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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