HauteLook
Reviews and Complaints

I placed an order for 2 pair of jeans and 1 pair of shorts (so I thought). But on receiving the items there were 2 pair of the same jeans shipped. It took a looong time to place the order so I was really frustrated & disappointed when it arrived. This was just the beginning of my hautelook nightmare, I called to make sure I was returning the items properly & was told wrong info for printing the return label, called back & once again was told the wrong info. On the third call I called because my card had not been credited after their 7-10 day return of the items policy & was told that my order would be refunded in two separate refunds, when I asked why they said I didn't have all 4 items on the return label after being told that they would make note in the system that on receipt of the order all 4 items would be returned together, now I have to wait another 3-5 days for my total refund. WORD TO THE WISE AND THOSE WITH A LIFE. DON'T ORDER FROM HAUTELOOK IF THIS IS A NORDSTROM STORE HAUTELOOK NEEDS TO STEP UP THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS, AS A CUSTOMER I SHOULD NOT BE MADE TO FEEL LIKE I AM AT A JOB JUST TO ORDER/RETURN YOUR PRODUCT! HAUTELOOK SHOULD BE PAYING ME FOR ALL THE TIME I HAD TO SPEND GETTING THEM TO DO THE JOB THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE IN THE FIRST, BUT AS THE SAYING GOES YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR...BUYER BEWARE! HAUTELOOK SHOULD BE HAUTEMESS!

My first couple of times using Hautelook I was so excited to find a site on the web with such great deals with name brands so cheap! I had let all my friends know about this amazing site I had found with such good deals.

Unfortunately that ended quickly when I started having problems with the shipping. I live in a remote area where the postal service does not deliver our mail and there is only a central post office where you can receive all your mail including packages.

The Hautelook website does not accept PO box addresses to be shipped to even though some items are shipped through USPS and some are UPS. Well 3 times my items were shipped to USPS and when they dont accept PO BOXes as a regular address to ship to so I could not get those packages and they are sent back right away.

When I called up hautelook I was told that I could not get my items that I had paid for and it was getting sent back to the original retailer. I asked if they could just re-route the package back to me and put a note on the tracking number but apparently there is "no way" of doing that... how in a company can you not communicate with another dept to get the item back because of your site error in methods of shipment.

I had an email sent to me asking for my feedback and I had wrote a long suggestion that PO boxes SHOULD be allowed or whatever item you ordered should indicate whether it would be shipped USPS or UPS. I had talked to a supervisor, I have talked to several people over the phone. The last person I talked to after all my frustration and third returned package later that "it was no ones fault" that their system was unreliable to which item gets sent through USPS or UPS. Well, actually, its the sites fault and needs to be more user friendly for people who want to spend their money on YOUR website to figure out the best way to get the items to the consumer via mail.

They kept trying to credit me back on the website and not my debit card I had originally used. I was so fed up. Why would i want to keep buying from a website that keeps messing up my orders not once, not twice but three times.

To make matters worse, while this whole shipping mess was going on, 2 items I had ordered and paid for were "out of stock". I had received emails saying "oh dont worry, your stuff is on its way" when in actuality it wasnt. I wasnt sure how they "just" realized 17 days later that they were out of stock. They credited me with a 5$ credit but honestly, to not have to deal with this painstaking process of questioning IF id get my stuff, Id rather shop somewhere else where I KNOW id get my stuff. Thanks for the credit but honestly, I dont think Ill ever shop there ever again.

I once was an avid shopper of the site. Now, Im so fed up with the unorganization and guessing game on where my items I had purchased were that honestly, It is NOT worth the hassle.

Cmon guys... get ur [censored] together. BC honetly, its just a mess over there.

What a joke! They tell you that you only have 15 minutes to checkout and then the merchandise will be returned to stock. Well, I been waiting over an hour now for hold merchandise to be returned or sold and it still says it is on hold. I called customer service and she said at 15 minutes it will ask if you still want to hold and you can conceivably keep hitting that button all day. WHAT in the heck is the point of even having the 15 minute timer if you are going to do it that way. She had no answer.

I have ordered a number of things from Hautelook and have become used to the long time of order fulfilment and shipping. All of the previous orders were shipped with the correct items, though one of the dresses really looked cheap and was not something I would ever buy in person. However, I ordered a vintage sari quilt after painstakingly watching for one that had colors and patterns that I liked. When the quilt arrived, it was completely different; it was only one fabric on the back and one on the front, instead of many fabrics shown in the photo. Worse of all, it was orange and black and looks like a child's Halloween project. I paid over a $100 for something that cannot be returned or used.

I ordered three items of jewelry that are the cheapest made jewelry I have seen in a long time! The earrings looked like plastic mounted in the same material you see the bubble gum machines mount their rings. The necklace and bracelet were made of some cheap flimsy material that when touched black stuff rubbed off on your fingers! I payed WAY too much money for this crap and of course it is "not returnable" as i supposedly got it "on sale." I would not have bought this stuff at the dollar store. And the dollar number they compared the price too is the biggest joke yet. What a FOOL I was to fall for this---I am so mad and disappointed to of wasted my money like this.

I have ordere many a time from Hautelook with no problems whatsoever. This time around though, I place an order, wait the standard period of forever and a day for it to even ship, and, upon receiving my package, find absolutely nothing. The box was EMPTY aside for tissue paper and an order confirmation. It definitely been untampered with, as the box was completely unscathed upon arriving at my door. I also have a security camera, and which can attest to the fact that no delinquents made off with this shipments contents. So i immediately contact MemberCare, an the representative was cordial enough. She offered me a refund, I said of course. Without granting me much time for consideration, however, she state it would be to the original method of payment, and proceeded instantly to put me on hold. I certainly would have preferred site credit. Regardless, her excuse involved that someone must have thought my product had been packaged, and mistakenly sealed the box. Really? Someone out there looked at a box with an empty plastic bag and an order confirmation, yet decided to ship it? On the return transcript, under "reasons for return" it stated "lost in warehouse." Come. On. This is absolutely unacceptable, and I will hesitate before purchasing anything valuable from this site again.

I had been ordering from this company off an on for about a year without incident (although the retail price is always over-stated). I recently ordered a Dawn Levi jacket and was told, via email nearly 2 weeks later, that the jacket was unfortunately not in stock and I would receive an immediate refund and a $10 credit. Problem was that I could have ordered the same exact jacket on Gilt for the same price but missed my opportunity waiting for this jacket from hautelook. The $10 credit was an insult on top of it. I won't order from them anymore.

This concerns an on-line order that was placed on 9/2/12. The order referenced as 7096930 includes three items. This is not my first HauteLook order. In the past two years I placed several on-line orders with HauteLook; 95% consist of multiple items. After placing my order I received the usual confirmation E-mail with order no., items, cost, tax and shipping fees followed by the grand total. The confirmation also specified a delivery date of 09/10-09/13.

Sent: Sun 9/2/2012 9:48 AM

Hi XXXXX,
For order status, please visit HauteLook.com and click on "Account" at the top of the page.
Changes and cancellations are not allowed at this time. Please refer to our "Help" section for
information regarding returns or exchanges.
________________________________________
Order #: 7096930
Order Date: 9/2/2012
Billed to: NA () Shipped to: xxxxx, US
Blowout - L.A.M.B. Tie Dye Tank, KHAKI TIE DYE / M, Item is not returnable. Delivery Mon 9/10/12 to Wed 9/12/12, Qty 1 $28.00;
Blowout-Winter Kate Clementine Tank, PEACOCK / M, Item is not returnable.Delivery Mon 9/10/12 to Wed 9/12/12, Qty 1 $21.00;and
Tulle Piped Top, Cloud Print / M, Item is not returnable. Delivery Tue 9/11/12 to Thu 9/13/12 Qty 1 $14.00
Thanks for shopping with HauteLook! Subtotal: $63.00
Tax (8.25%): $5.20
Shipping - Standard ground: $8.95
HauteLook Credit: -$0.00
Gift card/Discount: -$0.00
________________________________________
Total Charge: $77.15
As the delivery date approached and I failed to receive notification that my order had shipped and/or the UPS tracking no., I logged into my HauteLook account to check the status of my order. From the day my order was placed on September 2 through September 12, the status never changed. Despite repeated attempts to contact HauteLook with the exception of an automatically generated E-mail, HauteLook never contacted me.
“Hi Estelle, Thank you for contacting HauteLook Member Care. We're here to help, so we'll make sure that we get back to you within 24 hours. Can't wait? No problem! You can chat with a live Member Care representative 7 days a week, 7AM to 6PM Pacific. Get real-time answers and solutions, plus shopping tips on everything HauteLook has to offer! Thanks for being a HauteLook member!”
My final e-mail stated, please cancel my order. Since my order has not been processed it will make things easier for you, myself and UPS if you cancel the order. I will not accept delivery and will instruct UPS to return the order to HauteLook. I did receive a response to that e-mail. The response indicated we cannot do that, as your order is preparing for shipment. I would later learn that was not true. To the contrary, the order would not dispatch for an additional four days.
On September 15 I received the following E-mail from HauteLook
Hi Estelle,
Your HauteLook order has been shipped! The expected delivery date is 9/18/2012. For order information or status, please visit HauteLook.com and click on "Account" at the top of the page. Your UPS tracking number is 1Z9199280311094834. Please allow 24 hours to track your shipment.
________________________________________
Order #: 7096930
Order Date: 9/2/2012
Billed to: NA () Shipped to:
XXXXXXXX
Order #: 7096930
Order Date: 9/2/2012
Billed to: NA () Shipped to: xxxxx, US
Blowout - L.A.M.B. Tie Dye Tank, KHAKI TIE DYE / M, Item is not returnable. Delivery Mon 9/10/12 to Wed 9/12/12, Qty 1 $28.00;
Blowout-Winter Kate Clementine Tank, PEACOCK / M, Item is not returnable.Delivery Mon 9/10/12 to Wed 9/12/12, Qty 1 $21.00;and
Tulle Piped Top, Cloud Print / M, Item is not returnable. Delivery Tue 9/11/12 to Thu 9/13/12 Qty 1 $14.00
Thanks for shopping with HauteLook! Subtotal: $63.00
Tax (8.25%): $5.20
Shipping - Standard ground: $8.95
HauteLook Credit: -$0.00
Gift card/Discount: -$0.00
________________________________________
Total Charge: $77.15
Contact: If you have questions regarding your order, contact us at [protected]@hautelook.com or call Member Care, Monday-Friday 6AM to 6PM Pacific at [protected].
After checking with UPS, I learned that they had no record of the order. I immediately called HauteLook to advise that UPS has no record of the order. The HauteLook rep told me the order had not yet been dispatched but would the following day. I angrily asked why HauteLook would send me an e-mail that indicated a delivery date of September 18 when in truth the order had not left the warehouse or been deposited with UPS. Her response was that the order would be dispatched in the next day or two. She also confirmed that the order will not arrive on September 18. I again requested that they cancel the order and stop delivery. She indicated she would not and I replied when it arrives I will refuse delivery.
At 7:00 p.m. PST on September 19, or seven days after the original intended date of delivery, UPS attempted delivery. Without looking at the delivery I instructed my carrier to return the order. On the morning of September 21, less than two days after UPS attempted delivery, HauteLook had possession of my returned order.
Message from XXXXXX:
1Z9199280311094834
Tracking Number: 1Z9199280311094834
Delivery Date / Time: 21-September-2012 / 10:00 AM
Delivery Location: DOCK
Signed by: NO SIG OBTAINED
Shipment Detail
Ship To:
FONTANA
CA
US
UPS Service: GROUND
Weight: 1.0 LBS.
Quantum View Request Number: A6CA3365F2F56059
Not only did HauteLook fail to deliver an order that was placed two weeks earlier, but they were incapable of delivering the order specified in their E-mail of September 15. On their end, HauteLook lost a loyal customer who had placed hundreds of dollars in merchandise orders with them over the past two years.
To add insult to injury is that HauteLook insists on charging me $8.95 for shipping despite repeated requests that they cancel the order.

This is the first review I have ever written in my life, I was so upset with what happened, I had to share it with others so people are not cheated the way I was. We buy from Hautelook regularly; we also view the emails daily as they do have nice things on their website. Saying that let me also say the following:

We purchased a watch on (8/24/12) from their website and received a confirmation email (order #7007035) stating changes and cancellation are not allowed and that it is a final sale. Then 8 hours later we received 2 new emails saying that our order was cancelled based on our request (which we never made) without any explanation. We called the customer service and their response was “I am showing there was a product issue and we cannot fill your order”. No other explanation, upon asking her what the issue was with the product and stating that we have purchased this item from your website, which Hautelook put up for sale her response was, “ we don’t have these items and we have partnership with vendors” so there is no guarantee you will receive your order.

For a company owned by Nordstrom, which prides themselves in customer service, Hautelook is atrocious. The rep on the phone was rude and had a nasty attitude; it felt like she was doing me a favor by talking to me on the phone. After this entire situation my understanding is Hautelook doesn’t care about its customer, has extremely poor customer services employees, are unable to fulfill their promise to consumers and has very poor business model.

As a professional looking outside in, I hope Nordstrom will retain Mckinsey to go in and clean house, as Hautelook is unable to fulfill their basic promise to consumers.

I've been using Gilt Group and My Habit for quite some time. I stumbled across Haute Look and was intially very excited by their low prices. Now the excitement is replaced by anger, frustration and incredulousness at how lame their site is. First, it takes FOREVER to get your items. Second, when you inquire as to the status they don't respond. Sometimes they even just cancel your order. Thirdly, I just price compared with another site and they're offering the same merchandise for the same price but Haute Look's shipping time and charge are much longer/higher. Ugh. Not worth it. By the time I receive my items I've forgotten they were even coming. Too many other great websites out there for this that don't charge you for shipping, offer great customer service and get your items to you in a timely manner.

At first I was excited to see they were selling Juicy Couture so I bought four items all IN TIME all AVALIABLE. Three weeks later I recieve a return email saying they had to refund my money because they didnt have the bag I ordered. That crushed my dreams. THEN a week later I recieve my order and I had ordered a pair of Juicy couture shoes size 6. What they sent me was a RIGHT shoe size 6 and a RIGHT shoe size 6 1/2! Two RIGHT shoes completely different! Who does that. I am extremely disappointed.

I was a long time Hautelook customer but my recent experience with them has convinced me to never ever shop with them again. I purchased 4 items from a sale and 2 weeks later received an email that I was not going to be getting 3 out of the 4. When I called, they could only apologize and pass me on to yet another supervisor. I even left a message for the head of customer service, Chris, who never bothered to call me back. The deals are not worth the irritation. Their parent company Nordstrom should teach them about the importance and priceless effect good customer service has on a business. Ok - so an update to this situation is that after another call and some phone tag Chris got in touch with me and has come up with a resolution to the situation, which I am waiting for. I am hopeful and did get the apology I was looking for, which I respect. I hope that the management at the site will realize that if they give their customer service representatives more training and authority, they will have a lot less frustrated customers! I will change my rating once this is resolved.

This company is the worst company, I have ever seen. Ones they get hold of your credit card, your are finish. Be aware of this company before you order anything from them. Even if their item is cheap, which is not, compare to other site like they will chew you off. I had ordered something last year, the order were wrong, I was promised it be credited back to my credit card but it was a big lies, instead they said it will be credited to their account for me to use. I have tried using the credit which is which about $195.95. Now, they new rule that you have to supply them with credit card before you can use it. Please be aware of this before you submit any information to them. They are rip off company

In all my years of buying from Internet vendors this is the first time I've ever had one of them issue "store credit" for a return. I'm going to try and fight them through my bank's credit card department. I'll never buy anything from them again and strongly suggest that everyone stay away.

I purchased a WHITE pre-owned Dolce & Gabanna peacoat from www.hautelook.com for about $500 in total (incl. tax and shipping) during their "decadestwo 1 Italian label" event in late February, 2011. I normally don't buy pre-owned items but the pictures they offered showed a flawless coat and their description mentioned "next to new condition", so I ordered it. The item arrived on March 1, 2011 and I discovered a thin stain on the front of the coat (which looked like a pen mark). I immediately reported it to hautelook.com. I opened the coat and also found multiple dirt stains all over the lower edge inside the coat. Again, this is a WHITE coat and stains are fetal for white coats! This case was also reported and filed (I sent pictures of this to hautelook.com reps). Hautelook.com refused to let me return it since it was a final sale and offered me $50 for dry cleaning instead after a few days of dispute. I said I prefer to send it back and have them dry clean it and then send it back to me; and that if the stains are all out, I'd be more than happy to take it back. They emailed me back saying, all they can do is giving me $50 and if the dry cleaner is unable to get the stains out, it is their (dry cleaner's) responsibility. Either way, it is my fault to buy a bad product and they will not take a responsibility no matter what. I think it is my right to get what I paid for- I paid for a "next to new condition" coat, not a dirty used coat that I would have NOT bought if it was accurately described. I decided to report this so that there won't be victims like me in the future and that hautelook.com stops deceiving their customers. Anyway, if you buy anything bad from hautelook.com, know that they won't take the responsibility.

I was really excited to use HauteLook. I ordered three items, two were good quality, but the boots I ordered were extremely low quality (plastic soles, very chemical smell to them, poor quality, could see glue on outside of boots, entirely fake materials). I returned them, and had a $10 restock fee. I used my credit ($35) to get a necklace, which arrived broken. The necklace was listed at $100 retail, on sale for $48, it looked pretty, and of quality materials, on the website. In person, it was a necklace which might have a wholesale value of $18-22. (I should know, I have bought clothing and jewelry for clothing stores to stock.) It was broken in three places and made of really shoddy material. When I asked Haute Look to refund half the purchase price (and I would repair it myself), they said no. I asked to return it outright, and they said they'd only return $13 to me because I had purchased the rest of the item with store credit (from the original faulty item). This place sells poor quality goods and markets them as high quality goods at a discount. Their return policy is suspect and their customer service is poor. DO NOT BUY from Haute Look; you don't know what quality you're getting and if disappointed, you won't get your money back.

Ordered beginning of August, waited forever for a tracking number. I know shipping takes long and that's how these websites can sell for cheaper, but this was ridiculous. They say it takes 10-14 business days to arrive. I didn't even get a tracking number until 2 weeks later, and when I did, it wasn't active. it just showed "billing information received", and stayed that way for another 2 weeks. Everytime I called, they said they were waiting on ONE item to see if they could locate it since they over-sold it on the site, and wouldn't be shipping my order until they could locate it, and if they couldn't, they'd just ship out my order plus a refund on that one item ("short shipment"). So I waited some more.

Finally got a package a month after I placed my order, (without the tracking number ever working) only to find out it only contained 1 item out of the 4, with the invoice stating a refund on one. I called asking why I only had 1 item when the invoice states 3 items and 1 refund. CS rep kept trying to explain that the other items were arriving separately and that I should wait ANOTHER week. I kept trying to explain that this whole time, I was not made aware that only 1 item was in stock. They told me they were only waiting on 1 item and would ship the rest out once they found out the status of that one over-sold item. She kept trying to explain the "short shipment" procedure to me when I already understood that. She kept going around it and even said, "let me explain this in a way you can understand". Um, I understand your short shipment policy, but I'm asking why I was never notified about the other items, or why the tracking number that took so long was never active, and why I was never followed up on it, why I never received an email about the short shipment even though the site says they will contact you in 5-7 days regarding the matter, etc.

So eventually, she was basically telling me to wait even longer for the other 2 items since they were all coming from different locations. I was wondering why I was waiting so long when I lived in the same city as this company. I called yet another time and was told the same thing, to give it another week. Finally I called again, only for them to tell me that i'd be getting a refund on the remaining 2 items. Wow, thanks for letting me know this whole time that I wouldn't be getting 3 of my 4 items, without warning, and with me having to call on a regular, while customer service acts like I am bothering them. Maybe if they updated me on the status of my order once in a while, or even ONCE. All 4 items were a gift to 1 person, and here I am, almost 2 months later with only one.

Horrible customer service and horrible business. Take your business elsewhere! Worst site ever!

Did you know when you place additional Hautelook orders in December of 2009, and all the way until April of 2010 as far as I know, on the same day for FREE ADDITIONAL SHIPPING their system does not automatically recognize your previous order? You pay shipping every time you order! A computer system not automated? Really? In this day and age? RED FLAG! You are or were forced to place the order with no more than 5 items and then you could order another 5 items. This has sense been removed from my account.Unless YOU CALL and REQUEST REFUND for OVER CHARGES, you will pay the shipping? Abhorrent! SCAM!

I started shopping Hautelook in December after major surgery. I was thrilled with the merchandise and shipping offers that appeared as standard flat rates like Ruelala, Gilt, etc to be part of the deal. Free shipping on additional orders all day, special shipping rates, etc. Not only has Hautelook changed their policies, they did not notify anyone!

Considering these companies make it very difficult to find a complete invoice online or even shipped with your own order, it is really hard to keep track of your account. It obviously benefits the companies for you not to realize how much you have spent but more importantly, YOU can not find "mistakes" in your own account. Hautelook had to refund me over $100 in over charged shipping fees. Some came as credits and others I actually received a check in the mail. Further confusion!

I feel their practices are deceptive but get lured back in with the credits they give from my obvious found blatant, inexplicable errors. I have been pleased with merchandise until last Custo order. I wear same size as always. Nothing fit! Sale was in s, m, l instead of Custo's 1, 2, 3.

Be careful but they do have fun merchandise. Hold their feet to the fire and shape up or ship out! I wish there was a way to investigate and make them refund all of the customers who were subject to this shipping scam that was really bad in December 2009! It is Sept 2010. Call them today! Get what is right and fair! never too late when it is a scam and they are in business with many positive reviews!