The RealReal

[Loganz]

Hi Everyone!

I have a question. I purchased an item from The RealReal and the item, marked as delivered, never arrived to me. After the first 2 phone calls with them, I filed a dispute with my credit card just to be safe. Fast forward, after 2 UPS claim investigations (second still ongoing I think?), they are telling me that I cannot get a refund because the dispute has led to a chargeback on the order from my credit card institution. They are saying that in order to get my refund, I need to close the dispute.

Is that normal? It seems kinda fishy to me that they are making me close the dispute to get my refund. But, they will not guarantee to me that I am getting a refund, so I told them I will not close the dispute until I am guaranteed a refund by their next-level management. This is a nearly $3K item that is lost and still not found by UPS, so I am hoping to get my money back somehow.

Does anyone know what I should be doing at this point? I have been calling The RealReal customer service almost every day for the past 2 weeks and their service reps keep telling me different information that worries me and throws me off.

Thanks!

As a business owner, 23 years in automotive, yes this is normal. We can't issue a refund after your bank has already taken the money. Standard practice is for you to not file a chargeback but allow the merchant to work with you. Once you file a chargeback we are less inclined to work with you because you have shown that you are not trusting the in the process of waiting for UPS etc to settle the lost claim, which takes upwards of 8 weeks these days.
I am sorry your purchase is lost, but TRR is not being shady or sketchy here. You filed a chargeback, they have had the money taken from their merchant account by your bank, if you want them to refund you then you need to cancel your dispute and let them refund you.
You should also know that banks charge between 15-30 USD to file paperwork related to chargebacks, which is of course billed to the merchant.

 

[Yoshi1296]

I don’t understand why you’d have to close the UPS case to get a refund on your CC. Have you called your CC company and discussed it with them?

Hi Muchstuff! I hope you are well!

I do not understand either. Yes, I called my credit card institution and they advised me to not close the dispute as they would lose the rights to fight the case on my behalf.

The thing is, I have no problem closing it, but I do not trust them to give me the refund because of how unclear a lot of the associates have been. Like giving me different answers, giving the wrong information to UPS, not contacting me within the timeframe they promised they would, etc.

I am waiting for a followup from their next level management to see if they can guarantee me my refund, then I will be happy to close the dispute.

Thank you for your advice!!!

 

[Yoshi1296]

As a business owner, 23 years in automotive, yes this is normal. We can't issue a refund after your bank has already taken the money. Standard practice is for you to not file a chargeback but allow the merchant to work with you. Once you file a chargeback we are less inclined to work with you because you have shown that you are not trusting the in the process of waiting for UPS etc to settle the lost claim, which takes upwards of 8 weeks these days.
I am sorry your purchase is lost, but TRR is not being shady or sketchy here. You filed a chargeback, they have had the money taken from their merchant account by your bank, if you want them to refund you then you need to cancel your dispute and let them refund you.
You should also know that banks charge between 15-30 USD to file paperwork related to chargebacks, which is of course billed to the merchant.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you for your insight on this. I was not aware of the whole dispute process and its impact on the CS team.

The thing is, I have no problem closing it, but I do not trust them to give me the refund because of how unclear a lot of the associates have been. Like giving me different answers, giving the wrong information to UPS, not contacting me within the timeframe they promised they would, etc.

I am waiting for a followup from their next level management to see if they can guarantee me my refund, then I will be happy to close the dispute. At this point, the associate said the bag is lost for sure, so I am just hoping I can get my money back.

 

[fashion16]

I agree with the prior advice. They cannot refund you if you already have a charge back. You can only be refunded once so you have to close one dispute, either with your bank or with UPS claims.

 

[Yoshi1296]

I agree with the prior advice. They cannot refund you if you already have a charge back. You can only be refunded once so you have to close one dispute, either with your bank or with UPS claims.

Thanks. The UPS claim was opened by the real real, I have not opened that one. They advised that they would handle everything from the UPS side of things.

I will close the credit card dispute once I speak with their next level management, who promised to contact me by EOD today and they advised me to wait. Let's see.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Loganz]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you for your insight on this. I was not aware of the whole dispute process and its impact on the CS team.

The thing is, I have no problem closing it, but I do not trust them to give me the refund because of how unclear a lot of the associates have been. Like giving me different answers, giving the wrong information to UPS, not contacting me within the timeframe they promised they would, etc.

I am waiting for a followup from their next level management to see if they can guarantee me my refund, then I will be happy to close the dispute. At this point, the associate said the bag is lost for sure, so I am just hoping I can get my money back.

TRR does not have my undying support, lol. I find their authentications are sometimes rushed, fakes get through, damages are not disclosed, etc. However, they are not sketchy, or shady, they are after all a publicly traded company who must comply with basic rules and regulations for customer support. You hamstring them when you file a chargeback, they can no longer communicate with you, now their fraud dept has to communicate with the banks, merchant processor, etc.

Your card company will always tell you not to close the dispute, they make money off you not closing it. However, if you want to continue to do business with TRR I advise you close it and let the process play out.

I waited: SIX MONTHS for a refund from Hermes.com for a belt kit I returned that was the wrong size. I had already ordered the correct size and it took them SIX months to quality control it and ensure I had NOT been dishonest in my return, mind you I turned this around the same day I received because I have an in-house freight dept.
My point: MANY would have filed a chargeback to get their funds back, six months is a ridiculous wait time for a refund on an unworn item that was returned same day in 100% optimum condition. However, I sat on my hands and was patient because I intended to continue business with Hermes.

Customers who bypass our policies and use their banks chargeback system to get refunds before we process them are blaklisted from buying from us. It shows us that you think you are above our policies and should have things faster than we can reasonably accomodate.
Just offering you food for thought....

 

[Yoshi1296]

TRR does not have my undying support, lol. I find their authentications are sometimes rushed, fakes get through, damages are not disclosed, etc. However, they are not sketchy, or shady, they are after all a publicly traded company who must comply with basic rules and regulations for customer support. You hamstring them when you file a chargeback, they can no longer communicate with you, now their fraud dept has to communicate with the banks, merchant processor, etc.

Your card company will always tell you not to close the dispute, they make money off you not closing it. However, if you want to continue to do business with TRR I advise you close it and let the process play out.

I waited: SIX MONTHS for a refund from Hermes.com for a belt kit I returned that was the wrong size. I had already ordered the correct size and it took them SIX months to quality control it and ensure I had NOT been dishonest in my return, mind you I turned this around the same day I received because I have an in-house freight dept.
My point: MANY would have filed a chargeback to get their funds back, six months is a ridiculous wait time for a refund on an unworn item that was returned same day in 100% optimum condition. However, I sat on my hands and was patient because I intended to continue business with Hermes.

Customers who bypass our policies and use their banks chargeback system to get refunds before we process them are blaklisted from buying from us. It shows us that you think you are above our policies and should have things faster than we can reasonably accomodate.
Just offering you food for thought....

Thanks. To be honest, this is my first time filing a dispute, so I am completely unaware of all this and I definitely feel bad now as I did not intend to be rude and think of myself as above their policies. The reason was strictly because their associates were incredibly unreliable and did not give me definitive answers that I trusted, hence why I filed the dispute.

6 months is definitely a lot of time, I am very happy you were patient, I probably should have done the same with TRR.

I have a question, is it even worth talking to TRR at this point or is it too late? They keep telling me their supervising team will contact me directly, but they have not been as they promised. I am thinking the chargeback might be why.

Your advice is incredibly helpful, thank you!

 

[Loganz]

Thanks. To be honest, this is my first time filing a dispute, so I am completely unaware of all this and I definitely feel bad now as I did not intend to be rude and think of myself as above their policies. The reason was strictly because their associates were incredibly unreliable and did not give me definitive answers that I trusted, hence why I filed the dispute.

6 months is definitely a lot of time, I am very happy you were patient, I probably should have done the same with TRR.

I have a question, is it even worth talking to TRR at this point or is it too late? They keep telling me their supervising team will contact me directly, but they have not been as they promised. I am thinking the chargeback might be why.

Your advice is incredibly helpful, thank you!

I really appreciate your willingness to listen to the "other side" of retail, I do understand as I am a customer and also a business owner. I do try to live by the do unto others as you want done unto you, and with this I do try and follow a retailer's process even when I am frustrated by it or find it punitive.

I have found the fastest and best way to get direct service is by texting and telling the associate what you want to happen. At this point, your ticket is in the system, they know you want a refund, but you have filed the chargeback which prevents them from being able to refund you. (we have already covered this).
Let's go back to the initial process told to you: how long did they tell you it would take to get your funds back? For your knowledge and possible future leverage, you can tell them that although you sympathize with UPS's backlogs in satisfying claims, this is not your fault. As such, you would request a refund while they wait to settle the claim with the shipping company. You understand that it is not TRR's fault your package was lost/damaged/etc; but you know UPS can take a very long time to settle claims and as such you would really like a refund ASAP because UPS has deemed the package unrecoverable.

My advice at this point, when our customers file a chargeback and then request a refund from us we tell them they have to drop the CB and provide photo proof that this was done, usually you are emailed a confirmation that the dispute has been closed. We then let you know that it can take in some instances up to 5-7 banking days for us to receive the funds back from our merchant processor at which point we will refund you. We stress our 23 years in business as reason for trusting we are not "stealing" or being "shady".

You can wait for a supervisor, you can also drop the dispute and text back or email back to your ticket with TRR showing you have dropped the dispute and that you would like a refund.

However, I do want to caveat this all by saying you can't undo what has already been done, and I do not know how TRR handles refunds after disputes have been initiated. Also, you should be aware that it does not mean you will get a refund in 24 hours either. I do not know how large your purchase was, and I do understand that is immaterial to the fact that you DO NOT have the item you bought. I am sorry for this, as obviously TRR deals in one of a kind finds, since these items have been consigned.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful for you, let us know how it works out. I have found that apologies go along way in my employees helping customers who acted impulsively because they simply did not know what else to do....

 

[BeenBurned]

Hi Everyone!

I have a question. I purchased an item from The RealReal and the item, marked as delivered, never arrived to me. After the first 2 phone calls with them, I filed a dispute with my credit card just to be safe. Fast forward, after 2 UPS claim investigations (second still ongoing I think?), they are telling me that I cannot get a refund because the dispute has led to a chargeback on the order from my credit card institution. They are saying that in order to get my refund, I need to close the dispute.

Is that normal? It seems kinda fishy to me that they are making me close the dispute to get my refund. But, they will not guarantee to me that I am getting a refund, so I told them I will not close the dispute until I am guaranteed a refund by their next-level management. This is a nearly $3K item that is lost and still not found by UPS, so I am hoping to get my money back somehow.

Does anyone know what I should be doing at this point? I have been calling The RealReal customer service almost every day for the past 2 weeks and their service reps keep telling me different information that worries me and throws me off.

Thanks!

I don’t understand why you’d have to close the UPS case to get a refund on your CC. Have you called your CC company and discussed it with them?

As a business owner, 23 years in automotive, yes this is normal. We can't issue a refund after your bank has already taken the money. Standard practice is for you to not file a chargeback but allow the merchant to work with you. Once you file a chargeback we are less inclined to work with you because you have shown that you are not trusting the in the process of waiting for UPS etc to settle the lost claim, which takes upwards of 8 weeks these days.
I am sorry your purchase is lost, but TRR is not being shady or sketchy here. You filed a chargeback, they have had the money taken from their merchant account by your bank, if you want them to refund you then you need to cancel your dispute and let them refund you.
You should also know that banks charge between 15-30 USD to file paperwork related to chargebacks, which is of course billed to the merchant.

Hi Muchstuff! I hope you are well!

I do not understand either. Yes, I called my credit card institution and they advised me to not close the dispute as they would lose the rights to fight the case on my behalf.

The thing is, I have no problem closing it, but I do not trust them to give me the refund because of how unclear a lot of the associates have been. Like giving me different answers, giving the wrong information to UPS, not contacting me within the timeframe they promised they would, etc.

I am waiting for a followup from their next level management to see if they can guarantee me my refund, then I will be happy to close the dispute.

Thank you for your advice!!!

This is incredibly helpful, thank you for your insight on this. I was not aware of the whole dispute process and its impact on the CS team.

The thing is, I have no problem closing it, but I do not trust them to give me the refund because of how unclear a lot of the associates have been. Like giving me different answers, giving the wrong information to UPS, not contacting me within the timeframe they promised they would, etc.

I am waiting for a followup from their next level management to see if they can guarantee me my refund, then I will be happy to close the dispute. At this point, the associate said the bag is lost for sure, so I am just hoping I can get my money back.

Thanks. The UPS claim was opened by the real real, I have not opened that one. They advised that they would handle everything from the UPS side of things.

I will close the credit card dispute once I speak with their next level management, who promised to contact me by EOD today and they advised me to wait. Let's see.

Thanks again for your advice!

TRR does not have my undying support, lol. I find their authentications are sometimes rushed, fakes get through, damages are not disclosed, etc. However, they are not sketchy, or shady, they are after all a publicly traded company who must comply with basic rules and regulations for customer support. You hamstring them when you file a chargeback, they can no longer communicate with you, now their fraud dept has to communicate with the banks, merchant processor, etc.

Your card company will always tell you not to close the dispute, they make money off you not closing it. However, if you want to continue to do business with TRR I advise you close it and let the process play out.

I waited: SIX MONTHS for a refund from Hermes.com for a belt kit I returned that was the wrong size. I had already ordered the correct size and it took them SIX months to quality control it and ensure I had NOT been dishonest in my return, mind you I turned this around the same day I received because I have an in-house freight dept.
My point: MANY would have filed a chargeback to get their funds back, six months is a ridiculous wait time for a refund on an unworn item that was returned same day in 100% optimum condition. However, I sat on my hands and was patient because I intended to continue business with Hermes.

Customers who bypass our policies and use their banks chargeback system to get refunds before we process them are blaklisted from buying from us. It shows us that you think you are above our policies and should have things faster than we can reasonably accomodate.
Just offering you food for thought....

Thanks. To be honest, this is my first time filing a dispute, so I am completely unaware of all this and I definitely feel bad now as I did not intend to be rude and think of myself as above their policies. The reason was strictly because their associates were incredibly unreliable and did not give me definitive answers that I trusted, hence why I filed the dispute.

6 months is definitely a lot of time, I am very happy you were patient, I probably should have done the same with TRR.

I have a question, is it even worth talking to TRR at this point or is it too late? They keep telling me their supervising team will contact me directly, but they have not been as they promised. I am thinking the chargeback might be why.

Your advice is incredibly helpful, thank you!

I really appreciate your willingness to listen to the "other side" of retail, I do understand as I am a customer and also a business owner. I do try to live by the do unto others as you want done unto you, and with this I do try and follow a retailer's process even when I am frustrated by it or find it punitive.

I have found the fastest and best way to get direct service is by texting and telling the associate what you want to happen. At this point, your ticket is in the system, they know you want a refund, but you have filed the chargeback which prevents them from being able to refund you. (we have already covered this).
Let's go back to the initial process told to you: how long did they tell you it would take to get your funds back? For your knowledge and possible future leverage, you can tell them that although you sympathize with UPS's backlogs in satisfying claims, this is not your fault. As such, you would request a refund while they wait to settle the claim with the shipping company. You understand that it is not TRR's fault your package was lost/damaged/etc; but you know UPS can take a very long time to settle claims and as such you would really like a refund ASAP because UPS has deemed the package unrecoverable.

My advice at this point, when our customers file a chargeback and then request a refund from us we tell them they have to drop the CB and provide photo proof that this was done, usually you are emailed a confirmation that the dispute has been closed. We then let you know that it can take in some instances up to 5-7 banking days for us to receive the funds back from our merchant processor at which point we will refund you. We stress our 23 years in business as reason for trusting we are not "stealing" or being "shady".

You can wait for a supervisor, you can also drop the dispute and text back or email back to your ticket with TRR showing you have dropped the dispute and that you would like a refund.

However, I do want to caveat this all by saying you can't undo what has already been done, and I do not know how TRR handles refunds after disputes have been initiated. Also, you should be aware that it does not mean you will get a refund in 24 hours either. I do not know how large your purchase was, and I do understand that is immaterial to the fact that you DO NOT have the item you bought. I am sorry for this, as obviously TRR deals in one of a kind finds, since these items have been consigned.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful for you, let us know how it works out. I have found that apologies go along way in my employees helping customers who acted impulsively because they simply did not know what else to do....

Here's my take which is from someone who has never done business with TRR but has not been impressed with the company.

1. You (@Yoshi1296 ) are the customer whose money is at stake. You have to be your own best advocate because no one cares about protecting you and your money as much as you do.

2. When a company purchases a shipping label (in this case UPS), THEY are the client and THEY are the one who UPS will respond to. UPS doesn't have to nor will they communicate with you. (Proof of this is shown in the many ebay community posts in which UPS and Fedex items are lost and although it was the sellers who purchased and paid for shipping labels, the account holder is ebay and only ebay can file claims. This is unlike USPS.)

So in this case, UPS doesn't have to answer to you and they have no loyalty to you.

3. IMO, you did the right thing in filing a c.c. dispute because you felt you weren't getting anywhere with TRR. And with the credit card company, generally you have just 60 days to file a dispute. Although you didn't say when this purchase was made and supposedly delivered but you do/did have to keep in mind the limited timeframe for your dispute.

4. My understanding (from having read ebay's discussion boards for many years as well as closing one of my chargebacks when an issue was resolved) is that the dispute can stay open until TRR resolves it. Although their official "dispute" may have closed once you filed the chargeback (as does an ebay dispute once a c.c. dispute is opened), only TRR can deal with UPS since the shipping was purchased on their account.

I would just tell them that you cannot close the claim and risk losing $3K. They should understand and should work hard at resolution so both you and they can be made whole. (You'd be made whole by TRR and TRR would be made whole by UPS who lost the item.)

And you can assure them that neither TRR nor your c.c. will let you get reimbursed twice, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[snibor]

Thanks. The UPS claim was opened by the real real, I have not opened that one. They advised that they would handle everything from the UPS side of things.

I will close the credit card dispute once I speak with their next level management, who promised to contact me by EOD today and they advised me to wait. Let's see.

Thanks again for your advice!

If it were me, there is no way I would close the dispute. You paid for an item you didn’t receive. I have had a few occasions where I had to do this (file dispute) but not with RR. Credit card company always sided with me. If product suddenly gets delivered, then I’d call credit card company and advise.

 

[Yoshi1296]

I really appreciate your willingness to listen to the "other side" of retail, I do understand as I am a customer and also a business owner. I do try to live by the do unto others as you want done unto you, and with this I do try and follow a retailer's process even when I am frustrated by it or find it punitive.

I have found the fastest and best way to get direct service is by texting and telling the associate what you want to happen. At this point, your ticket is in the system, they know you want a refund, but you have filed the chargeback which prevents them from being able to refund you. (we have already covered this).
Let's go back to the initial process told to you: how long did they tell you it would take to get your funds back? For your knowledge and possible future leverage, you can tell them that although you sympathize with UPS's backlogs in satisfying claims, this is not your fault. As such, you would request a refund while they wait to settle the claim with the shipping company. You understand that it is not TRR's fault your package was lost/damaged/etc; but you know UPS can take a very long time to settle claims and as such you would really like a refund ASAP because UPS has deemed the package unrecoverable.

My advice at this point, when our customers file a chargeback and then request a refund from us we tell them they have to drop the CB and provide photo proof that this was done, usually you are emailed a confirmation that the dispute has been closed. We then let you know that it can take in some instances up to 5-7 banking days for us to receive the funds back from our merchant processor at which point we will refund you. We stress our 23 years in business as reason for trusting we are not "stealing" or being "shady".

You can wait for a supervisor, you can also drop the dispute and text back or email back to your ticket with TRR showing you have dropped the dispute and that you would like a refund.

However, I do want to caveat this all by saying you can't undo what has already been done, and I do not know how TRR handles refunds after disputes have been initiated. Also, you should be aware that it does not mean you will get a refund in 24 hours either. I do not know how large your purchase was, and I do understand that is immaterial to the fact that you DO NOT have the item you bought. I am sorry for this, as obviously TRR deals in one of a kind finds, since these items have been consigned.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful for you, let us know how it works out. I have found that apologies go along way in my employees helping customers who acted impulsively because they simply did not know what else to do....

Hi @Loganz ! You were absolutely right about everything regarding why they wanted me to close the dispute. I spoke with the supervisor who was pretty nice and helpful. Basically, the issue is not about the lost package anymore, it is more about the dispute/chargeback that was filed.

I have closed the dispute as the supervisor confirmed that they will work towards my reimbursement if I do so. I called both my CC and Paypal and sent the letters to them this morning. I am *hoping* so much that they just give me my refund and I can get this matter over with. I just hope they don't flip flop and not give me the refund anymore after closing it.

Here's my take which is from someone who has never done business with TRR but has not been impressed with the company.

1. You (@Yoshi1296 ) are the customer whose money is at stake. You have to be your own best advocate because no one cares about protecting you and your money as much as you do.

2. When a company purchases a shipping label (in this case UPS), THEY are the client and THEY are the one who UPS will respond to. UPS doesn't have to nor will they communicate with you. (Proof of this is shown in the many ebay community posts in which UPS and Fedex items are lost and although it was the sellers who purchased and paid for shipping labels, the account holder is ebay and only ebay can file claims. This is unlike USPS.)

So in this case, UPS doesn't have to answer to you and they have no loyalty to you.

3. IMO, you did the right thing in filing a c.c. dispute because you felt you weren't getting anywhere with TRR. And with the credit card company, generally you have just 60 days to file a dispute. Although you didn't say when this purchase was made and supposedly delivered but you do/did have to keep in mind the limited timeframe for your dispute.

4. My understanding (from having read ebay's discussion boards for many years as well as closing one of my chargebacks when an issue was resolved) is that the dispute can stay open until TRR resolves it. Although their official "dispute" may have closed once you filed the chargeback (as does an ebay dispute once a c.c. dispute is opened), only TRR can deal with UPS since the shipping was purchased on their account.

I would just tell them that you cannot close the claim and risk losing $3K. They should understand and should work hard at resolution so both you and they can be made whole. (You'd be made whole by TRR and TRR would be made whole by UPS who lost the item.)

And you can assure them that neither TRR nor your c.c. will let you get reimbursed twice, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you @BeenBurned ! You know, I really did not want to close this dispute. The supervisor on the phone that called me back did not budge, but reassured me that I will get my refund. So, I am hoping they do. I might have made a big mistake, but we will have to wait and see. I did emphasize that I cannot risk losing the $3k to them, and basically said everything you mentioned at the end, but it appears their issue is not the lost package, it is about the dispute I filed. It feels like since I filed the dispute, they are now rushing to get me my refund.

If it were me, there is no way I would close the dispute. You paid for an item you didn’t receive. I have had a few occasions where I had to do this (file dispute) but not with RR. Credit card company always sided with me. If product suddenly gets delivered, then I’d call credit card company and advise.

Hi @snibor ! Thanks for your advice! I definitely was feeling really anxious, but, I ended up closing the dispute as they said I would receive reimbursement of the lost item if I do. Knowing how large of a company TRR is, I am sure they could have refunded me before closing the dispute, but, the supervisor did not budge on the phone. I am hoping they provide me the refund now as promised.

Thank you all for your help! I will keep you all updated. I am hoping I did not make a mistake by closing this dispute, but we will have to wait and see. *fingers crossed!*

 

[ronnie20]

I am looking for a pre-owned bag on the therealreal. Their bags are supposedly non-returnable. Has anyone had an experience where they received a bag that was not as described and were able to send it back and get your money back? TIA!

 

[Yoshi1296]

I am looking for a pre-owned bag on the therealreal. Their bags are supposedly non-returnable. Has anyone had an experience where they received a bag that was not as described and were able to send it back and get your money back? TIA!

Hi,

They are pretty strict on their no return policy. Honestly, considering their very messy customer service experience I am having right now, I would not risk it if I were you. Unless you 100% are sure the bag is authentic and you are okay with taking the risk.

 

[ronnie20]

Hi,

They are pretty strict on their no return policy. Honestly, considering their very messy customer service experience I am having right now, I would not risk it if I were you. Unless you 100% are sure the bag is authentic and you are okay with taking the risk.

Thank you!

 

[RJY]

I am looking for a pre-owned bag on the therealreal. Their bags are supposedly non-returnable. Has anyone had an experience where they received a bag that was not as described and were able to send it back and get your money back? TIA!

I’ve posted about my experiences with RealReal, including returning non-returnable items. Long story short, I’ve gotten full refunds on items that were not as described. On one occasion, where I wanted to keep the bag, they reimbursed me for the cost of Hermes spa.