July 30 (Bloomberg) -- J.Crew Group Inc., the clothing retailer run by former Gap Inc. Chief Executive Officer Millard Drexler, apologized to customers, asking shoppers to excuse problems with Internet and phone orders in the past few weeks.

``We know we've let you down,'' Drexler, 63, and President Tracy Gardner said in the apology sent to customers by e-mail today and posted on the Internet site. J.Crew is making ``enhancements'' to its site and call center and ``unfortunately, encountered some bumps along the way,'' they wrote.

``We've made some mistakes (too many in our mind),'' the executives wrote in the statement. ``Please bear with us as we work through these issues.''

The retailer's Web site wasn't accessible as of 1:47 p.m. New York time and showed a ``Be back soon'' note. As of 2:30 p.m., the site worked and had the apology note on the home page.

J.Crew, a men's and women's clothing retailer known for khaki shorts, chinos and cashmere sweaters, fell $1.11, or 3.7 percent, to $28.98 as of 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 40 percent this year through today.

In the first quarter, Internet and catalog sales comprised 30 percent, or $100.9 million, of New York-based J.Crew's total revenue.

A recent upgrade to search and zoom functions online has caused some issues when shoppers place orders, J.Crew spokeswoman Margot Fooshee said today in an e-mail without elaborating. ``In our eyes, any inconvenience to our customers is unacceptable,'' she said.

``As a result, we proactively wanted to address them through an e-mail and on our home page, letting them know that they might experience some delays,'' Fooshee said, adding that shoppers were notified the company was trying to fix the problems immediately.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in New York at hburke2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 30, 2008 16:43 EDT