Stacey H.

I never thought I'd be leaving negative reviews for Target, but I've had so many bad experiences with them lately!

Let me begin by saying that I've put together at least a dozen pieces of DIY furniture in the last few years, and I've never encountered such flimsy, poor-quality, junky furniture as I have with the items from Target's "Industrial Collection." I ordered the chair, the tall bookcase, and the desk, and all were returned.

The "wood" parts, which of course are not really wood, absolutely reeked of formaldehyde. There were warning stickers on every piece about the danger of breathing it in or even touching it. How is it okay to sell this crap? If you have chemical sensitivities, are pregnant, or if small children will be using these pieces of furniture, I strongly urge you not to buy this stuff. The metal parts were super-thin and could be bent with my bare hands. The hardware, many pieces of which were missing, was made of a cheap, soft alloy and all threaded pieces (screws and bolts) strip easily. But what ultimately made me return everything was the fact that the pieces don't fit together, and holes didn't align in many spots. And I don't mean by just a small amount, like if you push the pieces together you can get it to work. I mean INCHES apart. I spent two hours on the bookcase before realizing that the shelves can't be attached to the upright posts because the holes on the shelf frames are in the wrong spot! This was a terrible experience. It put me off DIY furniture for good.

But what really topped it all off was the horrid customer service. Target refused to pick up the furniture because the pieces weren't in the original boxes. I wasn't about to spend another two or three hours taking everything apart and trying to fit all the parts and pieces of styrofoam back in the boxes! So I had to take this junk back to Target on foot with a hand truck (I live in Chicago and don't have or need a car). Did I mention the closest Target is a mile away? Never, never, never again will I buy anything other than groceries at Target. I'm also convinced that all the good reviews on this "Industrial Collection" stuff are fake.

Placed two orders from Zulily about 20 minutes apart. These were my first orders ever from this website. I understand that they are merely drop-ship order-takers, and don't have the merchandise on-site, so it takes a while for them to ship anything. Okay... I get that. So I wait a MONTH for the shoes to ship, and finally get a notification that they'll arrive the next day. Except they don't. Because Zulily, like so many other idiots these days looking for the worst possible experience for their customers, is trying to save every stinking penny and they choose the cheapest, crappiest shipping method: FedEx to the Post Office. Now, we all know how great the post office is (HUGE EYE ROLL). These idiots try to deliver both of my packages to my BUSINESS ADDRESS after 7 p.m., when it's CLOSED. Delivery exception! Customer not available! Day two: Delivery exception! Customer not available! Day three: Same crap! The packages end up going back to Zulily, who claims they never received them. I have to get my bank involved for two separate chargebacks. So, no shoes, I'm out more than $100 for more than two months, and I'm seething frigging angry that I ever decided to $#*! with these people. NEVER AGAIN.

I had a horrible experience with WikiTree and got nowhere in learning about my family. The website is run by people who control your every move. My entries were merged with others' without my permission and some were removed for capricious reasons. I honestly felt harassed. After a couple of years, I gave up completely after receiving a really nasty message from another user. I then tried to delete my account--and they wouldn't let me! Some mystery person who apparently was one of the site controllers/admins kept messaging me about how I'd "made too may contributions" to leave. I was told that the only thing I could do was request anonymization of my data, but I couldn't leave. That completely freaked me out. I was unsuccessful in getting my account deleted. WikiTree is both a cult and a scam; they build their site on the backs of contributors and then refuse to do what the contributors want._____________

Update 5/19/2023: Now that a year and a half has passed since I wrote this, I'd like to make a comment about the five-star reviews that have appeared since. Interesting, isn't it, that they sound like some sort of ads that reassure people that WikiTree is helpful and not abusive and creepy. Also interesting is that two of them were written one week apart in October 2022. Clearly someone is behind a campaign to "rescue" this horrible website from the (very accurate) 1-star reviews. Take that into consideration as you read.

J. Jill's steady decline continues. Every piece of overpriced clothing I've purchased from them after 2000 has fallen apart rapidly. Anything knit is full of holes within 5 washes. Their prices are obscene, their shipping and handling fees are among the highest you'll ever find, and their return policy is pretty much nonexistent: You can return something that you don't like, but only if it's "unworn, unwashed, and still has the tags attached." Because that's how you find out if you like a piece of clothing--don't wear it, don't wash it, and never take the tags off. They will not take anything back that disintegrates, which is damn near everything. I remember back in the 1990s they had some lovely, feminine pieces in velvet, gorgeous embroidered blouses, and sweet homegoods. Take a look at their clothing line now. Sixty cardigans that are based on the exact same shapeless-sack pattern; horrible prints; t-shirts that (sorry to beat a dead horse here) just FALL APART.

How do they stay in business?

Like others here have stated, you'll work on a survey for 15-20 minutes--sometimes more!--and you'll "screen out," which means you're not the demographic they're looking for and the survey abruptly ends. It should NOT take that long. I have also spent as much as an *hour* on a survey only to get to the last screen and get an error message. I've lodged complaints three times, but no one ever replies or awards the missing points. They have a consolation prize called "sweeps entries" that they give you instead of points if you screen out, but sweeps entries do not add up to anything as far as I can tell. I can't even find out on the website what they are and/or how often these "sweepstakes" take place. If you find yourself stuck in one place all day--you're a receptionist, say--and need something to occupy yourself, you may want to try your hand at this. But by all means don't spend valuable time if you could be doing something productive.

If you decide to order anything from them, be very, very careful to check your total in your cart before purchasing. I've found that the prices of more than half the items I put in my cart were 50% higher than the price on the item page. It's been doing that to me for months. I tried to contact their (useless) customer service, but no one even bothers to reply--way to keep people happy, Industry West! They also do not allow reviews or customer posts on their Facebook page (no surprise there--who would have anything good to say?). I wouldn't give them a dime if I were you.

It really pains me to trash a cute cat-related site (I love cats and all cute cat things), but when a merchant won't post a perfectly valid, rational, thoughtful bad review, it really chaps my butt. I wrote a 2-star review for one of their items and they did not post it. This is so scammy! It infuriates me when sites pick and choose only the best reviews.

I purchased several toys for my kitties. I was STUNNED by the high prices--$14 for a little stuffed cloth cat toy?!? But they were cute, and Meowingtons kept slapping coupon codes on the screen until I got one for 55% off, and I thought well, that's not bad. Less than $7 for this cat toy and it's probably great! That's why it costs so much, right? (Isn't it amazing how high prices make us think that? Every time!)

So I ordered the stuff and to their credit their shipping was reasonably quick. But the toys were so small! I opened the package and thought... what? They're tiny! If they really did contain catnip, it wasn't much. I couldn't smell it and apparently neither could my cats. The toys are still laying on the floor untouched a week later. I guess I'll throw them out eventually.

WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced, clearly just so they can offer 40%, 50%, 60% discounts--they really prey on discount psychology. And they won't post poor reviews. You had a chance to impress me, Meowingtons, and you blew it.

A few years ago, I received a catalog from Fingerhut and a letter stating that I was "preapproved" for a couple thousand dollars in credit. I should know by now that "preapproved" = "we're about to rip you off," but I applied anyway because I really needed a new laptop. Instead of enough credit to buy one, I received a letter in response saying that I had qualified for only $100 in purchases. I laughed and shredded the letter, thinking that was the end of it.

Fast-forward more than four years: I now have a negative mark on my credit report from Fingerhut that states I "purchased" $100 worth of merchandise on credit AND NEVER PAID FOR IT. I never purchased one cent's worth of anything from these scam artists. I am working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the FDIC to get this resolved, but in the meantime, it has lowered my credit score and resulted in many wasted hours writing letters and making phone calls.

If I were you, I would treat anything from Fingerhut as radioactive. Throw out anything you receive from them, and resist the temptation to apply for their "credit" program. It's NOT what they say it is.

I had wanted a Printmaker's desk and bookcase for years. I got a small windfall and decided to take the plunge. Boy, what a disappointment. This furniture is cheap garbage. It reminds me of the junk you could buy at Pier 1 back in the 1980s. Soft, cheap wood; half-assed staining; extremely poor construction. They're both made in China and just hopelessly overpriced. The soft alloy hardware that was supposed to join the two halves of the desk together broke after just a few months (the bolts sheared in half), and I had to resort to using Alien Tape to attach the two pieces so I could make the desk usable. See the photos I've attached? This much damage resulted to the finish after using just a damp paper towel! I tried contacting RH for new hardware, but their customer service is nonexistent. They promise a reply "within 24 hours" when you send an e-mail, but not one of my SIX e-mails has gotten a response yet--and it's been a month. Don't fall for the hype and the glossy catalogs. This stuff is good for one thing: building a fire.

Anthropologie is one of those websites that won't post negative reviews. I reviewed one of their el-cheapo "trinket dishes" that I bought for a co-worker; I gave it one star because it is deceptively described on their website with their typical handmade, "artisan," one-of-a-kind jargon, but when I received it it had a MADE IN CHINA sticker on the bottom and was packaged in that flimsy cardboard that they put stuff in when it makes a long, long transoceanic journey. It was mass-made Chinese crap, in a nutshell. This happens with a lot of their stuff. Their branding and graphics and store layouts will make you think you're getting something very special when you're not.

Posting only good reviews is deceptive and a very poor business practice. I do not trust any store that won't post a bad review. I can understand editing for profanity, etc., but if a product deserves a one-star review, it should be posted.

Other things about Anthro that piss me off: No clothing they carry will fit you if you're bigger than an 8; the jewelry they carry is total crap (mostly from Alibaba.com) at crazy prices; their shipping charges are WAY too high, especially since they use that awful Fedex-to-the-Post-Office scheme, which also makes shipping very slow; and customer service is poor to nonexistent. Anthro is all image and little substance.

Fifteen years ago, American Consumer Opinion was a lot of fun. I got tons of items to use and review, like dishwasher gel, cat food, cereal, perfume, shampoo and conditioner, etc. I also got lots of different and fun surveys. They've devolved into occasionally sending a "screener" survey that gets me nowhere and is worth almost nothing to complete. It took months and months to collect enough points to cash out (there's a 1000-point/$10 minimum), and when I did, it took six months to get my money--via PayPal! How hard is it to send money to PayPal? Six months? Really? And I NEVER received my last payment of about $40. I deleted my account.

I bought a few things from Universal Standard and didn't like any of them. When I went to their website to review the items, I was allowed to review only one out of four. I posted a well-thought-out, completely fair two-star review for their weird, poorly fitting Lisbon Tall Boot, and they never posted the review. Ever wonder why all of the reviews on their website are 4 or 5 stars and RAVE about the products? Yeah, me too. Now I have personal evidence that it's because they don't post low reviews. Which means I'll never buy one more thing from them. (Not that difficult as I didn't like their clothing anyway).

Today I reviewed a product that I purchased online from Costco. It was thoughtful and very useful and carefully described the problems I had putting the item together. It also gave the product only two stars. A couple of hours later, I got an e-mail stating that Costco does not allow reviews that "direct business away" [their wording] from Costco. Which logically would mean ANY review that wasn't glowing and positive. To me, that's admitting they don't post negative reviews.

Nice to know. Thank you for the information, Costco. I will now no longer bother to read any of the reviews on your products, because they are admittedly geared toward positivity and do not reflect any negative features.

The first recipe from my first box was AWFUL. I was so disappointed. Lots of money for low-quality ingredients. The photos on their website are pretty and appetizing, but don't fall for it. You can do so much better on your own. I asked for a refund and was refused. Cancelled my subscription before they could take more of my money and send more of this crappy food.

Overpriced, junky Chinese products that took FOREVER to arrive. I was so disappointed in the items I FINALLY received. Print quality was bad; product was cheap; price was way too high. On top of all that, it took a month (a MONTH!) for the items to arrive, and shipping was not free. I requested the shipping status from customer service and it took three days to get a reply, which was just a cut-and-paste regurgitation of their shipping policy, not an actual update on my order. I won't bother to return the stuff because I'm sure I'll just be asking for more problems. But I learned my lesson and will never place another order.

Ordered a pair of loafers from their website. There was no indication when I ordered that they were not in stock; if there had been, I wouldn't have ordered them. Paid (a LOT!) extra for overnight shipping because I needed them for an event that was happening soon. I heard nothing from them for two weeks, at which time I got an e-mail saying the shoes were on backorder with no known ship date. I called the number they provided to cancel my order because I'd never get them in time and I got a girl (I swear she sounded about 12) who was clearly working from home. Dogs barking, little kids screaming, all kinds of noise in the background. In addition to that, she had no idea what she was doing. She asked me which order I wanted to cancel (I have made ONE order from G. H. Bass in my entire life), which made me wonder if she had pulled up the correct profile. She kept asking ME what to do (so I fill out this escalation form, right? So then I send you a confirmation e-mail, right?), so I figured there was a snowball's chance in hell that the order would actually be cancelled and I'd actually get my money back. It was so unprofessional! I've no doubt that I'll be on the phone to my bank doing a chargeback in a few days because this little girl gave me no confidence that she had done what I asked her to do. G. H. Bass: I won't be ordering anything from you ever again.

Years ago, I worked at a Container Store and the company had an incredible return policy. Customer service was amazing, and if something went wrong with your purchase, they'd make it right by fixing the product, exchanging it, or refunding your money. Everything was (and still is) obscenely overpriced, but I'd justify it to myself as if I were buying an insurance policy, because what could possibly go wrong that CS wouldn't fix?

Well, welcome to 2019, because they've changed their policies. The guarantee that used to be for the lifetime of the product is now for four months. Yup. You'd better hope that your purchase doesn't break or fall apart in more than 120 days. That was the exact wording from their customer service department when I tried to return the junky steel shopping cart, which completely FELL APART at about 6 months of age. "We guarantee our products for 120 days. Sorry." Well, I guarantee I'll never shop there again--not at these prices. Farewell, Container Store. Very sad to see you go the way of LLBean and other companies who've decided that the bottom line is more important than customers.

Your #1 destination for ridiculously overpriced canvas shoes. Hey, it's your money; waste it any way you see fit. But the real problem here is their horrendous customer service. I returned two pairs of their shoddy shoes (very poor quality and they ran SO small!) using the shipping label they provided, and it took six weeks (!) for the package to arrive at their company. I checked the tracking number every day and I thought for a while that it had simply gone missing. Then, finally, it arrived, and I waited another two weeks for an acknowledgement e-mail and ANOTHER SIX WEEKS after that for my refund. That's fourteen weeks, folks, to get my money back. Three and a half months! And they had the nerve to charge me eight bucks for return shipping! The entire time, they completely ignored my e-mailed requests for status updates. So frustrating. Never again.

Yet another company that won't post a review that isn't four or five stars. All their products have hundreds of rave reviews, but since they wouldn't post my 2-star review, I have to wonder how many unhappy customers you will never hear from. A company that won't post my review loses my business forever. For what it's worth, here's my review:

"I contacted customer service before ordering an 80"-120" tension rod for some light, unlined linen panels. I wanted to ask if this rod bowed in the middle once it had drapery on it, because I'd tried other brands that bowed and sagged really badly. "Oh no," was the answer. "Our rods don't do that." So I bought the rod for a 117" span, put it together, threaded on the drapes, hung it up, and... it bows in the middle. Granted, it's not as awful as other brands, but it makes me crazy every time I look at it because I'm into precision. It's right underneath the ceiling, so the bowing is painfully apparent. I'm going to keep it because it's the least awful of all the rods I've tried, but be aware."

WOW! $10 per serving?!?!?! Really? I feel like I've been punked. The meals started out somewhat bad and went straight to tossing everything in the trash untasted (the appearance and smell were all I needed). I read all the good reviews here and thought, Say what? I was seriously pissed that I perfectly good money on this garbage, even at the introductory rate. Freshly has ruined meal kits for me.