Chatterpants - potential rip off

auntiepiglet

Firstly, I'd like to say I don't usually complain about things, but I feel that in this case there is just cause. It's not just a rant however, I'd like to warn others about it too, hence this post.

I bought a couple of crawling trousers from the chatterpants website as my little boy is getting sore knees. They sounded great with nice paddings and after reading about their size guide, I decided to purchase the size 12-18 months, even if he is only 10 months. This is because he is a little chubby, but not overly so. Fair enough, when I received them they were too long. So I sent them back and got the smaller size. The website states that you should probably get the smaller size as they are most likely to fit and the waist is elasticated. So I did. When I got them, they wouldn't even get past his knees! The elastic has almost no give whatsoever and there are no buttons for adjustment (except to narrow the waist). I let them know about the size and their reply was I could spend more on some dungarees which MAY fit and also pay the postage for sending them out. With the size guide not being very accurate, I decided to cut my losses and just get a refund. BUT they take £1 off the refund for every returned item. Why do they do this? I don't know of anywhere else that does. I emailed back to complain about this and the fact that my baby is not particularly big and still wouldn't fit the trousers and got absolutely no reply. This is what really annoyed me.

I know that this isn't the end of the world, but I ended up spending 2 x recorded returns on the trousers and got an extra £2 taken off and didn't get the courtesy of a reply when I challenged it. With things being hard up enough during the credit crisis, I didn't need this! It was about £7 wasted. It is also a warning that the sizes are ridiculous (I know everyone says my baby isn't fat or whatever, but he really isn't!) - they are more like small european sizes and that is being generous. In retrospect, I thought that they may take £1 for every refund because they are having to give so many refunds.

This is my first post and apologies that is is a negative one.

bottomsup

It does say on their T&C that there is a £1 handling charge for goods returned for refund.

Looking at their site and the small volume of clothing they do, I would think that they are probably a very small company (maybe even run from home?).

auntiepiglet

Hi bottomsup. Yes, I had seen that they take £1 off for each return. When I bought the trousers, I hadn't envisaged having to return them since the sizing guide seemed pretty comprehensive. My gripe is that it was misleading and that they couldn't be bothered to reply to my complaint.
I also used to run a tiny business from home and I would never have ignored any communication or taken money unnecessarily.

catspjs

Thanks for the warning - I was going to order from them but then I came across your post. I don't think I'll try them if their sizing isn't all that generous and they take £1 from you if it doesn't fit!