As years of Stupid Shipping Gang posts on this site have illustrated, some items can easily be mailed in plastic bags, and other really require something with more structure. A t-shirt, for example, or a pair of pants can easily be mailed in a plastic bag, rolled up, crammed in a mailbox, and otherwise squished around. Corsets, however, have just enough structure and rigidity to serve their figure-wrangling purpose, but not enough to withstand being rolled up or crammed in a mailbox. Stephanie ordered a corset from Frederick’s of Hollywood. When it showed up in her mailbox, she learned that for a major lingerie retailer, Frederick’s isn’t great at shipping shapewear so it arrives intact.

I’m a big fan of Frederick’s of Hollywood, which is known for its lingerie, corsets, and other sexy unmentionables. A few years back, I went to a local store to purchase a corset, and while it was pricey, I consider it a great buy. Thanks to the Consumerist’s morning deal post recently, I found out that Frederick’s was having a sale, and so I decided to purchase another corset. I don’t live near a store anymore, so online’s really my only option anyway. I ordered one of their more popular corsets.

I left town for a couple of days, and when I got back, my new corset had already arrived. But even though it had been shipped extremely quickly, I’m not very happy. It seems that someone, probably from whatever company shipped the package, had folded up the relatively flat, somewhat flexible package, and kept it folded using rubber bands.

For those of you unfamiliar with how a lot of corsets work, most corsets usually have some sort of boning, which are thin, flat plastic or metal strips that give a corset its shape and rigidity. That’s how corsets have hour-glass shapes. Thanks to the rubber bands, the plastic boning in my corset is completely bent out of shape, which not only pretty much ruins the purpose of the corset, but pretty much makes it unwearable as a piece of clothing in general.

I’ve contacted Frederick’s, and while I’m confident that they’ll replace the corset, I’m pretty concerned that there won’t be any way to guarantee that the shipping company won’t ruin the next one. Awesome.

So, if you want a corset and you don’t want to risk having it destroyed before it arrives, consider checking out local stores first …

Stephanie checked back in after sending this initial e-mail. The news was not good.

After I emailed them and got no reply, I gave them a call on Monday, February 14th. After being on hold for 15 minutes, the rep told me that I’d be sent a new corset. She seemed much more concerned about me sending the ruined corset back and didn’t mention anything about steps that would be taken to ensure the second corset would arrive in good condition.

I left for the weekend the following Thursday and when I came back on Sunday, the second corset had arrived. Of course, it’s in even worse condition. It’s been bent and rolled up, again with rubber bands, and again stuffed in the mailbox.

I’m going to call Frederick’s again tomorrow, but at this point, if they can’t find some way to guarantee me a product in good condition, I’m asking for my money back.

She still hasn’t heard back, and sent along a picture of the (still-unopened) second corset.

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