I was simply looking for a good ugly sweater for a gift. I came across, thesweaterstore.com. They claimed to have the perfect gifts. After some searching, I came across a $30.00 sweater, that was very ugly, and just what I wanted. The shipping wasn't bad, and it had a decent feel about it. It was portrayed with a nice picture, and all of the other sweaters looked decent as well.
When the sweater arrived, I pulled it out of the box to find that instead of a large, it was a "stretched comfortably to fit a very extra large person" large. Besides the fact that there was an immense amount of stretched elastic, there was a heavy odor radiating from within the fabric. I'm assuming it was from the person who had previously worn it. The tag looked old, as if from the late 90's or even early 90's.
I thought, maybe I'll give it a chance still, and I'll wash it and what not. So after finding out that it had to be handwashed, I dug my hands into the stench in a sink full of warm soapy water, and tried to get as much of the stench out as I could... That was until I came across the safety pins holding the sleeves together, as not to stretch out the wrist cuff anymore.
This was the last straw. I got on to their website, and used their online chat system. I asked them why they didn't advertise their sweater as a used, smelly, old, safety pin ridden atrocity. They simply asked if I wanted to return it. So I obliged. They specifically told me to include a note that somebody there had approved the return. They said they could only refund me for the price that I paid originally, and not for the shipping that I would pay to ship it back.
So what I did, was shipped it back in the middle of December. I understood that their volume of orders must have been immense, so I waited about a month to contact them about my return (because I hadn't seen a credit to my account). I finally e-mailed them and asked if they got my sweater return. I then received an e-mail back that said, "We cannot return the sweater, it's against our policy... Is there any other way I can help you?" So, I decided to get some of my legal counsel of one of my close associates, and I had his name ready to go. I told them, that they could get their counsel prepared for mine if the refund wouldn't happen.
I then finally received an email that my $37.00 dollars was going to be credited back in the next few business days. I may have missed out on $11.00 dollars for shipping, but maybe it made them take a hit to their integrity (which I doubt).
In conclusion, they are selling sweaters without telling everyone that, OH they are used and not washed and old, and just stuff they found at a thrift shop for 5 bucks and they are marking them up. BUT, I guess that's just what they found to be the best business model.
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