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.”
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?
* 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).
I am irate for you! Especially with these dresses being so darn expensive. I love your pick for the wedding though.
Fair- To say their clothes don't fit great and the quality is not the best.
Not fair – To say that their customer service is horrible. They have a return policy just like all online stores. Your request was outside the terms of their return policy. It's up to them if they want to make an exception. But we shouldn't really say they are horrible if they decide not to. There are many reasons not to make exceptions… even if someone is nice & reasonable (stock, inventory, ordering/production deadlines, all kinds of junk like that).
I just happened to come across this post and I just wanted to say that i own 4 shabby apple dresses and I am completely pleased with them all. On their site they have a measuring chart and i went right along with it when ordering my dress and they all fit perfect. My sister also owns 2 of their dresses and when one did not fit when it came she simply was able to ship it back and she had a dress that fit her great in a week or two. I know that this was a bad experience for you and I understand but to say that all their dresses are poorly made and fit poorly would be incorrect. One of the dresses that my sister owns is the dress you got and it fits her right at the knee so its like any other clothing store they can't make their dresses to work with everybody type out there. There is just no way.
I have two SA dresses that I love. One is well made with thick fabric, very flattering. The other is a bit thinner, but it's a summer dress. But I ordered yet another that I had been coveting and then it went on sale! Except the size I ordered is enormous. It looks like a tent. And because it was on sale for a measly 7 dollars less, they won't exchange it for me. The CS person suggested I have it altered, because it's better to have a too-big dress than a too-small dress. For that kind of money, it should fit! I'm pissed. And I won't order another dress from them.
I'm coming late to this conversation, but I have to agree with the OP on Shabby Apple's customer service and quality. For awhile, I was willing to tolerate the low quality because I can often fix dresses on my own. With one of their dresses, I had to remove stitching and fix the painfully, glaring mistakes on the front of the dress. On another, it just couldn't be saved and I had to send it back. With the sizing, I once ordered three dresses from the same line (all claiming to run large) and one fit, one was too big, and another I couldn't even zip past my hips. The fabric is cheap and unlined and I've even received one with a stain on it. So, quality is NOT there.
But it was the customer service that did me in. After receiving such poorly made garments (for high prices), and returning them within a day (they received my return/exchange within two days), I waited for THREE WEEKS just to hear something back from someone. I emailed, called, checked my account. Nothing. In this day and age, and when their promise is contact within 24 hours, there is NO excuse for that. It wasn't until I publicly posted something on their Facebook site that suddenly, I was a valued customer and my emails were returned. However, I have never had a call returned. Then, after a partial credit for one return, they finally sent me an exchange dress that, again, was poorly constructed. However, at that point, I didn't want to bother with them again because I was terrified of another three week ordeal with no contact.I re-sewed the dress and moved on with life. Occasionally, I look at all the cute things they are putting out and feel a little sad that I've written them off. However, it's given me the courage to start making my own dresses – many SA dresses can be easily mimicked.I just have to remember how rude they were and I don't regret my decision to never go back. If their customer service hadn't been so bad, I would have been a customer for life – I invest quite a bit in dresses and fabric – but now I won't touch Shabby Apple with a ten foot pole.
ahhh! i bought a skirt. (then sent if back on my own dime). they sent me the wrong skirt. i sent it back (i sent it back on my own dime). THEN they sent me the original wrong and defective skirt again! ahhhh! and.oh. i am NOT a 14/16. who sizes these products?
-kkm
I had to respond to this to give the fair other side of the issue working at Posh Girl Vintage.com. People don't ever think of the business side. I've not bought from this store so I dont know the quality but that's not the point. I've bought online many times & did not like how it fit, which is part of the online territory, it doesn't mean anyone is deceitful. But I made an agreement BEFORE I bought the item to return it in the time they requested so I'm responsible to do that.
They have a very generous return policy, 30 days is a VERY long time. We have only 4 days. But we sell actual one of a kind vintage and antique clothing so it's different. It's just not fair at all to bash the business because you made a mistake by waiting too long. Waiting half of a year to put a dress in the mail that takes only 30 minutes to do. Why? You need to remember there are people behind those websites, not machines.
Sadly people try to buy our stuff all the time and wear them out to parties then return them trying to get their money back. They're reeking of smoke or torn or have make up all over them, and 4 weeks late. It will take us $60.00 and at least 3 hours to clean these special dresses. We work our buts off trying to get great stuff out and make a living at the same time. We often are very flexible and we want everyone to be happy and love their purchase but we can only afford to go so far.
In the beginning we made a lot of mistakes and were too generous. We almost went under. A business has policies in order to stay alive not just to be difficult. Writing a bad review is justified if they made a mistake and would not fix it but when you are the one who made the mistake, writing an article that hurts their business that is just unfair! It's also not taken lightly either especially in this economy.
Most customers are super nice but sadly there are a few that treat businesses like they're slaves and if they don't' do exactly as they want they will write up a bad review. They make threats and say all kinds of stuff. We had a lady send back a 1920's silk dress, size 2 that was accurately advertised, and I advised her that it would not fit, she was a size 8 but was madly in love with this dress. She tried to force herself into and it was torn in half. No way to repair it or we would have gladly taken it back and fixed it. We of course did not refund her money we sent her the dress back and she ended up writing a bad review like this about us. It was not deserved at all.
I hope this explains what it's like on our side so you realize we are people too and there is a reason for the return policy to be followed. Please remember businesses are people too, & they work their buts off and deserve to be treated with fairness.
I haven't ever ordered from SA, so I have no option on that. BUT, I have to stand an applaud you for making a comment on how we live in the land of the standing ovation. Celebrated mediocrity. Thank you.
This is SO far after the OP, but I just wanted to thank you for writing it. I had a *terrible* experience with SA. They had a jewelry give-away on FB that earned me a free necklace for posting them on my timeline. An eternity later they admitted that they ran out of necklaces & would send something else instead. I received a grossly overpriced bracelet in the mail & was floored by how cheap & tacky it looked. I'm not sure it would have passed inspection for Claire's. I've never worn it. Then I received a gift card for SA for Christmas. With much hesitation, I ordered a dress & just hoped that the clothes were better than the jewelry. The fit was so bad & frumpy that I couldn't even bear to look at myself in it for more than a minute. Like, depressing "am I that ugly?!" bad. Unflattering doesn't even begin to describe what I saw in the mirror, and the length was way too short on me, so stuff was sticking out below the hem. This dress was supposed to be one of the longer ones, so I contacted customer service and told them my issues- needed to be longer, preferably one that I could nurse in, no peplum because I hate peplum, & no skirts because I'm not going to pay $70 for a skirt. They suggested another dress which had questionable ratings. I agreed to try it, & the fit was even worse than the first one. It was a faux wrap dress that was sewn almost all the way up to the waist, but it wasn't properly lined up so that there was a HUGE pucker (was it to warm hands?). The top managed to be both too tight in part of the bust while gaping with extra fabric in the back. It's like they thought boobs are located on one's back instead of the front. But it doesn't stop there… the shoulders seem to have been sized for a line-backer, so while there was no particular room for breasts, of which I have nearly none so it never should have been a problem in the first place, the shoulders were way too big which caused some more strange puckering. This allowed the top layer of the wrap to gape open towards the top exposing the entirety of one of my boobs. If I had thought "how can I simultaneously make something too small AND too big in the same area?" I would not have thought it possible, and yet this dress achieved that brilliantly. That one was so absurd that I tried on the dress for my husband who began belly laughing hysterically as soon as I walked into the room. I sent that back, too. They made more terrible suggestions before admitting that maybe they didn't have anything for me at the moment, but the gift card was good for 3 years. Fantastic. They will not take back a gift certificate, everything is overpriced, & of course you lose so much money on shipping that each attempt at finding something palatable just chips away at what you had to spend. In the end, I realized that even if I found a blouse or a skirt that I found tolerable, I'd have a hard time wearing it since I would be angry the whole time about how much I paid for such a low quality garment. I told them I would not be back & would just try to sell my gift card. They said nothing in return. Nearly a year later, I am still angry and still have not found anyone willing to buy the gift card at a reduced price.
But here's the real point of my untimely post: throughout this ordeal, I could not find anyone with anything negative to say about SA. Blog after blog after review after review praised this company & it's "totes adorbs!!!!!" clothes. After a while, I wondered if there was something wrong with me. Was I literally the only person in this world noticing how crappy the clothes actually were in person?
So, yeah, thanks for getting this out there. If more people were honest about this, maybe I could have spared myself a lot of frustration.
Sounds like you don't usually buy online. Wasn't smart of your mother to buy you a dress when you had recently given birth and were still nursing. Any clothing gift should have been returned during that time. Your body could have changed forever and even if it was the right size it may have an unflattering fit.
I got a dress from them once through a blog giveaway, and I bought another one this year. The first one had unfinished edges, and the fabric was cheap and stiff on the skirt, and super sheer on the top, but it was free, so eh. Fast forward a few years, they'd gotten bigger and I had hoped that meant their quality had improved. Nope. Thank goodness for ebay.
Also, to everyone defending the return policy, I've worked several retail jobs, and it's pretty standard practice to accept returns past the 30/60 day mark for a store credit or exchange, as long as the item is still being sold, and it meets certain conditions (tags on, no signs of wear, etc.). There's really no excuse.
They're cute designs, don't get me wrong, but they're Target/Walmart quality at three times the price.
I think your blog is the only good thing to come from my SA experience. I found it while looking to see if anyone else had the problems I did. I dropped over $200 on two dresses and a skirt. The two dresses were so poorly constructed that I wished I had just gone to Target. I finally talked them into exchanging one of the dresses, which fell apart after being washed once. They initially told me that I needed to exchange before washing it, but when I told them there was no way for me to anticipate it falling apart in the wash (and thus exchange it before washing), they gave me full store credit. The skirt and bracelet I picked out in exchange were terrible quality, so I returned for another dress. And that dress had sleeves that were a different length! I finally cut my losses and decided to just never purchase another SA product. I can't believe they're in business, to be honest.
I agree with yo Sarah! Shabby Apple provides the worst customer service ever! I will NEVER purchase anything from them again. I returned 10 of the 13 items I received in one box. They claim they only got only 4 of the 10 items I returned. And then suggested that maybe USPS opened the box and took the items. I think not since I sent it to them via UPS. They were not willing to refund my AMEX the over $200 that they owed me. When I initially called they said the package arrived but it was on the dock and I will be refunded by the end of the week. Then I was told it was refunded I need to go thru my statement more carefully. Then I called again and then they said items were missing. This smells like fraud on their part. Thank goodness AMEX has good customer service and they said they will refund my funds within 2-3 days. Shabby Apple could learn something about customer service from AMEX. And the quality of the items I kept were a little below average. Do yourself a favor and do not order from Shabby Apple. I've learned from my mistakes.
WARNING, Do not order from Shabby Apple, their customer service is the worst in the industry. On Jan. 17 I placed 2 separate orders, totaling 13 items. I received the items. in 2 separate boxes but delivered at the same time. Out of the 13 items I ordered, I kept 3(1 skirt, 1 top and 1 beach coverup). I sent back 10 items on 1/24, however 1 item i could only receive credit from because it was on sale. No problem. So there was a total of 4 items from one order and 6 items from the second ordered returned in 1 Box! I wait and wait and wait for my return refund. I decide to call Shabby Apple up to check on the return, and they said the item was listed as being received but it was still on the dock! OK, whatever that means, but to expect a refund by the end of the week. On Feb. 11 I received an email from SA that the refund had been processed. However in that email, there were no line items of the return or even the amount being returned. When do you get a refund email without any dollar amounts? That should of been another hint to me. I then call them up the week after the email because I only was refunded around 90something dollars. I wait some more time and nothing so I called and spoke to Mariah and she stated that they had refunded me everything and i needed to look on my paypal account again, even though I paid via AMEX! I told her i did and she said everything was refunded. I told her it was not. I was speaking firmly but not yelling nor cursing(because I don't curse). She told me I was yelling and she was not going to help me anymore. She claimed i was verbally abusing her whichI was not. I just wanted my money back. I then asked for a manager and she said she was the manager. I then asked for the person who does her annual reviews and she said that person(Chris) would not help me and he was busy in a meeting and he may not call me back. REALLY? I then called back today after i wrote out an itemized tally of everything and went thru it with her. She's still stating that they gave me all of my money and put someone on the phone by the name of Chelsea. The person that sent me the email refund without any amount. She then states that items from the order was missing and that maybe someone from USPS took some of the items. Oh, by the way I did not send the return by us mail, it was sent via UPS! SMH. Let me state this, I'm a manager working out of my home for one of the top 100 companies in the US and have utilized the same shipping store for the last 13 years without 1 problem. I've allowed to pack up laptops, printers, electronics, etc to send back to my corporate company without any problems. So come to find out out of the 10 items I sent back they only received 4 and all from my first order and nothing from the second order(6 items)? So someone is only going to take items from one order and not the other(remember everything is packed in the same box)? Chelsea then said they could do nothing else for me because they didn't received all the items(remember that I put all in 1 box). I let her know I would NEVER order from SHABBY Apple . again! I then called AMEX and told them the story and let them know I'm still due over $200 and they told me not to worry about it and they would credit my AMEX back in 2-3 days. Lesson learned, DO NOT order from SHABBY APPLE again!!! And the customer service is the worst I've experienced. I don't know how they stay in business because what they did to me was pure fraudulent! I just know they received all of my items. Thank goodness for AMEX good customer service. That's how you keep customers…
Whoa coming in here suuuuuper late. But had to chime in, just in case someone looking to buy a Shabby Apple dress is doing their due diligence. My three sisters got S.A. dresses for our other sister's wedding. Tried them on a couples days before the wedding – fit like a glove. The wedding was the FIRST time any of us actually wore them and, as you know, a wedding day puts some miles on a dress, but you aren't rock climbing or anything crazy. Just standing around taking pictures, bending over to pick up a bag now and then, that kind of thing. WELL, one hour in, all three of us has noticable tears in the side seams. By the luncheon, we were trying to hold things together with safety pins. By the reception, the dresses were literally in tatters! FIRST TIME WEARING THEM! JUST TO TAKE PICTURES! It was absurd. And these were not *cheap* dresses. AND we're all slim, size 0-4 kind of gals – not like we were trying to suck in and zipping up a dress that was busting apart! I just could not believe it. Could NOT believe it at all. #endindignantpost
That's just wrong on so many levels..
That's just wrong on so many levels..
Thank you for posting this I had four dresses picked out that I was going to purchase but something told me to check the reviews..glad I did.. definitely not going to be spending over $400 at shabby apple now. Thank you!
eShakti does have a great return policy…which is great because I have returned every.single.thing. I ever bought from them. I have a strict non-internet clothes buying rule for myself now! Best of luck Janssen!
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I so wish I had looked at this before I ordered! Now I am stuck with a horrible dress. I hope others look on line for reviews before ordering from them!
I am so glad someone is or was talking about this! I have gotten two dresses and two skirts from Shabby Apple and one dress was 100% see though and the black ran into the white turning it gray after two washes. One dress fit horribly, each of the skirts zipper broke, and after I took one into get it fixed they lady told me that who ever made that skirt did a horrible job, that the zipper was never made for that kind of skirt or material. When I told her the skirt was over 100$ she lost it. I called the customer service and told them that almost everything I had ordered was falling apart, and that I had to pay to have a new zipper put into my skirt the guy just was like “oh that’s too bad” and nothing….never going to shop with them again.
I remember when they used to have the fun tailored looks and wonderful colors and ruffles with the interesting high collars in 2011. I bought the ballerina dress and was disappointed in the fabric selection but it fit and made my figure look good so ..I kept if for many years. Then when saw the Mad Men look and I dug that look to but the prices always made me cringe. After they stopped selling the mad men look I’m guessing 2017 I think I stopped looking at their merchandise because it looks so basic ,like something I could find at marshals. Its to bad that this company has lost it innovation and class. (Not to mention their customer service is subpar) Cheap materials are the bane of any company. Also ..I feel that any one who has a problem with length should realize though that on a 5′-9″ model the dress will hit knee length but when you are 5′-4″ of course the dress will hit below the knee because there is a 5″ difference ! More companies are now adding the models height on their sites so keep a sharp eye out in the descriptions so you know if it will hit you differently.