ComplaintsforFree People
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Complaint Details
Note that complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. See details.
Initial Complaint
11/29/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
I was given a promo code, ************* for 20% off. Free people said that I used it on order **********. a math equation would tell you that I did not get 20% off of that order. I received 50% because they were doing a 50 % off promotion that day on 11/24. how could I have used the code when the code was for 20% ?They refused to reactivate the code or send me a new one even though I did not use it. most unpleasant experience ever.Business response
11/30/2023
We apologize for your recent experience. A new discount code has been generated for you. You will receive an email with full details momentarily.Customer response
11/30/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
***********************Initial Complaint
11/21/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
Order Number ********** Date Ordered Jul 24, 2023 Original Order Total $443.04 I placed the following order that included 5 items. Upon receiving the items, I noticed that one of the bodysuits did not have a protective liner. I reached out the day I received the order to notify Free People of the issue. They sent me a return label for this item to my email. I also decided that 3 of the other items did not fit well, and returned these items with the bodysuit that was defective/worn. I delivered the return to USPS on 8/7/23. Please note: I reached out through chat on FP prior to returning the items and asked them if it was okay to send the other items back with the defective/worn item. They answered yes. After delivering my return to USPS, I received a refund for the defective/worn item, but not the additional 3 items I returned along with it. I immediately reached out to FP and they stated they had not received the return. I provided the tracking as well with my inquiry. I later followed up between 2-3 additional times on the status of the other 2 items in the return. FP eventually credited me back for the other items I sent back ($200.22), but I later received an email on 11/2/23 stating that I needed to update my account information because they did not receive the 2 other items. They have now blocked my account from making future orders on their sister site, Anthrologie. I have only one item in my possession, which I paid for, however FP is attempting to charge me for items I do not have. While I returned 3 items in one package, they are incorrectly attempting to charge me for the 2 items.Business response
11/27/2023
We apologize for the mix-up. The chargeback has been cancelled and the hold has been removed from the customer's account.Customer response
11/27/2023
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*************************************Initial Complaint
09/06/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
On 8/29/23 I placed order ********** for two items. I paid for the fastest shipping option because I wanted the items for the weekend. I received my package on 8/31/23. When I opened the package, it was filled with the wrong items. I immediately contacted free people whose solutions were to reship or refund. I chose reship and asked they be sent right away to have for the weekend. They sent a return label for the wrong items and I shipped right away. They had still had not shipped the correct items today, 9/6/23. I then reached out to a representative today who said there was a technical issue and it was not processed. I requested a refund to a second representative after the first representative told me the new items would not ship until my “return” was received. FP sent me the wrong items. This is their error, not mine. I should not be waiting for the items I’ve purchased when it’s error on their part. I was told a refund would take 1-3 days when I requested that as my final correspondence. Secondly, on 8/30/23 I placed another order **********, again paid for rush shipping. Received the order on 9/1/23. Also received the wrong item in this package. Reached out to customer service to resolve yet another mistake on FPs part. I saw the item was almost out of stock and was told to “rest assured” that they would make sure I received the item. I then received a refund notification with no explanation. Reached out again to FP and asked why I was refunded and was told that the item sold out because they didn’t pull it and process right away. I am extremely bothered that for neither order was I actually SHOWN exceptional customer service and neither outcome was desirable. For my to receive two orders within a week that were incorrect and be given the run around is not acceptable. Do better. I have video proof of both incidents that I took when I received the package. I would love contact by someone who’s not copy and pasting the response and offering me 20% off.Business response
09/13/2023
Any time that a wrong item is received we send this for a quality check. That quality check can take 3-4 business days to be performed. I am showing that for both of these order #'s a refund was requested. Order # ********** both items are available for purchase. We do not reship automatically until a QA check is performed as there is a chance that wrong items can be received again.Initial Complaint
08/30/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
I placed an order with Free People on 7/26/23 and shipped back the items that did not fit. I returned those items from order #********** the next day. On 8/10/23 I received an email from Free People stating they received those items totaling $912.68 and I could expect my refund shortly. I was issued a partial refund of $478.38 leaving me owed $434.30. Occasionally this will happen but they always send the other half within the same day. When I did not receive the rest of of the refund owed to me within the next few days, I contacted customer support via text. I was told the warehouse must process the items and they cant help me but would forward my info to someone else. I was emailed by customer support saying they would refund the items once the warehouse accounted for them which makes no sense as I had already received the email saying the items were there and would be refunded. I reached out to customer service again and was told they would look into it. I heard nothing after that. I reached out again and was told they cant help me and I should dispute the charge with my bank. This is unacceptable to me as every single item I returned was in the same condition it came to me in and all was there and accounted for when I packed the box. I have been shopping with Free People for over 20 years and have never had an issue like this, why would I suddenly start not including all the items or returned them damaged? What other reason would I be denied money owed to me then told to dispute it with my bank like Im being scammed? It is not the fault of the customer that the warehouse did not process the return correctly. Why would I receive an email detailing they had received every single item then have my money held? It makes no sense to send a customer an email saying you have received all of these items then hold their money. I have spent way too much time and energy on this and I need my refund.Business response
09/07/2023
I apologize for this issue. The remaining items have now been refunded. Please allow 1-3 business days for the refund of $434.30 to reflect in your account.Customer response
09/07/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
***********************Initial Complaint
08/28/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
I placed an order with free people on 8/20 with an expected delivery of 8/23. This shipment was delayed 5 times until a delivery date was finally given on 8/28. It said a delivery was made at 11:56 am today (8/28) and left at the front door. I was home all day and you need to be buzzed in to deliver packages. No one attempted a delivery and there is no package outside of my front gate.I called free people and customer service said it really wasnt delivered since there is no proof of delivery picture and I had to wait another 48 hours before my complaint would be investigated. I received an email from the delivery company (attached) saying the package was delivered but free people refuses to issue a replacement or refund.All my documentation is attached.Thank you.Business response
08/30/2023
Thank you for contacting us. We sincerely apologize that you did not receive your items. We will be happy to issue a refund as a one time courtesy so please allow 1 to 3 business days for this to reflect on your banking statement. Also, please ensure to contact us back if you receive the package. For future reference, our shipping policy is that we do have to allow an additional 2 business days for the courier to have the package delivered even if the status updates to such. Once we have crossed this time frame & the customer still does not have the package, then we are able to file a lost package claim to have our courier support look further into the matter. For these types of claims, we are only able to provide a refund if applicable & are unable to reship. If this situation arises again, please allow for the time frame to pass that our customer service agents informed you of. This information will also be notated on your account that we have informed you of our policy moving forward. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for shopping with us.Customer response
08/30/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*************************Initial Complaint
08/24/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
08/13/2023 08//20/2023 I placed an order 8:/13/20/23 in the amount of $2131.48. When I received it I could not believe the absolute horrible chemical smell that the clothes smelt like. It was so strong it made me sick I returned the entire order and on 08/20/23 I reordered majority of the items and when I received it the smell was the exact same. A very very strong chemical smell Its very disheartening that I spend thousands of dollars at this company and the lack of quality control is ridiculous. Why do your clothes smell like they have been soaked in chemicals and dried? Its so strong it will make your stomach churn This needs to be addressed. Reading reviews online I know Im not the only one that is dealing with this. Free peoples clothes are costly and this is just plain lazy and careless Its unfair to me and every single other loyal customer who shops from you weekly I wish there was a way to upload smell to this document so everyone could smell it.Business response
09/06/2023
Hi, thank you for contacting us. We sincerely apologize that you received defective items. Your feedback has been submitted & we hope to look further into this & resolve accordingly. A full refund was issued on August 30th so please allow 1 to 3 business days for this to appear on your banking statement. We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences. Thank you for shopping with us.Customer response
09/07/2023
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:
a full refund was not completed and that's false information
Please check again
The order number is **********Regards,
***************************Business response
09/12/2023
The customer started a return for only 6 items listed on this order on August 23rd. Of which the customer was fully refunded for. We have sent the customer an invoice. If the customer wishes to receive a refund for the remainder of the items, they are welcome to visit their customer portal to initiate a return or contact us to initiate one on their behalf for them to be refunded upon receipt at our warehouse within 14 business days. BBB, we will not be taking any further action on this order as it is considered resolve. Please have the customer contact our customer service at ************** directly.Initial Complaint
08/21/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Refunds on both orders were pending in my checking account and never went through. Customer service at Free People still insists both refunds were issued and they were not. The transactions that were pending disappeared from my account.Business response
08/23/2023
We have confirmed that the refunds in question went through successfully on our end. We ask that you please allow 3-5 business days for the credits to post back to the account. We have emailed the customer with the reference numbers for each credit. These reference numbers can be provided to the financial institution to locate each refund. Our apologies for the concern.Initial Complaint
08/21/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Both Free People & Anthropologie (same company) put restrictions on my account. I have yet to receive an adequate explanation for why they would do this, despite making several attempts to figure it out with their customer service department. The last order I placed, I called it in so I could request a different carrier than ******. I was told by their customer service that this was an option. This ended up being a complete run around & entirely incorrect.A few orders prior to this, they shipped with ******. ******, in my area, leaves our packages on the public sidewalk, outside of our business hours. I had a package stolen off the street because of this. Anthropologie had to credit me back $500+. I went to great lengths to keep this from happening again, including contacting Anthropologie/Free People on yet another order, when I realized my order was shipped via ****** (despite requesting a different carrier on this order also) I asked them to recall this order since it had not been delivered yet. This was to avoid another theft and another claim.Honestly I am so disgusted with how this company handles its business these days.Business response
08/29/2023
Hello,
After a review of your account we see that the hold was created due to several claims of non-receipt of merchandise. This caused us to believe that the missing packages were not a delivery issue but rather a stolen package issue.
If we were to remove the hold it would be with the understanding that you will no longer make these types of claims. We are unable to require signature for deliveries. If your shipping address isn't secure you would either need to ship your items to a ***/PO Box or ship the items to an address where someone is regularly home to receive packages.
Does this sound like something that may work for you? If so, please confirm so that we may remove the hold from your account.Thank you,
FreePeople
Customer response
08/29/2023
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:#1: there were not several. There was one. The second order was rerouted back to you, in order to avoid a second stolen package.
#2: it is your responsibility to use a delivery company that does not leave packages on a public downtown sidewalk. We NEVER have these problems with ********************* ****** is leaving the packages unsecured. This problem has nothing to do with us or our location. It is laziness on the part of the driver. If you are delivering in a business district then you deliver when the businesses are OPEN.
#3: no thank you-I am not interested. I will do no further ordering with your company. The review stands.
Regards,
*************************Initial Complaint
08/16/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
On 5/09/23 I placed an order (order #*********) and returned leg warmers. I have returned many FreePeople items in the past and since then, using their barcode for the post office. Somehow my return has been lost and the company expects me to have a tracking number, when I use the code they provide me. Where Im frustrated is after emailing customer service and being denied a refund for the item being untraced, their recommendation was for me to contact my back to have immediate reimbursement. I do not see how this is any different from being given a refund, and also how it is a solution, when I dont think I could tell my card company to just refund the price of the one item from the whole order.Business response
08/16/2023
A refund has been issued for the legwarmers. Please allow 1 to 3 business days for the refund to reflect in your account.Customer response
08/17/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*****************************Initial Complaint
08/11/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I am only using the BBB as a last resort. I have been trying to resolve this issue for months now. I returned an order that was processed by free people on May 9. I will include photos below of a screenshots verifying that free people did indeed receive the items I returned. I was not refunded the proper amount so I contacted free people. I was told by multiple people through chat and the phone that the order had not been processed and that was why I was not refunded the proper amount. On one occasion, I waited over 12 hours via chat to get any sort of response. I said I had an email stating it had been processed and refunded. I was never refunded. As a last resort, I reached out to my bank who said they would deal with the issue. The next day I placed an order with free people and it was immediately canceled because there is a restriction on my account now because of the dispute with my bank. I never got an email or any sort of communication from FP about the restriction. I chatted with customer service, explained the situation, and was once again assured by FP that I would be fully refunded. I then closed the dispute with my bank and provided a screen shot of the closed dispute to customer service. I have been trying to get through to someone who deals with account restrictions since and I cant. Everyone I talk to says they are not even provided a phone number themselves to reach that team. I dont know what to do. My account has a restriction that shouldnt be there and I still havent been refunded even though the dispute is closed with my banks. Total refund should have been $1109.85. My bank shows refunds of $355.58 and $77.91. I went ahead and took the loss for things I RETURNED! Closed the dispute with my bank and my account is still restricted. I Spoke with a customer service agent that even admitted to me their returns department is a mess and they are having issues keeping up. I just cant believe I paid money back via my bank to get my account back.Business response
08/15/2023
After review of the account, we have confirmed there is still an open dispute in regards to this order (******* $260.41). Unfortunately, the hold cannot be resolved until all disputes have been closed.Customer response
08/15/2023
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:
As referenced in the many screen shots that I provided, I DID in fact return every item. Regardless of if there is an open dispute still (which I was unaware of and was under the impression via **** that the disputes had been closed), the fact still stands that the merchandise WAS received by FP. Once again, this is verified in the photos that I submitted. You received all of the items, why should I pay you for items that were returned? It’s the epitome of dishonesty. I never should have had to open a dispute with my bank because you should have refunded me the total amount for all of the items received. The email says, and I quote, “we’ve received your return. The items listed below have been refunded…” then every item is listed as returned with a return amount of $1109.45 total. I was NOT refunded this amount. This is completely unethical for you to expect me to pay you for items that I returned. As mentioned before, I spoke to customer service multiple times who mentioned this is happening to many people because the warehouse is a mess. Yet again, I’ll repeat myself, even if there is a dispute open with the bank, that does not matter. You owe me that money back. My account should be reinstated because this is dishonest to suspend an account for a return you DID receive, as was verified by email as well as multiple customer service agents. I will also include the text message of conversations with representatives that state this.Regards,
*************************Business response
08/17/2023
Once all disputes are closed a refund will follow, along with the account being reinstated.Customer response
08/18/2023
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:
Are you not seeing what I am seeing with the attached photos? You received the items. You didn't refund me for the items you received so I opened a dispute. My bank had to pay me back because you wont pay me for items you received. Why would I close the dispute? Do you truly not see how you are at fault here?
Regards,
*************************Business response
08/23/2023
At this time with the open dispute, we have escalated the concern to our dispute team who specializes in resolving these cases. Unfortunately we will not be able to move forward with removing any holds on the account until this is resolved. The customer should expect to hear from our specialist in the next 1 - 2 business days.
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Customer Complaints Summary
329 total complaints in the last 3 years.
148 complaints closed in the last 12 months.