Subtitle: And It’s Not My Fault!

SO. About a week ago I got a weird email saying my ASOS account had been blocked for too many returns. Obviously spam, right? I deleted it without a thought. A day or so later I tried to sign into my ASOS account to look at some things and guess what? My account was blocked! I fished the deleted email out of the trash folder and read it more carefully.

“Due to an ongoing pattern of returns behaviour that is against our policy, we have permanently deactivated your account.”

An ongoing pattern? I could remember buying (and returning) a tee-shirt in December, and two dresses last summer…but that was it. And I could no longer sign into my account to view all my past orders…so I had to go back through old bank statements for ASOS debits. I went back 18 months, which is far back as my online banking thing goes. There were five purchases…and yes, five returns. Because guess what? They didn’t fit! What was I supposed to do, keep them?? So for FIVE RETURNS….in an 18-month period…my account has been DEACTIVATED? PERMANENTLY??

I tweeted them immediately asking for an explanation. No response. I instant messengered them on Facebook and got sort of a canned reply, “we’ve made the decision to deactivate your account due to your unusual returns activity. We’ve made this decision based on the fact that you’ve made a much higher than average number of returns. This means that you won’t be able to place any further ASOS orders. This is the only information we are able to provide. If you have any further questions for us Bettye , please feel free to get back in touch.” And I did. Get in touch. I explained about the five purchases and returns in a YEARANDAHALF, asked how that was considered “unusually high,” and said that they really should notify people of this policy BEFORE deactivating their accounts, like a “3 strikes you’re out” sort of thing. Their response? The EXACT same wording as the first time. They have no interest in my further questions.

I’m INCENSED. It’s Hard Enough to find plus clothes to fit, without the threat of retailers canceling your account for too many returns. I think long and hard before I hit that “buy” button as I don’t have money to throw around. I buy things I WANT, I buy things I HOPE WILL FIT. I buy things I HOPE I CAN KEEP. I don’t buy a ton of things willy nilly then just return them for the thrill of shopping.

But this returning?? Not. My. Fault. Perfect example: the two dresses I bought last summer, looking for a replacement for my fave Junarose dress that had shrunk slightly. I narrowed down the vast selection to two dresses. Was willing to part with my hard-earned money because I really really really liked these dresses and would have kept both had they fit. Based on the loose-fitting style and the SIZE CHART – which, incidentally, was identical for both dresses – I think I commented on this last year – I was extremely hopeful they would fit. They arrived, I tried them on. One was GINORMOUS. The other was way too small. SAME SIZE MEASUREMENTS POSTED FOR BOTH ITEMS ON THE SITE .

How is anyone supposed to shop online without the safety net of returns, when the sizes given by retailers are inaccurate?? How many brands offer ONE size chart for all their items? We all KNOW there’s NO WAY the trapeze dress has the same measurements as the body con dress or pencil skirt. And yet that’s what they give us. Rarely do individual items have their own size chart. THEN, we’re looking at the items on 5’9″ models who have lovely, smooth, bump-free, proportionate, flat-bellied bodies. I’m supposed to be able to tell if the item that looks perfect on her is going to fit lumpy, big-bellied, disproportionate, short, wide ME??

In my annoyance, I did a little more research that day and discovered in a news article just days earlier that ASOS’ profits have dropped by 87%. Ahh. Now maybe things make sense. Perhaps there’s a bit of a panic and they’re trying to stop losing money. They do have a free shipping and free returns policy, that’s lovely, really, but…maybe it’s a mistake. Listen, I love free stuff as much as the next person, but I don’t object to paying reasonable shipping on an item I have chosen to buy. I do resent paying return shipping when an item doesn’t fit due to inaccurate sizing. That’s not my fault, I should not be penalized.

I did read their entire “new” return policy and it sounds like it’s heavily aimed towards fashion bloggers who buy tons of stuff, photograph it for hauls and Instagram, then return it. And yes, I’m a blogger. And yes, I do sometimes photograph the things I buy as a courtesy to other plus size women so they can see how items look on an actual body, not a professional model. But I do not BUY clothes for that purpose. And really?? Five returns in a YEARANDAHALF??

Ugh.

And why did I choose to share this outfit on today’s blog? Well, the dress is one of my very long-time favorites. From ASOS. I Kept It. Because It Fit. 

Deep breaths, Bettye. Deep breaths. 

What I’m Wearing:

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