I’m Divorcing The Kooples

Today is a sad day for clothing e-tailers and customer service. I have often decided not to publicly vent my frustration with some stores and brands, however today I experienced an incident that deserves for the company in question, The Kooples, to be named and shamed. I hope you agree. Read on …

I purchased a Parka for £495 online. When it arrived, it didn’t suit me so I decided to return it. I completed the online instructions, which involved sending it back. TO FRANCE. WHAT???? At that point, I also read that I could bring it back to a store, so obviously figured this would be cheaper (although it also involved time, petrol and parking costs).

Crime no. 1
Today I schlepped to the store in Hampstead to be told that I could not get a refund and only a credit. So if I wanted a refund I would have to mail it. Here’s the overview of those costs due to the size and weight of the package:
1. £19 basic postage (no tracking, no signature, no insurance)
2. £40 (tracking, signature and £100 insurance)
3. £52 (tracking, signature and £500 insurance)

So basically a customer has to incur £19-£52 own costs for a clothing return in order to get a refund. Utter insanity! Furthermore, which of these postage options would you chose? If you do 1 or 2, you incur a risk of loss of part or all of the value if the item goes missing.

Why-oh-why can’t their central HQ just coordinate to do refunds for web purchases when they can do exchanges? Sure, I get that there is an extra element of admin involved, but just make it happen, people! Don’t lose your customers.

Crime no. 2
While still in the store, the assistant called another store to confirm that a customer is responsible for postage costs and then basically told me. SORRY! I then demanded to talk to someone in customer services and the phone number was written down for me. The sales assistant said she would not use her landline as this needs to be “kept open for customer calls”. Excuse me, am I not a customer?

I then noticed that the phone number was … yes, you guessed it, in FRANCE. That’s a mighty expensive phonecall, but I was determined not to schlepp the big box home with me so I made the call. More costs.

Crime no. 3
This situation now went from bad to worse as I’m put through to “Sandy” in customer service who tells me that it is their sales policy for customers to be responsible for postage costs. Fair enough for companies to define their own sales policies, however here’s where I feel decent customer service is not taking place:
1. Customers Don’t Pay Postage
It’s not very commonplace for e-commerce clothing shops to make customers pay as there is always a high probability of something being returned (as you can’t try something when you’re at a computer screen, of course). Banana Republic provide you with free returns labels. The Kooples is a high end brand with items around £200 upwards so one would expect an equivalent or better service even, not worse!

2. Postage to FRANCE?
If you have to force customers to pay, have it send local, but making them send back to France means exorbitant costs. Once again, make it easy for customers to do business, with you so get them to send to a local store and fund the shipment abroad yourself or introduce the stock back to your local stores.

3. Misinformation
Their website does not display this sales policy clearly or the fact that refunds are not available via the store, thereby causing inconvenience and costs for customers like myself hoping to get a refund in store.

When I point all of this out to Sandy, I ask her to either provide me with a refund in store or cover part/all of my postage costs but Sandy is not interested. I also ask to speak to her manager or a superior and she outright refuses. She says she is in the head of customer service. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Finally, when I ask for her last name she replies “it’s none of your business”. Nice!! Even if she doesn’t want to give it, she could say “I’m not able to provide you with that information”. What a way to talk to a paying customer.

In Conclusion
So off I went to the post office in defeat to send this item back for a refund. I had
to add £3 in packaging tape as icing on the cake!

All in all, a sad day for clothing retailers doing e-commerce online and a sad day for customer service.

All I can do is:
- Boycott the store (I can vote with my feet at least)
- Warn all other potential customers (via this blog post)
- Attempt to escalate to the company (send a complaint letter which will probably be ignored)
- Escalate to other customer bodies in the UK (from the perspective of misinformation)

What else can I do? What should I do or what should I have done? Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please let me know your thoughts.

Comments

[AJ]

I was about to purchase a pairslipper from kooples but with this posting, I have decided to pass on what appears to be such an irresponsible company. I am in the US.

[PureDeal ManagementLondon]

Had similar experience. Horrible arrogant service. Will never buy from The Kooples ever again. Waited for my dress for over two weeks. The leather buckles on the dress shown online "were not part of the dress". Still waiting for my refund for over a month. My another order has been cancelled without an explanation. Wen to their London store to deal with this but the staff was hopeless. Will never buy from The Kooples ever again.

[Rxg]

Under the UK Sale of Goods Act 1979 traders must sell goods that are as described and of satisfactory quality. Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale). Aspects of quality include freedom from minor defects, appearance and finish, durability and safety. If consumers discover that products do not meet these requirements they can reject them and ask for their money back.

So The Kooples are under a legal obligation to ensure their clothing is as described, and of sufficient quality. If they won't supply a refund for faulty goods, it's up to them to prove they weren't inherently faulty at the time of supply. Otherwise they would be in breach of the UK Sale of Goods Act 1979.

[Sharon Jaffe]

Thanks for sharing your experience Kate! What a shocking story. I still boycott them despite really liking their stuff. Hopefully enough of these stories will get their attention? It saddens me to think how a poor customer service response is such a missed opportunity. It's not what goes wrong in life that matters, it's what you do about it! I hope The Kooples learn this eventually! Best wishes, Sharon

[Kate]

I have also experienced shocking customer service from Kooples. I bought a shirt on-line and after wearing it 3 times (in the office, not rock-climbing!) the sleeve came away from the cuff leaving a 2 inch hole. I contacted costomer services and they asked me for details of the fault. I sent them a description and a photo and they replied saying their 'quality department didn't consider it a quality issue'! I wrote them a strongly worded reply and they 'invited me' to send the shirt to them providing a London address.
I sent it back and they responded again saying they couldn't find a fault. I was incredulous so I asked them to confirm that they considered 3 wears a reasonable length of time for a garment to last and mentioned Trading Standards to them. They finally offered a refund (and for the postage) - after a couple more emails I finally got a refund for the shirt and am chasing for the postage costs but it has been hard work.... Really disappointed as I love their clothing but won't be shopping with them in future on principle.

[rebecka]

Hi ladies, I'm struggling with the Kooples as we speak. I ordered a Parka online described to provide maximum warmth due to the feather and down filling. Something I highly valued since I live in Sweden. The parka arrived and I noticed there was a hole inside the pocket. Annoying but even more annoying is the filling made of polyester foam. Not a feather in sight. I contacted customer service and asked them if they could reemburse me for taking the jacket to the tayler and asked for an explanation about the filling. They clearly lied in the product description. I still, 2 months later, have not received an explanation about the filling althoug I have asked them 7 times. Moreover, the english is so poor I barely understand what they are writing. I sincerely believe that if you sell your merchandise to countries outside of France you really should have staff with sufficient language skills. I am very dissapointed and to be honest the quality of the jacket is very poor. It's a shame cause I really liked the brand before.

[Kathrine Bogle]

How can you be upset at a company for not paying return postage of an item that you didn't see fit? Obviously if the item was faulty then I could see how this complaint would be justified.

[Hayley]

I too have had a very poor experience with The Kooples. I ordered a jacket for my husband for Xmas- the delivery option I chose was 'Express'. This claimed to provide delivery within 48 to 72 hours...
Well lo and behold the parcel has not turned up and when you ring Customer Service (in France)and select to speak to an advisor- the line goes dead!
I have sent them a message from My account enquiring of the whereabouts of the item but heard nothing yet.
Certainly won't be buying anything off this lot again- disgusting customer service.

[Corina L]

I am another very unhappy customer - I have been waiting for 3 weeks to get a refund, it is impossible to call them and they will not answer my written messages. I paid 60 EUR to return 2 products, hoping this will be the only loss, but no refund yet. Awful, I have never seen this before!
Corina

[Sharon Jaffe]

Thanks cc for the feedback. It's good to know how many other people are at the wrong end of their poor customer service. There are so many incidents which go wrong with businesses daily, but I always say "It doesn't matter what goes wrong, it's what you do about it that counts!". This company just makes all the worst possible mistakes and takes the brand from 'hero' to 'zero'. Companies that succeed accept that the long term customer life value through loyalty is worth so much more than the loss of 1 product or some postage.

I have since not stepped foot again into the store. They may not want to hear our voices, but at least we let our feet do the talking now that we have digital tools to empower us thought communication!

[CC]

Thank you for posting this! I had a really bad experience with Kooples as well - I actually bought a pair of shoes, in store, for £195 (ponyskin and leather slippers). They looked sturdy enough, but I still made sure not to wear them in the rain or for anything too adventurous. After 2-3 weeks of wearing them maybe 3x weekly, both heels are completely worn off and one of the soles is falling off at the toe.

I took them back to the store expecting a refund, but all I got was an extremely unhelpful, unprofessional and grumpy shop girl who didn't even apologize. She said she would send her regional manager an e-mail with pictures, and got back to me the next day saying that the pictures had been sent to their quality department in France. Said quality department made a "final decision" that the shoes were not faulty - apparently, it was my fault, because of "the way they'd been worn", and refused to give me a refund or anything. They also said the shoes were muddy - it's not like I dragged in mud-crusted hiking boots, but last time I checked, shoes are meant to be worn outdoors? Even regardless of the "mud", it should have been obvious that the shoes are of incredibly poor quality!

Once again, I didn't get an apology. I asked for the regional manager's name - the shop girl wasn't allowed to give it out. I asked for a number - she gave me a number in France. I asked for an e-mail address - she gave me a generic contact@thekooples.com address.

I don't know what I'm more disappointed with - the quality of the shoes or the terrible and downright rude customer service. Any other brand that prices themselves in that area (and below!) would immediately take it upon themselves to replace the product, and maybe, just maaaaaybe, throw in a "sorry" somewhere along the way. I've had H&M shoes that lasted me longer!

I'll try to contact the head office again myself - it's absolutely ridiculous that I have to waste my time on this (and £195 pounds) and if they continue their behavior, I am taking them to small claims court.

Again, thank you for posting this, we definitely need to get the word out!

[Deb]

Thanks for this article though I read it too late - I purchased a leather jacket online from The Kooples, had it sent to a store and then couldn't believe the process for returning it when I asked the shop.

[Geo Fellas]

I went through a similar experience but mine cost me £150!!
The fact that you have to return to France is a disgrace as this not shown on their website.
As the nearest store is 3 hours away I decided to return the items by UPS - cost £72.
If that wasn't bad enough they then said that one of the items was missing from the parcel.
I provided shipping details that highlighted that the weight of the items they sent was, near enough, the same weight as I returned. Obviously they have problems in the warehouse. The missing item cost £80. So i am out of pocket to the tune of £150. I will never buy from them again.

[Jason]

@LTAHashtag: Does anyone remember the airbrushed 'real' 'Kooples' ad campaign? What about #realkooples ? http://lifethroughahashtag.com/realkooples/

[Sharon Jaffe]

I did in fact get my refund, though it took a long time! Their customer service may be awful but they do give you your money back in the end (though no compensation for postage!).

[Wendy]

Hi girls, did you receive your refund back already? I have also returned the parka, and waiting since 3 weeks for my refund...no news!!

[Sharon Jaffe]

Sheila, thanks so much for sharing your story and letting me know that my post is being indexed and ranked by Google. It gives me comfort to know that I can help other potential customers and spare them my poor experience. Now I only hope that folks at the Kooples headquarters do some good social media work and look what (ex-)customers are saying about them!

[sheila]

Thanks for this posting. I was just about to order a leather jacket from The Kooples. Having been caught out before with returns postage costs, I looked for the returns address on their site...and as you have said there wasn't one...very sneaky.
I decided to Google,returns The Kooples and came across your posting.

You can have the satisfaction of knowing that because of your posting I will not be shopping with The Kooples

[Sharon Jaffe]

Thanks for sharing your story, Emma. I'm sure there are many more ex-customers like us. I hope that someone in their headquarters will pay attention and change this before even more customers are lost.

[Emma G]

I couldn't agree more! I ordered the same Parka but in the sale - nowhere on the return policy did it mention you have to return the order to France. You only find this out when you go in to the website to specify that you want to return your order. I was also quoted £40 at the Post Office. I'm never shopping at the Kooples again!