Online Shopping Disaster with Zara's

Purple2

Sat, Sep 01 2018, 11:47 pm

Oak, you must not be a longtime Zara shopper.
Zara is known for the worst return policy possible.
Do I still shop there anyways? Of course because the stuff is so inexpensive, I can look the other way at lousy customer service.
That’s why they’re still in business. I buy a lot (really a lot) of stuff there because it’s so cheap.
If something is ruined or I can’t return it because 30 days are up I just factor it into me saving so much anyways.

tigerwife

Sat, Sep 01 2018, 11:48 pm

Interesting thread. I do a lot of shopping at Zara and their free/shipping and return policy works amazingly for me. I don’t have time to frequent stores; I often order several items in different sizes to try and return whatever didn’t work. Their fit and quality reflect their pricing, although I do own some of their items for several years and some of the children’s clothing lasted beautifully even after being handed down a few times. I honesty never had customer service issues and I believe was once granted an extended return time due to being out of town.

I believe it is the shipping company who is at fault here. Amazon sometimes has its packages photographed and posted after delivery. This doesn’t protect your package from being stolen but it does protect Amazon from being blamed for not delivering their items.

amother

Bronze

Sat, Sep 01 2018, 11:51 pm

camp wrote:

Why is a 30-day returns policy the worst returns policy possible? Do the Jewish stores have better policies than that?

Honestly, my worst complaints with quality and shrinkage are clothes bought from the Jewish stores.

ETA: This is an example policy taken from one of the popular Jewish store's websites:

For orders that were shipped, the 7 days begin upon delivery of your package to the shipping address you submitted, as per your tracking number. Your order needs to arrive back in our store within the 7 days.

Most of them are like this, yet somehow no one calls them out on it...

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 2:38 am

amother wrote:

I am sorry for your daughters experience...it is very frustrating.
But for every bad Zara experience, there are hundreds of frum children benefiting from their cheaper yet stylish looks each Yom Tov.
To buy & return as much as we do as a community (they do know who we are) and then post our displeasure so publicly seems to be in bad taste to me.

I never got the impression that they were catering to the frum community and therefore entitled to expect that the frum community would not post displeasure.

amother

Salmon

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 7:48 am

The shipping compAny is most definitely responsible.

I bought and returned a few times from Zara’s recently and had no issues.

Thirty days is a normal amount of time

Furthermore my friend had a package fed ex claimed was delivered when it wasn’t she was home and Zara’s sent her out a replacement without any issues.

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 8:48 am

amother wrote:

They will replace it the first time you claim a lost shipment. The shipping company this time was called pactco and not a standard shipping company.

Purple2

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 10:02 am

Their policy is obviously better then the Frum stores but way worse then most big non jewish companies. 30 days is a lot for Frum stores but less then the 90 days most companies give.
They have some interesting things that unless your really a huge Zara shopper you might not know about.
Again I don’t care since it’s so inexpensive I shop there all the time.
Also for those who think they know the Jewish customers, that’s ridiculous. It’s such a huge corporation they have no idea we exist.

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 1:03 pm

I would think that online shoppers, regardless of what religion they practice, buy numerous items to try on with the idea that they won't keep all of them. We all know that we may wear more than one size, depending on how the item is cut and the same goes with shoes.

Most of us would not buy online if we knew that we would be stuck with it no matter how it fit.

The only thing different about frum families is that they are buying for more children so the possibility of returns are greater.

There was a frum online shop that had different return policies for the frum community because they apparently abused the return policy in greater numbers than non-frum people did. Abuse means they wore the items and returned them unsaleable or returned them after the deadline. It also meant that people bought in great volume and kept it for weeks before trying to return it and then expecting a refund when the items were no longer in current stock. It is very understandable that stores take a tremendous loss when items are purchased, kept for too long and then returned after the period of time when someone might have bought it. These are small businesses who can't have inventory tied up in people's homes.

The Walmart in the Catskills had to make a stricter return policy because of the transient nature of the clientele, who tried to return used appliances and seasonal items after the summer. The Monsey Walmart, however, has the same return policy as the rest of the Walmarts in America and there are plenty of frum people shopping there.

ecs

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 4:06 pm

amother wrote:

I went shopping for the first time last week there. I bought one thing that I didn't have time to try on and when I got home it was too small. I bought about $300 worth of stuff. I was told I can return. Was never told I need receipt. I asked specifically. I went back on Friday to return. The salesgirl was overly nasty and refused to take it back....even though she admitted she remembers me buying the stuff. I was so mad. I shlepped a half hour away with three cranky kids on a busy Friday only to be told they won't take it back. They even refused to give me a credit. They said the only thing they can do is exchange it for another size if they have it in the store which they didn't.

Which store accepts returns without receipts?

southernbubby

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 4:13 pm

ecs wrote:

Which store accepts returns without receipts?

People do give gifts and often don't enclose the receipts and if a store has it's own brand, do they exchange the gifts? I could see that if a national brand is not sold at a particular store, then they don't have to accept a return there of that item but what is the gift policy at stores?

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, Sep 02 2018, 9:08 pm

camp wrote:

Actually, it's in line with other stores that have free return shipping. Since to the consumer it seems like no risk to over buy because it's free shipping and returns, there are probably a lot more returns than when the customer has to pay return shipping or return it in store.
Amazon for the most part (Baby being a notable exception) is 30 days with free returns on clothing. I do a lot of shopping on swap.com as well with the same policy.

Amelia Bedelia

Sat, Sep 29 2018, 10:54 pm

So ironic that this had to happen the very first time I ordered from Zara after following this thread. I just received a refund this week after shipping back my latest order. However, they must've missed one item in the box and did not refund me for that particular item. I contacted customer service, they looked into it, and called me back to say that they looked into it and that item was definitely not in the box. Yes, right. Like as if the people handling all the returns happen to remember my return. ... Anyway, as a one-time courtesy, they will refund me for that item. But who's to say they won't make a mistake next time too? I may be better off just taking all future returns back to a store so I can double-check that I get the full refund.
I also had about a year ago that my return package was never received by Zara. However, since the tracking code was never scanned, I assume it was not Zara's fault and it just somehow got lost.
In addition, I bought my preschooler adorable shoes for Pesach last year. I suspected they would not last the season, but I certainly did not expect that by the second or third time wearing it, it would be ready for the trash! Naturally, Zara refused to credit me even after I sent them photos of the shoes.

amother

Cerise

Sun, Sep 30 2018, 12:51 am

I will echo all the previous posters complaining about their awful customer service. Yes yes and yes. I’m a major online Zara shopper with tons of buying and returning and I’ve had my share of stories. I came to the decision that I just have to take the few junky items and bad experiences and roll with it; it’s still worth the savings and convenience over shopping in jewish stores. Also, for those who think Zara can’t handle the bad reviews, they are an international company and one of the most successful clothing companies in the world. Also be aware that in the last few weeks they started using a small local shipping company that is the pits, completely unprofessional and unreliable. Buyer beware!

amother

Forestgreen

Sun, Sep 30 2018, 4:28 am

amother wrote:

That was probably the lousy shipping company that delivered my daughter's package to the wrong person.

Amelia Bedelia

Sun, Sep 30 2018, 5:15 am

Amelia Bedelia wrote:

At the same time, I should really mention my positive experience with Zara. A couple of years ago, I called Zara to complain that the tops I purchased for my girls both shrunk after one wash, was already a splurge money-wise, and was not the first time I had such an issue of clothes shrinking. The time before that, I also splurged on a cute dress for my daughter which shrunk so much in one wash that she was never able to wear it again. Zara nicely gave me a full refund for the two tops without even having me send photos or ship it back.

amother

Wine

Sun, Sep 30 2018, 5:16 am

ecs wrote:

Which store accepts returns without receipts?

I just ordered an item online from Next and returned it to the store. I was scrolling in my phone looking for the email (since of course I lost the paper receipt) and the guy said that he didn't need a receipt and I would get the money back on my card shortly. Magically my card was refunded. Somehow each item is able to be tracked who it was sent to.