If you are an active user of Facebook, you may have seen the dozens of advertisements targeted at women that offer trendy seasonal clothing with promising deals such as $10 dresses, 50 percent off your first order and free and/or 24-hour shipping. Sound too good to be true? That's because it is.
While the prices are real, the clothing that is ordered isn't always - and if it is, it won't fit and will take months to arrive, if it ever does. It isn't like the issue can be repaired, either, as there is no way to even return the item or contact the company with your complaints.
Generally, according to reviews online, the top complaints that apply to companies such as Rose Gal, SheIn (formerly known as She Inside) and Tobi involve terrible shipping; inaccurate sizes; clothing that is too thin, sheer, cheaply made or of awful quality; final sale items; non-existent customer service and review manipulation. Additionally, especially with SheIn, reviewers have claimed that they are given incorrect tracking numbers or no tracking number at all with their order. Overall, every order has huge flaws and does not turn out like the photo displays in the ad.
SheIn does a lot of review manipulation, according to complaints, as it appears if you remove a negative review, the company will refund you. SheIn also has fake five-star reviews that use the same phrasing such as “party dress for my wife” or “fast shipping” and written by different user accounts with the same name and/or same profile photo. These fake reviews are typically titled “Awesome!” or “Great service!”
Another scamming company is Romwe, who has over 719,000 followers on Facebook, has been claimed to give poor customer service and clothes of bad quality. Much of their merchandise is listed as final sale in order to avoid returns and Romwe offers coupon codes instead of refunds. Romwe also participates in review manipulation. Many buyers have complained that the clothes they bought from Romwe were too small.
Another company, Rose Gal, is by far the most popular company and the biggest offender. Many of the complaints revolve around inaccurate sizes and cheap material. Although many complaints of never receiving clothing have been true with the other companies listed, it seems that Rose Gal has an overwhelming number of reviewers who have complained about that. It seems that Rose Gal's so-called customer service representatives are actually impossible to get in touch with and have only an unmonitored voicemail account, a “live chat” and a contact form that never works.
If the price is too good to be true, it's probably a scam. Stay away from Chinese seller websites, as those websites are likely selling knockoffs or probably won't send consumers anything at all.
Currently, Facebook is working on getting rid of these companies, but despite this action, that's not to say more will pop up later. Be aware of these scam ads around Facebook and do your research before purchasing an item off the internet. A good website to browse online business reviews is called www.sitejabber.com.