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A shopper has revealed the bizarre reason why Saks Fifth Avenue allegedly wouldn’t accept her dress return.
TikTok lifestyle creator Brittany Paige, who’s amassed more than 30,000 followers on the platform, recently took to her account to divulge the details of her recent frustration. Since then, her viral video has prompted several viewers to claim they’ve had similar experiences with the retailer.
“There’s something extremely fishy going on with Saks,” Paige said in her video, which was posted on September 27.
“They’re basically robbing people and scamming people left and right,” she claimed, before opening up about her transgression with the company’s customer service and return departments.
Paige explained that she had ordered a few dress options from the Saks website for her sister’s wedding, including a $695 Ramona Geometric Sequined Strapless Gown. For her, spending that amount on the dress was a “splurge” but she wanted to try it on and see if she liked it.
When the dress arrived on June 27, Paige claimed she tried it on for “maybe five minutes” before concluding it wasn’t her favorite gown. She decided to return the dress on July 23 and wear one she purchased from another retailer.
“So, I packed it up and shipped it back off as a return,” she admitted. “About a month goes by, and I get the dress back in the mail from Saks.”
Before she received the dress back on September 7, Paige had been “waiting” for her return money to process. The TikToker claimed that she had previously waited 60 days before getting her money back from the online retailer. On the Saks Fifth Avenue website, the company states: “Returns generally take up to 30 days to process.”
The retailer also states that if a return item is denied, the item will be mailed back to the customer “with an explanation.” However, Paige reportedly did not receive an explanation for why the dress wasn’t returnable until she called customer service.
“The agent told me the return was rejected because it had deodorant stains and odor and looked like it was worn,” she explained. According to Paige, she checked the dress and had her mother inspect it too. Neither of them saw anything wrong with the dress, which still had the tags attached.
After Paige reached out to customer service again, they told her she could email them photos of the dress to open a case. Paige claimed she sent eight “thorough” photos of the item, including pictures of the front, back, inside, and top seams.
Later that day, the company allegedly emailed her back, saying: “Upon thorough review of your case it has been determined that the return was rejected due to body odor/deodorant stains; therefore, we cannot process the request for a return label.”
Paige proceeded to get on the phone with a “nice” customer service representative, who told her they didn’t see anything wrong with the dress but didn’t have the “authority” to override the return decision.
“Anytime that I’ve mentioned speaking to a manager with Saks, they get extremely dicey about it,” she alleged. “And they like try to deter you from asking.” But Paige insisted, so they supposedly obliged.
When she finally got on the phone with a manager, they informed her that she needed to wait for another email back if they were going to accept the return.
In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson from Saks Fifth Avenue said: “Across the retail industry, there has been an increase in online fraud, particularly related to returns. As such, we have added more rigorous steps in our return process, including additional quality checking and stronger authentication.
“In some instances, this has unfortunately resulted in longer than expected return processing times. Our top priority is ensuring our customers enjoy the luxury shopping experience for which Saks is known and we will continue to take steps to improve our processes moving forward.”
Paige claimed this wasn’t the first time she’s had issues with making returns to Saks Fifth Avenue. She recalled ordering two The Bar dresses on June 8 for a total of $795.20, though she had returned both and waited 60 days to get her money back.
“I was calling every week to speak to customer service reps,” Paige noted, adding that every time she talked to someone, they supposedly told her they couldn’t do anything about the wait time. “I have not one but two friends who have told me they’ve purchased something from Saks and Saks shipped them a different item. When they tried to return it, Saks would not take the return,” she added.
“One friend purchased a Gucci wallet for her husband for Christmas, and they sent her a lesser-value wallet, and they wouldn’t take the return,” Paige continued. “My other friend purchased sneakers, and they sent her a different pair of sneakers. Different brand, two sizes different. They wouldn’t take the return. She sent it back twice, and it got rejected twice.”
While Paige warned others who were considering making an expensive purchase from Saks, it seemed that many people in the comments section have already had similar experiences with the retailer.
“Omg yes! I’m currently fighting with them over a return I sent in, then they shipped it back saying it was past the days to return. Even though their customer service sent me the label to put on the box,” one woman claimed.
Another said: “The same thing happened to me! But karma eventually caught up to them when I bought a $130 bracelet that was on sale, and they sent me a $2k bracelet instead.”
“The same EXACT thing happened to me with a very expensive dress also for a wedding. Tried it on like you for five minutes and went through the whole ordeal you went through,” a third user wrote, while someone else added: “Wow! Same here with no refund on a dress I had for 2 days and sent right back. Waiting on over $800. This is crazy.”
Speaking to The Independent, Paige proclaimed: “When I saw how many people had a similar experience to me, at first I felt enraged and then I felt incredibly sad, because so many people were probably not going to get their money back.
“It is so disappointing to see a luxury retailer treat their customers this way,” she added.
Paige also revealed that her Ramy Brook dress return has now been accepted. On September 27, a member of Saks Fifth Avenue’s executive team called to tell her she would be handling her case and sent her a FedEx return label for her to use. Three days later, the executive member called Paige and informed her that she had issued her return.
“While I am happy that my issue seems to be resolved – I’ll believe it when I officially see the money back on my credit card – I’m still incredibly frustrated for all the other people who had a similar experience as me,” Paige said. “Customers shouldn’t have to post TikTok videos publicly shaming a brand in order to get a refund for a purchase that they rightfully returned.
“If a brand doesn’t want to accept returns, then they should alter their return policy to not allow returns. Instead, Saks is gaslighting their customers claiming their returned items are damaged, when they aren’t.”
Saks Fifth Avenue has been owned by Hudson’s Bay Company since 2013. The conglomerate also owns Saks OFF 5TH.
Editors note: This article has been updated on September 30 to include comment from Saks Fifth Avenue.
