Buyer Beware! A Sad Story

On a quick note: Sorry to have been so out of service! I’m at week two of my new job, and I am sans trainer and boss. It’s a bit overwhelming, on top of the fact I’m working on Dark Carnival Film Fest this week! But several things have come up that I think are important, so I’m taking time of my crazed life to share.

Recently, Paper Cities of Tomorrow shared a post on her recent experiences with Pinup Girl Clothing. After the debacle with Trashy Diva, I’ve learned there’s power in the voice of fashion bloggers, and we are demanding of great business practices all around.

“I haven’t posted here in quite a while. Life got busy and I’ve been putting it off, but I have all these topic ideas spinning around in my head. Today I want to share with you a terrible online shopping experience I had recently. Most of you know that I shop online a lot, usually from independent designers, and the experience is usually fine if not great. Not so this time.

My friend and I ordered some clothing from Pinup Girl Clothing about a month ago. They were having a blog advertised 20% off sale via a coupon code. They also offered free shipping internationally on orders over $250. Their usual shipping rate was $32 international (which has now been changed to $42). The website stated that they ship via USPS. I went to enter the code for the free shipping, but the site would only allow one code at a time. I e-mailed them about it, but they didn’t get back to me in time for me to get in on the sale, so I went with the 20% off code. Our order totaled $337 without the discount. We got $67.40 off with the code and paid $32 shipping, so really we only got about 10% off. Note that the website automatically gave US customers free shipping, but required a code internationally (and now they have no international free shipping offer). Therefore, US customers get to use a coupon and get free shipping, but international orders got either free shipping or a coupon.

We got the clothes pretty quicky, but they came via FedEx, not USPS/Canada Post. Canada Post charges PST/GST plus $5 to process through customs. FedEx charged us $51.97, which is PST/GST plus $19.60. So, that’s an extra $15 there. Plus the $32 shipping we shouldn’t have paid. So, I’m ok with this extra $47 in shipping costs, though a little pissed off that they refused to give the free shipping advertised.

We tried on the clothes and my friend’s dress didn’t fit, so she was going to send it back. My size Large dress was way too small for me and barely fit my friend who usually wears a small to extra small. We think it may have been mislabeled. Anyway, so we go to return these two dresses, which costs $25 because they have to arrive back at Pinup Girl within 14 days of us receiving our order and we need delivery confirmation. The post office failed to deliver twice and we contacted Pinup Girl and didn’t hear back for several days. We checked their website and the address we used (which said it was for returns) was no longer on there. They also had no phone number on their site (though later I found one on some random pages, though it’s not on the contact/faq/info/main pages), so the post office couldn’t call them. They replied to the e-mail saying that that was their old address and they still get mail from there. By the time they say they’ll call the post office to redeliver, the items had just been sent back to us (after more than two weeks of sitting at the post office).

We have had several e-mail conversations with Pinup Girl. During this time, as I was browsing their FAQs, I realized that my friend’s dress was on clearance (because the price was in red, though it said sale, not clearance) and was not returnable. My friend mentioned this in one of her e-mails and asked if either of the dresses can still be returned since it’s past 14 days and we’ll have to resend them.

The final response that I got from them today was that the clearance dress can’t be returned and my dress could be returned again. They offered us a 15% off code. Now, what good does a 15% off code do when I have to pay $42 shipping? And why would I ever want to give them more money?

Also, if they moved and didn’t change their address on their website or go to pick up their returns at the post office, why do we have to pay another $25 shipping to return it again? My dress only cost $58, so I don’t really see the point in spending $50 to return it.

Here’s a cost breakdown:
Cost of clothing at full price: $337
Cost of clothing after 20% off: $269.60
Cost of order after 20% plus $32 shipping: $301.60
Custom’s fees to FedEx: ($14.60 more than USPS) $51.97
Cost of returning order twice: $50
Cost of dress able to be returned: ($72×80%) $57.60
Cost of items not returned: ($76 of which is a dress that doesn’t fit) $212
Full price cost of items not returned: $265
Total cost paid for items not returned (including return postage): $345.97
Percentage of original item cost paid for shipping/taxes/customs: approx. 31% ($80.97)
Money that I think I shouldn’t have paid: $25 rereturning shipping; $32 original “free” shipping; $14.60 FedEx fees $71.60

Therefore, I paid 31% (or $81) on the full price of items that were supposed to be 20% off with free shipping.

So, people not living in the US: do NOT buy from Pinup Girl. You will lose a lot of money. Do NOT trust their website. The phone number is missing, the addresses are/were wrong, and the shipping information is wrong. Plus, who wants to pay $42 for shipping to Canada, which usually costs under $20? Also, the FAQ says they will refund Canadians if the shipping is actually lower than $32.

For the record, I ordered from them about a year and a half ago with no problems and they shipped via USPS for $32. I have no problems paying shipping or customs fees, as long as I know upfront what those costs will be.

Also, today I found other complaints and a terrible Better Business Bureau report. So, the moral of the story is to Google for reviews and check BBB before buying, even if you’ve bought from the company before.”

This absolutely blows my mind. That a company could hold such poor business practices, practice such lousy customer service, and effectively fuck over their client base. Ironically, Pinup Girl Clothing is a retailer for Trashy Diva among other brands. And it’s of this lady’s opinion that not only is Pinup Girl Clothing making themselves look bad, but also the companies for whom they are representing. To see that there are almost 50 outstanding complaints against this company, and that they are doing nothing to rectify their reputation and situation is appalling and disgusting.