Returning items is an expensive proposition
Bought a men’s winter coat advertised online. I received numerous order status notifications, which were pleasant and professional but were actually disguising the fact the item was being shipped from China. One notification inferred a “quality check” was being completed. The coat arrived over two weeks from time of ordering and vaguely resembled the photo on the website. The two zippered layers of the garment wouldn’t even have been warm during a summer rainstorm. Return instructions were requested for a refund, but I was given the option of keeping the original coat and choosing another item from the website for a “small shipping fee.,” which I declined. The store claimed that the original order was a “best-selling” item and they had not received similar dissatisfaction feedback. I could return the item but their communication indicated that the shipping costs would be “relatively high.” In that regard, the store made another offer of a 15% refund to keep the coat, which amounted to $22.35. Once again, I declined but rather than continue with the back-and-forth emails, I agreed to the offer of an alternative item. The “small shipping fee” to receive the alternative item was $52.83. I declined again and instead offered them the alternatives of: (1) Refund the amount of the original item after it is returned for reasonable shipping fees to a location in the US. (2) Send the replacement item as promised for reasonable shipping fees. The store instead offered a “goodwill gesture” of a 30% refund, which I accepted out of exhaustion, thinking the coat could actually be given to Goodwill. Of course, they complained about their loss. Granted, buried in their website, the store states the return policy might involve custom and shipping fees but it’s not a good business model when you’re competing with Amazon and other retailers like Macy’s, etc. So, if you order from Harrison & Evelyn you’d better be certain the item fits. Never again.
10 January 2026
Unprompted review