Missoni for Target crashes site, leaves fashionistas crazy upset

Target

(CBS) - See these clothes? You'll likely never see them in your closet or on shelves unless you were one of the very few to snag 'em at your local Target store before the rush or one of the very few who was able to gain access to the wonky Target.com site yesterday.

Missoni for Target debut coverage on Tech Talk

Some have said it was like Black Friday with more than a hundred shoppers lining up at stores bright and early to score housewares, skirts, even a bike with the iconic zigzag Missoni pattern. One minute, there were clothes on racks and home d?cor on shelves; after a matter of hours, they were gone.

It was the designer collection's debut at the massive retailer. Fashionistas came out in droves or woke up early to log on to Target.com. Some successful, some not.

Each item from the 400-piece line made by the Italian luxury knitwear designer Missoni ranges from $2.99 (for stationary) to $599.99 (for patio furniture), which is a fraction of the price of the designer's real duds that can go for $595 to $1,500.

"This was Missoni mayhem," said Joshua Thomas, a Target spokesman. "This is unprecedented."

Missoni craze crashes Target website

I actually lucked out around 11:30 a.m. when the site miraculously refreshed on my computer without the failed "woof!" page. I've never shopped so fast before in my life! Within five minutes, I had $200 worth of Missoni stuff in my Target.com cart. I hit "place order" and voila. I just got myself a blouse, a sweater dress, a sweater skirt and a jumpsuit. I don't know what they look and feel like in person, I don't know if they'll fit. I'll worry about that next week when my shipment finally arrives.

At 12:20 p.m., Tech Talk blogger Chenda Ngak was going to buy a Missoni dress. She clicked to enter vital info - her shipping address, credit card info, etc. - then got an oops page. Oh, the agony!

Around 10 p.m., we checked the site again and it was still wonky, giving oops pages every so often. But when it did finally refresh, most of the desirable Missoni items were deemed out of stock. Some swimsuits, however - now out-of-season - are still available as of 10 a.m. in limited sizes.

About 11 hours ago, @TargetStyle on Twitter tweeted "Keep your eyes on Target.com. While we don't plan to restock, there could be a return or order cancellation..." And that wasn't the only message that went out to disappointed followers. There have even been a couple of reports from online shoppers whose orders have been (gulp) canceled.

"@TargetStyle please take your #missonifortarget commercials out of rotation! It's a bit of a stake in the heart. We can't buy any of it," tweets Heather Swanson.

"@targetstyle I placed an order 6am yestrdy for Missoni, received confirmation & JUST NOW got an e-mail that you cancelled my order?" tweets Anna Ferraiuolo.

"Just received an email from @TargetStyle that my order that I made at 5am yesterday was cancelled. SERIOUSLY?!?" tweets Ansa Ahmed.

Hope's not lost, but it's pretty grim. We did a search and found jerks people selling Missoni for Target stuff on eBay, but of course, there's quite an up-charge. Rude.

[marychicagoland]

Target is consistenly blundering. Several yrs ago I had a Target credit card with a 12K credit line(because of my good credit rating). I hadn't used it in a year so I checked my acct online periodically for any unauthorized charges and was shocked to see my acct was closed. Called their idiotic reps and was told they close accts after yr on not being used. They would not reopen and said I had to reapply which I would not because of being detrimental to my credit rating-which them closing my acct was also. No notification, no apologies, no explanation. Target sucks and handles situations poorly and this is just another example.

[knitfreek]

At the moment of this writing, 49,119 Missoni for Target Items available @ inflated prices on E-bay. Sabotaging the website, creating a launch plan that virtually excludes most everyone who cannot be lined up outside a Target store @ 7 a.m because they have to go to work, canceling on-line orders placed in the wee hours of the first morning, and E-bay being the exclusive source of merchandise after the first hour of sales, well...congratulations! What you've done here could most likely be called obstruction of fair commerce by many. Shame on you Target!

[rsmik]

Those jerks on ebay work for Target, they got first dibs

[DanaOC]

Yeah, the Ebay sellers are jerks. As someone who would have bought the clothing to wear it myself, I am frustrated. While some people who are reselling the clothing probably also bought some for themselves, what happened is just so ridiculous. And Target, you guys are in the dog house with me.

[jeaverage]

What is the POINT? Why race the herd to buy STUFF? You can look nice and be independent of the herd/fads.

Good grief!