Debenham’s Int’l Ordering Blues » All bra adventures

Debenham’s Int’l Ordering Blues

Disclaimer: my little rant about the post-ordering process at Debenhams relates to Debenham’s International. Never ordered or shopped with the main store. I suspect they are a lot easier to deal with at the local level.

Ordering Process
I recently ordered some bras during their summer 70% off sale. Within 12 hours of ordering. I realized I had ordered a size too small and after checking the availability of my size, contacted them to request the change. In a large operation like Debenhams, I thought they would have the resources to facilitate any changes or modifications as long as the item hadn’t shipped. I expected they would be efficient in their processing and fulfillment. I was fine with it when they told me that they could not change the order after 30 minutes had passed. It seemed inconvenient, but I was fine with it. Since the order had not shipped and was still in the processing stage, I decided I would straight up cancel the order and place a new one. Sounds reasonable, right? NOPE. I got shut down again. Apparently, the buyer’s remorse window lasts 30 minutes after you hit the order button. It’s a big machine that can’t stop moving simply because you realize the 4 bras your ordered all were 1.7cm too small in depth and 2.1cm too small in width. Uggghh you idiot! The only way to cancel the order at this point was to wait the 5 business days for the order to ship and have them charge you and then wait for the package to arrive and bring it back to the post office to return to sender. When (if) they receive the refused package, they issue the refund. Seems like a lot of work and wasted resources to cancel an order. All the while, they are holding my devalued Canadian dollars hostage.

The Shame
So what’s a bra addict to do? The sale is ending and sizes are being snapped up faster than fresh kale at a farmers market (lol??what??). A normal person might wait for a refund before proceeding cautiously with a new order. But bras! And instant gratification! I did what any bra addict/slave would do: I placed a second order with the correct sizes and was out twice as much as I was initially willing to spend. To add to my shame, I even ordered it under a different email address so they wouldn’t flag the second order and not take my money >__< Definitely hit a new low there.

Refusing the Package
Fast forward 2-ish weeks. Both orders have arrived. Based on the order numbers on the shipping label, I keep the right one and proceed to refuse the unwanted one. The not so nice man at the post office offers unapologetically that if I don’t ship this with tracking and the package gets lost, there’s nothing I can do on my end to prove I sent it back. Return shipping plus tracking costs $40 CAD. He gives me this “if you don’t do it, you’ll be sorry look”. F*ck you Canada Post. I’ll take my chances on my $100 return. Bitch.

The Eventual Resolution (that I had to initiate)
Fast forward 3-ish weeks. Still no update from Debenhams Int’l. I’m somewhat consoled by the fact that my new bras are satisfactory. But I want my monies. I email them and get a reply within the morning saying they will refund me. Which makes me wonder, how freaking long had they been sitting on my returned package?? Or maybe it _just_ arrived like a minute ago and coincidentally they were processing it as I was asking about it! Pffftttt … BOLLOCKS.

Lesson Learned
Don’t get so excited over a ridiculous sale that you neglect the first rule of online bra shopping: consult the Bratabase machine.

Word of caution for potential Debenhams Int’l shoppers
They really don’t give a sh*t about your dumbass mistakes. Go boohoo elsewhere :'(

Filed under Bras ups and downs

Shared on Aug 28, 2015 Flag this