Bambi S.

I had an issue with Catherine's overcharging me for shipping (I'm in Canada) a couple of years ago. Catherine's customer service refused to back down until I went to the Better Business Bureau, and it was resolved within a day, in my favour. I didn't shop Catherine's again until this past summer, thinking I'd give them another chance. They were having a sale, so I tried to make an online purchase. Every time I tried to place my order, I'd get a message saying it didn't go through and to try again. I did that four times until it worked. Then I received four order verifications from Borderfree (Catherine's partner), though NONE from Catherine's that my orders had gone through. I called Catherine's customer service immediately to make sure that I would receive only 1 order. The rep assured me that I'd receive only one. I received 4. Luckily, I was planning a trip to the states so I was able to return 3 of them easily. Back home, I tried to place an order once more. The order went through smoothly and I thought I'd have no problems this time around. When I received a package from Catherine's, I was shocked to see that I'd received another customer's order. I contacted them through their website (because the international customer service phone number doesn't always work) and explained what happened. I asked if I were going to receive my actual order, how to deal with the order I received. (Canadians don't get the option of being able to return things for free. We have to pay the shipping.) It became a gong show. The rep asked for photos of the items I received, with the tags visible, and the info on the packing slip. I sent them, exactly as asked. The rep said she couldn't open the "attachments". (I send them in the body of the email, and not as attachments.) I tried again. Same result. I tried sending them one at a time. She was able to open each of them, but said that I'd neglected to display the tags in the photos. I sent the identical photos AGAIN, with the tags/numbers circled. (I've included one of the pics I sent to Catherine's, as requested.) She said she couldn't open my "attachments". Not once did she address the issue of if I were going to actually receive the order I paid for (which, btw, was double the amount of the other customer's order) This went on for two days, In the end, the rep told me that my payment would be refunded immediately, I would NOT be receiving my order, and that I should "throw away" the other customer's order. (I donated them to a shelter.) When I received my next credit card statement, not only had I not been reimbursed, I'd also been charged for the other customer's order! I contacted them once again, and was told that my refund would take 6 weeks and they'd remove the other customer's charge. I did receive my refund eventually, but ended up paying the other charge because I just couldn't face dealing with their customer service again. I will never shop Catherine's online, again. I wish I could say I won't shop them ever, but they do sell good quality plus-sized clothing, and that's difficult to come by.