Prettylittlething - anyone else FUMING?

[sowhatimangry]

My dd shops online. She frequently uses Prettylittlething, boohoo, asos. She got an email last week (along with hundreds of thousands of other people, it would appear) saying that her account was being deactivated because she returns too many items.

While I think there's a whole host of things unfair with that, my main issue is that for birthdays and Christmas, family members buy her vouchers for this clothing brand. Meaning she's got £80 as her account balance that she can't use.

The account won't let her place any orders so she can't spend it, she's gotten in touch with the customer service who haven't replied (presuming they're swamped with complaints!)

Is there anything we can do?! There's no option to cash out, and get the money back. They have essentially stolen £80 from her. So so frustrating. Maybe we just have to cut our losses and be grateful it wasn't more.

I’m a high returner too (but don’t shop at PLT or similar). I often send back 80% of an order.

I can understand it’s expensive for the shops. Also not great environmentally.

I don’t see the alternative though. I have no idea what’s going to fit well or look good until I see the item and try it on, and clothes companies either don’t have physical shops or have only a small part of their range in store.

I guess there are three options for stores

• charge more for returns
• charge more for the clothes
• cut off high return rate customers

Options one and two are used more and are less controversial but the problem with these is they will deter all customers, not just the high return rate customers.

In short I can see why PLT have done this

Maybe there could be some sort of limited number of free or cheap returns and then once you’ve used that up you pay more? Would require quite a lot of tracking though.

But customers are just doing the equivalent of what they would do in a shop - taking several items/sizes into a changing room to try them on.

The retailers have created this model and are now surprised by customer behaviour.

Exactly. Do they really expect people to just keep things which don't fit or pay delivery costs for each item they want to buy?

I find it a bit distasteful that only now are you "fuming", because it's affecting you.

You weren't fuming when this shit company exploited women and children.

You weren't fuming when their model fucks with the environment.

Only when your daughter can't get more cheap shit.

I agree it's partly the retailers at fault but it's really not the equivalent of trying on in store and only buying one item.

Trying things on for half an hour before picking a dress doesn't take items out of circulation for days/weeks at a time and doesn't cost any extra money.

Buying online and returning the majority of your purchases does both of those things.

Those saying it's a high return rate, isn't that what you're supposed to do with online retailers? I always buy huge orders (not PLT), try them on and return what I don't need.

I don't live near any good shops and the ones that do rarely stock my size for I don't have much alternative, other than ordering one item at a time - but they still might end up getting returned if they're not suitable, and that's an evening bigger footprint.

For example my son recently needed school trousers, he's an awkward size, super tall and very slim so we ordered all the styles from m&s and only kept the one that fit properly. All the styles are not available in store e.g. extra long, only standard sizes so there was no other option for us.

Or my other son needed basketball shoes, but he has very wide feet and not all styles are suitable. No retailers near us sell basketball shoes so I had to order many pairs from Nike until we got something that worked for him.

For people with disabilities and rural customers return services can be a lifeline for essential clothing. It would be great if we could order one size and style and know they would fit and suit first time but it doesn't work like that unfortunately.

I hope you can get your credit back op.

I agree with this, my friend works as a courier and says they'll deliver 10 parcels and next day 9 go back, this is a loss to any business, the costs of packaging, logistics, returns.
Next will also suspend accounts who do this excessively.

Maybe if the clothes sizes on these websites didn’t vary so massively, people wouldn’t have to buy several sizes in the same item, and return the ones that don’t fit. From what I’ve seen online, she’s not the only person in this situation. PLT are a proper dodgy outfit. I hope you manage to resolve this issue asap.

I've done it loads with Next for over 15 years, never had a warning or anything. But if I order £300 worth, I'll normally keep £150 worth.

Those saying it's a high return rate, isn't that what you're supposed to do with online retailers? I always buy huge orders (not PLT), try them on and return what I don't need.

If everyone who bought online returned 80% of their purchases, these companies would go bust.

It costs money (and time) to handle returns, plus it puts all those items out of circulation so they're unable to be bought by other people.

Yes, the business model is part of the problem (and COVID didn't help) but people are incredibly naive if they think they can routinely buy 20 items only to return 18 of them for free.

So why keep buying from them in the first place if they're so bad?

And who even needs 18 items of clothing at once? Surely you just buy what you need?

Customers used to take a few items into a fitting room and select the ones they wanted to keep. I can remember doing this and often only finding one or two of the items were suitable.

Online retailers have driven people to use their brand and then are surprised about this very common shopping phenomenon. If sizes were standardised and decent tailoring was used it would happen a whole let less.

Well, it all depends on the business model doesn’t it.

Buying from companies that charge £20 per item - yes they will not be able to handle high return costs and will go bust if everyone returns 80%

Buying from companies that cost £100 per item - much higher margin so they can afford to absorb high return rates and it’s part of why customers pay a premium to shop there

Shit clothing. Shit quality. Shit material. Shit working practices. Shit for the environment.

It's amazing what people will overlook because they want something shiny and cheap.

Forget needing tens of new outfits. Buy quality and buy much less. You will save money and look better.

If a customer wants a specific garment for a specific occasion then it's entirely understandable that she'd want to order several (perhaps several styles in a couple of sizes each) and only keep the one she likes best.

As a pp said, it's the equivalent from the customer's POV of trying a load on in the changing room.

The problem is that it's not economically sustainable for the retailer. They're not legally bound to do what makes life easiest for their customers if that costs them too much.

That said, there's no justification at all for keeping the credit on the OP's daughter's account. I suggest she leaves it a day or two while the service lines cool down a bit after the initial furore. There will be other customers in the same position and I suspect PLT will develop a standard form, or MSE will get around to giving some standard advice on how to get your money back.

Worst case scenario I'd go Small Claims Court, (costs 35 quid but I'm bloody minded) or perhaps ask relative who bought voucher to try to get refund on their credit card, but it probably won't come to that.

it's entirely understandable that she'd want to order several (perhaps several styles in a couple of sizes each) and only keep the one she likes best.

It's not understandable at all. It's greed fuelled by social media pressure.

Aside from the stupidity of their actions, you're entitled to your money back. I'd send a letter informing them that if the money is not returned within one month you'll be taking them to small claims court.

I don’t use PLT or boohoo but this makes absolutely no sense! I do shop online sometimes but much prefer in store (if only they had any service or stock!!)

But shopping online with no option to try on means that of course people will have to return items… plus you have a right to cancel up to 14 days after purchasing, right…? Distance selling regulations… So by closing customers accounts solely because of a high volume of returns, are they not denying people their right to cancel.

High volumes of returns isn’t good for business or the environment but they should provide a warning first, I think.

That’s why I don’t use PLT, Boohoo etc after bad experiences with sizing on their website. However, sometimes with other retailers, I’ve gone into store to try clothes on, and found they have nothing in my size at all, so I’ve had to order online, try at home, and if they don’t fit, send them back. But again, clothes sizing is all over the place, I’m never sure what size to buy, as there’s such a variety. Primark for example, I had to buy a sweatshirt in a Small cos my usual size was absolutely massive. If sizing was more standardised across the retailers, people wouldn’t have to do half as many returns.

Have you never wanted to buy an outfit to wear for a wedding/party/prom/interview? I can assure you that women used to do this even before the advent of social media.

They would go to a shop, or perhaps several shops, look at several outfits on the peg, feel the fabric, hold them up against themselves, try several on to see whether they fitted them and suited them, and keep the one that they thought was best. I still do that, because I live near shops and CBA with parcels and returns.

Unless you're a full on puritan offended by all forms of female vanity, I don't think that constitutes unacceptable greed.

It's financially problematic for the retailer if you do the same thing online, and they are not obliged to facilitate it if they don't think it's profitable for them, but it's not an unreasonable thing for customers to want.

@Leftleg

Can't you create an account for yourself to order stuff on her behalf to use up the vouchers.

I know you were trying to be helpful but come on it says in the post the voucher balance is on her daughter's account.

Yes, the business model is part of the problem (and COVID didn't help) but people are incredibly naive if they think they can routinely buy 20 items only to return 18 of them for free.

The business model is the whole problem when store are online only. As long as refunds have been available a percentage of customers have always bought several items in store to try on at home and returned the surplus.
Businesses are incredibly naive if they think this wouldn't be a problem when they provide no other option but to try at home. They've made it even easier by allowing customers to use Klarna etc so they don't even have to pay for the 'haul' upfront.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ggq54w953o

Happened to a few people - but I don't know what laws you can quote to get the £80 one the account back - like a PP I'd suggest asking https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/ - you should be able to get that back somehow.

Women's sizing is all over the place - MIL used to work in clothes factories and said even a decade plus ago if they hadn't got enough of one size they'd be told to fill it with another they always tried to make it larger size so at least customer might use it but that was shop floor policy not management one. It closed before she retired - all the work went aboard.

It's another reason MIL tries to buy in store and try things on but her and FIL have when asking for kids clothes or just adult clothing for her been directed by store staff to on-line store.

I tend to on-line shop as it's easier with so many shops gone in our high street but have to scour the review sections for fit information and still get caught out sometimes.

Why don’t you use this as an opportunity to discuss fast fashion, poor quality clothes and poor working conditions. Teach her to purchase one or two really high quality prices of clothing every couple of months rather than piles of utter tat.

My generation were the ones in which fast fashion exploded and we wasted so much money, and now we are starting to see a shift. She should be part of that and stop shopping on sites like that.

I’ve got two kids who are just hitting teen years and I’ve worked really hard to get them to make ethical clothing choices. They still follow the trends, they still look good, they don’t get made fun of. But they buy good quality clothes instead of fast tat.