Frances B.

This company's "customer service" department does not answer their phone. Their outgoing message says they are currently "communicating by email," but they don't answer emails either. I received a defective item from Huckberry — priced at $395 plus tax — and I have not been able to speak with anyone about it. They accept returns at no charge, however in the middle of a pandemic surge (and local lockdown) I am not feeling good about having to go into a store to take care of this. It's their mistake, not mine. I won't be buying from Huckberry again.

Dermstore was once a reliable business, but it has now been sold (by Target) to the same UK company that owns Skinstore. That is bad news, indeed. Skinstore is one of the most unethical companies I have ever dealt with! What made me research whether something had happened to Dermstore is the message "Thank you for your enquiry" came up after I messaged Customer Service. "Enquiry." That is British usage. So, I scrolled down to the bottom of the web page and saw that The Hut Group is listed as the parent company. Uh oh, that's Skinstore's parent company! They once stole $600 from me. I don't have high hopes for resolving my issue with Dermstore now.

What happened is I received a defective cosmetic product from Dermstore. Customer Service brushed it off instead of offering to send a replacement product or requesting that the bad one be returned ("I will report this to the Team and they will get back to you," said the person in Chat). This is precisely the tactic Skinstore used. They would take the information and never get back to you. They always had some excuse (I need to consult the team!), but would just bin your request. Stay away from Dermstore if you value your money and time.

Even if you file a dispute through your payment service, the company will find a way around your payment service's customer guarantee. That is part of their business practice. With that other online cosmetics company they own, when I got deep into a dispute with them over an undelivered shipment, they required that I sign some dodgy "legal forms" before they would proceed. The Hut Group is a UK company, based in Manchester (headquartered at the airport!). Keep in mind that even if it appears you are ordering from a once-reliable US company that has been around for decades (Dermstore), you are actually dealing with an overseas business that is nothing more than an e-platform. Your items with ship from the UK.

Stay away from this business!

I've lowered my rating of Poshmark after having an odd experience on the site. I had removed all of the for-sale items in my "closet" because I was, temporarily, too too busy to follow up on bids and sales. So my closet showed only sold items. But many weeks later I received an offer on an item I had removed. Odd. I think it slipped through because it was a second bid, from someone who had previously submitted a low offer and had been rejected. So that is a flaw in the Poshmark programming, and that is my first complaint. I still had the item so I accepted the offer, and then I got a surprise and this leads to my second complaint. The item was a handbag from a Big Name designer brand, and the purchaser was the manufacturer! The "buyer" was identified as a woman's name, but the address was the office for the brand. So perhaps the manufacturer is buying up their stock on the resale market? What bothers me about this sale is that I found this out only after accepting the bid. It makes me feel that I have been snookered, somehow. It seems wrong that a company can hide behind an essentially anonymous buyer while snapping up their merchandise across the Web. And then the "buyer" did not give me any stars for the sale, so that messes up my average rating of full marks. This got me thinking about the flaws in the Poshmark structure. It's not balanced in favor of the sellers. Sellers are not allowed to rate buyers, even though buyers cause a lot of problems (based on the many complaints I have read). And I have never been comfortable with sending items to stranger with my return address on the package. So I am no longer a fan of this site.

I don't know what to think of a company that floods this site with fake five-star reviews every day. The reviews post in groups of a dozen or more, all with strange phrasing and too-specific details. It's a huge red flag. (I see that since I posted this FashionNova has now started loading up obviously fake FOUR-star reviews. Amazing.)

(Update: Recently had a dispute with a company that sent me the wrong item. Company demanded that I return the item at my expense, but shipping would have been $100 MORE than the cost of the item. Paypal would not help me on this. They claimed they had to go with the requirements of the seller. Seller knows I won't pay to return this thing I did not order. So now I am out almost $400. The vendor who did this to me (Wayfair) is a US company. But Chinese and other overseas (but mostly Chinese) companies know about this PayPal policy, and they exploit it constantly. That is their business model. They ship out worthless rubbish to customers and then demand that it be returned in order for the customer to get a refund in a PayPal "wrong item received" dispute. My husband fell for one of these scams. The vendor posted photos pulled right off of Google images — a foldable kayak that runs for more than $1k retail in the US, and a full sized sky telescope — both items listed for around $50 total (I know it's too cheap and is an obvious scam, but my husband can be really naive). What items did Husband receive from the vendor? A super cheap swimming pool kick board and a child's toy monoscope that you would find at a dollar store. Both items might fetch three dollars total at a flea market or a dollar store. Obviously, Husband was not going to pay to send that trash back to China. So the company nets about $45, or more, free money on this transaction (allowing a bit for their shipping cost). PayPal could not care less that these companies are (cynically, blatantly) scamming PayPal customers. They claim it has nothing to do with them because they are just a payment service. They tell you to go through your credit card or bank, for any fraud complaints.

DO NOT USE PAYPAL! They offer zero consumer protection. Scammers enabling scammers!

Original review: Package theft is a huge problem in the US. It's so bad that Amazon has worked with the police in some cities to run sting operations using bait packages. Yet PayPal offers no protection for buyers when a package is reported as delivered but is subsequently stolen. I had a merchant (SkinStore) refuse to reship a $600 package that went missing from my front gate. Fed Ex did an investigation and determined that the package was lost or stolen. The vendor kept putting me off when I requested that it be reshipped, saying they were doing their own "investigation." I had paid with PayPal, so I filed a dispute with the merchant. The merchant, knowing that PayPal will ignore and then decline any dispute or claim when a merchant has proof of delivery, ignored me. I escalated to a claim, which was denied. So I am now stuck. If I had paid with a credit card the matter would have been found in my favor, and the merchant would have been forced to either replace my goods or face the negation of my payment. Dodgy merchants know that PayPal provides no consumer protection against package theft, so they play this delay game. I have requested a new shipment innumerable times, and was at first repeatedly put off. Now they just ignore me. I will never see my shipment. An outrageously rude PayPal customer service rep essentially told me to get lost when I complained about this catch 22 in the system. They don't care what I've been using PayPal since the early days of its existence. Loyalty and consistent, documented honesty count for nothing with PayPal.

I have dealt with some remarkably dishonest businesses in my long life, but SkinStore is by far the worst ecommerce store I have ever encountered. That is saying a lot! Proceed at your own risk, with this business. They are purposely designed to be hard to pin down. Why would you want to hand over your money to a company that was set up to avoid accountability?

PayPal screwed me over and ignored my Claim against SkinStore. So I am left high and dry. SkinStore never intended to reship my order. They just played the game until my dispute and claim expired. Do NOT buy from this company! If you make the mistake of ignoring that advice and your shipment goes missing, do NOT fill out the bogus legal document they will demand of you. Decline that form, document your attempt at resolving the issue, and then directly with your credit card bank. You did pay with a credit card, right? Because PayPal offers zero protection for lost or stolen shipments. Zero.

I have reported SkinStore to the FTC.

I have many Patagonia fleece and knit jackets, and very few other items of their women's clothing. This is because their sizing can be a bit crazy. Their fit model must have the hips and chest of an adolescent boy, so if you have a womanly or muscular body you may have to order a couple sizes up from your usual especially for things like trousers and then you may experience other fit problems. I gave up on trying to get a good fit on their shorts and trousers, but I do okay on jackets (I am a very tall size 8, and a medium in Patagonia S/M/L clothing). Even then, sometimes a medium Patagonia jacket can be a little snug. Men's clothing seems to fit the same as other clothing lines: my husband takes the same sizes in Patagonia as he does elsewhere. So I dock Patagonia a star for expecting women to be built like teenage boys. But the clothing lasts for years and years, so they get a thumbs up for quality.

Order fulfillment can be iffy, especially when you're ordering sale items. However, if you place an order and they find they are out of stock in an item, they will send you an apology and a good discount code for future purchases. They don't fight customers on returns, either. Overall, I'd say they stand behind their products, even if they have an unrealistic image of an adult woman's body.

I purchased a pair of "vintage" porcelain lamps, which arrived damaged, and a framed piece of "vintage" artwork that was not at all how it was described or shown in the listing. Zero for two. Do not recommend, at least for their "vintage" (a fancy word for used) offerings.

I purchased a pair of shoes during their "once a year" sale. No notices came up during the checkout process about the shoes not being available, either when I placed the item in my basket or when I finalized the purchase. Two months later, I realized that I had not received my shoes, so I searched my emails for notices about a delay. Nothing there except confirmation of my order, two months ago. So I went to their website and did a "chat" with customer service. I was told that the shoes were a "preorder" and that a message about this would have popped up when I was checking out. The agent even said something about understanding that I might have missed it. Bull$#*!. There was no message. And why would the company never send updates? I think they are covering up their own inventory and fulfillment problems with that blatant lie. I won't be ordering from this company again. I even had to ask for expedited shipping when my item finally comes back in stock. This little upgrade (a very obvious, small apology) was not offered. The agent granted it, but I should not have had to ask. If I do get my order when she says I will, that will be almost 12 weeks fulfillment time. Not acceptable.

UPDATE: I am gobsmacked by the dishonesty and incompetence of this company. A couple days after I went through the nonsense noted above, I got an email from Margauxny.com telling me that it would be ANOTHER 10-12 weeks before they can send the shoes that I PAID FOR UP FRONT! So that would be six months to fulfill an order. I have demanded a refund, since they have been holding my money for almost 12 weeks already. This company is a scam. Avoid it at all costs. Here is the email, sent 12/08:

"I hope this email finds you well! I am reaching out, because our team just realized we had a slight inventory miscount and are unfortunately backordered in the Black Pointe you selected in your October order. I am so terribly sorry for this inconvenience, and that we weren't able to communicate it sooner! If you don't mind waiting on this item, we can have it made at our factory specifically to fill your order in about 10-12 weeks' time...".

Lots of fake-friendly language and apologies there, but the plain fact of the thing is that they are talking about holding my money for six months. Utterly ridiculous. Thieves!

I still buy the occasional Annie's Annuals plant at my local garden center, mostly because they're isn't a lot of choice, but I no longer order them online. I used to place huge orders. A few years ago one order was something like 65 plants! I was initially impressed by the quality of their plant stock and their packaging for shipping. But then they sent me some truly rubbish plants and did not replace them or reimburse me for the loss. They also misrepresented a plant and lied about it when I called them out for it. For that deception, they were selling a variegated mutation of a common plant, which I knew had to be propagated from a cutting. What they sent me was non-variegated seedling. When I contacted Annie's, their "expert" tried to tell me that the plant would change color as it got older. That is a blatant lie, and was insulting to me, a customer who is a knowledgeable plantswoman. The other incident that turned me off of Annie's involved plants that arrived nearly dead, and ultimately died. Annie's claims that they guarantee their plant stock. I reported those damaged or diseased plants upon receipt, and was told to keep an eye on them and report back if they did not make it. I was told that they would replace any that failed. When the plants died and I contacted the company, as instructed, I was brushed off. They simply stopped responding. So I stopped ordering. Do not recommend.

Update 03/2020: BEWARE! I noticed an unauthorized credit card charge from RH, for $109 and change. Turns out they had renewed my annual membership WITHOUT ASKING! They had retained my credit card information and set up the membership as a recurring charge. When I phoned RH to report this, the agent said I would be refunded. No apology or explanation offered. HORRIBLE company.

I ordered more than $1k worth of merchandise, including a multi-item set of sheets. Although all items showed as in-stock when I placed the order, five items in the sheet set were noted as backordered ("will be delivered on or before X date") by about a month in my shipping notice. Given that this was a set of sheets (not useful if the entire set is not available), I called to confirm that they would indeed be restocked. I was assured that they would be. The day before the stated "on or before" delivery date for the backorder, I still had not received any shipping notice. So I phoned RH and got a remarkably dim service rep. I stated (clearly) what I was calling (backordered items, delivery "on or before" due date tomorrow, no notice of shipping, etc.), and she pulls up my account, hems and haws, puts me on a long hold, comes back and continues to say "hmm, huh," as if it's the biggest puzzle in the world. Really? I ask her, point blank, why she is so puzzled. She says, "Because you ordered multiple items and some of them were not delivered." Oh... my... god. I ask for a supervisor, wait on more seemingly endless hold, only to be told that "the items are being pulled from the shelves right now." Right, so RH dropped my backorder, obviously. She says the items will ship within 24 hours. She goes out of her way to avoid admitting that RH screwed up. Even though they should have sent me a notification that the backorder was delayed (of course, the real reason they did not notify me is that they dropped my order, but she does not admit this). I push her on the matter annoyed at further delays and she says that it takes 24 hours for the items to ship and then 7-10 business days to arrive. Excuse me? I am supposed to wait another two weeks? I suggest that she might expedite the shipping. She say she will look into that but probably can't do it because the items have already been entered into the shipping process. Really? She already told me the "items were being pulled from the shelves right now." It's all a bunch of BS to cover up the fact that they lost my backorder and I will have been sitting on a partial order for more than two months before I receive the rest of my items. How do these folks stay in business? I certainly wouldn't order furniture from them.

I ordered a pair of trousers— a new item, listed as in stock — a month ago. I am still waiting for delivery. I did get a notice that the item shipped — TWENTY days ago — but every time I track the package the projected delivery date is further out. At this point, I no longer want what I purchased. I'm over it. If this parcel ever arrives it is getting shipped right back to Everlane.

(Addendum: I just had two more items canceled, and that was on an order for which I had used a $25 off coupon. So that coupon is negated, and I have no merchandise to show for it. Oh... and the cancellation email included another "look for a 10 percent off coupon" promise. Amazing.)

This is a story about how frustrating and inept LC can be. When they canceled my last order (the in-stock, teaser item was item not in stock), they sent me an automated email apology telling me to "look for" a 10 percent off coupon code in my email within 24 hours. I never got the code. I did a Chat on the LC website with "Roberto" to ask for the code I was promised. Roberto denied that such codes were sent out by email. He then asked for the date of the order (I had given him the order number, so... yep). Then he tried asking what order I wanted to apply the code to (I had a couple items in my cart because I guess I never learn). He tried everything he could come up with to avoid giving me the code, or even directly addressing the questions I asked. Finally, he looks up my cart and tells me that the code (which I do not have, remember) can't be used on the items in my cart because they are already discounted. Really? If you are familiar with LC, you know that everything is sold as X percent off. But remember that I never told him I was trying to apply the code (which I did not have) to an order. I simply wanted what I was promised.

Adding insult to injury, I have gotten several LC emails today reminding me that I have "left something in (my) cart." What are the items? The out-of-stock items that LC canceled more than a week ago.

I hate this company.

I have shopped on Farfetch for years. They are a safe site to purchase items internationally, since they handle all the customs forms and courier scheduling. Sometimes designer goods will even be a bit less expensive obtained overseas because of a good exchange rate and no sales tax or VAT. They also require that their vendors to meet a standard of quality, so your items will almost always arrive nicely wrapped and presented. I recently received something that was not up to that standard, and Farfetch arranged for a return even though it was past the return window by the time they got my communication on the problem. I recommend Farfetch without hesitation.

Update: Someone on this site posted a personal threat against me, so I decided to close my account. Surprise! There is no obvious way to delete a Patch profile! That is not an option, anywhere on the site. It does not even appear in the FAQs. You can take yourself off the email list, but I see no way to delete the profile page. I have sent a message to Patch Support, to ask for instructions, but have not heard back yet. It's a huge red flag when a website doesn't let you exit. Fortunately, I don't have much information on the page.

I have been the target of some really hateful troll posts lately, on Patch, and have both flagged the posts and contacted Patch support about this problem. I have copied the URLs to Patch, so they can see for themselves. The flagged posts always stay up. These are posts that clearly violate the terms of use for the site. The only reply I've gotten from Patch support was a boilerplate email telling me how to flag offensive posts. Really?

Original review: This company has not decided what it wants to be. Does it want to rival NextDoor.com? Or does it want to be a regional news compiler (a "hyper-local" news source, in their words) that replaces the hometown newspaper? It tries to be both things, and fails miserably. Patch runs short versions of news stories lifted from other publications and wire services, ostensibly "written by robot." They encourage "neighbors" to post comments, and they allow members to submit posts addressed to their neighborhoods. They do nothing to verify that any member is who they claim to be, or that they live in the region. Therefore, it is fertile ground for the worst kinds of trolls. Each "neighborhood" has a moderator. But all that moderator does is send out snippy emails to anyone who is flagged by any peevish "neighbor" commenter, for any reason. It's like being in sixth grade all over again. So petty. There are even cliques and gangs. But the real reason I am taking the time to post a review here is that I believe there is a political leaning to Patch comment moderation, and I believe that it is pro-Trump. The company is owned by an investment group (Hale Group). Run by an ex-Wall Street guy. The Patch.com CEO is an ex-NYT reporter and author. So who knows whether there really is a political agenda behind Patch. Maybe it's just the loony leanings of my neighborhood's moderator. All I can say is what I have observed in my local Patch comment threads. Trump trolls have free rein to post the most outrageous things there, and if you challenge them you get censored and receive a "be polite" email. It's all rubbish.

(Update: I have tested my theory about Patch's political leanings, by posting some challenges to the right-wingers commenters, especially the pandemic deniers. My comments have all been killed. Patch is definitely a tool of the far right.)

(Warning, if you do have an account at Etsy: Do not allow people to "follow" you. Block them when you get the notification. I have seen the following function used to harass.)

In the end, I got my refund as a chargeback executed by Etsy, but it was a ridiculous fight to get there. Unethical seller still has his shop on this platform!

Lowering this by two stars because my mailbox has been overflowing with bra and lingerie catalogs since I became a ThirdLove customer. Thanks, guys. It's not only a pain for me (and probably makes the mail carrier smirk) but it's really bad for the environment. It's puzzling because I always opt out of the "share your information with our partners" choice when I set up an account with a merchant. But it must beThirdLove that did this because they are the only new lingerie company I have signed up with in a few years. And the catalogs started coming about a quarter year after my first order. That's generally how often mailing lists are sold. It doesn't make me "love" the company.

Update: Right after I requested that my order be canceled because the predicted fulfillment date was too far out, I received an email saying that Gilt is so sorry but they cannot fill my order as the item is no longer available. Right. So did they see this review and decide to bail on the order? I think so. It's sort of funny, but the fact is they wasted my time and held my money for too long (or at least the preauthorization for the charge), without ever having the merchandise I purchased on hand! The way they pitch their flash sales is that they have limited inventory, and that there are "only two left!", and so on. But they don't have the stuff in stock, apparently, based on the delay in fulfillment. Very misleading. Very dodgy.

Original review: So I bit of one of their dangled flash sale baits. Purchased some Tom Ford eyeglass frames. Found out only when I have completed the purchase that they won't ship for a month! Totally dishonest sales practices there. Now I see reviews here saying that the site sells fakes, so I am so wondering what I will receive. And when. The delay in shipping is a red flag for this not being a sale of genuine overstock, but knockoffs made to order. I just now went to the Gilt website and looked up my order to see whether I could cancel it. Answer is unclear. So I clicked on return information for my order and it said that "none of the items in your order are eligible for return." The flash sale listing pages had noted all items as eligible for return! Again, totally dishonest business practices.

Downgrading this review for two reasons. First, a dog bath that I purchased a little more than a year ago failed exactly one week past the one-year limited warranty Chewy offers. They told me they could not do anything and to contact the manufacturer with "questions or concerns." You'd think that for an item that gets used maybe a couple times a month, at most, an extra week of warranty coverage might be logical. But no.

Second, I have submitted reviews on Chewy for that bath twice, and neither review has posted. The first review was mildly negative, pointing out some dog-safety concerns. The second was a one-star review because part of the product broke, with normal use. The product has almost all positive reviews on Chewy's website, so I suspect some cherry picking of feedback is going on here. I am so disappointed. I used to love this company.

Update 12/2019: Ugh. I purchased some European slippers based on the size chart on the brand-specific LL Bean website. They were a size too big. I went to the manufacturer's website and saw that their size chart was different, and indicated that I needed a size smaller. I phoned LLBean and was told I had to pay for another pair (more than $100) to exchange them, and send the others back. When I received the new slippers and contacted LLBean to see where my refund was, I was told it would be up to 4 weeks before I get it. They have the ability to track the package and see that it arrived, but they would not. So I have now changed my opinion of them, after more than 30 years, to "meh." I doubt I will be shopping here again.

Original review: I have been an LL Bean customer since the 1980s. It's true, sadly, that the quality of some LL Bean clothing and shoes has declined in recent years, since the advent of large-scale manufacturing in China. But their customer service is still excellent! I ordered some Wicked Good Moccasins (a truly high quality product, still) that were about a size too big. Since I had followed the size recommendation on the website, I was annoyed that I would have to pay $6.50 for return postage. I did a Chat with a customer service rep and explained the size discrepancy. She arranged for a smaller size to be sent rush delivery (two days), and told me to put my wrong-size slippers in that box for return. No charge, no delay, no mistrust. Just great service.

In the old days Bean would take anything back, at any time. No matter how beat up it was. Because so many horrible people cynically took advantage of that returning tents after vacation and that sort of thing they have changed their policy. But they do still guarantee their goods. Many years ago I phoned LLBean to ask whether they could repair my favorite pair of Bean penny loafers, which were so worn that the sole was coming off on one. They told me to send them in for replacement. They sent me a brand new pair!