In our current times, many of us have become comfortable in purchasing items online. Buying items online has provided us with many positive aspects such as: getting a better deal, more selection and rare and unusual finds. For the most part, online sales have been a great experience for most no matter which company they are dealing with.

Sometimes, however, there are companies out there that just want to take advantage of people. Other times, they are businesses that are not run properly and the owner does not care about customer service. Either way, the customer leaves empty handed, taken advantage of and out their money.

The good news is we can take steps to help avoid being the consumer in that situation. This article is dedicated to lingerie sites that are either scams, horrible customer service, or sites that do not ship the whole order or the order at all. Before getting into it, I will provide you references to see specific information about these companies.

1.    http://www.Ripoffreport.com : This site is where consumers post their situation they have encountered with a company.
2.    http://www. http://us.bbb.org : Better Business Bureau. The BBB allows a consumer to check and see if complaints have formally been filed. I would suggest running the company through this check before dealing with them. (Please keep in mind: sometimes a business will not show, this does not mean they are a bad company. This just means no complaints were filed against them.)

So let’s get to it:

Our first contender is Doxy Lingerie (http://www.doxylingerie.com). This actually surprised me because they have a decent webpage. Usually the webpage is very indicative of whether or not the company is reputable. The only thing that stands out at me is the prices. Some of their prices are “too good to be true”. In other words, they do not line up with the general market for the most part. And we all know about something that is too good to be true…

I first plugged them into ripoffreport.com. They have a very long list of unsatisfied customer. Most complaints were from customers who never received their product. The other prevailing complaint was that the customer only received half of their order. When the customers tried to contact the company, these are the outcomes:
 
1.    No response to emails sent (and most consumers sent many)
2.    Phone line busy
3.    Mailbox full and can not leave a message
4.    Person answers and then curses at the consumer and hangs up

The most recent complaints were from the Halloween season. Many people were out of luck on their costumes they paid good money for (anywhere from $50.00 - $200.00). When asked for a refund for no receipt of the item, the representative from the company would not give their money back, just store credit.
After further investigation, I found out they have a legal matter they dealt with. This can be viewed at: http://stlouis.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=142&bbb=0734&firm=310040738
 
Next we have Lingerie.com (http://www.lingerie.com). I have included this site because they have an unsatisfactory rating on the BBB. If someone takes the time to write to the BBB, it is a fair guess that they could not get in contact with the company or the company refused to resolve the issue. The reason why they have an unsatisfactory rating is because they have not responded to the following:

(2) No responses to Delivery Issues
(1) No response to Service Issue
(2) No response to Customer Service Issue
(2) No response to Refund or Exchange Issue

This makes 7 “No Responses” to different complaints in 36 months. Depending on their volume of customers, this could be normal or bad. With all things considered, they should have at least responded to the complaints. I think any reputable company would respond to all complaints, especially when taken to such lengths as the BBB.

Online buyers should also be aware that there was some connection to lingerie.com being the redirect site for a scam billing that automatically charges $40.00 every month indefinitely. Whether or not lingerie.com was aware and part of this, or a victim, online shopping through them might not prove secure.

UPDATE: 2/05/2010- Lingerie.com still has a Rating of D+, but I only find it is fair to mention that this was stated under the "Complaint Experience" section:

"Our complaint history for this company shows the company gave proper consideration to complaints presented by the Bureau. "

The Reliability Report from the BBB on Sexy Depot (http://www.sexydepot.com) is an F. This is one company you definitely will want to stay away from! There are many reports that show this company is notorious for not shipping orders. However, this is just the beginning- It gets worse…

Apparently, the way this site conducts business is when you order, they do not charge your card automatically. The charge comes anywhere from 25-40 days later! The worst part about this is they store your credit card information. There have been reports of people’s credit cards being used in different locations with no consent of the actual owner of the credit card. Very ironic that more than one person is reporting this...

More complaints also came in about the merchandise, for those who actually received it. They said it came in the wrong size or wrong color, or not what they ordered at all. They also remarked that the items were dirty. Gross! I am labeling this one a firm, stay away!

Unfortunately, there are many more to add to this list. I will try to do three at a time on a post in later writings. In the meantime, if you are about to purchase lingerie, or anything for that matter, online, make sure you check to see if they have any complaints on them. Be an informed buyer and do your homework on the company first. After all, you are about to give your credit card information to them. And to some, that could mean a free trip around the world!

Until next time…