Extremely disappointing and exhausting…
Extremely disappointing and exhausting customer service experience. I ordered two pairs of shoes from Charles & Keith. One pair arrived scratched despite being sold as new, and the second parcel was heavily delayed with almost no meaningful updates unless I personally chased them for answers. The real problem was not only the defective product, but the way the company handled it afterwards. For the damaged pair, the first proposal was a 15% refund. Receiving a scratched item sold as new apparently deserved only a small discount. After multiple follow-ups, I was then told that if I wanted a full refund, I needed to physically destroy the shoes myself and send photo/video proof. They told me I had to order the shoes again once I got a refund. This would already be questionable enough, but the model had become out of stock by then. In practice, they were asking me to destroy a pair I wanted while offering no possibility of replacement. At no time, they verified if the item was still in stock : they offer unrealistic solutions. I was later told I could place a new order with “the same discount as a goodwill gesture”, even though this was simply the standard student discount already available to me. Calling that a goodwill gesture was frankly insulting. Another proposal was free shipping on a new order, which again meant spending more money with a company that had already sent a defective item. So after receiving a damaged product, the practical options offered to me were: - keep the scratched shoes and accept a token refund - destroy the shoes and lose any chance of owning the model - spend additional money on a new order At no point was a proper replacement offered. At no point was there any genuine accountability. Meanwhile, the second parcel remained delayed for weeks and updates only came when I repeatedly contacted customer service. There was no proactive communication whatsoever. What stood out most throughout this experience was the bad faith and lack of ownership. Every response seemed designed to minimise responsibility and shift the inconvenience, cost, or risk onto the customer. The products may look nice online, but if anything goes wrong, expect a slow, rigid and deeply disappointing after-sales experience. UPDATE : Unlike what they are saying in their comment, they have not followed up with me by email It is all an act !