If you’re the parent of a teenager, you’ve probably had a conversation or two with your child about where they are shopping online.
Teens can be quick to order from sites they find through social media, even if they’ve never heard of them before.
One local mom reached out to our NBC10 Boston Responds team with a cautionary tale.
“It’s just completely the wrong dress,” says Sherri Pelski of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, holding up a dress that her 16-year-old daughter ordered.
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After getting her first paycheck, the teenager bought the dress in July, making her first online purchase with her debit card. But when it arrived, shipped from a New Jersey address, it didn’t look anything like the picture on the website.
“The whole top and the back are not what she expected, or the color or the size,” says Pelski.
Her daughter paid more than $70 for the dress after seeing it on social media and clicking through to the heyshelly.com site.
“So she tries to start the return process by reaching out to them,” says Pelski. “And then the whole thing just became a big debacle in not wanting to take the dress back.”
The company website says there is a “30-day return policy which means you have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return.” To be eligible for a return your item must be in the same condition that you received it, in its original packaging and you have to provide proof of purchase. Pelski says they emailed the company all the information they asked for.
“Then another email came back that basically said, oh, well, we've lost our U.S. lease for our warehouse for return,” says Pelski. “So if you want to get a return, you're going to have to ship the package to China, you're going to have to pay for shipping yourself. You need to address it to “Mr. Go”, and when it gets to China and the warehouse, make sure it's not lost because if it's lost, we won't give you the money back.”
Alternatively, the company offered a 20% refund if they kept the dress along with a shopping voucher of the same value to be used during the Christmas season or a refund of 45% of the total order amount. In another email, the company offered a 70% refund if they kept the dress.
“So at that point, I went back to them and I said, this is not this is not acceptable,” says Pelski. “The dress doesn't fit, and she needs her money back. So what are my options? And so at that point, then they said, well, if you cut the dress and show us that the dress is destroyed, we will then give you your money back.”
That’s when Pelksi reached out to NBC10 Boston Responds for help. We contacted heyshelly.com and a customer service rep told us:
“In accordance with our return policy and at the request of our vendors, we offer a procedure to return goods for a refund and promise to pay the shipping costs of the returned goods. Alternatively, we offer the option of a partial refund to keep the goods...
However, requesting to keep the goods while receiving a full refund of the purchase price may involve a risk of fraudulent behavior. We hope you understand our position and the concerns of our suppliers.”
Pelski ended up cutting the dress in half and sending the company a photo and they refunded her daughter in full, $73. That was the conclusion of a seven-week return effort.
“With your help and your team, the funds came back to my daughter,” she says.
The Better Business Bureau has given heyshelly.com an “F rating” and has a current alert posted that they have received a pattern of complaints against the company concerning product misrepresentation and refund issues.
Pelski says she’s talked to her daughter about the lessons learned from this experience.
“We’re going to have to talk about what we're buying,” says Pelski. “And we're just going to have to use this experience to keep educating you on, you know, what are the things to buy, how to look at sites and really make sure that it's something you should even be buying online.”
If you are thinking about ordering a product from a website you aren’t familiar with, do a Google search or check the Better Business Bureau to see what you can find out about it.
You should always use a credit card when making an online purchase because it offers more buyer protections than a debit card.
