*NOTE! Rue La La is a subdivision of Smartbargains.com This may help explain their purchasing power and the occasional “home” boutique.

When they changed their policy from “refunds” to “store credit” I understood. It was unfortunate, but understandable.

My customer service nightmare started when I purchased a set of Henckels knives on August 27th, 2009. See below.

Order Summary:
1. On 08/27/09 I placed an order for one Henckels Twin Pro S 18pc Cutlery set.
2. On 09/10/09 I emailed RLL to inquire why the item had not yet shipped.
3. On 09/14/09 I received an email from RLL confirming the item would ship via UPS.
4. On 09/21/09 the shipment arrived;

After inspecting each knife in the set I called Rue La La that same day to report that the 8” Chef’s knife was indeed “used”. Scratches, dents and FOOD particles appeared on the handle. I was told that Henckels was a vendor who could supply a replacement knife.

5. On 10/01/09 I received an email asking me to contact customer service so that the single knife could be replaced. When I called, the woman told me instead of a single knife I would be receiving a whole new set. I was told delivery could take up to two weeks.

6. On 11/4/09 (ONE FULL month later) I received an apologetic email. They would continue to research why the set was not sent and I would be contacted shortly…and for my patience, a $25 credit.

As of today, 11/16/09 I have not received a replacement set, a follow up email/phone call NOR a $25 credit.

Unfortunate, but it sounds like this is becoming the norm for other customers.

RueLaLa may offer great prices on their items which are mostly discontinued by manufacturers, but they have terrible customer service!

http://www.gilt.com/invite/bomilee

or email bomi.lee@tcu.edu

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/nonmember

Use the referral email address ” purpledinosbomb@yahoo.com ” !

Ruelala
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/taryn

happy every day!

I too have had a return nightmare. I ordered two items with very misleading descriptions. Though I felt that the extremely small size of these items (copper cookware) should have been pointed out, it was my fault for buying online sight unseen and I took that in stride. I did return them, following the instructions. This is where the nightmare began.

It took months to get someone on the phone who wasn’t at a call center and had any information as to what was going on. It was my fault for using USPS not a more expensive service. It wasn’t RueLaLa that was lagging, it was Mauviel. No one would take any responsibility. The items were obviously sitting in pile of things in the warehouse. According to Veronica Ortiz, if I wrote a letter to the CEO she would receive it and respond to it so “I tell you what”, when you get a letter back with my signature don’t be surprised. I found her very rude, and told her so, she was clear that she was the only person I could talk to and it wasn’t her responsibility - because though I had to talk to her, it was Mauviel who couldn’t find it, not her.

She said no one else had ever had a problem, I was the first one, implying that obviously I was the one with the issue.

I understand that things get lost in big warehouses. But in my business, when a client sends something back to us and it can’t be found, we take every effort possible to make it clear that we are looking for the item, even if a partner vendor is involved.