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.

Well that makes it even worse then, zara own their own manufacturers so therefore have full control over how clothes' are made, quality checks sizing etc, they still produce fecking shite
yes companies can outsource but the onus is then on that companies to follow through quality control checks sizing issue, pay the right price and more importantly that manufactures are operating ethically too

Oh yes. I avoid Zara like the plague!
I do wish that there were more ways younger people could learn about the impact of fast fashion, but I do sympathise with the fact that the clothing is more affordable and if you are on a budget, buying ethically can be harder. It would be good to encourage things like second hand clothing purchases and charity shops, but I do find that unfortunately influencers are really pushing the “you have to buy more and you have to buy new and you have to buy this specific item from this brand”. Some influencers are good though and encourage charity shop usage - Demi Donnelly for example.

Ironically I think the problem for PLT is their customers being more thoughtful and less wasteful. With the advent of super cheap online fashion a lot of young (and less young) women quickly got into the habit of buying a load of stuff, and not always returning the stuff they didn't want, because it was too much hassle for very cheap garments. There were loads of excess garments, but they were lurking in the back of wardrobes, given straight to charity shops, or even binned. The retailers got to keep the profit on all the unwanted clothes.

A couple of years later, these same women were confronted with COL increases, endless headlines about the impact of fast fashion on the environment, and the sight of piles of BNWT stuff in their wardrobes that they were never going to wear but had missed the opportunity to return.

Unsurprisingly these women decided to get a grip, learn from their mistakes, and start to return any garments that they found they didn't want promptly for a refund. The number of excess garments might be the same, but more of them go back to the retailer. That's better for the customer, and probably better for the environment, but it's terrible for the retailer's profit margins. Hence the change in policy.

Another one is Andrea Chong - She does mindful Mondays on her instagram page. She goes to shops ( from zara to Burberry) inspects clothes, explains what materials are used , what materials are better and what we should be looking out for. Its been a real eye opener for me

I feel like the point of the thread has been lost!

I agree that a high returns rate isn't good for their business
I agree that you have no option but to order more then one size when you're ordering online
I agree that fast fashion isn't good for the environment
I agree that the exploitation of the workers is disgusting

What I don't agree with is that they've closed her account with no warning but kept her money!!!

I wish there was more stuff like this, especially geared to teens. So many of them get sucked into Temu, and Shein, and god knows what else. We deffo need some more positive influencers!

I haven’t bought any items of clothing so far this year because I don’t need any. Why do people need so much? I cannot fathom needing to buy tons of clothing items every month.

Absolutely.
They are disgusting for not giving her the money back. This is why I feel for all the people who have been stuck in the same boat. It seems to have come out of nowhere. Don’t let it lie though, keep harassing them, and get all of the Consumer Advice to back you up.

That's an insane amount- that's an 80% return rate.

I bought some waterproof leather dog walking boots this winter from Bareback Footwear- I couldn't afford to buy two pairs {£400!} to return one, but for footwear I understand buying two pairs to check sizing.

That’s why Klarna exists.

I wouldn't feel sorry for the poor online retailers who are having lots of clothes returned - that's literally their business model! They get to operate without shops and all the associated costs of that, get paid upfront for everything that is tried on and in exchange they have to accept that a large proportion of items will be returned.

Surely they can't just keep the vouchers? Are there any terms and conditions available to read?

What's 'Klarna?'

Go to the police if they refuse to give the money back. See what options are open.

Yes you can do something - educate your daughter to shop better and not from PLT, Boohoo and the rest of them. As someone who has worked in the fashion industry for 15 years I can tell you that these fast fashion companies are completely unethical. They deliberately design c**p throw away fashion using cheap labour, cheap fabrics, cheap manufacturing methods. They want them to fall apart so you have to buy something new. They don't bother to fit them properly, they don't do fabric testing, they don't care. Im not surprised they have so many returns, there is 0 consistency with sizing due to poor fitting, and the fabrics and construction is terrible. Zara is just as bad.

I really feel this can't be legal. Maybe contact CTSI https://www.tradingstandards.uk/

Big company with zero morals when it comes to exploiting workers and supply chains, it’s time these young girls and the rest of the customer base turn their backs on fast fashion because them withholding her money is a drop in the ocean compared to how they behave overall.

Mum never buys new clothes- apart from underwear and shoes.
She is uber slim and small so finds amazing stuff in Charity shops {She lives in a reasonably wealthy area of London where charity shops get good donations}- I'm taller and size 10/12 so never find as much as so many more women are my size.
Charity shop clothes can be very good- cashmere, silk, cotton and linen, by good makers that hopefully don't exploit their workforce.

Having her account withdrawn because she's no longer profitable for the retailer is an unfortunate but not surprising consequence for the DD's pattern of purchases. Having the money on her account confiscated is neither realistic or legal.

But I don't actually think that BooHoo intend to keep the money. There will be a mechanism to get it back eventually once they've got their act together: they're solvent.

It's wrong they owe your dd £80 clothing sizes are so off obviously their going to get a lot of returns. Iv heard similar with places like uber eats/ deliveroo ect that if you report an issue to many times they cancel and block your account even though I don't think iv ever had a correct McDonald's delivery so obviously people want their money back and the situation sorting

Workers paid £0.29p an hour in Pakistan. {2020, but won't have increased by much}

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/22/boohoo-selling-clothes-made-by-pakistani-workers-who-earned-29p-an-hour#:~:text=The%20fast%20fashion%20brand%20Boohoo,by%20the%20Guardian%20has%20found.

I got a shitty letter from Next complaining about how much I return. Fine - I'll just not order anything.

There are more and more now thank god. And shopping second hand is becoming more popular. I read somewhere that Shein consumed as much oil as Toyata did last year in its production which is horrific. Temu is the worst and actually should be banned. France is bringing in new laws for closthes manufactures hopefully we will follow suit soon. But at the end of the day if consumer keeps buying then the companies will still produce

That sounds really frustrating. It's unfair to deactivate her account without a clear refund or alternative solution. Keep trying with customer service, and consider filing a complaint with consumer protection agencies if needed.

Is this not against the long distance selling regulations?