Customers Unhappy With Kate Hudson's Fabletics Brand

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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The subscription shopping industry has seen huge success over the past few years. People can buy anything from diapers, shoes, clothes … even food. But now, one popular athletic wear company fronted by Kate Hudson has hundreds of complaints against it. The Better Business Bureau has 1,291 complaints against Fabletics and its parent company JustFab Inc.

Jamie Piland of Dallas says Fabletics tricked her into buying a subscription service she didn't want. "They sign you up for VIP membership," she told CBS 11 News.
"The information is buried so deeply in their website that you don't realize that you're signing up for this VIP membership."

There are several complaints online and also on social media against Fabletics.

Customers say the problem starts with the way the site is designed. It offers an exclusive outfit for just $25. But, if you don't pay close attention to the fine print, you could be signing up for a monthly charge of $49.95.

Consumer advocates say the website is taking advantage of people's limited attention spans with multiple screens that are confusing. Once the customer shops and reaches checkout, he or she has the option of purchasing just the items in the car or a VIP membership, without an explanation of how the membership and fees work.

Many customers complained that they had a hard time canceling service. "When they (customers) contact the company there's not live person on the phone," Kelle Slaughter with the BBB told CBS 11 News.

"They (customers) are not getting responses to emails or voicemails."

Piland says her issue was eventually resolved after she contacted the BBB. The I-Team spoke to another Dallas customer who says she liked the products offered by Fabletics but canceled after she was charged for something she didn't buy. And, it took weeks to resolve the issue.

Just Fab Inc. the parent company of Fabletics sent us the following statement.

"Fabletics has had over 1 million men and women join the VIP membership program since it launched 2 years ago. VIP members derive tremendous benefits from our flexible subscription-based model. Our business model gives us the opportunity to bring Fabletics' customers quality and stylish athleisure-wear at a great price. We make it very clear during the Fabletics shopping experience, and in multiple places on the website, that if a customer takes advantage of these membership prices, she/he is joining our VIP service. In fact, Fabletics provides at least 15 separate notifications – including 6 before a customer checks out for the first time – about the subscription model. Also for first time customers, there are two points at which a customer must proactively opt-in during the checkout process. The first is when they choose between checking out as a Retail customer or joining the VIP Membership, and the second is where they must indicate that they accept the terms of the JustFab VIP Membership Program by affirmatively checking a box (i.e., opting-in) prior to any purchase and enrolling in the VIP Membership program. They cannot proceed until they affirm they understand the terms of the program."

Customer satisfaction is key for us:
· More than one million of JustFab Inc's VIP members have come as a referral from a friend.
· 80% - 85% of JustFab Inc's revenue comes from repeat buyers across all brands.

We believe that our service levels are best in class for the size of our business. In September (our biggest month ever) alone:
· The average wait time for Fabletics customer service was 59 seconds.
· 74% of calls were answered under 30 seconds or less.

According to our records with the Better Business Bureau, Fabletics has less than 200 complaints IN TOTAL which is a very small fraction of a percent of the total customer base.

With that said, we take customer feedback very seriously and have ongoing initiatives to improve our online account management tools and continue to increase our staffing so that every call is answered in a timely fashion.

We are also continually refining our training to help ensure that each customer who calls in – for whatever reason – is satisfied. We are happy to hear the customers you spoke to had their matters resolved with our member service team and will take the feedback to the team.

Regardless of whether the complaints are from the small minority of customers, these instances are not reflective of the standards we strive for and we will continue to improve."

What can you do:
1) Read the fine print
2) Do you research. Know about the company before you buy.
3) Use a trusted credit card to avoid being stuck in an unwanted situation. That way you can dispute the transaction later.

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