand so you can't return it here" and "You have to call them to get a return label". They didn't want to give me the number, so I found it online on my smart phone while I stood at the front of the store. I waited 25 minutes before a human being answered. By then I was very annoyed. I asked how long it would take to get a refund and she said about 2 to 3 weeks after they receive the item. This company seems to try to keep your money as long as possible. I also don't like that when you try to use a coupon, you can't because almost everything in the store is on sale. I am just fed up with this Company's return policy, rude employees and their useless coupons.

What has happened to Joann's? Interior floor plan changed; Cutting tables reduced in number and surface area reduced 75%; sales staff not given adequate tools or work area to provide adequate customer service, waited in two separate lines--total one hour to buy fabric and notions, and the store wasn't busy!. Outrageous! Work spaces are sometimes designed to make it uncomfortable for customers in order to get them out fast, or in the case of customer service, to make it inconvenient. This was my impression of Joann's tonight. The employees work part time--the company doesn't pay benefits, the are not given the tools they need to perform their jobs--making customer service a low priority. Stood in line for over 30 minutes waiting to have fabric cut, and there were only two people ahead of me. They need to set up benches/chairs at the cutting station, or better, my advice is to take a number, then do your shopping. This will minimize your wait in line.

Manger yells at emploees in front of customers, says he' been with the company for 43 yrs, but he treats the female employees like they are worthless. You are not allowed to say goodbye sweetie to a friend you've known for 30yrs. Now my opinion is there was no reason to yell at at the employee in front of a line of people. Now this is not the first time he has done this to the female employees he is a male shovenist pig and I feel sorr for the abuse from a man who works with women at a fabric store.My girlfriend is afraid to goto work because of this man. She has been with the comany for 2 yrs and only makes $7.90 an hr and has to put up with the abuse from this so called manager who has been there 43yrs. He must have been abused by women so he thinks he can treat them so badly

A friend and myself were having material cut to purchase and looking at coupons that the store had available. A employee who turned out to be a visiting corporate employee informed us that we could only use one coupon per purchase. This employee had no idea what we were discussing or why we were reviewing the coupons. He made this statement in front of anyone who happened to be at the cutting table.

How rude and inconsiderate. If there were no customers there would be no need for a retail store. Obviously he did not have this mindset.

With the economy in america now, i believe everyone is watching were they spend their hard - earned dollars. I will think twice about going to jo - ann in the future.