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 couldn't care less about online retailers setting their own terms and conditions and then punishing people for following them! If returns are an issue, then they should charge for them, or have better returns policies. And expecting me to feel sorry for the company because of this while they're selling me a £5 dress clearly made using slave labour?! Give over.

YANBU @sowhatimangry and I hope they sort this for your daughter. Outrageous.

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.

Exactly this (though for PLT not Boohoo)

Although the message might say “deactivated” I assume PLT has actually suspended thousands of accounts for review and will reinstate some in due course, perhaps with new t and cs on returns etc. If your DD’s account is set to be deleted, then i am sure you will get a refund at that time.

wouldn't be fuming that your daughters account is being suspended, the less shite people buy from these companies the better. Never mind the constant back and forth, horrific environmental impact and exploitation of others but guaranteed she doesn't need all the crap she likely buys. Karma in action likely, maybe a lesson learned

No. Not allowing her to return stuff she has purchased would be illegal but unless she has purchases within the 14 day cooling off period, it is not illegal as they are simply preventing her from buying anything else.

The potential theft of her credit is a different issue.

I look at sites like DP and Oasis, and their models are all 5ft11, size 8 - and all in really weird poses so it's impossible to even try and imagine what those same outfits would look like on a 5ft 4 tubby woman!
All owned by Bohoo - use same models across all the brands they own

BooHoo owns PLT.

@NonPlayerCharacter 'Standardised sizes' just means the sizing is identical within and between brands. So if you buy a size '16 tall' you'll get a predictable fit.
It does not mean that retailers won't be able to offer different fits.

Do you think they’ll care?

Not at all. But the usefulness of Next is being able to try on lots and send back so if that's a problem I'll just not bother at all. Their Clearance items don't even really have a description never mind sizes.

There are options for getting your money back, most of which have been mentioned on this thread.

1. contacting consumer champions
2. raising a MCOL/small claims case (a Letter Before Action should suffice, actually). This can/should include mention of the distance selling regulations, as well as the theft of the £80

Not mentioned on this thread

The possibility of getting a few MNers together to do a joint MCOL - and there presumably is the possibility of getting the press involved in this.

Personally I would NOT sit back fuming, waiting for them to resolve the case, because they may not, and I would find the fuming just as exhausting as actually doing something embarrassing to them - one or more of the options above.

None of my suggestions above implies that I like their business model, but what's done is done. And if you buy from unethical companies, surely it is doubly unethical to let them profit from stealing from their customers as well as exploiting their workers....

Blame the people who buy a load, with the intention of returning most of it. Its a shit thing to do. Go to a physical shop and try stuff on. I don't blame them me.

The answer is that you're not supposed to ask any of those questions, much less look for an answer.

You're simply supposed to look at her silhouette admiringly, think, "wow, she looks cool" and to assume you will look just like her when you buy it. Then you must KEEP IT. Don't you dare return it!

Why blame them? Thats a perfectly reasonable thing to do under the business model these shops have forced on everyone an dhave made their owners multi multi millionaires?

Its not shitty in the slightest. Do you take one thing in at a time to a chnaging room, get undressed, try it on, then get dressed and go out and put it back and get the smaller size you need, get back in the queue for the changing rooms and repeat for the longer length one as you are between lenghths and there is little consitency in sizing? No of course you dont.

They exploit their workers and now they’re exploiting customers, many of whom are lower-income women, or teenagers. I kind of hope they fail but if they steal customers’ credits, they won’t fail.

Several times over I've tried this rather than trawling the web, when I wanted something for an event. There's nothing in the shops. And I'm talking Edinburgh city centre not a backwater. Even John Lewis has a terrible choice now.

Well she should get her money back. But I think they are right to close folks accounts if they return too many items. I rarely return items and returning a lot of items increases costs for everyone.

This is a daft argument. Processing returns increases a lot of costs for the retailer. Stop using your house as a changing room. It isn't.

I would wait a bit longer to see what reply you get. Then decide what action you think is worth while. I think it is premature to assume she isn’t going to get it back. if this happened last.

They might send vouchers which would be pretty useless or they will need to transfer to a bank account. Does she have a bank account and do they know the details? I mean without a mechanism to refund her she isn’t going to be auto refunded.

The lesson here is the use of very specific vouchers as gifts. Maybe ask relatives to give her money she can use anywhere in anyway. There are deposit cards and accounts young people can use.

😂

I have no shops in my city centre.

Sm l supposed to pay for delivery of each individual item? Or should l order a bunch at once?

My bedroom IS a changing room. I have no physical changing rooms in my city. Apart from Next and Primark, Neither of which l like.

Contact JVS - 3 Counties Radio. He is fabulous for sorting things like this out

look up twinbrett on Instagram - good reel there talking about this there now
twinbrett is one of the few love islanders contestants that doesn't support fast fashion brands

Also - it has ALWAYS been the case that sizing is inconsistent across brands, even before the internet!

No its not. This is EXACTLY the business model boohoo was setup on. Sell cheap, buy loads, some will stick. The fact that its ethically and environmentally dodgy and now causing them challenges because they have to hire more staff to process returns and have to treat them better because they are under scrutiny now is NOT the fault of the consumers they encouraged to behave exactly like this, and have made millions out of.

Its great that the business model might be changing (note, because its hurting their bottom line, not for ethical considerations) is great. But it should be introduced gradually with people able to spend any credit first.

It's a big enough issue that they have put an entire section on their return FAQ about account restrictions.

https://www.prettylittlething.com/returns-policy

Too many disputes/ imperfect returns/ frequent returns will raise a flag, unfortunately. She needs to contact them about the gift cards, but otherwise they were well within their rights if she took the mickey.

Sorry, are you actually saying a company has the right to steal £80 of credit from a customer? I think you'll find comsumer law disagrees with you 😄

They make it clear in their terms if service that your account can be closed if returns are excessive. A business cannot refuse an online return, but they can refuse you future services. You don’t have any consumer rights to shop anywhere. They can refuse service.

Thats what they’re doing. They also aren’t keeping her money; the gift cards were bought by someone else and those people will probably have to deal with the company for a refund.