To never shop at Zara again?

[Avaximitis]

I feel like I've had a terrible customer experience with Zara.
I bought some clothes for my 11 year old DGD for Christmas presents. I bought them online on 9th December and gave them to her Christmas day.
On NYE I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and stayed in hospital for 2 weeks. I needed oxygen and IV medication and have been very unwell.
I returned home yesterday.
Family visited when I got home and DD gave me 3 of the Zara items back, apologising that they do not fit. Unworn. Tags in place. Simply too small. DD said she couldn't return them to me whilst I was in hospital receiving oxygen, for obvious reasons, so waited until I got home.
I have spent 1 hour today talking on their 'chat' system. They have no customer service telephone number to call, which I much prefer. Anyway I asked for a real person and not an AI bot and was connected to a person. I explained everything and asked if I can return these 3 items. I explained about being in hospital and I explained that whilst I was in hospital I missed the 30 returns date. I explained I got home yesterday evening and am contacting them today at my first opportunity. I explained the items are unworn with tags in place. I have checked, and none of the items are in their January sale. They are all in stock and all full price.
The associate I dealt with point blank refused a return. It is 6 days too late.
Despite them being bought for Christmas present so there was 3 weeks until I actually gave the items to DGD. And despite the fact I have been in hospital.
Not one ounce of sympathy.
No extended Christmas returns period.
No telephone number to call.
No display of understanding of my situation.
A total refusal to accept a return when it is only 6 days late.
I'm staggered beyond belief.
Truly unbelievably poor customer service.
I can't believe it.

This totally, I doubt Zara will send them back to you or refuse to refund.
If they do complain to the Chief Execs office.

Zara is awful for returns (my friend once lost money as they didn’t process it properly amongst other things) and their shop assistants are rude. I don’t go there anymore

That was my advice too.

They have to consider that if they do return them unsolicited you may refuse to receive the goods, then they either go back to them or get lost with the courier. And they end up having to refund you anyway.

I’m very sorry you’ve had such an awful time over New Year. It’s a business though. If they made exceptions for a few, can you imagine? I ran a retail business (sadly on a much smaller scale than Zara!) and people tried to get round the rules all the time. How are they meant to know what’s genuine?

If you can, go into a store with a copy of the online order. Explain face to face. They may offer you a credit note instead of a full refund.

They don’t have to have a refund period for unwanted instore purchases. Only if the item is faulty.

Was it your DD or DGD ?

I am having a similar problem with Nobodys Child - even though i contacted them multiple times asking for assistance about an issue, and they did not reply..in the meantime the returns period ended (not extended over Christmas like most sellers) and they point blank refuse to accept the item back even though I have told them its faulty. No phone number, even the customer service email should not be used, they have told me, and no address!. Retailers like this treat their customers with a lot of contempt - not even providing a way to contact them. Like you OP, never again with this retailer.

I hope you are recovering now from your ordeal in hospital.💐

And the manager will say no as it’s past the returns deadline.

Zara’s are a pile of bollocks, they can fuck off to the far side of fuck. Their returns policy is horse shit. I will never shop with them again. Don’t start me on their snooty staff 🙄

Just take them to the shop and exchange them. Every store has to have a cut off date. And they have to be firm or everyone would give a sob story.

Glad you’re feeling better OP
Yabu in expecting a refund rather than an exchange though, most shops won’t refund out of the window stated. I really like Zara- never had an issue with customer service or the people who work in the shop.

Thanks for the heads up OP , I was actually going to return something to Zara at the weekend as I took it for granted there would be extended dates for Christmas returns from a big company like them ( guess I will save myself a trip ) !!
Also not so long ago I was returning items to Next and Primark that had been purchased on the same day , checked the Primark receipt and it told you which date you could return by .
When I got to NEXT had missed the return window by around 12 hours !!
Did receive a refund card for £200 ( which you can't use online) and still have it as I rarely shop there) 😡
You have my sympathy

So all the info about you being in hospital is irrelevant really. This issue is just about the fact other retailers extend return timeframes over Christmas but Zara don’t. And if that’s their policy, that’s their policy.

my thoughts exactly

They are on the ethical boycott list too…sorry OP Hope you are feeling better 💐💐💐💐

Aren't they well known to size very small? All round awful

Im sorry you have been unwell and hope you are feeling better, however,
everyone has a sob story they can trot out ( I'm not saying you are btw).

Can you imagine how much they would lose if they extended this to everyone who spun them a line and how much it would cost to investigate every claim.

Can you ask your credit card provider to do a chargeback? Hope so

I think you're cross in general, about lots of things. All understandable.

It's a massive gamble to buy clothes for other people, especially if you're guessing st sizes.

It's rude of your family to present you rejected gifts after you've been through such a horrible time.

You wanted kindness and compassion and a swift resolution but got chatbot and computer says no instead.

I think you are generally fed up and lacking energy etc and this isn't worth the faff. Suck it up and recoup some money by reselling on Vinted . Or just send it to a charity shop and know you've been generous. You need it out of your eyeline so you can concentrate on getting better.

Chalk it up to experience and never buy clothes for dgd again.

And breath.

Zara are horrible.

You cannot exchange with or without old receipt. You cannot ask for a gift card. If you try and return online they will send it back to you, I know this because it's happened to me.

I don't shop there anymore ever since they've shown support for a genocide.

Zara’s response is absolutely unacceptable. Many other brands would have asked for you to send proof of your hospital stay in return to accepting your return. They’re narrow minded, for the sake of however much the items cost, they now lost your custom forever.

Try to speak to another customer service rep, or go into a store and speak with a manager. Other staff may be more flexible and exercise discretion. Or make a complaint, hopefully somebody down the line will have common sense

Will they not exchange the items or refund to a gift card?

Also surprised family have bothered you with this when you have only just been discharged from hospital. I would have tried myself and let it go if I was unsuccessful.

Hope you are feeling better .

Absolutely awful company from personal experience and thats why I stopped shopping there. If you look at their trust pilot reviews you can see that they really dont care about sorting out these types of issues