Frances B.

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!

I have purchased several items on 1st Dibs textiles, framed art, and decor. I have bought items sourced both from the US and internationally. I have had mixed experiences. It is important to check of the individual seller before making an offer. Look at all of their listed items, assessing them for consistency and quality. See whether they also have a bricks and mortar shop or gallery (that is a positive sign). I made the mistake of buying an item in haste from a seller that I later learned was also selling many ridiculously priced garage-sale junk pieces (calling this junk "vintage collector's items" or something similar). I had not taken the time to look though his full listings because I was in a hurry. That kind of flea market stock list is a huge red flag. Avoid those shops.

The bid process is pretty good on the site, although I once had a seller try to deny that he had accepted my lower bid when I who had not seen his acceptance mistakenly accepted his higher counter offer. Not sure how that happened, but I won that argument. If you tag an item as a favorite and wait, the seller may send you a discount offer after a time. The website also holds sales featuring several shops at a time, and will notify you if a shop you liked is included. Be aware that some 1st Dibs shops post prices that are hugely inflated, expecting the price to be bid down. If you do your research and you know the going price of what you are buying, this is a safe place to shop.

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.

Zazzle did refund me after I chewed them out. But before they did that they told me they couldn't do a refund for a charge under X dollars. They said all they do was a credit toward future purchases. Really? I did not believe that for a minute. I pushed the matter and got my refund, magically. Of course, they had to make it sound like they were doing me a favor. Spare me.

So if this happens to you, stick to your guns and get your money back! It's not right that they trick people into signing up for an auto-renew membership.

HEADS UP on this company: I was surprised to receive a Guideboat catalog in the mail, in 11/2019, since this company officially folded in 2918. The company J. Peterman was handling the liquidation of Guideboat Co. Inventory for some months. But now Guideboat Co. Seems to be up and running again, with no evident relationship to J. Peterman. When I tried to research company ownership, I got nothing. When you call the Guideboat phone number, the call is now answered with the company name rather than J. Peterman. So who owns this company? Is it J. Peterman under another name? It's very strange for that to be so opaque. I'd steer clear.

Original post: Phoned them on a Thursday to ask why I had not been credited for my return by the previous Friday, as I was promised. The customer service rep said she was looking at my file and saw that my return was processed and that I had indeed been credited a week prior. I asked her for a transaction code because I knew that this was not true. She said she could request that a transaction record be sent to my email. I have received that transaction record. Date of transaction? Today! The day after my last phone call asking why I had not been credited. They just can't stop lying! It's almost funny... but, not.

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.

After waiting weeks for the missing parts needed to assemble my expensive purchase, I received a shipment that was again missing parts! I should have been sent twenty pieces and received 15. So I have a pile of useless parts siting here and am out of pocket for more than $425. Idiots! I do not recommend this company for anything.

I am torn about giving RL even three stars because I think their web platform can be misleading (the way the automatic counteroffers work can be wonky), and because when I have complained to RL about problems I've experienced, their customer service department has been rude and dismissive. However, I have purchased several high-quality pieces of jewelry from one long-term seller on RL, and I am quite pleased with them. The seller is easy to work with, the jewelry is as described and shown, and the seller even adjusted the price of something down when I had second thoughts about the purchase. I think that RL suffers from not being choosy enough about who sells on the site. I agree with the other reviewer who says it can look like a junky garage sale. But there is at least one really great jewelry seller on there, who gets repeat business from me and (if you trust the transaction reviews) other buyers. Just be careful who you deal with.

I am a fan of R&B clothing, particularly their jeans. I usually buy their goods from Nordstrom, but have recently made a few purchases directly from the R&B website. On one order, the shoes I received were made of a very different finish of leather than was shown or described online, and I thought they were ghastly. I'd purchased them as final sale because they were at deep discount. I contacted R&B and they did take the shoes back, even paying for return shipping. On the next order, my jeans arrived in a beautiful gift box, but I was charged for that gift box and had not ordered it! They did refund my money for the box, but didn't apologize, which is annoying and a bit insulting. I mean... it was their mistake. I might stick with ordering their stuff from Nordstrom instead.

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.)

I had to cancel most of one order (seven plants canceled) because the shipping date was delayed so long that it was too late to plant bare root specimens here. The bare root roses I did receive were shipped with no moist material around the roots (packing the roots with moist newspaper, moss or something similar is standard practice for growers), and they were slipped into in a loose, unsealed plastic bag, inside a shipping carton with no padding. The plants had advanced sprouting that was blanched from lack of sunlight, so they must have been held in a warehouse for some time prior to shipping. One plant had several roughly broken major roots that were clearly old wounds not from shipping. One of the broken roots was rotting. That plant never should have shipped out.

BTW, the only reason to not pack the roots with something to keep them moist is to save on shipping cost. Water adds weight. So the company would rather risk shipping compromised plant stock than pay a bit more to pack it properly.

Not happy. Not buying plants from this company again.

I've ordered from this company just once, but the transaction went smoothly and I am pleased with my purchase. My Isabel Marant coat was shipped from Germany to the US. It shipped quickly and arrived promptly, and was beautifully presented in a pretty yellow box nice enough to keep for storing clothing. The DHL courier did something truly stupid when my box was delivered, but that is a problem with DHL, not this company. I will order from them again.

(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 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.

(This portal website is is now Rakutan.com.) I've shopped through this portal for years. I was so disappointed when Nordstrom stopped their association with Ebates (criminals were abusing the system, so it's understandable, but still), but there are enough businesses that I use included on Ebates that I still get nice Big Fat Checks. Just not as fat as they used to be, alas. They have improved the website so that it is now really easy to track your "shopping trips" and your cash pending or cash back records. Once in a while a cash back has not been noted, and I have notified Ebates of this. A few years ago this notification would require some time emailing back and forth, but now it is all very quick. And I always get my money! In fact, Ebates has gone ahead and credited my account for cash back that the business has not yet credited to Ebates. This is a great business. Yes, by going through a portal you are selling your information for marketing purposes, but you are sharing all that already by galloping through the Internet. So get some cash for it.

Artful Home is a middleman business. It's sort of online gallery, for the most part, although they do carry some mainstream retail items that are (I assume) drop shipped from the manufacturers. So when you buy something it is shipped by the maker, artist or manufacturer, not from a warehouse. I have made a few good purchases from the site, but only for items that are on hand and ready to ship.

The business falls apart when something is made to order or backordered, because AH takes no responsibility for the transaction. I purchased a $600 article of clothing made from a hand-dyed textile, and was told it would ship "on or before X date." The item was paid for, in full, up front. The maximum fulfillment date was six weeks out. I heard nothing from AH for six and a half weeks, and when I contacted them I was told that the textile artist had been "inundated" with orders and was trying to catch up. The customer service agent said that AH considers orders to be "commissions" and that's why customers are always charged up front for all items. So? I was not complaining about the way they take orders, but about not being informed about the delay in fulfillment. This woman made a lot of excuses, but pointed; y avoided the fact that AH had not bothered to inform this customer there was no way in hell the $600 item was going to get to me within the fulfillment deadline, and that AH had no idea when it would be shipped. I repeat: she said that they could not commit to a shipping date!

The truly obnoxious part of this is that she was placing the blame entirely on the artist, not on AH. It's a dishonest take on how these galleries work, too. They take the full payment and do not pay the maker or artist for their portion (minus a hefty commission for AH, of course) until after the "commissioned" items ship and are accepted by the buyer. That's a long ride they take on a customer's funds. I would love to hear what the makers and artists think of AH. I don't think AH is doing their producers any favors. I canceled my order and requested a refund of my money. Why would I let AH sit on my $600 indefinitely, with no firm fulfillment date? That's nuts.

For an interesting read on Yelp's dodgy practices go here:

https://blogs.findlaw.com/strategist/2013/08/yelp-shakedown-complaints-lawsuits-over-review-sites-practices.html

I've suspected for a long time that Yelp was a shakedown operation, and I have been told as much by business owners, but now I have proof that it is true. This is based on what happened with two low-star reviews I wrote, a few years apart.

The first review (a one-star, with a long, detail, explanation as to why) was killed by the business owner (Yelp said it was "managed") because he claimed it did not speak to the personal experience of the reviewer. That business had all full-star reviews on its page at that time. A couple years later, my one-star review was reinstated on that page, and not at my request. It just suddenly appeared in my account, so I clicked over and looked at the business page. I noticed that the page now showed several one-star and low-star reviews, with various dates! The only explanation that makes sense is that the business owner stopped paying the monthly "page management" fee to Yelp, so the archived negative reviews were posted again. Kind of funny, but really unethical. Devious.

The second instance was infuriating because it endangered me, and it was so blatantly in violation of Yelp's rules. I wrote a low-star review of a business that I had used for years and no longer supported. My review was detailed and honest. The business owner harassed me (violating Yelp's rules). She then posted a long reply revealing my personal information (sick and twisted, and also in violation of Yelp's rules). I flagged the reply and was ignored by Yelp. I deleted that detailed review and wrote a short, terse review with a low rating. The business owner pasted in the same, long, vindictive, identity-revealing reply. Again Yelp ignored my flag. I contacted a Yelp through another channel and was told that they deemed that hateful, vindictive reply not to be in violation of the Yelp rules (no mention of the harassment, of course, because they cannot explain that away). And here is where things become absolutely clear, when it comes to Yelp's shakedown business model. The business in question used to have several negative reviews on their Yelp page, along with some positives. They now have 100 percent positives, and the business owner managed to "manage" two negative reviews away, by breaking Yelp rules.

So what is Yelp if not a blackmail operation? If a business owner gets a negative review and contacts Yelp for advice on what to do about it, Yelp will tell said owner that they can pay a monthly fee to have their page "managed." I know a business owner who got this sales pitch. This is about as dirty as advertising gets!