Every girl has that one pair of shoes.
The go to pair. The pair that makes you feel sexy,
confident and fabulous.
I have my pair. They are black with fringe, a four
inch heel with a one inch platform making me about 5 inches taller. I’m about
5’2 normally and when I put them on I’m a whooping 5’7.
And on a side note, heels really
can change your body. Not only do my legs look longer and skinnier in the heels
picture, but my stance seems more sure and confident. I just wanted to add that
because I didn't even notice it until I uploaded both pictures to my computer.
The power of a good pair of heels really is a power to be reckoned with.
But the thing about
these shoes is that there is a long story about them that really changed the
way I feel about ordering shoes online. Ordering shoes through the internet is
almost impossible to avoid if you’re a shoe fiend like me. There’s more
selection, there’s more brands and there’s more sizes. Growing up in
Plattsburgh NY, there really aren’t a lot of options around here. We only have
about half a dozen stores that solely sell shoes.
One day on Facebook, I
saw an advertisement on the side of my home page that told me to check out a
shoe website...that shall remain nameless…but I’m sure you guys have probably
seen it advertized on a commercial. There’s a couple of these sites that you “simply
go online, take a style quiz, and a stylist will hand pick your personal shoe collection!
Only $39.95 a pair! No Shipping and Handling!” Of course, I was interested…a
PERSONAL shoe collection? A personal STYLIST? No shipping and handling?! I
signed up immediately and found a pair of shoes I was crazy about in minutes, no
insane feat, before I even received my personal collection, since it takes a
few days.
I placed an order for
my black fringe shoes. I even received a special one day only deal that gave me
50% off. It was the deal of the century! A pair of adorable shoes for $19.95,
and no shipping and handling? I was absolutely in love.
I got my shoes about a
week later and I wore them around the house the whole day. All my friends told
me I was way too tall and because the carpet in our house is terrible, I kept
tripping on the bumps and lumps. I was breaking them in and showing them off.
About a month later, I
checked my bank account statement to make sure that the online purchase went
through. I don’t usually check my bank account much during the semester because
I don’t really use my card very much. I was shocked to find that not only was the
$19.95 purchase there but there was also two more payments taken from my
account by this company for $39.95. My first thought was that someone had
stolen my card. But why would they steal my card and then buy shoes from a site
that will only send me my size to my house? No one knew my password to the site.
Had I bought shoes unconsciously? It didn’t make any sense.
I logged onto the website
and looked up the shipping information. I found that I had the shoes I ordered
for 50% off there, but I also had two store credits for the $39.95 that I was
charged for on my debit card. I immediately tried to call but of course it went
straight to a machine. What was going on?
I put the name of the
website on Google and looked up reviews. The first link read:
“ALERT: complaints, rip offs
I called my Dad, the solver of all my young
adult problems, and explained the situation to him with a trembling voice.
“Sounds like an overseas scam. Sorry honey, but
you got duped.”
“It must be a mistake though, I don’t
understand why I would be charged for shoes I didn’t purchase,” I said.
“It’s a membership and they scammed you. They
didn’t tell you that they would charge you for the membership whether you
bought shoes or not.”
My head was swimming. I was a young, naïve,
broke college student in the middle of finals week. I felt so stupid for
falling for the unbelievable offers and fabulous deals and not reading the fine
print. No one really does, but I’ll tell you what, I certainly do now.
The worst part about this website was the customer
service. It was an incredible struggle to try to cancel my membership from this
website. You had to call and they would weasel their way into convincing you
that you were being silly, and you didn’t want to cancel! Not yet anyway. The
receptionists were rude, mean and scheming. Every time I talked to them on the
phone my blood pressure rose and I became red in the face.
“I’m a college student, and you are stealing
from me! I want my money back, I’m not happy. This website is a scam and you
guys do anything you can to squeeze a little more money out of your
unsuspecting customers.”
“I’m sorry you feel like that ma’am, but if you’ll
just try to understand you will realize that you are about to miss out on a
great deal. You are allowed to skip each month is what you do not realize ma’am.”
“I do realize, and I am telling you that I want
to cancel my membership because I don’t have to time to do that every month and
I already feel duped and cheated so I’m not happy enough with the site to put
up with skipping each month.”
I did the run around with them for a least a
week, calling them every day, getting frustrated and feeling like I’d never get
out of this mess. They were about to charge me again soon, if I didn’t cancel. Finally,
I canceled but it was an exhausting experience.
Be careful when you buy shoes, or buy anything,
online. There are sites out there that will scam you. And just because I never
thought it would happen to me, didn’t stop it from happening. I realized that I
was too trusting of companies online and I needed to read the fine print before
I signed up for things.
I love my black fringe heels but I sometimes wonder
if they were worth the time, stress and money that I paid for them. Whenever I
wear them, I am reminded of the website and my horrible experience. But then I
just smile and realize that I have the power to make my own memories in these
shoes. I have the ability to create those happy, fabulous memories in my black
fringe heels.
No comments:
Post a Comment