Why I Will Never Buy a Shabby Apple Product
I have considered writing this post for some time and not done so because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful for my mom’s lovely and generous gift, but. . . now I’m just too angry not to say something about it, and I would really like to keep someone else from having the same terrible experience I had.
The short story is: Shabby Apple makes poor-quality items and doesn’t stand behind them.
The long story? Well, buckle your seat belts. Because I am filled with indignation.
For Christmas, my mom bought all three of us girls dresses from Shabby Apple. Mine was this one:
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Lovely, isn’t it? My mom has good taste and always has (I do not joke when I say that every time I get compliments on an item of clothing I’m wearing it is always something my mom has purchased for me).
The thing was, at Christmas I was still nursing. A lot. And continued to for many months afterward, so wearing a dress wasn’t really an option for me. So the dress hung, unworn, tags still on, in my closet for quite a few months.
Finally, when nursing had tapered off to the point where I could make it through three hours of church, I pulled the dress out of my closet, and with anticipation, slid it on.
And. . .then I realized I couldn’t zip it up. Keep in mind that the website states that this dress is “fits generously.” I am not sure what universe it is where a “generously” fitting dress will not zip over my sub-100 lb body, but it is NOT this universe.
And the top gaped like crazy.
Oh, and the top? Was white. And sheer. And unlined. So the whole premise of Shabby Apple, which is “A return to what dresses were always meant to be—a one piece outfit. No need to add anything…no tank tops, no cardigans, nothing,” is blatantly untrue.
Also, it hit me mid-calf, rather than at the knee, which was quite unflattering.
We were starting to get dangerously near running late, which I loathe, so I quickly changed into something else and we went to church.
The dress still had the tags on it and I’d worn it for a total of 2 minutes in front of my bedroom mirror.
After church, I looked up the dress on Shabby Apple and it said, “Sizing concern? Not the right dress for you? Return your dress and Shabby Apple will ship you a new dress for FREE!”
Perfect. This would be an easily solved problem (my present self is laughing at this). Plus, the dress was still being sold at full-price, so I figured they’d let me ship it back and send me off another one. I’d pick a less expensive dress!
I called in to Shabby Apple the next morning and explained the situation. “Was it ordered more than 30 days ago?” the rep asked. “Then I’m sorry, there is nothing we can do.” (I loathe this answer so much because that is NOT true. They are choosing to do nothing about it). Basically, I was stuck with a brand-new, non-fitting, poorly made $100 dress.
I emailed a long description of the scenario to Shabby Apple (recap: 6 month old dress, never worn, still for sale at full price, tags still on). I was upfront about the fact that I knew I was outside the return window.
They emailed back saying how sorry they were and could I give them some info about the purchase so they could see what they could do.
My heart soared.
Only to crash when they quickly responded saying, “Unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to make an exchange for your dress whereas your item was purchased in December. We understand and are flexible when the purchase is given as a gift but we do strongly advise that you try on your items as soon as possible to receiving them so that any exchange/return can be placed within our 30day exchange/return policy. I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may be for you and that the dress didn’t work out for you.”
I’m not sure what their definition of “flexible” is, but it’s clearly FAR different from mine. Also, why did they suggest they could do something about it when I told them the dress was purchased many months ago, but then when they saw the actual date, they suddenly couldn’t do anything?
I went back and looked at some of the reviews of the dress again. One reviewer, who gave the dress 4 stars, said “The only problem is that the top is completely see-through. You can’t really wear an undershirt because the skirt is so tight that you would see a line. So you would have to sew a lining in the top. The quality doesn’t reflect the high price.”
Okay, so I wasn’t alone in this sheer problem. (Why you would still give it 4 stars is beyond me, but whatever).
Another commenter, giving it three stars said, “VERY LONG SKIRT. I’m 5’4″ and rather petite. I ordered this dress in a Med, because another dress that I ordered very similar to this one was a Small was too tight. I have to return the dress because it sits WELL BELOW THE KNEE, as in mid calf. And overall it was just too big, which could have been the Med instead of the Small, but the length was just silly. I looked like I was wearing my big sisters dress. ha. No lining in the skirt, and it felt rather thin. I wish it had fit as it is a cute style! But the pics on this website show the blonde girl with the dress at her knee, ya-no way.”
Again, why three stars? But I digress.
Another FIVE star review said, “This dress is not lined and is a bit of a struggle to get on and off. I did manage to zip it up and down on my own, but it took a good five minutes each time and I feared tearing the dress.”Â
I guarantee you that the people who are giving these high star ratings with complaints like this are the people who give a standing ovation to every performance they attend.
As I looked through reviews of other dresses, I noticed the same sorts of comments again and again: cheap fabric, unlined, fit not as shown, poor sizing.
I know Shabby Apple has a good reputation. They take gorgeous pictures, they have lovely models, and their selection is wide. They heavily promote their brand in the blogosphere, giving away many many dresses. But their dresses are poorly made, don’t fit well, and the photographs are terribly misleading. They are low quality products that are horrendously overpriced.
And their customer service is seriously lacking.
Compare this with my experience yesterday with Lands’ End Canvas. I ordered a swimsuit a couple of weeks ago and it didn’t show up. I had recently ordered another swimsuit and a shirt for Bart for Father’s Day (Lands’ End makes excellent, excellent dress shirts) and they’d both shown up within a week of ordering. I knew from my order that it’d arrived two days after shipping at the post office sorting center. But then the post office appeared to have lost it.
Twelve days went by.
I hopped on their website, clicked the “Chat Now” button and within seconds was chatting with Megan. I gave her my order number and told her the situation. Two minutes later, she was verifying my address and said a new swimsuit would arrive at my doorstep on Thursday, via UPS. No hassle, no waiting, not even a phone call.
And THAT is why I love Lands End. When they say “Guaranteed. Period.” they mean it. That’s why I buy my swimsuits there, and why Bart wears a Lands End shirt to work 80% of the time.
They know what good customer service means.
Last week, my mom emailed Merrick and me to ask if we’d like new black dresses for Landen’s upcoming wedding. She suggested that Shabby Apple had a very cute line of black dresses.
Both of us emailed her back separately that we would love a new dress, but would she mind if we purchased them from somewhere else?
I ordered this one from eShakti. Their return policy? You can get a full refund or you can get a gift card back in the amount of your order PLUS 20%. Why? Â
* A way for us to show higher responsibility in not meeting your expectations.
* To give you the opportunity to order again so that we can try and delight you, the next time round!
That’s a return policy I can get behind.
If you’re considering buying a dress from Shabby Apple, I would strongly encourage you to think again. You can get a better dress somewhere else. A less expensive dress. A dress that isn’t sheer, sized incorrectly, and unlined.
And perhaps, if you buy that other dress, if you need to return it, you’ll get a better answer than, “Sorry it didn’t work out for you.”
(You can read my follow-up post about my Shabby Apple experience here. Spoiler: They never did responded at all. Updated 5/2012: They finally did respond and exchange my dress. Not that after this whole thing I’m at all convinced their dresses are worth spending actual money on).Â
Since we mentioned Lands' End and good customer service, let me just agree. They are AWESOME. I know you will love this story. I just got $43.35 back with a simple chat session from them. I ordered 2 swimsuits last week and then saw today that they are cheaper now. They will credit you the difference if your item goes on sale within 2 weeks of your purchase. LOVE THEM!!!
I have a very similar LONG story in which I too hate Shabby Apple Customer Service. I bought a dress from them that was completely unflattering, returned it and wanted a new one. I bought the first with a Groupon Coupon, it cost about 7 dollars less that the coupon was worth. When I went to buy the second dress, they wouldn't let me use that 7 dollars towards the purchase so I had to pay out of pocket. Plus, it took FORever to get my dress mailed to me, which means they had to change the mailing address to AZ (as we were moving) and I didn't get to take my new dress with me on our trip to Europe. SAD! I do like the style of my new dress, but it stains anything I wear underneath–my bra and underwear. I've even washed it multiple times. How annoying! Unfortunately, I still have another Groupon coupon (I originally bought two, thinking I'd use them together towards one purchase, which they won't let me do) and am hesitant to buy another product from them. Totally second your bad opinion!
I am not a fan of Shabby Apple. Though I have never purchased anything from them, they approached me about doing a giveaway on my blog. The way they operated in communication with me in regards to the giveaway was much like their customer service policy. I loathe them.
P.S. Land's End is really great with their customer service and I'm happy to hear that eShakti lives up to their rep.
That's a bummer! The picture was really cute, too bad it didn't turn out well!
My sister in-law got 2 shabby apple dresses not too long ago. One was too small so she sent it back for an exchange. It took more than 3 weeks to get her dress back….you would think since they are so strict about their 30 day policy that they wouldn't take almost 30 days to send back a different dress. Both of the dresses were not worth the money. You can see in the pictures that some of their dresses fabric is so cheap it's a wrinkled mess for $90.
I haven't bought from them for fear of lack in quality as well. If you're looking for a quality dress that's worth the money try bodenusa.com, I bought a dress from them a few months ago. The fabric & lining on the dress is amazing. They recently had a sale as well. Oh, and I won an eshakti dress today, so I'm excited to see what it's like.
Interesting that this is the first negative thing I've heard about them… but all the commenters are agreeing! Good to know. Since I can't afford their prices, I've looked but never even considered actually buying… now I won't even need to look (unless I'm going to try to duplicate it myself or something).
And I will say that I LOVE places like Land's End, Eddie Bauer, etc. I am ok with paying higher prices when it's higher quality products (and good customer service to boot!).
I'm with you: it's all about the customer service.
I'm going to have to agree with what you've said here.
I bought a shabby apple dress for a Christmas party (and had to return it because it was too big – and barely got the replacement in time) and the fit has never been great and the fabric is uncomfortable. I thought it was just that my body shape is terrible but if someone as small as you has issues too, I guess it's not just me!
I have to agree with the sizing of Shabby Apple. I bought a dress two years ago that looked beautiful online. The website said it fit true to size. I bought it in a small to be on the safe size, as I usually wear an XS or a petite. HA! When it arrived I couldn't even get it on. I returned it for a medium. It fit, but boy was it tight. I only wore it once or twice because I never felt comfortable enough in it. As for quality – it was alright, but not $100 quality. Will never buy from them again.
I sense free Shabby Apple products in your future ; )
Haha, you are hilarious. How do you REALLY feel? 😉
I have a cousin who only wears Shabby Apple stuff and I always covet her because they're super cute, but she wears like an XXS and I just know that a lot of her dresses simply wouldn't look as cute on a body with curves.
Anyway, knowing you, you'll probably sell it on ebay and end up all the happier.
I have a Shabby Apple dress, and, just like someone else stated, it's darling, but the material is cheap and I have had to do some double sewing of some of the seams.
On the bright side, I've had two really great customer service stories recently. I ordered a backpack from LL Bean and after I used it once, the seam on the shoulder strap started coming undone. LL Bean sent me a new bag right away and I used the packaging from the new bag to return the old. Very easy and no hassle!
We purchased some Gorilla Glue at a retail store. When we got the package home, it was empty! I called Gorilla Glue and they sent us a replacement (actually, far more than we had originally purchased). It's not all bad in customer service these days!
Good to know! I am always looking at their stuff but have never taken the plunge!
This was a very well-written review – you may have been indignant (and I would have been FURIOUS), but it did not come across as anything but reasonable. Anyway, I am appalled by the poor product quality and the ridiculous service (not to mention the horrendous grammar of their response to you, but that's another matter). I hope that this posts gets their attention or at least helps warn people away from shopping with Shabby Apple. I know I will never shop there after reading this.
Daaaang. This makes my heart cry for a couple reasons. I looked (and almost bought) that very dress but shortly thereafter discovered I was expecting my third babe, so I thought better of it. Glad I did now! You're right too–the photos are gorgeous, the models always look amazingly modern but vintage-y at the same time, and I love the idea of being able to find a modest dress that is a little out of the ordinary.
I did buy one dress from them about 18 months ago. I haven't worn it much, but it is okay. It's all black and it fits me okay (and I'm tall, so who knows how it would fit some of the shorter gals), but if it weren't for the Groupon that allowed me to get it at a deeply discounted price, I'd probably have wondered a little about the expense vs. the quality of the dress (great point there).
Anyway, I'm sorry you had this experience. No good. I too am a fan of Lands' End. I also love Zappos. If the item is unworn, you can return it for up to a year! For free. I love that. I've also had good experiences with Eddie Bauer and hear that Anthropologie is good to work with as well.
I have to second Bethany's comment. This is why I love shopping at Nordstrom so much, and why we spend so much of our money there!
Also I can't believe after all these comments Shabby Apple STILL is pretending like you don't exist. It's not like you want a free dress, you don't even like the products. But some acknowledgement would be nice. This post is totally going in a Brain Dump on That Wife 🙂
Thanks for being an honest blogger about Shabby Apple. I have grown weary of gushing bloggers who have received their dresses for free. And while you didn't receive the dress for free, I am glad that someone has mentioned the expensive price for a cheaply made product. My friend ordered a SA dress for a wedding and I was stunned that a $100 dress wasn't at least lined! Dresses from Target are lined and are half the price.
Wow. OK, so I haven't read all your other comments, but here are my 2 cents about Shabby Apple.
When they first launched their stuff was a bit less exensive. For a $60 dress you can't really expect much, in my opinion.
Then, the company got popular, every LDS girl in America was buying their dresses which drove up prices. But didn't change their quality.
The sizes have never been very consistent and I find some pretty strange details with almost every dress I've ever bought from them like collars that don't stay down and hems that like to flip out. All point to poor patternmaking and material choice.
But they were the only ones offering inexpensive modest dresses at the time. They'd cornered the market so they could basically charge whatever they wanted.
In all honesty, if you want a well made, fully lined modest dress you're looking in the $150 price range and you are still SEARCHING to find something that covers and isn't just a plain old solid fabric dress meant to be worn to weddings. I basically only find these quality dresses at Anthro, Jcrew and Nordstrom…especially since I'm pretty tall and most dresses are made too short for my liking.
Eshakti is great for summer dresses that you don't really expect to last much more than a few years.
Have not read other comments, so hope am not repeating any. I'd suggest that you have your mother, as purchaser, contact the president/ceo of the company.
Let's see. There are approximately 60 comments. Each of us will talk to several people in the next couple of months telling others about about Shabby's shabbily made dress and the rotten customer service you received. Some of those people will tell others, and some will mention it to their friends, and so on.
I agree with Packrat. I also wonder if it would be appropriate to send a copy of this post, and the comments. Part of me wonders if that is passive aggressive, (it totally would be if it was an individual, and not a well-known company.)
But part of me thinks that SA obviously cares about what people write about them online, and they should know it isn't all "look at this adorable dress I got for free!"
Lastly, I had a similar experience last year. I can testify that SA dresses are poor quality, especially for the price. The customer service is horrendous, I had to call multiple times every day for a week to get anyone to talk to me.