Jennifer
Denied return for damaged $300 dress, even with clear photos
I'm upset about the poor service I've received, especially as a repeat buyer. I trusted Garmentory and they let me down. My partner bought me an expensive Lauren Manoogian dress for my birthday. It was listed on Garmentory by Twig Boutique as "New"–no mention of any defects in the listing. It arrived dirty (covered in hairs) and defective/damaged with small snags, pilling, and dark streaks all over the back. It does not look new at all. I promptly sent numerous photos and video of the damaged dress (I had the same rep as another recent reviewer had). I was shocked when she sided with the boutique based on nothing but their statement that the dress was fine when shipped–the Garmentory rep didn't request any evidence from the boutique... she just took their word for it, against my photo evidence. The boutique had already lied about the shipping date to both me and this rep, so there was already a precedent set that the boutique was less than honest. And I believe this rep knew that... but decided to keep covering for them. The rep's suggested resolution was for me to re-sell the damaged dress on the Garmentory site (oddly, she didn't seem concerned about the next buyer getting a damaged dress), and then pay them a consignment fee! We paid $300 for the dress... I couldn't sell this for more than $120 in this condition. I can't believe they feel it's fair for a boutique to push off a damaged dress onto an unsuspecting customer who purchased from them in good faith, knowing their customer will suffer a personal loss, to save themselves a corporate one. We moved ahead with disputing the charge with my partner's bank, because Garmentory wouldn't help us beyond offering us a $30 credit (which would still leave me with a damaged dress). We feel they failed us in honoring their stated policy for damaged merchandise. They seem to automatically treat their customers' concerns as a nuisance, even when provided with clear evidence. Maybe they're jaded, maybe they're immature, maybe they're inexperienced, but this is not an excellent customer service team by any standards. I also feel the more you push for proper service and fair treatment, the more retaliatory they become. Their return denial has started to feel personal as if they take offense to my complaining. But this is not personal. This is factual. We did not get what we paid for, after giving them our $300 in good faith. I would let this go if it were a $20 item.. maybe even $50... the time to fight it just isn't worth it. But this is an expensive item and their response has been shockingly dismissive, unfair, and in conflict with their stated policies. I feel we were duped by a less-than-ethical seller and now Garmentory is intentionally making it more difficult for us, in retaliation for my pushing them to honor a return, as they should. I don't get the sense that Garmentory customer care is run by a mature, impartial team that is capable of handling an upset customer, without taking it personally and digging in their heels to teach the customer a lesson. A truly horrible experience... it really ruined my 60th birthday. This dress was supposed to be a special treat from my partner to me–this is not the kind of item we can afford to buy very often. Instead, I have a pilled and snagged dress with huge streaked stains up the backside... and we are out $300 of our hard-earned money. :( I will update this review if the matter is satisfactorily resolved. However, I noticed that Garmentory never replies to any of the complaints on this site, so I am sharing my experience to help deter other Buyers from losing their own money with them. I would not advise you purchase anything new from Garmentory, unless you understand that there is a significant chance it will show up used and damaged and you will never get your money back. +++ UPDATE. +++ Garmentory did not reply to this complaint, they only responded with a request to TrustPilot that I remove the name of the customer service rep. More evidence as to where their priorities lie... with themselves, not their customers.