Hello! SkinnyJeans Owner Asks Customer "What Have You Been Doing On Your Knees?"
Reader Michelle bought a pair of jeans from pricey denim company Hello! SkinnyJeans, decided they weren't her style, and tried to return them. HSJ wouldn't refund her money, but they did offer complimentary rude notes and free phone support with insults from the owner herself.
Michelle writes:
I have a story for you on the high end jean brand HOT Skinny Jeans.I ordered a pair of jeans from them that cost $184. When I received them I realized they weren't exactly the wash I wanted but tried them on for size to see if I liked them. After wearing them for about an hour inside my apartment and trying them on with different shoes, I decided they weren't for me. But wanted to exchange for a different size and color. Followed the directions online for return and didn't hear anything back for 2 weeks after sending them in.
Received a package that included the jeans and a note that said the jeans had obviously been worn and "how can you not realize that you ordered black jeans," in response to my request to exchange the wash. No signature.
Called the company to see if that is really how they wanted to do business. First person I talked to, Christine recognized that there was a snide tone in the note and said that she didn't have the authority to change anything, so she put me on the phone with the owner, Katherine. Katherine said they couldn't take back the jeans because they had been worn and then asked "what have you been doing on your knees, i don't want to know." No exchange was offered.
Not sure if high end jeans is something you usually write about. But I thought the idea of a company sending rude notes when consumers try to return items, followed by the owner of the company asking "what have you been doing on your knees," to someone that was just trying to exchange a product for a different size and color after trying them on was interesting.
"Interesting" isn't quite how we'd describe it. Maybe a company with a sassy name like Hot Skinny Jeans has to have sassy customer support too. Since you've already gone to the top of the support chain, we'd suggest getting in touch with your bank about a chargeback if you want to get your money back.
(Photo: stirwise)
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Comments:
$184 for jeans?? For that price they better give me a bl.. er.. nevermind.
But yeah, if I paid 184 bucks for jeans and they were that rude to me you'd better believe they wouldn't hear the last of it until I had my money back. Regardless of the fact that I'm a fat pasty white guy with hairy legs. I can be stylish too!
Wearing $184 jeans for an hour is a lot of use...especially if they were too tight. They'd be all streched out for the next person.
Sure, the rudeness wasn't appropriate, but does it take an hour(or more?) to know they don't fit?
Next time don't mail order 184 dollar jeans and wear them for an hour.
Go to a normal store and buy jeans you can try on for 20 bucks.
@Corporate_guy: So it's OK for a company to be rude to its customers as long as they're mail-order and expensive?
Regardless if you spent $30 or $200, that is unacceptable customer service. If they felt the OP did wear the jeans, simply stating the policy behind this would suffice. I realize that some people may have buyers remorse but at the same time, those types tend to want a refund for their free wear. Most of them are not going for the exchange, that makes me think that it was a legit customer who will NOT be coming back now. Way to go high end jeans company during a recession.
If she chooses to go the chargeback route, I certainly hope that her bank or credit card company denies it. She bought jeans off the internet, wore them (an hour is beyond just trying them on) and tried to return them. While the customer service she received was awful, that doesn't entitle her to her money back. She doesn't have a right to return the jeans once they've been worn. She wore the jeans, and wanted to return them simply because she decided after she'd done so that she didn't like them. She wasn't in compliance with the return policy. The bank/cc company will be doing the store owner a terrible disservice if they allow her to successfully institute a chargeback.
I'm all for chargebacks when they are appropriate (When you didn't get what you paid for), but in this case it's totally unwarranted. Bad customer service doesn't entitle one to free merchandise.
@Corporate_guy: idk if i'm just a girly girl, but sometimes it takes a while to determine if something is going to be comfortable. though an hour seems like a long time, i wore a backpack out for an entire day before i returned it because it pinched my neck with all my books in it. i had tried it on at the store and it was great, it was only until a real test run that i found it wasn't for me, and it was only $85, not $184. i don't usually wear clothes an hour, but a few minutes around the house, bending over, crouching, etc. is pretty customary when i try out pants.
also, where the crap do you get $20 jeans that are of any real quality and fit for a woman? oh that's right, nowhere! old navy is $24, and that is the bottom of the barrel where i start considering quality, and those wear out relatively quickly. sometimes it's better to invest in quality. that said, i would never buy pants more expensive than $50, but at least i realize i have no right to judge someone for how they choose to spend thier money.
@Corporate_guy: Sorry. Doesn't matter if she paid $18.99 or $189.99, that doesn't justify rude service. At the very least, she should be able to exchange them or get her money back. And without 6th-grade jokes about what she's been doing "on her knees."
@Esquire99:
She didn't want her money back. She wanted an exchange. I don't see a problem in that. Especially after the way they treated her.
I can see wearing them an hour. You wonder if they're OK, don't want to hassle returning them, but there's this nagging doubt. Try some outfits. try some shoes. Finally figure out they aren't going to work. Send them back.
What I wonder is how the company determined they had been "worn" too much to return? Was she kneeling in garden, weeding and got some dirt or grass stains?
Sucks for the OP, what jerks those hot skinny twerps are! I'm sure the OP is glad the story is featured on Consumerist. Even though I don't buy expensive jeans, I'm sure others will hear about this.
@jmhart:
That part is a little fishy. Why an hour?
Nevertheless, the remark made by the owner was unacceptable.
High end products should come with high end customer support, not rude comments from pretentious people that sell overpriced clothing that doesn't fit. This company sucks.
The rudeness of the business owner is enough to justify a refund, IMO. I can't believe anyone would be so unprofessional. Though I can't imagine trying jeans out for an hour, I do have sympathy. Marshfield spelled it out; nagging doubt, try some outfits, try some shoes, I never understood why women's clothes are so hard to buy. I try a pair of jeans, either they fit or they don't, end of story. Different shoes won't make them fit any better. Changing my t-shirt doesn't make the inseam shorter.
Never did get the "washed and torn" look either. All my jeans are washed and torn, which is why I'd be buying new jeans in the first place. To wear something not washed and torn. It's like buying $150 new jeans that you can claim you found in the trash.
If I were her I would threaten with a lawsuit if the chargeback won't work. Most business would cave to that threat to avoid the bad publicity of a faulty product let alone a slur from the owner. If she does not have the jeans and they have her money than they will either have to give back the jeans or her money. If they don't do either than it is a simple case of fraud. One more thing, did the OP use the United States Postal Service? If she did than you can contact the postal inspector since it might be mail fraud. Anyway the company needs to die because of the remarks.
On your knees?
If the wear pattern is that specific, one must truly wonder.
Oh, and has anybody heard of "renting" clothes? The bigger the price tag, the more it happens.
Part of me wants to bash you for paying that much for a pair of jeans. Still, I would do a CC chargeback. This company is obviously a rip off outfit.
@Esquire99: First, she said that it wasn't the wash that she ordered. More importantly, wearing them for an hour in the house while you try on other clothes to see if they match does not constitute "wearing" them. I know women who spend 10 times longer than an hour in store changing rooms. At least it feels that way.
I'm not sure if the Consumerist typically changes the name of a company for their stories, but a Google search of the company "Hot Skinny Jeans" turns up, well, nothing. The first search result is this post.
Am I the only one who finds this a bit...fishy?
The important thing is that everyone who reads Consumerist now knows not to buy Hot Skinny Jeans. You can't chalk this up to a few bad customer service employees when the owner, Katherine, was rude and unhelpful herself. I wouldn't want to put so much as a dollar in her pocket.
$184 jeans? that's my grocery bill for a month
It's a few down from the top (boy your search was exhaustive). I agree with you though. HSJ looks like a blog that offloads the user to zappos.com for any purchases. So did the OP purchase from Zappos?
Click on any of the links. Something's real fishy here.
yes... you are.
The company's web domain matches their name. No need to drum up their google trends.
@jmhart:
She wasn't wearing them to see if they fit. Read her statement. She was wearing them for an hour while she tried them with different tops to see if she liked the wash, which she realized she didn't. THAT was why she returned the jeans. She doesn't say anything about returning them because of fit.
@oeolycus:
Yes, that's the link I clicked, which led me to believe that Michelle bought her hotpants from a sketchy off-shore drop-shipping retailer who's now giving her the runaround.
@Binja-man:
She explicitly states that she decided it wasn't the wash she "Wanted" and that the wash "Wasn't for her". She doesn't indicate that the jeans that arrived weren't the ones she ordered; she simply states that they are not what she wanted (e.g. she didn't like them). Further, as the poster above noted, these kinds of jeans stretch quickly, simply because of the style.
@Laura Northrup:
She sent them back as a return, but the return didn't comply with their return policy so they were sent back to her as non-returnable. Thus, if she were to successfully get a chargeback, she'd be getting free merchandise.
I was curious about this company, so I googled it. I can't find an actual brand named 'Hot Skinny Jeans', only a blog/store at hotskinnyjeans.com - but they only seem to sell clothes and shoes from other companies, like Zappos or Roxy. I wonder who was the nasty one to the OP - the owner of the blog (who goes by Jackie) or someone completely different?
Can anyone clarify?
@Mario Romero:
I too see no problem with requesting an exchange, so long as it's within their policy. However, the store indicated that it wasn't. What I take issue with is Alex's recommendation that she go for a chargeback.
@TEW:
She has the jeans. They sent them back to her with the note saying they were non-returnable because they had been worn.
ok before I make an opinion, i want to see the actual jeans. There has to be a reason for the "what were you doing on your knees" statement. If she was crawling around her house for an hour or what not, it would give a reason for the remarks. and it takes alot to make jeans look "worn". so I want to see the jeans first.
@satindevil: That was my question, as well. When clicking the "buy" button for a pair of $184 jeans listed on the site, it redirects to zappos.com for purchase. Does that mean OP might be able to return the jeans directly to zappos.com, which has a very liberal return policy?
Some clarification would definitely be appreciated.
@Bluth_Cornballer: That's why I buy from Nordstrom or a company's brick & mortar store. I've never had any trouble with the True Religion store and Nordstrom is legendary for their ridiculously awesome return policy.
people buy clothes online? how do you know if they fit? the sizes change every year (ie, 34 from 2006 is not always the same as 34 from 2007)
and the number one reason buying clothes online is not a good idea is..........
...this story.
1) Um, it's called branding. Citizen, Rock & Republic, True Religion, Sevens, etc all sell for triple digits, while Wal-Mart private label doesn't. Why? Sometimes quality, mostly because they're a popular brand name. New to retail much? PS - *If* OP is telling the full story, she's not asking for "better than average customer service", she's asking for AVERAGE customer service without being insulted.
2) Oh really? Could we see some data regarding frivolous or false returns based on something besides your anecdotal evidence? If not, I'll give you some of my own. I'll wager, at most, 1-2% of all the returns I've processed or overseen in 9 years of retail have been the type you refer to as unreasonable. And you know what? We still do 'em, more often than not (to use your phrase). Why? Customer service. See: Nordstrom, etc. Most companies factor this into their cost of doing business, and budget for it. But you're in the clothing business, and I'm sure you knew that.
ALSO, your straw man argument against people who would spend "that much" on jeans is a fallacy, which I'm assuming you knew. Am I likely an unreasonable customer because I'll spend 2-5x as much on clothes as you will? No more so than if I spent 2-5x as much on art or food than you do. By your logic most people who shop at Whole Foods instead of Bargain Rainbow are probably unreasonable customers.
3) It's rude, and while that joke may be made behind closed doors or away from the customer, it's inexcusable to make *to* a customer. At least if you value customers or the rep of your company. I'm assuming you don't run your business in the same way, but maybe that's an unsafe assumption.
@jmhart: Actually no it's not. I'm a fairly metro guy with a huge walkin closet of clothing and dozens of shoes and often i'll tryon things and be 50/50 about them. Then about an hour or two later i'll realize that they aren't worth the money or are not ideal. But with this said i leave ALL the tags and leave them in MINT condition. I also only purchase from places with a liberal return policy if i can't try them on instore.
$184 isn't "high end."
I'd like to see what the jeans look like, for some jeans, an hour usage WILL be shown, especially tight raw dry selvage jeans (with a $184 price tag, I highly doubt they were selvage, but may have been raw or one-wash).
I still don't know what brand "HOT Skinny Jeans" is.
It really seems like the consumer was confused, but the company's response wasn't the best.
@satindevil: The latter would seem likelier, since the former don't look black. But the latter are through Zappo's, so if it's those, she might have better luck talking to Zappo's directly.
But it's still a weird setup.
@redkamel: Mail order clothing merchants have infinitely generous return policies. Most of them these days include prepaid return shipping labels, in fact.
Though the sizes don't change every year in women's. There's just little consistency from brand to brand, and it's pretty common to order two sizes and return one.
I think at some point if a rude comment is really funny, it is not only forgivable, it makes the company entirely in the right.