customer service

woahhhh we haven’t posted on here in a while! it’s not that we don’t love you guys- we’ve just been busy with our internships/study abroad. anyways, i have a little story for you that i’ve needed to get off my chest for a long time.

this past march, i ordered a diane von furstenberg (dvf) dress to wear to one of my sorority events (maybe formal or a crush event we have-can’t remember). i have been a very loyal customer of dvf for years. not only do i own many of her shoes, dresses, sweaters, etc., but i also have bought many of the more expensive pieces (i.e. lace dresses, etc.). needless to say, i’m a great customer.

i got the dress and it just didn’t look good. it was way too big and voluminous and just wasn’t going to work. even if i got it in a smaller size, the design just wasn’t flattering on me. i made the mistake of not sending the dress back immediately. i was in the middle of midterms and was slammed and just didn’t take the time to go mail it. i took the dress home for spring break and mailed it as soon as i got back from the dominican. based on the shipping label, i know that i received the dress on 3/1. based on my day planner (which we all know never leaves my side- i obsessively record everything in there), i know that i mailed the dress back on 3/18. i am ONE HUNDRED PERCENT positive that i mailed the dress back on friday, 3/18. i know that for a FACT because i mailed the dress back from my hometown and i went back to school the next day.

the dress had been shipped to me from the bal harbour dvf store for some reason (even though i ordered it online). there was ZERO paperwork in the box, so i returned the dress to that store. i even included a handwritten note with all of my information on it. i shipped the box certified mail, so i was supposed to get back to the store by like the 22nd.

for a month or so, everything was fine. then one day the box was returned to me with a note inside that said something like, “we didn’t receive this package until april x (can’t remember, but it was something RIDICULOUSLY after the date it should have arrived), therefore it cannot be exchanged or returned.”

dvf has an interesting return policy. you can return something for up to 18 days for a full refund. items returned within 30 days are subject to a 20% restocking fee. annoying, but fine. i would have gladly taken the 80% refund no problem. i guess what happened is that the bal harbour store let my package sit around for WEEKS before they sent it to the main headquarters. um, is this my fault?! NO. i spoke with customer service on the phone and via email several times, and they flat out refused to do ANYTHING. they wouldn’t take the dress back, wouldn’t refund the money, wouldn’t exchange it, wouldn’t let me pick something else out. NOTHING. i was left with a dress that was horrifically large and unflattering that i could do NOTHING with. even worse, i was out the money for the dress and the cost of the super expensive shipping.

this is a warning to you all. first, be VERY WARY of dvf. i can tell you that i will no longer buy items from dvf. this is unfortunate for both of us, as i truly love their items and they will lose a very loyal customer (who they may not even be able to tell is very loyal because i buy all my clothes from saks instead of directly from dvf). second, never EVER make the customer feel like she’s at fault. this situation was a problem with the store. clearly it’s staff is incredibly incompetent. i acknowledge that i made mistakes here (namely waiting to return the dress and not keeping the certified mail tracking receipt). dvf’s mistakes, however, were muchmuchmuch worse. this is THEIR fault. i 100% should have been able to return this item. i have no problem spending a lot of money on things, but i CANNOT stand wasting money or replacing items that i already had. third, make sure your company has strong pr and customer service. bad customer service=bad reviews=friends spreading news of bad reviews=loss of customers for you. lose-lose situation.

xo charlotte