Silk Fred - be careful!

[Bymyfingertips]

I’ve been caught out by the returns on Silk Fred. They only allow 14 days for returns and they’re completely inflexible. I was 4 days outside and they wouldn’t help. I’m out approximately £500 for dresses that are honestly really poor quality for the price - think £85 for a dress that looks like you could buy it at a market stall.
it’s an unusually short return window, I’ve never ordered from a company that offered that short a time, so if you’re ordering for them it would be good to be aware.
For myself I wouldn’t touch them again with a bargepole.

Next online orders are also 14 days return, even though the shops are 28 days - I only found this out this week too.

I've of the first things I look at when ordering on line is ease of returns. Any thing like a short window to return and I just don't bother I go somewhere else.

**One

Did you try in the shop? I returned something I got online and forgot about - 5 weeks after purchasing. They let me return it.

It was in the shop! I was quite shocked, they were trying to offer me a gift card, I said I just want it credited to my account as they usually do with returns. She then said but your outside the 14 day returns period, I said I thought it was 28 days, she said that's store purchased items only, online is 14 days. Suffice to say after lots of moaning eventually it did get credited to my account, but I'm not sure I'd be as lucky next time.

House of Fraser don’t offer returns at all now!! Only do returns if it’s faulty. Shocking.

I had a bad experience with them -did return with the time window but never got a refund -would never buy from them again and agree about the poor quality,

I thought distance selling rules meant you had to allow returns. I was reading that Boohoo and ASOS were going to start charging for returns. How are you supposed to try things on? Sizes can vary wildly across ASOS.

Correct, but maybe @Unwavering721 bought in-store? You statutory rights for in-store purchases are that you can return if faulty. We're just used to lots of retailers offering more favourable terms of their own. Marks and Spencer's generous returns terms were originally because they didn't have fitting rooms. Remember those days?!

I would argue that poor quality is a defect and therefore the item is faulty? Or are they claiming that poor quality is ‘standard’ for their products? Because if it’s not a reason to return that’s essentially what they are saying.

i just returned two pairs of sandals (£150) to Zalando because after 7 weeks the quality was so poor. They agreed they were faulty.

Do you have PayPal? I always use them to pay online because you can dispute any payment so for example in your case you contact Silk Fred but they say no, you open a case on PayPal and submit photos etc and PayPal freeze the money and they decide whether to refund you or not. X

I never buy anything from the likes of Shein, Zalando, Silk Fred, Light in the Box etc any more. Their clothes are really poor quality, customer service is non-existent and returns are a pain.

It’s not quite true that Silk Fred has 14 days for returns.

You have 14 days after the items arrive to tell them you want to return it

Then you have another 14 days to actually return the items

That’s 28 days and is totally fair IMO

I was also allowed to return something to Next, after the return date, in the shop. The shop assistant commented that it was late, but still took it.

Why would spend so much on one go ordering from an online company like that?? Why not order a couple of pieces at a time! And the 14 day returns rule is universal and been around forever - I'd say actually within a week you know if you are keeping them so to then wait another 10 days is your own fault

@Haudyourwheesht It will be a charge per order, not per item. It's costing them a fortune in courier fees and sorting returns so they need to try and recoup a little somewhere.

@ShirleyPhallus is completely right. This is Silk Fred's policy.

When you order anything online you should check the returns policy.

I've ordered lots from SF in the past and not had an issue. Their customer service has actually been some of the best I've experienced.

Agree with others why didn't you read the returns policy? It's abit of a strange one with Silk Fred because they are technically just selling other peoples brands so you have to send items back separately aswell. I haven't had an issue returning anything but agree depending on the brand the quality isn't always great.

I will say something I have worked out though. If you see anything you like on Silk Fred look up the actual brand. I can't tell you how many times I have done this then gone through the actual company and got a new shopper discount. Also you get different images so can see the clothing better. One brand they do sell that I now love is Dancing Leopard and I just shop directly through them.

I’ve returned stuff to Next way after 14 days. Probably after 28 as well, the refund has always been credited back to my account without issue.

I too have returned Next stuff in the past at over 14 days because I thought the policy was 28 days like in store. Perhaps it’s been changed? Perhaps it’s always been that and they’re now going to enforce it? All I know is that this time they had an issue and specifically said that online returns had to be within 14 days.

Well, perhaps, but they're also paying nothing on having physical shops, sales assistants, fitting rooms, so you'd imagine it balances up. They don't offer the chance to try things on in store so have to accept that people will have to return things.

I had a crap experience with In The Style. A T shirt I ordered was £15.99 with delivery it came to £21.99. Had to return it as it was tiny & only received £15.50 refund. Totally crap, will never use them again.

We’ve done this to ourselves.. I have heard of too many people ordering £500 of clothing in various sizes and colours with the intention of keeping one item, then literally returning it all or most of it. How is a retailer meant to cover courier costs and keep stock levels up? I had the situation recently where I need one specific item in Hollister in one size only. It looked available but would go unavailable when I would be about to buy it; I finally got it when the returns came in. It’s hard to run a business when so much stock is out “on credit”.

The other problem is people wearing the item once with labels. I know someone like that who would never steal from a supermarket. But it’s different when it’s clothes apparently.

14 days is more than enough time to decide if you want to keep an item.

I agree that the quality and sizing of their clothes are shockingly bad! I ordered 4 dresses over Christmas and ended up returning the lot! They were pretty much see-through!

Unless you get ill, have a family emergency ,go away for work, go on holiday, can't get to the post office.