I had signed up for StyleMint (a “club of the month” type of clothing company) where you get to select a shirt each month for $29.99 and get it sent to you in the mail. First month, I signed up, selected my shirt and received it. I wasn’t thoroughly excited or impressed with the shirt, but wanted to test out the service as I’m fascinated by these mass-style subscription services.
Next month on my credit card I was billed $29.99 via StyleMint, and thought twice about the charge and forgot it, as I had not received any other items form them. And again, this month saw the charge again. I realized (as I have still not received any more shirts) the company charges you monthly and allows for “credits” to accrue…assumingly for when you are ready to select the shirts/picks you’d like you must log in, take action and then they are shipped.
I felt cheated and tricked by the company… To charge my card and not send me items in the mail does not seem like a good way to go about business. It feels dishonest, it feels like stealing…To claim “oh you should have read the fine print” or “it’s on you to cancel each month” seems… distasteful and like shirking responsibilities on the company’s part (at very least, send me the products!)… I’ve posted to their Facebook wall (see above)…
If nothing else, this experience as a customer has proven to me we will never do business like this. We will never charge cards in a way that could be perceived as deceitful or “tricky”. No customer service rep of mine will ever say things like “oh you should have read the fine print …”. It’s not the money or the lack of a clear way to cancel my subscription that turns me off most, it’s the feeling/the taste that StyleMint has now left in my mouth. This mechanism for gaining revenue is not in the name of the customer. It taste like cheating. I’d be weary of revenue numbers a company like that projects, to pull in cash and book it as revenue and use those numbers as proxies for happy customers, well, it’s not the way I will ever do business. No thanks.
