I've recently got into renting occasion wear for formal events as I think that its a great sustainable fashion alternative to purchasing fast fashion dresses or buy an expensive outfit which might only be worn a few times a year. While I think renting these items is great for the environment and want to encourage everyone to give it a try, I just want to put out a warning for (a usually reputable UK brand) John Lewis Rental.
I've rented from By Rotation prior and had a great experience, but I thought I would give JL a try since the specific dress I wanted was slightly cheaper per day to hire. It turns out, they have an unseen, internal sizing system which is not shown when ordering the garments. This means you can order an outfit in the UK sizing system provided by JL, match this up to the UK sizing system of the original designer and your own measurements, and they will send you a completely different size.
When I emailed them to tell them they had sent the wrong size, only then did they let me know about the 'internal sizing system that has been standardised across all designers' and that 'they had sent the appropriate size'. When I pushed back and notified them that the size they had sent did not correspond with the UK size I had ordered on their website and cross-referenced on the designer's website, I was simply met with 'we sent you the correct size as per our internal system.'
This was a short-term rental for a significant milestone event, and there was no way I could change the size of the outfit before it.
While JL provided me the 'Fit guarantee refund', I was still short ~£20 and left feeling upset, frustrated and deflated! Therefore, I just wanted to warn anyone considering using their service to use literally any other rental company.