Back in June of last year I decided to order lingerie for the first time because our honeymoon was nearing and I had never had a need to buy until then. Clearly this sounds like TMI but I really want to let everyone know how unhappy I am with the company I ordered from and want to warn you all about their policies so that the same thing doesn't happen to you. My goal is not to tell you not to shop with them but to make you aware because I was clearly confused.
Scrolling through Facebook, I saw that quite a few of my friends had "liked" Adore Me and an ad showed that when you make a VIP account you get your first set for 19.99. I looked at what they had to offer and their products looked classy and elegant. I was sold. I signed up, ordered one thing a month later, raved about it to my friends, and forgot all about the site for a while. When I received the piece.. I loved it. The quality was great and I definitely planned on shopping with Adore Me again the next time I wanted to purchase something of that nature.
A few weeks ago, Stefan texted me to ask if I had ordered something online. Turns out.. Adore Me had charged our bank account 39.99 without my knowledge and had done so every month since my purchase. Irritated, I called the company to get everything worked out. Here are my frustrations.
1. I couldn't understand either woman I talked to. They barely spoke English and kept having to have me repeat things and vice versa which is an annoyance for both parties involved and puts a huge rift in communication.
2. They said their policy is that you're charged every month that you don't "skip" and that it's made clear upon check out. Now maybe I'm naive but when I originally signed up.. I was not asked to enter a credit card to be charged monthly. When I selected "VIP membership" it said your account would be charged store credit that could be used toward future purchases. I simply thought it was on my adore me account. I never dreamed they would go ahead and charge the first card I ever used to order a month after signing up.
3. They won't refund any "store credit" that occurred past thirty days. Off the top of my head, I can't think of one store that has such a ridiculous time frame. Some stores will still accept returns years later and I'm not even trying to return anything to adore me. I just want my own money back!
4. Store credit expires after 12 months. So basically they take your money and if you don't take advantage of those credits within a year you lose out on your own money. If that's not a huge scam I don't know what is. I told the one woman this and she stated, "ma'am we wouldn't run our company in that way." Wait, what? Except that's exactly the way it feels and looks like to me. Who boasts about membership being free but still takes your money and refuses to make things right for their customers?
5. They state right on their "how it works" page that VIP membership is free... However, I found out the hard way that if you don't skip a month and don't use the money they take from you within 12 months you get nothing in return. That sounds like a fee to me. I searched the website for some fine print and the company uses the phrase, "monthly dues." Again.. how can you boast free membership in big bold letters on one page but talk about monthly dues in teensy tiny print on another page filled with a billion other sentences?
6. They claimed I should have been notified about each charge by email each month. The problem is.. After they stated this I noticed that they send 3-4 emails a day so it's no wonder that the one email they sent to "warn" me didn't stand out. If I actually read every email from adore me, modcloth, forever21, Victoria's Secret, hautelook, YouTube, zappos, amazon, world market, kohls, 1800contacts, glasses shop, mac, coastal scents, ulta, and all of the other thousands of companies I get numerous emails from daily... I'd never put my phone down. I'm sure I'm not the only person who deletes emails as soon as they see who it's from. My life doesn't revolve around technology contrary to what society seems to think. Is anyone else sick of how technology based everything is? Ugh!
7. The first woman hung up on me and cut me off multiple times while I was explaining my frustration. I told her that I did not want to use my store credit because I had no desire to order with them ever again and that I would like money back. She told me that she could remove the credit and terminate the account if I'd like but I would not get that money refunded. I can't even comment on that statement. I'll let that Adore Me customer service rep speak for the company itself.
8. They refused to let me talk to a manager. They said managers are "too busy" to take calls at the beginning of the month. I'm curious if that's due to all of the calls they probably get on or after the sixth when everyone realizes that they've been charged.
9. They don't seem to care about keeping customers happy or building lifetime customers. I would have been an Adore Me shopper for life. But now that they treated me as if my business means nothing, took my money without my knowledge, and used misleading terminology to make this okay I have no desire to give them my business. I've never been treated with such poor customer service in all my life. I will never buy from a company who does not strive to satisfy their customers and uses misleading tactics to make their money. Honesty, character, and integrity are so meaningful to me. I don't care if you're a person or the biggest company in the world. If those things aren't meaningful to you.. you're no one I want to deal with.
It boils down to this.. I should've known better than to trust that a company would make their policies clear and concise. Had I done the research before hand, I would've seen that the way they worded things and the terminology about store credit and free membership confused me and now come across as misleading. Again.. I just never imagined they would take money from the bank account that I used to make my first purchase with them and I have my own naivety to blame. However, the company was rude and made no attempt whatsoever to understand my confusion and mend the relationship between customer and company. They had a, "you should have known" attitude from the second I started speaking with them.
If you're considering purchasing from this company please be sure to skip each month or DO NOT sign up for free VIP membership. And if you do forget to skip.. CALL within thirty days. Don't let a company make money off of you that they do not deserve. From now on I will definitely make sure I know what kind of company I am dealing with prior to doing business with them. Sadly, good products are not worth being treated the way that I was.
Sorry this blog was fiesty, long, and probably very boring. I really just want everyone to be aware because I never realized I'd have to make sure a company was being upfront before ordering.
UPDATE: Many people have found my blog post after trying to find out how to cancel an adore me membership. I have received a lot of emails with this exact question. To my knowledge, it can still be done on the adore me website. You will have to sign into your account and change the membership under your settings. It can also be done over the phone. Either way, you should get an email confirming the change.
