Fashion Nova To Pay $9.3 Million In Consumer Refunds To Settle FTC Charges

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If you’ve ever shopped at Fashion Nova or have social media you’ve seen some of the complaints around their refund policy and shipping time. Despite their pricing being the major driver of business people still demand top tier customer service over top tier clothing. Fashion Nova has been in an uphill battle with shipping faster and even when they do improve their customers rarely cut them slack. We are in the age of instant gratification and orders not delivered the same day are almost instantly blasted as a bad experience on social media. The complaints have triggered the FTC to get involved.

The FTC reports.

According to the complaint, Fashion Nova violated the Rule in two ways. First, the company made clear promises to consumers for years that they offer fast shipping of their products. This includes using phrases like “Fast Shipping,” “2-Day Shipping,” and “Expect Your Items Quick!” In fact, the company regularly failed to meet its shipping promises to consumers, and failed to meet the Mail Order Rule’s requirement that consumers be notified of shipping delays and given the chance to cancel orders and receive prompt refunds.

The complaint also alleges that Fashion Nova at times failed to refund consumers for the items that it did not ship. Instead, it was the company’s policy to issue gift cards, which are not considered refunds under the Mail Order Rule. The company also failed to cancel orders and provide refunds when it did not offer consumers delay option notices.

Fashion Nova took the smart route and proposed a settlement to handle the situation. The settlement will see Fashion Nova hand over a heft sum of $9.3 million dollars to refund customers who were victimized by their actions. Of the settlement, $7.04 million will be sent to the FTC to refund consumers directly, and the rest will be refunded directly by the company to its customers.

Furthermore, anyone who received a gift card instead of direct refunds previously will all be eligible for refunds as part of the settlement. Lastly, the fast-fashion retailer will be required to mail merchandise within one day of receiving an order. Hopefully, Fashion Nova and the FTC won’t have any more run-ins. If not, things could continue to get especially expensive for the brand.