The long version:
It started by the wonderful ads I kept seeing advertising Fabletics about a year ago: High-quality products at a low price. The ad looks great, I go to the site and it looks grand, it's backed by Kate Hudson, hello credibility. They've got cute designs, matching outfits, and everything is looking just wonderfully peachy keen. I find an outfit I like and proceed to order and its been a while, so I don't even remember exactly what the process was because it was completely standard; standard confirmations, you know, just a regular order, I didn't think twice and waited for the clothes to arrive.
Well, they arrived and side note here, they were very poor quality. I wore these once to try them on and never wore them again. Not out, not even at home, very cheap fabric and I was of course disappointed, but hey, you get what you pay for, can't really complain about that. I do not visit the site or even think about it for the next year or so. Fast forward to today. I have found out that this company has been, for some reason, charging $50 a month from my credit card. I have paid around $600 in total for poor-quality clothes I have worn once.
Surprised, I of course contact the company and live chat with a representative of the company and expecting them to help me out here. The lady is initially rather unhelpful but after I tell her my situation and say it's wrong and unethical of the company to do something like this and implying I'd take legal action if not helped, she is obliging and offers a refund of one month but tells me the other months are non-refundable, and that I have store credit. I am not prepared for this answer as I was expecting her to be more accommodating, yet I cannot believe that I simply forgot having signed up to be charged $50 a month (which seriously speaking, who needs $50 a month worth of workout clothes?) so I thank her and do some research before making any concrete decision. Turns out this's a commonplace problem and that I did not "forget" I signed up for a membership. Like many others, I was unaware that I had been signed up in the first place. When you confirm your purchase, you are also confirming authorization for them to sign you up for their membership and take money from you monthly -- didn't read that part? Yeah, it's in the fine print.
Pissed off, I call the company and after speaking with the ever-overly-perky-robot-Anna and being hung up on and hanging up and just overall being frustrated in trying to talk to a live human being (which I found out can be avoided by repeating "speak to a representative" over and over again, after two or three times perky Anna will connect you to a live representative who might hang up on you the first couple of times, but you know, all in a days work for these scammers, they'll answer the third time around) I am finally connected to a representative. I talk with them trying to have them understand my situation. I bought one lousy outfit from your store a year ago, and you think it's fair to charge me $600? I couldn't care less about store credit, I never want to hear/see/smell/think about Fabletics in my life and you think I want to waste any more money on this place with a store credit? Of course I say this all very politely (trust me on this, no matter how pissed off you are, shouting or cursing or the like doesn't usually help. Be polite, but strong; and in the case with these people, very strong) but they try very hard to go by different angles to say bottom-line; sorry can't give you a refund.
Fortunately, I am well off (enough that I didn't notice a monthly $50 fee for a while) so I was not bluffing when I decided to bring up the legal card again, but if you have to bluff a bit, it may be worth it. Keep telling them, I couldn't give a damn if this is my mistake, I know it's my mistake, but there's no way you're charging me for your scam, I will bring my lawyer, and just sound like a privileged white lady and you should be fine. The only reason they were helpful at all was when I threatened them, and although it's unfortunate that this's the case, I will not be scammed from a company no matter if they are backed by Kate Hudson or anyone else, so it had to be done in this more harsh way. No matter what they tell you, try to get your money back and you probably can. It can be done, even though I went a year without noticing the charge and canceled the credit card it was charged to, I am getting my refund, FINALLY at the end of it all.
Still got to call them to make sure they actually go through with the refund because I have also seen that they delay refund as well, also I've heard that sometimes they "accidentally" charge you even after you cancel.
Short answer:
First of all: Cheap price sure, but expect cheap quality clothes. This article says something like you get high-quality clothes at a low price but when you see the material, it's obvious how poor-quality the fabric is. And in the end, not cheap for the many who've been scammed into paying $50 a month.
Secondly: Although not necessarily a scam, these people are deceitful to say the least. They sign you up for a paid membership when you buy your first item, and the ease with which you sign up for your membership is not at all reflective of the struggle to cancel the membership. After cancelation they will at times "accidentally" charge you. And that's if you had knowingly signed up for the membership, or if you catch the fine print telling you that you've been signed up before they charge you the first month. They don't tell you that you have a free refund of one month unless you really press the matter and/or threaten legal action. And if you have gone months being signed up for them without your knowledge then you MUST threaten legal action or they are completely uncooperative (if you have to, bluff).
Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend
