Copyright: elutas

I am sure that many of you are aware of companies which are very aggressive with their advertising on social media platforms like Instagram, and which often convince people to purchase from them. Then if there is an issue with the items once they arrive, the company will renege on their promise to honor returns, despite the fact that their return policy clearly states that customers are able to return items with no issues. I have dealt with such companies before, and without exception, the companies are always based in China.

I recently placed two orders from Bella Barnett, never suspecting that the company would give me a hard time if I needed to return anything. I made sure to look up the return and exchange policy on the website:

General Terms

For all situations including that the outfits don’t fit, Bella Barnett will gladly accept returns or exchanges of new, unworn, unwashed, and unaltered merchandise with all original internal garment tags days within 28 days of the delivery of your items.
There is a removable padding in all swimwear to protect you. For hygienic reasons, swimwear with no hygienic padding is unable to be returned.

Please do not return the package to the address on the waybill, that is not the return address. Otherwise no refund will be given!

It’s important to note that shipping costs are not covered by Bella Barnett when sent back, and we are unable to provide shipping labels. The return address is in New Jersey, USA. Please be sure to tell us the item that needs to be returned or exchanged and get the return address before you return it, also, you need to include your order number on the return form and give us the tracking number after sending the item back. No refunds will be given for those who cannot provide a tracking number.
When we receive your returned items and determine that they are in returnable condition (new, unworn, unwashed, and unaltered merchandise with all original internal garment tags), refunds or exchanges will begin.
For products with quality problems, we will take a full refund/partial refund, if you don’t want to send it back and get a refund, you may need to provide us with a picture of the product to get a refund.

Refunds

Refunds are usually returned within 7 days via the original method of payment(requests for refunds to other credit cards/accounts for any reason will not be accepted), or even within 24 hours if you paid via PayPal. If the returns are not caused by our fault(quality problem, color difference, wrong shipment), we will not refund the postage.

I received one order and was happy with the item, but the second order consisted of an item which was poorly made and didn’t look like what was pictured on the website. I followed the instructions which were detailed on the website for returns and sent them an email describing the item that I wanted to return, and asked them to provide a return address. This is the response I received:

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 05:14:02 PM PDT, contact@bellabarnett.com <contact@bellabarnett.com> wrote:

Dear Customer, 

Could you please tell us how does not fit？Whether it is too big or too small? We can first seek whether there are other solutions. Thanks.

By that time, I already suspected that I was dealing with a China-based company, and that they would try to convince me not to send back the item. I responded to their email by stating that the item was poorly made, didn’t look like what was pictured on the website, and looked horrible when I tried it on. Instead of honoring my return request, this was Bella Barnett’s reply:

On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 05:18:35 AM PDT, contact@bellabarnett.com <contact@bellabarnett.com> wrote:

Dear Customer, 

Sorry to keep you waiting. Considering that shipping or cross-country shipping can be expensive, we can make an exception and provide you with an alternative solution once. You can pick another item at similar price on our website and we will send it to you for free. You do not need to return the original item either. If you want an item with a price difference of more than $5 from the original item, you will need to make up the difference.Please let me know which item you want if you accpet this solution. Once the free replacement is sent out, we will no longer accept any return requests. Please be advised. If you still want to send it back please let us know and we will send you the return address.

By that time I was pretty aggravated and didn’t want to continue to argue with them, so I told them to send another jacket which had arrived in the first order, which was actually $10 cheaper than the item I wanted to return to them. However, I also made sure to tell them that I would never order anything from them again. I honestly don’t understand why such companies are so manipulative, because I am sure that they lose customers like me pretty frequently.

To you ladies who are considering purchasing clothing from Bella Barnett, BEWARE!