Woman orders dress from Aritzia. Then she tries to return it—and realizes there’s a catch she never knew existed

Shoppers return clothing for any number of reasons: Dresses not fitting, clothing not looking right, or colors not matching are a few. Most customers expect a swift return process when they bring an item in—not a debate over their transaction. But for one Aritzia customer, a return was anything but easy. 

Alanis Koberlein (@alaniskay14) posted a video that received more than 717,000 views. In it, she describes how she tried to return a dress to Aritzia, only to be denied a full return to her card. The reason, she said, was because of a hidden catch in the retailer’s return policy.

What happened with this Aritzia return?

Koberlein, who was sitting in a vehicle, told a frustrating story about a return attempt she made.

“ I ordered a dress online, and I used PayPal ’cause I guess that was the first payment method that popped up for me,” she said. “I  just [expletive] used PayPal. And I go to return the dress in store. First [expletive] issue is the fact that I used PayPal.”

Koberlein said that according to a team member at Aritzia, she wouldn’t be able to return the dress unless she mailed it back to them or accepted in-store credit. Koberlein was annoyed by this information but clearly not deterred. She asked how she’d proceed with mailing the item back. 

Later, Koberlein found that it was simple to make a digital return. But she realized that some of the information she received couldn’t be correct.

“It’s telling me that upon receiving my order, I will get a digital gift card,” she said. “Well, that’s not what the woman in the store just said. She said I’m gonna get a full return back to my account.”

Koberlein walked back to the store and asked them about the discrepancy. That’s when the employee cited another issue with her return.

‘ It’s not even in my … hand yet.’

The employee told Koberlein that she ordered the dress on August 7. Koberlein brought the dress in for a return on August 24, which was apparently three days past the return window. 

Online, Aritzia states that “Within 14 days from the shipping date, you can receive a full refund to the original method of payment.” Aritzia says, “Within 30 days from the shipping date, you can exchange your item or return for merchandise credit on a Digital Gift Card.”

The only issue was that Koberlein didn’t have the dress in hand throughout that window. It was still shipping to her, which gave her little opportunity to actually return it. 

“When you purchase an online order from Aritzia, the return window starts on the day that you purchased the order?” she asked. “It’s not even in my [expletive] hand yet. It’s not even in my mailbox yet. It’s still in some warehouse or something, and that’s when my return window starts?”

Koberlein told her audience she was on the verge of tears while recording due to the incident. She ended up with an Aritzia gift card for $200 rather than getting a full return, which frustrated her even further.

@alaniskay14 #aritzia #aritziahaul #return #customerservice ♬ original sound – Alanis Kay

Did Aritzia make it right?

In the comment section, Aritzia’s social media account left Koberlein a message: “We’re so sorry to hear this, Alanis. We’ve reached out to you via email!”

Viewers wanted to know whether Aritzia actually reached out via email. Koberlein confirmed they had.

“ Shout out to Skyler from Aritzia’s concierge team,” Koberlein said. “I received an email from Skyler saying that they would be removing the store credit from the gift card and issuing a refund to my PayPal.”

Koberlein also clarified that she was aware of Aritzia’s strict 14-day return policy. She was not, however, aware that she had to return the dress within 14 days of the shipping date.

“ I made an assumption that an online order would still have that same 14-day window,” she said. “I assumed it would start on the day the order was delivered. And I am gonna stand pretty firm in my opinion that I think their policy is [expletive] trash.”

For that reason, Koberlein said she was never going to shop with them again.

She also said after some research, others had similar issues with PayPal. She warned her audience not to use it to make purchases from Aritzia. She also said she herself received no disclaimer to use the payment platform. 

The Mary Sue reached out to Koberlein and Aritzia via email for comment.

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