Caffeine Q.

I ordered several items for my son for Christmas. He is 6'6' and it's hard to get things that fit for him but Duluth has always given me good choices. Until now. One of the items ordered was a sweater that I thought he'd really like. When he opened it Christmas morning and tried it on, it really didn't fit at all. It might have fit a 12 year old that was 5'1" but it was wayyyy too short and too small, even though it was marked a 2X. Here lies my grievance. This is the first item I've ever had to return anything to Duluth and what an unpleasant experience. The return was easy enough to initiate online so no problem there but they deducted $8 from my refund just to return it! In addition to that, there are instructions that basically say you need to return it as you received it. OK, I received it in a shipping bag. I went to send it back in a bag but the return address label Duluth sent me disallows using a bag for returns. So, there I am at the post office and wanting to get this package off for my refund so now, in order to get it back to Duluth, I have to buy a box for $5! So, it cost me $14. To send back a $70 sweater! I'm sorry to say I won't be using Duluth ever again. In my humble opinion, this is not a way to treat a loyal customer. It's been a good ride the last 20+ years but that is not a reasonable fee to return something. I'm done and moving on to companies that appreciate my business.

Do NOT do business with this company! I ordered a lamp shade for my friend thru this company as a Christmas gift. It remained unopened in the box as I wrapped the box as the gift. When my friend opened the box, the shade had become unlaced and it was clearly a manufacturers defect as the laces were supposed to be X's but, instead, were just single lines up and down in some places and were falling out unlaced in other places. There were tears in the cover from where the laces had been inappropriately sewn and it there are discolorations in many areas. Clearly all were defects. I ordered this shade on December 4th as I wanted it in time for Christmas. As a gift, it wasn't opened until after Christmas, thus exceeding the 10 day return policy. My friend loved the shade but it looked bad as it was so damaged so I contacted this company and asked if we could exchange it for a better one. Not a refund, an exchange. I received a reply from Kim stating their return and exchange policy. They want a $5 handling fee and me to pay return shipping, quoted at my local P. O. as $19.78. When I wrote and said I didn't feel this was fair, given the manufacturers defects, Kim told me to glue the laces myself, blamed me for using a normal light bulb (the shade never made it onto a light) and was then reminded again that I had exceeded their 10 day return limit. So, their 100% guarantee for customer satisfaction ends up being approximately 66 2/3% guarantee as I would have to pay and additional $25 to return a shade that clearly had defects above and beyond what we could have caused. Now the shade will have cost me $75 with no guarantee the replacement would be any better. The customer service rep is snarky and no help, they clearly don't care to have repeat customers and don't take care of the ones they have. Their website even states right in it something to the effect that they can't please everyone and they post the few nice comments they received. If you check other review sites, they've been blasted a lot by unhappy customers! I recommend Black Forest Decor for similar items at less cost and better return/exchange policies. There are many "stores" on the Internet with much the same products that care about their customers and do right by them. This company clearly doesn't. I've chosen not to fight them, which is what they want. It's not worth my time and energy to continue with an unfair and ill equipped company to do morally correct business practices. Buyer Beware!