Thursday, February 2, 2012

A Little Bit of De-Enabling for a Change

In the past, I've included AMIClubwear.com in my usual Hump Day sales posts. Not any more. I will, in fact, not shop there myself anymore, and after you hear this, you may not either.

One of my big issues is refund and exchange policies. I've seen it done well, and I've seen it done badly. It's rare that it gets THIS bad, though.

Yesterday, a friend of mine, Jenn Mangano, informed a group of us that she had run into a serious problem with them - they won't refund her money and made her pay to send defective shoes back. In her own words:
I need help before I freaking flip out. Remember when AMIclubwear.com was having that 50% sale for New Years Day? I ordered a pair of SM Bevv-L Leopard heels, and after a freaking mountain of problems between ordering to actually receiving the shoes, they turned out to be defective. Shocker, it IS me ordering these shoes, and I apparently have more bad shoe karma in me yet. Bald spots, two-toned coloring between the platform and toebox-- you name it, and it was wrong with these freaking heels. I emailed them requesting permission to return them (wtf?!) describing all the defects in full detail. They approved the return, and as per their policy, were thereby held responsible for shipping fees in returning defective merchandise along with a full refund of the originally paid amount (as opposed to only store credit for returns made for reasons other than defect.) SO I boxed them up and shipped them out that day. Wait for it.....

I received an email a few days ago letting me know that my return was processed and a store credit of $58.49 was added to my account... that's definitely not the $73.04 that I'm supposed to be refunded, nor is it including the additional $11 in shipping to return the freaking things. I shot off a well-worded email letting them know of the error and requesting I be correctly refunded the money I'm due, making sure to directly quote the policies listed on their site. Here's their response:

Hello Jennifer,
Your return has been processed on 1/26/12 and upon inspection of the item, defects were not found as claimed. Our returns department inspected the item as per your stated complaint found on the RMA form, however, the item was found to be in good condition with no signs of a manufacture defect. Since item was not found to be defective, return shipping cost will not be reimbursed and only store credit will be issued.

Store credit has been issued to you for $58.49 and the credit will be used towards your next online purchase.
If you have any further questions at this time, please do not hesitate to let us know. Thank you for your understanding.

-AMIclubwear

WHAT. THE. F*CK. That is COMPLETE bullsh*t, and they know it! Of course I didn't take any pictures-- I didn't think I'd have to argue my case as a customer who was sold defective merchandise. SO, any ideas as to what I should do?? I'm just floored.
Jenn, rightly, is disputing the charges through PayPal. The next step that we came up with is to blast them on their Facebook page, but the cowards don't allow external posts on their page. That is a HUGE indicator of bad customer service and policies. It tells me they fear these blast posts while a respectable company should have nothing to fear. With Jenn's permission, I chose to post this on here so that the few hundred of you that read this regularly will think twice before buying from them again. First of all, I don't agree with anyone having to pay return shipping. I also don't agree with return policies which only offer store credit unless they decide your item was defective. It's a dishonest cop-out and no company that follows this path should remain in business.

My blood is boiling over this on her behalf.  a)No one should basically be called a F&%$*^ liar by a company and b) I view them offering store credit in lieu of a refund as theft. She obviously no longer wants to do business with them, but to get her money's worth, she has to. I'm honestly guessing with all the huge sales they've been running lately that they're trying to correct cash flow problems and probably can't afford to issue refunds. Something shady is going on over there and I don't like it at all.

I'll keep you updated on the outcome. Though, unless PayPal handles the issue, I expect that this trashy company will prevail. Consider yourselves warned.

-A

13 comments:

  1. Oh wow....thanks. Looks like they've lost another customer! (me)

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  2. I would put a rating on them using a consumer beware site like www.sitejabber.com. That way people will still see the problems even if it is not on their FB page. That is terrible and I surely will not ever be using that company.

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  3. Wow, I've never bought from them but please let Jenn know I WON'T be supporting this company. I bought shoes from heels.com and was unhappy with a minor defect and no questions asked. It will make me think twice when I return a defective item to be sure it is well documented. Best of luck to her in the dispute.

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  4. This is sooooooooo wrong and with out a doubt you have the upper hand here! Cant wait to see you bring them down! Cant believe they would try to screw a customer over this badly!!!!! our nickles and dimes are very precious to us!!!

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  5. Dear Ladies ,

    We at AMIclubwear are saddened that you had this experience with our customer service. All our customers are important to us and as such I will look into this matter more thoroughly and will get in touch with you asap. We are at a considerable cost overhauling our internal systems to provide a better user experience for all our customers. We are concurrently forming focus groups and soon a community portal to address such issues and would be honored if you could join us there. Thank you and you will be hearing from me very soon.

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    1. Wow! This is horrible! I really hope they fix this problem fast. You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get your money back. I hope Ami looks into this as promised! Keep us posted!

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    2. Ami Clubwear Marketing Director-

      I appreciate you taking the time to read my friend's post about my current situation with your company, however I just wanted to make sure you were aware that this is not my blog, and therefore I am not directly notified by any comments or statements you make here. To reach me personally, please contact me by way of the open dispute I currently have with you via PayPal-- it was initiated on February 1st and I am still waiting on someone from your company to respond. As a result of this experience with your company, I've learned the hard way that it is necessary to formally document every aspect of interaction we have to ensure my protection against further "he said, she said" decisions regarding my money. Accordingly, I'm sure you understand why I am no longer comfortable with communication between us regarding this matter so long as it is not directed through PayPal, where I know everything is properly documented and overseen.

      The current overhauling of your internal systems for a better user experience is well-worth the considerable cost accrued, I'm sure, however as you can see through this single forum alone-- the lack of professional customer service for just one customer has the potential to spread and create more damage than any focus group or community portal can fix; alternatively, sharing the experience of a speedy and fair resolution to such a problem with customer service would say a lot more about any improvements Ami Clubwear has gained than would additional technological advancements and an invitation to share in it, all while the situation at hand has yet to be appropriately addressed.

      That being said, the details are thoroughly documented, explained, and awaiting official response, so I do hope this conflict is mended as quickly as your post stated-- as soon as that happens, the outcome can be as openly and widely shared as the problem was.

      -Jenn

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    3. wow that sucks i am so sorry i will remember not to do any business with them

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  6. I hope they really do refund her the money. Please keep us updated to the outcome. WE ALL need to know if this company is reputable or not. What has happened to her, so far, is BS!

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  7. Whatever happened to "the customer is always right"? What a terrible company.

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  8. Wow, I can't believe that they still have not contacted you Jenn. "ASAP" and "very soon" must not mean the same thing to them as it does to us. Other companies who have had customer issues have addressed the issue within the same day as the issue being made known to them. I guess their lack of contacting you just goes to show that they could give a rats behind about you and it's crap! Amiclubwear will not be getting any of my money that's for sure.

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  9. As promised our customer service department has taken care of this issue . We do apologize for the inconvenience and rest assured we do take care of our customer's requests and complaints. We hope this matter was resolved and we look forward to getting in touch with you for future group discussions. Thank you

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  10. After much irritation a resolution:http://shoesquirrel.blogspot.com/2012/02/major-update-refund-obtained.html

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