Spiegel / Newport News
Reviews and Complaints

Placed an order for approximately $77 on Mar 1. Paid $27.25 with a gift certificate and the rest was charged to my cc. There was a backorder item that was shipped on Mar 15 and was defective when I received it. I sent it back according to the directions and got a UPS receipt showing I sent it back on Mar 26. I got an email stating it was received on Apr 4. I never received a refund and when I inquired, I got an email on Apr 30 stating they were still processing. I waited and finally inquired again June 1. They then stated that I had sent it back after 30 days and they issued me a certificate! I simply wanted a credit to my card, because I do not want to purchase with them anymore, if it is this much of a hassle to get a basic refund for defective merchandise. Of course, they also took out shipping charges for me sending it back UPS, eventhough it is the company's fault I had to send it back. I called the company to tell them I didn't want a certificate, I wanted a refund to my cc, and was told that because I had used a partial payment of the $27.25 from a certificate, it had to be refunded that way, eventhough they originally charged the item to my VISA, since it was a backorder. I asked the lady if there was anyone else I could talk to and she hung up on me. I was actually pretty nice about the whole thing, not yelling or anything. So now I have a certificate that is useless to me and it's taken me over 2 months for a simple return. I order from Victoria's Secret and HSN etc. alot and never have these issues. It should have been a very simple return and credit to my card. I do have all my receipts to verify this information.

I ordered a dress on 11/23/11. I was advised that I would receive an email confirmation and I never did (yes, I checked my spam folder). Last week, I was told that the warehouse was moving, so that was the reason for the delay in receiving the dress. This week, the reason given was that I placed my order at a high order time and that's why it hasn't gone out. Okay, is one person working the warehouse?! Give me a break. Advice: managers, tell your reps to ALL use the same stock answer. You look like dishonest idiots and I will never order anything from your company again. Could I cancel the order? "Only a manager could do that for you and that's rare." Well, sweetie, I can have the charge removed from my credit card and send the item back, unopened. Very smarmy with sales!

I think their clothing is of a decent quality if you get it at a sales price or with a promotional discount. However, be cautious applying the latter. They reserve the right to cancel promotions at any time, even after you made an order without the courtesy of notifying a customer. I received the confirmation of the order for the right price but noticed a higher charge to my credit card after it was processed. That was how I found out they did not honor the promotional code after they completed my order. My communication with their customer service did not resolve the issue. The only resolution was to contest the charge with the credit company. This is certainly something I have not bargained for!

I have not used a credit card for over five years in which I made a $200 purchase. Since then, I have made monthly payments on and off. For over a year, I have not worked and have continued to ask the company to close the account so that it does not accumulated the over the limit fee(which came from the company adding fees each month) and the late fee. I have asked that we agree on a rate mainly because the account has been closed and not active for over five years. The company insist on keeping the account open so that they can continue to add late fees and over the limit fees. The account is up to $700.00 now.

I am finally going to vent about the pos company since they totally messed up my credit rating. I took out an account with these people a couple of years back and made all payments as agreed. Even though the clothes are garbage, fall apart when they hit the washer, and look nothing like they do on the models. I bought $500.00 worth of clothes, not a lot, a few pairs of pants a dress and some small items - came to about $489.00 (they charge a lot of interest). Anyway, I made the minimum payments on the clothes because I didn't like them, didn't wear them and threw most of them in the trash. I made one payment late in February because the economy tanked, but I did make the payment. I paid the card off the next month because I didn't want their trash, and that one payment has brought my credit down from 810 to 679, that along with a payment to Best Buy which I also intend to post on this website. Thanks for nothing...Piece of garbage company - I will never by your cheap, made in China, horrible smelling trash again!

I think their clothing is of a decent quality if you get it at a sales price or with a promotional discount. However, be cautious applying the latter. They reserve the right to cancel promotions at any time, even after you made an order without the courtesy of notifying a customer.
I received the confirmation of the order for the right price but noticed a higher charge to my credit card after it was processed. That was how I found out they did not honor the promotional code after they completed my order. My communication with their customer service did not resolve the issue. The only resolution was to contest the charge with the credit company. This is certainly something I have not bargained for!

Since their customer service is so poor, I thought I'd warn anybody before buying anything from this company. Back in June of 2008, I ordered a bathing suit from their website. Within 2 days, I was getting massive telemarketing calls and junk mail, to the point that I cancelled my home phone. Then, no info on my order. July comes, still no bathing suit. Then I log in online and my order's not even there, even though I was charged for it. Then I get a postcard in the mail saying it was backordered until August. So there goes all of summer without a bathing suit. Thanks Newport News. So it finally arives, I paid $9.00 in shipping and it arrives in a measly little bag. I try it on, it doesn't fit (of course) and I retape it in its original packaging and send it back. Almost 2 months later, I get a gift card in the mail from them for $17.62. My original purchase price was $36, including shipping. They refused to refund it to my card because they say that it arrived later than 15 days from when it was shipped (which is a total scam because I returned it that week) and then they said that they had to charge me another $7 to return it. So I had to eat the shipping to get it to my house, then eat the shipping to send it back, and got less than half of it back on a gift card that I surely will not use at that horrible retailer. Please, never ever buy from Newport News, you will have a long, drawn out awful experience (even if you like the item). Don't even bother returning it.

The company is in bankruptcy. I called today because I placed an order back in April that I was charged for right off the bat, but never received. I have been calling for months and emailing with no responses. When I FINALLY was able to reach a live person today I was informed that they would not be giving back any refunds because they were in bankruptcy. They're still taking orders though, yet they have nothing in stock in their warehouse and they have no vendors shipping for them either. So basically they are taking people's money with no intention of paying it back. They haven't officially filed yet, so this is how they are able to do this legally. They are floating themselves with their customer's money. I should have filed a chargeback long ago. Lesson learned here! Also, if the company is in bankruptcy or intends to file, they certainly don't care if you file a complaint with the BBB, and the BBB can't do a single thing for you anyway.

I have been a long term customer w/ this vendor. Due to a billing error, they made, my acct. was sent to a collections company. However, even after they corrected the error they refused to remove the derrogotory reference. I've spent thousands with them & I am dissappointed at their unwillingness to correct the problem they initially created. I even wrote a letter to the office of the CEO...never even received an acknowledgement.

Newport News sent me the wrong item and what I did receive was in a mangled package, broken. The return shipping label was destroyed and not of use. They had already received payment through my credit card company. Instead of expediting shipment of the correct item ordered, I was told that I had to wait 7-10 days to receive another return shipping label in the mail. (What? - via Alaska?). Once they received the incorrect item, ONLY THEN would they send what I had actually ordered. If I wanted my item quicker, then they said that they would have to double-bill me for it and credit me later. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute. Newport News is not a customer friendly company - BEWARE. They screw -up but do not even try to appease the customer.

Also, they have used my phone number to call me at home to make sales. My phone number is on my state's "do not call" list to stop annoying consumer phone calls. Evidently Newport News does not check. I am reporting them for this invasion of my privacy, too.

I think it's ironic that the title of your complaint is "Coupon Fraud". What would you call it when you attempt to use promotional codes that were never directly sent to you by the company and the codes you are putting on the order are from a paid promotion program. If they honor your codes, how is that fair to the person who is paying to be part of an affiliate program. You're benefitting by finding codes on a website you have no right using. You also don't know if there is a catch to using the codes. What if you have to spend $50 or more to get the free shipping and you didn't. Is that the company's fault because you don't know the provisos because you stole the code?

A daily check of my bank account revealed a $14.95 debit from 'Insider Pass'. Having no idea who or what that was I did an internet search. The charge had come from a third party associated with Newport News called 'Insider Pass', what I assume is touted as a discount club. I had never signed up for anything although I had placed a credit card order with Newport News in October...this is April. I have clicked on many of their links to view their catalogue...does this justify an unauthorized charge by a third party to my credit card? I think NOT!

After a quick search I found others to whom this has happened. I was outraged! As I was on hold with Newport News I kept reading complaint after complaint about these companies.

You must call Newport News and very angrily ask for a supervisor. You do not reach a supervisor, you reach 'Robert' who speaks on behalf of management; who speaks over you and tells you that 'Insider Pass' is a third party; who after much angry cajoling agrees that Newport News is associated with Encore Memeber Services - Insider Pass; and then you are given the number for Encore Member Services - [protected]. You must angrily ask them to remove and refund your charges. They then give you a confirmation number...so...all very official however 7 - 10 business days to refund your account so we'll see. I've also opted out of Newport News email list and will NEVER buy from them again! Who do they think they are?

Telling me that Encore is a third party...associated with Newport News...Encore Member Services had to get the credit card number from somewhere!

Unbelievable!

I really agree that they steal money from their customers and threaten them all the time that they will bug their credit history.
They charged me over what I bought. So I filed a case with the credit card company and they refunded my money. Through speigle didn't give up and sent it for collection.

Another way to steal from you is signing you up with magazines without your approval plus have you in their valued customer program and rip you of under another service.

Their quality I guess Indian which is so thin and they also have problems with their material that is not matching what is in the picture or described.

The funny thing is when you call they are also mean and never listen.

April 6, 2010
I also fell into the Spiegel trap when I placed an online order in April 2008. Today while reviewing my bank statement I noticed a charge of $14.95 which I thought was for an online service I had enrolled in. After reviewing the charge I realized it was something I was not familiar with. It was for something called "prvldgpas ID05188877-564-8534 MD 7998.
I thought "what is this for" and proceed to call the phone number listed (you have to go backwards to figure out the phone number which is [protected]
When you call, DO NOT PRESS 1 as this is an automated cancel after the system verify s your phone number.
After staying on hold the representative said she could only refund 2 months. After insisting I had not signed for the service, by the way, what is the service? I still do not know! She passed me to a supervisor who said they would reimburse one year but no more. They took the $14.95 from the checking account for 24 months. I am going to write to the better business bureau of Pennsylvania and file a formal complaint. I also understand this company is under investigation by a branch of the US Senate. There must be thousands of people like myself that are being "ripped off" by this company.
To contact them: write to:
Consumer Affairs
PO Box 280
Blue Ridge Summit, Pa 17214
Stay tuned as I am on Social Security and this is no trivial matter.

lydiawpa

The is internet fraud and a potential lawsuits. They told me that it was my fault, that I must have clicked on a pop-up and accepted the "PRIVILEDGE PASS". I have my blocker on 24/7, no way did I approve this charge! I'm ticked off, and Spiegel's customer service was less than helpful. They have lost my business.

I whole heartedly agree with the above complaints.

I really want to share this story with as many people as will take the time to read this!

I have had just a couple of dealings with Speigel and thier "sister" company Newport News.

Last summer I had ordered a vest from Newport News...when the vest did not arrive in a timely manner, I called looking for it. I was told that it had been shipped to my previous address, even though when ordering online, I specifically put my current address in as the shipping address. When I asked what Newport News was going to do to get this product to me, I was basically told that it was up to me to get it from my previous address or it would be returned back to them with no attempt at that point to get it to my current address. I told them that when they recieved it back that they could just keep it.

Then, this past holiday season, I had a wedding to go to on New Years Eve, living in Wisconsin, I did not want to wear a dress while the temperatures were dipping to -15, I wanted to wear slacks, so I thought palazzo pant were dressy enough for such an occasion. I searched all over the internet and Speigel had the nicest ones. In my search, (I did figure out that Newport News and Speigel were sister companies, but because this was the only place that I could find palazzo pants that didn't look like something you would schlep around the house in, I decided to take a chance. After all, in the past Speigel has had a pretty good reputation)...OMG was I wrong! I ordered 3 pairs of pants (had to make sure I got the right pair and the right fit) and a sweater. When my order arrived, I tried all the pants on and immediately returned the two pair that didn't fit. I tracked the order...the order went out and was recieved by Speigel 7 days later...It has now been 10 days since they have recieved the returned items and they still do not show up as returned so I called customer service. I too received automated recording...this one telling me to allow up to 6 weeks for my refund to process...WHAT, 6 WEEKS?!...WHAT POSSIBLY CAN BE THAT TIME CONSUMING?...So, today I sat on hold to wait to talk to a "customer consultant" (anyway!)... who confirmed that the merchandise had been recieved, but that it could take as long as 6 weeks for it to show up on my card statement. Doing my very best impersonation of a pleasant person at this point, I politely ask this poor guy who has had to resort to this job to pay his rent, what could possibly take up to 6 weeks...he very honestly responded that he did not have a legitmate answer for that...hmmmmmm. What frickin' recourse do you have for that?...I guess I have to suck it up!...Now I know you're wondering at this point what does this have to do with Priviledge Pass...Well here ya go...After ending my phone call with this poor guy, I now switch over to review my bank card statement and there sits a pending transaction for ...you guessed it...PRIVILEDGE PASS !...for $14.95! The unmitigated BALLS of this company to tell me that it could take up to 6 weeks for my refund to process and not EVEN a month since this order was placed and my hurried inadversion to sign up for this POS...they are taking more $$$$$ from me!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE FELLOW CONSUMERS...Think twice before ordering so much as a pair of socks from either of these companies. I am normally just a titch more savvy when it comes to signing up for these supposed "Special Offers", but in these times of trying to save where you can, I didn't STOP to think about how much an initial $1.95 could hurt. It can...and clearly will

This too happened to me and I have been charged for over a year at 14.95 a month. Unbelievable! They will not have my business again and I am very irritated. I am an educated person and read what I am buying and terms and conditions. Never was it explained that I would be charged for such a felonious service. What a joke!

I actually spoke to someone when I called to cancel the so-called service.

He assured me the $1.95 charge would be credited and the subscription canceled.

Needless to say we will not shop Spiegel again.

Spiegel Company are really spoofing with us. They send us coupons that are not valid to use. When you agree to the total they will cut the money from you and take even the money that they promoted to be saved.

If you call their excuse will be that they are allowed any time to disclose the coupon and take the extra saving from you since it is written on the email.

Also, they will charge you for privilege pass and you don't get any benefits so they will gain more.

They steal from us as a conclusion.

I received an e-mail from Newport-News today for 20% additional off advertised and markdown items on their website. I selected two items which totalled $73.00 before the coupon. When I applied the coupon, the items were marked UP to $98.00 and the 20% was taken off that price. So in order to use the coupon, I would pay more money. This is not what was stated in their e-mail or on their website. When I called customer service, they were rude and nasty. I asked to speak to a supervisor and after 30 minutes of holding, finally hung up. I have screen prints saved of the before and after pricing in case there is a question. I have to wonder how many people go ahead and order not realizing that they are actually spending MORE money than if they hadn't used a coupon at all. These are unethical and unfair trade practices and should be stopped.

This is a copy of an e-mail sent to the company (minus personal info):

The fact that you do not recognize anywhere on your site that a customer might have a complaint, is an indication that you neither want to hear of problems nor have any intention of fixing them. But as a former business owner, I believe that a company needs to know when they have screwed up.

My wife placed a $350.00 bathing suit order in April in anticipation of her trip to Cancun next week. Having heard nothing about the order since being told that it would ship on June 5th, she called this morning to check status. She was told that her order had been cancelled.
When she placed the order, the operator talked her into paying for it with a Newport News credit card. Our credit score is near perfect and, although we certainly do not need another credit card, she accepted.
Her credit card application was rejected - no reason given - and she was never notified by phone, mail, or e-mail that the complication had arisen. The order was just cancelled.
Now she is in the position of shopping locally for bathing suits, at a time when most stores have limited selection, in order to have something for her trip next week.

You owe her - at the very least - a written apology for what is your screw up and poor customer service. Just because you are not face-to-face with a customer doesn't mean that good customer service is no longer applicable.

Her name - Susan ...
Address...
Contact info...

And if you can't be bothered fixing this, remove her from your mailing list. We don't deal with incompetent, uncaring companies.

John ...

i am also having the same issue with the return policy. i do the majority of my shopping online and I have NEVER dealt with such a horrible return policy. I sent my return back in November, I called them December 18th and they confirmed they recieved my return back on November 23rd but told me it could take up to 30 days for me to recieve my refund (which is crap, most companies get me a refund within a week of my return). Today is December 29th and I STILL have not recieved my refund so I called customer service AGAIN and asked for my money back the woman told me they were slow because of the holidays and that she would "expedite" my refund and ask that I get my money within 72 hours...i'm sorry but at this point it is absolutley ridiculous, i will NEVER shop at newport again.

I am having the same problem myself. I returned my items over two weeks ago and according to the UPS tracking they received my items a long time ago so I decided to call customer service and they tell me that it is going to take over 6 weeks to process my refund. Absolutely rotten customer service. If I had known that it would be so time consuming I would have never ordered anything from there to begin with.

Horrible, horrible company! I could tell my tale of woe, but it is just more of the same. My advice to everyone out there - DO NOT order from Newport News - they suck, plain and simple.

Newport News is horrible. They have my items since 8/17 and still have not refunded any money, they say it takes 2 credit card cycles. They charged me within a few hours of my placing my order. To make matters worse they say one of my items was not recieved in perfect condition and will only issue a store credit for future purchase. B**S**T! They just want my money.
Stay away from Newport News!

I returned my items and they now tell me they are NOT going to refund my money. They instead will only give me a purchase credit. So now they have their items back, AND are going to keep my money. I too am going to contact my credit card company.

I'm in the same boat right now. It is July 22nd today and Newport News received returned items on June 4th. I send many emails and called many times and all they kept telling me was that it takes up to 6 weeks to process the return. Okay-so finally the returned was processed on July 15th and now they are telling me it takes up to 10 days for the credit to be issued. Ridiculous! I need my money back-I have bills to pay. I will never order from this company again just because of the long return/credit process. I'd rather just go to the mall and buy since if I need to return something the credit will be issued right there on the spot. Other mail catalogs or online catalogs are super quick. Don't they realize that their return policy turns people off. never again!

I have also had problems with Newport News. They are the absolute WORSE company I have ever ordered anything from before! I made my order and three weeks laters till haven't received anything. I was hung up on twice when I attempted to file a complaint over the phone and was even told by one representative that she suggest that "you not order on the interview"...WHAT? Isn't that a huge portion of their business. You aren't allowed to speak with a manager to file a complaint, so apparently I am supposed to be ok with the money coming from my account and not getting anything for it.

I work there. It does take long, about 4 to six weeks but we always rtn the right amount of credit. delivery is non refunable, it would be the same as you asking a clothing store to refund the money you spent on gas to drive there and rtn the merchandise. if you had a discount on your order we will not refund the full price, because you would not have paid the full price.

To all of you online customers like myself. Be aware if you order from newport news, I have never had such a headache before, and I order from everywhere. I bought a dress for $150.00 and the day I got it, I didn't like it and it was to big. I packaged it back up the same day. I shipped it back and tracked it and they recieved it 3 days later. I waited a week and noticed I still didn't get the credit back on my account. I sent them an email and they responded back. Oh, it takes up to 6 weeks and or 2 billing cycles of your credit card. I said "excuse me". This means I will pay interest on a product that they currently have. I mean really. You get back the merchandise, they credit back your account. I can tell you this, I will never order from them again. This is just wrong and it's not good customer service. To hold up your money for up to 2 months is unheard of. So just to warn anyone who is considering to order from them. Beware! Like most of us, $150.00 out of our account for 2 months, when you want to go buy another dress or whatever is just wrong!

I ordered for the first time from newport news in late february. I ordered my "normal size" with every other mail order house. All but the leggings were waaaay too small and after I measured myself i'd have to take a size 12 instead of size 4... While I do not care about my size in any item if the item fits, these were way off. So I returned them. Finally, they say the refund minus shipping charges supposedly are credited but it will take another week. No ohter mail order company charges you for shipping too small items wkith tags still on back! Plus they clutter my e-mail with 3x per day e-mails.

I ordered a top and 2 bottoms for a bathing suit. I wasn't sure which bottoms would like nice, so I ordered 2 different ones thinking I could return one if it didn't work out. Well, they sent me both bottoms and no top. The top was discontinued. Since I can't do anything with 2 bottoms and no top, I returned them. It has been 7 weeks and I still haven't recieved a credit.

When I contact them (which I have done several times) they say it takes 4-6 weeks for a credit. First, that is ridiculous. It only took them about 5 minutes to charge my card, it should not take 4-6 weeks to credit. I contacted them after the 6 weeks had passed and they said they hadn't received it until a week and a half after they actually had. I have the tracking and I see when it was delivered. I ask ethem questions and they just keep saying, "please allow 4-6 weeks". I have had it with this company.

After sending them the tracking number and proving that they have had their product back for 7 weeks, I got this response,

"Your request has been forwarded to our Account Specialist department for review to determine if a credit/refund can be issued as a one-time courtesy. Upon review, the appropriate action will be taken on your account and you will be notified of their decision by phone or email."

One-time courtesty? You have your product back! Give me my money! I paid to have it shipped to me and to ship it back on items that I clearly could not use. If they discontinued the top of the bathing suit, they shoudl not have charged me to ship the bottoms. Obviously I would have to pay to ship the bottoms back. I am out the shipping charges both ways. Now I am getting the run around on my credit for the product they have had for 7 weeks. I will never order from this company again. I am shocked at how poor their customer service is.

Ordered a dress from them and returned it within a week. Had to follow up multiple times about the refund. Received nothing indicating that they had even received the return package. Finally got the refund processed and I just checked my credit card statement. They only refunded me half the amount. I don't have the energy to contact them yet again.

Buyer beware. Only buy something from Newport News (which is a Spiegel brand) if you're planning on keeping it.

Insider pass - non authorized charges to my credit card after I bought items online from newport news company. They took 1.95 off my credit card and from other complaints here I guess i'm lucky that so far they have not taken more off. I called the number and cancelled so hopefully that will do it. I also filed a complaint with the credit card company, no way are they going to make money off me and i'll never buy from them again either, there should be a way to stop this. Also, since buying from there, i've been getting a lot of junk email and also phone calls from places wanting to loan me money, and stuff like that.

On March 8th, I placed an order from Newport News. When it arrived on March 11th, I immediately took two of the items to UPS for an even exchange. Here I sit on April 13th having received none of the items.

I called customer service yesterday, and the rep admitted that my exchange request hasn't even appeared in their system, even though they do have the record of my return.

I asked when I will receive my replacement order. The rep told me to give it another couple of weeks.

This is outlandish. They have my money. They feel no obligation to get my clothes to me before the season ends.

By the way, even though I was polite and told the rep that I knew the problem was not her fault but the management's, she offered no apology whatsoever. I told her (politely) that Newport News' shoddy customer service surprised me, and that I probably will not order from them again.

After I hung up the phone (oh, yeah; I waited over seven minutes on hold to talk to a rep in the first place), I realized I definitely will not order from Newport News again.

Life is much too short for this nonsense. From now on, I'm sticking with retailers who value my business.

This is terrible rip off company!
THis is what I sent to BBB:
I placed the order with Newport News 10/21/2017. I received the order one week later 10/31/2017. 11/14/2017 the order was returned to Newport news with UPS delivery confirmation: 1Z023Y249026565220. The delivery date is 11/21/2017. I have been waiting for refund to my credit card since then. I have contacted Newport news 12/16/2017 and they confirmed that the order was received and the refund amount will not be credited back to my credit card because I owe them money for some precious order. I do not own them any money for any precious order. I did placed the order in the past however I never received it and they could not conform that I did. They said that the package was dropped at my front door however I did not recieve it.So the claim was filed and I was credited back to my credit card . I do not think anyone should pay for something they do not get.However Newport news hold that amount as an outstanding balance on my account with them.
Their policy:
"Satisfaction Guarantee
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return the item(s) in their original condition for a prompt exchange or refund. Merchandise returned after 60 days will receive a gift card to apply to future purchases." This package was returned within 3O days with the confirmation from UPS and from Newport News however they refused to credit my credit card due to some outstanding balance.I filed dispute with the credit company.Newport news can not and should not bill me for something that was returned or for something that was not received .

I placed an order for a swimming suit back in November. I received the suit and it didn't fit so I placed it back in the bag and sent it back the very next day asking for a refund. I called and they said it would take up to six weeks to be refunded. In February I received a "merchandise certificate" because they claim it took more than 30 days for the swimsuit to be returned and they could not credit my card. Instead of calling and complaining, I go with it and order three items with the certificate. First two items, I received. The third item I call a couple of times and each time am told it's on back order. This morning I discover that $15.00 has been debited from my account for this order. I call Newport News and they said I should have received a check in the mail in March for the portion of the merchandise credit that was on backorder and that because they had my credit card number from the original order they could go ahead and debit my account for $15.00. I did not receive a check in March for the difference of the backordered item. I was not told I was receiving a check for that amount which I did not receive and certainly was not told that they would be debiting my bank account for the item when it finally came in. They told me this morning that they could debit my bank account for the backordered item now that it came in because the original swimsuit was ordered on the debit card. I asked why they could not then just credit my acct instead of sending a check in March for the amt. of the backordered item or credit my acct. for the returned swimsuit which I returned promptly. Although, I am only talking $15.00 here, they did not have authorization to take the $15.00 from my account. I never received the check back in March for the backlogged item that was supposedly credited off their merchandise account amount which was a credit off my original order which was by my debit card. Their story is contradictory to their own policies, very shysty and smacks of fraud.

I paid for an online order from Newport News and the related bill for their credit card back in January 2017 upon receiving the bill and then had to return half the order (a jacket) because it was too short and it was a holiday
present so there was a delay in returning it. Newport News Credit card claimed the payment was two days late (even though I paid it in plenty of time using electronic online bill payment. Instead of crediting back my Newport News credit card for the item returned, I was instead sent a gift card for the return amount less shipping. Now Newport News credit card is assessing late fees that are more than the cost of the one item that I still have, as well as more than the item I returned even though I paid for the full order several months ago and should have a credit back to the card for the returned item. When I spoke to them yesterday, they said the "Catalog department" would have to indicate I had made a return before they would do anything about removing two months of late charges (on a bill that was paid in full in January and half the order was returned after I paid the bill in full). I am extremely frustrated after speaking to one Newport News Customer Rep (ater a 15 minute hold) via phone who then put me on hold for another 15 minutes to speak to a Supervisor. I have now been on hold for 15 minutes twice for your customer service department and do not have time to sit on hold for over half an hour. I also tried following up via customer service on their web site and received several automated emails regarding their return poicy and that the credit card customer service was not connected to their web site customer service. To stop any furher late fees from being assessed, I am paying the current bill with fees, but plan to pursue all avenues to get issue resolved and refund processed.

I purchased a dress and sweater on june 29, 2017 with overnight shipping. I got it in, saw right away it was all wrong so it sent it back. This was a dress of more than a hundred dollars with shipping. I sent it back on july 1, 2017. Today is august 20, 2017, and they still have not refunded the money to my bank account. I do not have a newport news credit card, so their little spiel of "it will show back up in two or three billing cycles" is bull. That is saying that they will put it back in my bank account in two or three months. And that it from the day that they processed the dress, not the day the received it. They "say" they processed it on july 27th. They had no problem quickly taking the money out of my bank account, they have acknowledged that they have received back the items, so they shouldn't have a problem putting it back should they? I even asked one of their customer reps... "what if you took something back to walmart, and they told you they will give you your money back in two or three months... Walmart would have a protest going on in front of it".. His response... "we're not walmart"". I reminded him that his company was no different than walmart, that it was a commercial business selling something and just because I couldn't go into his office didn't place them into any different catgegory. I told them that I was going to report them to my state's attorney general's office, which takes complaints for fraud. That is what this is... Fraud. My money is fraudulently being kept from me. There is no legitimate reason to hold my money for two to three months... Except that they are hurting for money and trying to steal legitimate refunds.
Do not buy anything from this company> they will try to defraud you< hold your refund for months... There are wayyyyyy too many cute, nice companies on the internet now, shop those, put newport news out of businesss...

I returned items to spiegel for a refund. I called to check the status of my refund and was told it takes two billing cycles for the refund. Two and a half billing cycles I still have no refund. I call and am on hold for more than ten minutes with blaring loud music and advertisements. Finally the call is answered and I'm told the COMPANY IS IN BANKRUPTCY! Meanwhile, they are still selling their low quality merchandise to unsuspecting consumers. This company needs to be SHUT DOWN!

I'm sorry. I just sent Spiegel a check for a purchase I did not even make to keep them from sending me to collections. Unbelievable.

There is a toll free number for Privilege Pass on your credit card statement. If Privilege Pass is charging you why are you continuing to call Spiegel? They're not the same company!

I can't believe how many complaints I come across for this company! I just got finished typing my own, and now I find this one. Had I seen all this before hand, I would never had ordered from them.

I have just been contacted by a Stacey from 1st National Collections for a $124.85 bill for an item that was returned via UPS to Spiegel in the early 1990's. I initially heard from a CB/HV Collection Bureau Hudson Valley, Inc. in June of 1997 and they were given the information a few days later that it was a mistake by Spiegel. A Ms. Reed and a Shelly both assured me that it would be sent back to Spiegel. Well this morning 2/9/09 I got a call from a Stacey from 1st National Collections who was extremely rude, threatening and nasty with me when I explained the situation. I emailed Speigel immediately, something I did not have available in 1997, and received a form email back from a Ms. Patsy B of Spiegel client services who just referred me back to the agency that threatened me. I do not understand how they get away with releasing personal financial information based on erroneous information. My next step is the Better Business Bureau.

This complaint will serve to warn you that getting a credit from Newport-News.com has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. I am an avid on-line shopper. I have been ordering from this company for years and have never had to return an item, until now.

I ordered a coat from Newport-news.com in February, 2011 as a gift for my daughter. She did not like the way the coat looked on her so I returned the coat in Feb. The coat was charged, in the amount of $91.00, on my American Express card. I sent an email on March 22, to Newport Customert Service asking the status of the credit, minus the charges for the return. I provided the customer #, Invoice #, ship date, the method of return and the UPS tracking number. This is the result from my numerous attempts for credit.

March 22, 2011 - Email from Newport-News Customer Service - apologizing for the delay and that I should allow one to two billing cycles for my return to be processed. The credit should appear on my next or following statement.

April 12, 2011 - I sent another email to Newport-News Customer Service requesting the status of the credit on the coat. Explaining the same scenerio as notated above.

April 13, 2011 - Email from Newport-News Customer Service advising they will process my return today. Please allow 3 - 5 business days for the credit to appear back to the original method of payment or for a gift card to be mailed if the items were returned after the 30 day return timeframe or if they were not in the original (new) condition when returned.

April 12, 2011 - I began to get really frustrated because the method of the return credit is starting to change.

April 26, 2011 - I sent another note to Newport-News NO Customer Service advising them that I had not received the credit and if the issues wasn't resolved soon with a credit, Newport will be loosing me as a customer.

April 27, 2011 - I received another note from Newport-News NO Customer Service again apologizing for the delay in processing my credit for the long black coat.

May 26, 2011 @ 8:26 p.m. EST, I called customer service to speak with a supervisor. The customer service agent was not very friendly, however, she stated she would send a Red Hot Priority to get the credit processed ASAP in 2 - 3 business days.

June 2, 2011 - I called again because the credit had not appeared on my American Express statement on line. The agent was again not very friendly, but she said I wold get a credit of $72.05 on my next statement.

As of today, June 20, 2011, I have not received the credit on my American Express card.

I have been more than patient with this company and as of today, will never order or do business with them them again. Once I've been burned by a company, I refuse to do business with them EVER again.

I ordered three dresses and one bathing suit from Newport News on July 19, 2010. I did not like the way the items looked on me and the bathing suit did not fit, so I returned all four items on July 31, 2010, using the pre-paid UPS return label that came with my order. On August 6, 2010, I received an email confirming receipt of my order -- and then, I waited. After three weeks went by and the return of the items was not noted in Newport News's order system, I decided to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I had a previous bad experience with Newport News and I should have learned from that, but I decided to give them another chance. Well, FINALLY, on October 8, 2010, I got a credit on my credit card statement for the amount of the clothing minus the charge for the pre-paid return label. It should be over now, right? Not with Newport News, the email they sent me, which I didn't understand at the time, stated that they credited my credit card statement but that the charge would stay on my account until payment was received. WHAT? Yes, they are still insisting that I owe them money for merchandise that I returned to them, that they acknowledged that they received. So while this should now be over, I still have to fight them to fix THEIR MISTAKE. This company is either incredibly unethical or incredibly incompetent. Either way, run, don't walk away from them. I can't say it in strong enough words that no one should EVER do business with them unless you're willing to lose your money.

"Customer Service" such that it is, is closed on the weekends (nice, huh?), so I'll be interested to hear the explanation from their customer service person tomorrow when I call them as to why they credited that amount back to my credit card if I did in fact owe them the money for this merchandise. I have sent them an email explaining this situation and THEIR ERROR, with a promise to follow through with filing a complaint with my state's attorney general, consumer protection and anyone else I can think of if they persist in attempting to collect this illegitimate debt. I may file the complaint anyway. Maybe it will help someone else understand what a bad company Newport News is so they can avoid the headache that I'm going through right now.

Newport-News.com is a disgrace and their customer service is indescribable. Don't ever order from them unless you are not planning to get a refund from them.

On 6/22/09 I placed an order with Newport-News.com and returned the merchandise which they received on 7/14/09. Their website states up to 30 days to receive a refund. It is now 9/14/09 and still no refund.

I've been calling leaving messages, calling customer service this whole time and no one gets back to me. Customer service is useless they tell me the same thing over and over again like robots. I've tried to contact people in corporate who transfer my emails to Michael Pettipas, Office of the President, who is another useless person that I can't get a hold of. His number is [protected]. In case anyone needs it and might have better luck than me.

When you call in customer service. At first I was told 6 weeks to receive my refund, then another day they tell me 7 weeks. Then "give it a few more days". Today I was told 8 weeks, and that they start counting from the day the items are "processed", not the day they "receive" it. It is unacceptable to have my promptly returned items sit at the return facility for 3 weeks to wait for "processing", In 3 weeks I should have had my refund in my bank account. Just now customer service tells me the items were processed on 8/4 and I have to wait up to 6 weeks! This is not prompt, this is outrageous. When I pointed this out to the call center agents and I have asked them "Why don't you honor your return policy as stated on your website?" They say "well the website is incorrect". If it's incorrect why has not anyone corrected it. Furthermore nobody in customer service or corporate seems to care about it's customers, and no one can help me resolve this issue.

I believe this is false advertising and fraud what this company is doing and it's very bad business to take advantage of customers just because they are online. I believe their return policy is a ploy to try to steal people's money if nobody speaks up. There is no legitimate reason for this company to hold customer refunds for as long as they wish. If you state 30 days on your website, I suggest you honor it, I believe any loyal company would. This has never happened in any other place where I shop. Just because you are not face to face with a customer doesn't mean that good business practices are no longer suitable.

What they are doing is fraud and I can't believe they're getting away with doing this. I've made complaints to the BBB and Consumer Affairs who are useless and no help at all as well. I'm at the end of my rope and don't know what else to do. Don't buy from Newport-News.com/Spiegel Brands unless you want to go through this dilema with their refund system. And what's funny is I did make another order after the one I'm having problems with and had to make an exchange. It took less than two weeks for them to process my exchange! But still no refund. I know it's because I made a purchase and not a refund. I hope they shut down one day.

I ordered from this website. I recieved what I ordered, no problems. 2 weeks later my credit card was hit from 2 places and received bills from places I never ordered from. This took months to remove the charges from my credit card. I can only assume that my information from my credit card came from this site. I have never used it again, and so far have never had any issues with fraud again.

oh yes, they recieved three blouses and a jacket from me (sizing was wrong) and after two months of being told their "new return process" is holding things up or that will be processed today, or just plain being ignored, i called and was told i wasnt getting any refund because they filed bankruptcy. Any return after april 2011- they are basically stealing your money. ( I must metion that their return process has always been HORRIBLE.) I asked why werent customers informed of this? Oh that notice just went out today i was told. Right, its two weeks later and i still havent gotten any notice. If i had known this back in April- i never would have ordered. Or, i would have just kept the items and gave them away! Bet they are still taking orders from people using that newport news card!

Same here. the wife ordered a dress from Newport News just before xmass and all of a sudden a $14.95 charge for Insiders pass shows up.
I'm sensitive to this because we just noted a similar scam from Proflowers and Easy Saver. ( That one got me for a years + worth of $15/month charges) Turns out both scam companies are the same one! Encore Marketing. I'll dispute the charges and change the card # if I have too!.

In teh future, I'll be boycotting both these companies AND using a dedicated CC (or Paypal) for any over teh net purchases.

Inside Pass charged me 14.95 per month for nothing for 6 months after I cancelled. I want my money back! I cannot get a human being on the phone - just a recording.

I too am a victim of "Inside Pass" via Newport News. When I received mail for Inside Pass I tried to cancel. I am doing my 2009 taxes, reviewing my checking account online, seeing $14.95 per month for Inside Pass. I telephone and can not get a person, just a recording.

Same thing happened to me - except instead of finally giving me a refund, they gave me a certificate for the amount of my purchase short $6.99 for a "Return Processing Fee" and the certificate is only good at Newport News. This is dispite the fact that my return was made within 30 days after the original order date. I HATE NEWPORT NEWS! THIEVES!

i havent been charged the 14.95 i check my account and noticed 1.95 had been taken out. i know that not alot but thats a dollar that i wasnt willing to spend. i canceled the so-called service i signed up for that i am still unaware of and im calling the company.

I placed several orders with Newport News in November of 2009. Never did I imagine the unbelievable hassle I was about to get myself into. I do about 95% of my shopping online (even groceries)and this company by far is the WORST! I'm not even sure how this company can get away with doing business this way or how their employees can live with themselves for treating people in such a horrid manner.

After the items I ordered arrived nearly 4 weeks later, I found that most of them were of terrible quality (snags in the material, uneven, unfinished seams, huge sizes, etc.). I kept only 2 of the items and returned them immediately via their UPS sticker (which incidentally costs you an extra $6.95 PER ITEM and they will deduct this from your return amount...if you ever see any of that money back). I kept copies of the UPS stickers and confirmed the day, time, and signature of when it arrived back on their dock on December 16th. Two weeks later I called Newport News and they confirmed that the items did arrive and that the processing of the return would take about 5-7 additional business days.

Two weeks later, I called back and they said it would be another 10 days to process the returns. In other words, the company gets to sit on your money for as long as they want...hoping that you will forget about it or get tired of the hassle and move on. Six weeks later, I filed a dispute with my credit card company, providing them with the documentation from the UPS tracking system where Newport News had received the returned items. My credit card company could not get any response from Newport News regarding the returns.

Two days ago I received a "past due"? invoice from Newport News for $233.00. This is about double the amount for all my orders and makes no sense whatsoever. So I called Newport News again (this makes 7th call so far throughout this whole ordeal) and they said that I owe THEM now for items that I returned 2 months ago and that they show in their records as having been received. Huh?

They told me someone would have to call me back (I said, yeah, I've heard that before). Today, lo and behold, someone from Nova Scotia called today trying to collect $233 from me for items returned 2 months ago. I couldn't believe it. I asked the extremely rude woman, "So, let me get this straight. You want me to pay you $233.00 for items I've returned 2 months ago because your company doesn't want to process the return in a timely manner? In other words, you want me to pay double for items that YOU show in YOUR computer as having been returned?" She just said, ma'am, you owe us $233. So I said, so after I give you another $233.00, how long before you credit back my account for the items that were returned 2 months ago"? No joke, she said 5-7 business days. Uh, huh. I started to tell her that's what the first person told me when I called to inquire the first time about my return and she literally SCREAMED through the phone, "I don't know how to explain it to you any better than that!" and slammed the phone down in my ear. Very mature and professional.

I wish I would have done my homework three months ago and researched this "company" before placing any orders with them. If you decide to place an order with Newport News and it isn't what you expected, you will be better off keeping the merchandise, giving it away, or selling it. Otherwise, get ready to be hassled for a long, long time.

Horrible, horrible company. Newport News...SHAME ON YOU!

I totally agree ! I'm at the stage with Newport News right now where they are agreeing that I returned merchandise twice in December 2009 - and they keep promising me that they "put a rush on it" to remove the charges but here it is - February 16th and charges are still on my card.

I am a victim of the $14.95 charge. It is such a shady way to take your money, and I have a big problem about it when I'm not getting anything back for that money. I called the number not knowing what company I was calling and the automated lady said I could cancel my insider pass or wait for a rep. I pressed right away to cancel it and took down the confirmation number. I got home and and looked up insider pass and see that I'm not the only one!
have anyone try to get their money back?
My package ALSO took a very long time to get to me, it was probably like 2-3 week of waiting.
DEFINITELY do NOT shop at Newport!

I placed an order with Newport News for the first time and this will be my last.

When I placed the order, the online ad indicated that I would expect the delivery in 3-5 working days. It's been at least that long. I did not receive notification that the order had shipped and what was shipped. Because they didn't provide enough information, I was not able to track the items so had to call the 800 number. I've been on hold for over an hour. Newport News indicated that they have customer service reps on call until midnight EST. WHATever. I'll keep my eyes open for eroneous charges to my credit card. Thanks for the head's up.

A lot of you are saying that you can't get through to anyone when you call the 877 numbers to cancel (877.564.8538/877.844.9554). I did a little research it turns out that they're owned/operated by a company called Encore Marketing International.

So... let's CALL THEM and tell them how big of ### they are for perpetuating these frauds/scams... below is a list of employees and the main number to Encore; if you call a receptionist will put you through to them... CALL THEM NOW IF YOU'RE FURIOUS ABOUT THEM STEALING FROM YOU:

http://www.boriskan.com

4501 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
Phone: [protected]***
Business Development: contactus@encoremarketing.com

Stanley Plotnick — Chief Executive Officer
Steve Klein — President
Kimberli Files — Chief Operating Officer
David Gallimore — Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Michael Dubrow — Executive Vice President, Partnership Development
Sondra Diggs — Chief Financial OfficerSondra Diggs — Chief Financial Officer

---------

This is the contact information of the CEO of Encore Marketing who's behind American Leisure and EZ Saver Scams... contact him to let him know how you feel about him cheating you and stealing your money:

Chief Executive Officer
Stanley Plotnik

+1.301.459.8020
splotnick@encoremarketing.com

Encore Marketing 4501 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
USA

I had the exact thing happen to me. I have tried to get my money refunded and documentation that I authorized it but have had no luck with either. I like the clothes but I will never order from them again. They have lost a good customer and I will make sure and spread this news to everyone I come in contact with.

OMG, I cannot believe I found this...I was just trying to find more info in regards to the charge on my account by googling "spiegel + insider pass.""

I am shocked how prevalent this is and how "discrete" the company is about the charge. But I did call the number that reflected on my account from the transaction and was told it was cancelled and will be removed!

I still believe this is ridiculous though! SMH

I found three bogus charges on my credit card from Encore Mktg and CMG which I did not authorize. I disputed the charges immediately. The phone number on the statement lacks the complete 877 number to make it difficult to contact the vendor. ###!

A daily check of my bank account revealed a $14.95 debit from 'Insider Pass'. Having no idea who or what that was I did an internet search. The charge had come from a third party associated with Newport News called 'Insider Pass', what I assume is touted as a discount club. I had never signed up for anything although I had placed a credit card order with Newport News in October...this is April. I have clicked on many of their links to view their catalogue...does this justify an unauthorized charge by a third party to my credit card? I think NOT!

After a quick search I found others to whom this has happened. I was outraged! As I was on hold with Newport News I kept reading complaint after complaint about these companies.

You must call Newport News and very angrily ask for a supervisor. You do not reach a supervisor, you reach 'Robert' who speaks on behalf of management; who speaks over you and tells you that 'Insider Pass' is a third party; who after much angry cajoling agrees that Newport News is associated with Encore Memeber Services - Insider Pass; and then you are given the number for Encore Member Services - [protected]. You must angrily ask them to remove and refund your charges. They then give you a confirmation number...so...all very official however 7 - 10 business days to refund your account so we'll see. I've also opted out of Newport News email list and will NEVER buy from them again! Who do they think they are?

Telling me that Encore is a third party...associated with Newport News...Encore Member Services had to get the credit card number from somewhere!

Unbelievable!

A lot of you are saying that you can't get through to anyone when you call the 877 numbers to cancel (877.564.8538/877.844.9554). I did a little research it turns out that they're owned/operated by a company called Encore Marketing International.

So... let's CALL THEM and tell them how big of ### they are for perpetuating these frauds/scams... below is a list of employees and the main number to Encore; if you call a receptionist will put you through to them... CALL THEM NOW IF YOU'RE FURIOUS ABOUT THEM STEALING FROM YOU:

http://www.boriskan.com

4501 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
Phone: [protected]***
Business Development: contactus@encoremarketing.com

Stanley Plotnick — Chief Executive Officer
Steve Klein — President
Kimberli Files — Chief Operating Officer
David Gallimore — Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Michael Dubrow — Executive Vice President, Partnership Development
Sondra Diggs — Chief Financial OfficerSondra Diggs — Chief Financial Officer

---------

This is the contact information of the CEO of Encore Marketing who's behind American Leisure and EZ Saver Scams... contact him to let him know how you feel about him cheating you and stealing your money:

Chief Executive Officer
Stanley Plotnik

+1.301.459.8020
splotnick@encoremarketing.com

Encore Marketing 4501 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
USA

Well, I don't know if I signed up for newport news insider pass or not. But I am being charged and cancelled using the number on my statement today. However, I did order a pair of sandals and received them with a broken buckle. So I was told I could send them back free of charges and that they could place my order again right then if I still wanted them. I agreed, received the and they to were low quality, I could see the glue where they were glued together at the sole. So I then returned these. It took 7 weeks for them to credit my account on their end and my credit card through Newport News just sent me a statement that says that I owe $102.28. Can newport news and they say everything including shipping was credited. So someone is not tell the truth. Both pairs of sandals combined were only $50. I have been paying the minimum as instructed by the bank that holds their accounts, have no items in my possesion and they still say I owe that much but no one seems to know for what. I have never ordered for anyone like that and will never do it again. If someone knows what these charges might be for please let me know.

SAMETHING HAPPENED TO ME. I WILL NEVER SHOP NEWPORT NEWS EVER AGAIN, BESIDES THE CLOTHES FIT SO BADLY THAT I HAD TO GIVE IT AWAY. IT WAS HORRIBLE.

NEWPORT NEWS SUCKS!

if you are inrolled in insider pass it is only because you agreed to it or signed up on line( again agreeing) you are offered free shipping and 10% off your next order for a 30 day trial of insider pass for $1.95 and ARE told that after the 30 days if you decide to continue that $14.95 a month will be charged to the credit card you used today. you are also told that if you decide you wish to cancel that there is a phone number located in the package that you will recieve in approx 2 weeks. and guess what? it really is there. and unless you say yes send me that you don't get enrolled no matter what anyone says. you may have forgotten saying so, not surprising with how smart some ppl seem to be. so there is no point in whining and complaining about having a charge on your credit card for something you HAD to sign up for to get AND if you had half a clue you COULD be saving WAY more then the monthly fee in gas or groceries alone. not to mention any of the other ways you can save money with it. movies, eating out tons of things, ### you get 20% cash back for going to burger king for heavens sake. so use your brains what little you may have and stop bashing an awesome company for something you never took the time to read. and you do not have to pay to shop, how dumb is that? you are not paying for catalogs or the privillage to shop, catalogs are free and you can shop with or without the membership to insider pass, the only membership you should be concerned about having is one to the discount club then you get 10% off every order you place for 12 months, double discount catalogs that give you 20% saving and you get your clearance catalogs b4 anyone else. you pay a fee for it ($25) but guess what if you don't get it all, and i mean every cent, back in savings over the year, the remainder is reimburssed it is an awesome way to asure you never pay full price. and it is also NOT A SCAM!

Hi,
I have just noticed a charge of $14.95 from MA [protected] on my credit card.
I have realized that they have been charging me for the last 7 months! I called them and they said they would refund the last 4 charges. We will see. I told her that I wanted the entire amount back but she should go ahead and do what she can to fix the situation and I would get a lawyer to handle the rest. I asked for proof of my acceptance into this "my insider pass" membership as I am sure I would never consent to anything that required me to read a lengthy contract. She said that I consented by entering my email in a box and poking past the contract agreement statement. First of all I do not order online with my cc. I do recall the day I called Newport News and was asked if I give permission for them to submit my order my order (by website?). This question makes sense now. Someone at the Newport news just went online and submitted my order with computer. I think the important legal fact here is linking the contract to their computer address and not mine. Have you had any luck with your problem.

D Dawson !plz help!wat's the number i should call? it's happend 2 me too!

I have the same problem just like previous complaints too. I just read my credit card statement and found there is one item
MC-IN PASS IDxxxxxxxxxxx [protected] with $1.95 charge, It's from the order I made on NewPort News' website, and they sent an email that tells me I can have free shipping for the next order, so I click the link attached on the email and there is , the invisible extra charge.

I called that number and they told me that basically I signed up for a free shipping service, and they are in charge of the billing which will be occurred every month. Now, that's insane! I think that company is responsible to tell the customer that they will charge certain amount of money each month and attached it to that email they sent.

This is the WORST COMPANY To Order from, If you THINK When You Return an Item to a store, That still 3 1/2 mths later, Still NO REFUND, When you Call them, They tell you they are going to Flag it as a Priority, Right. I Will Never Shop with Newport News or any of It's Sister Sites. Buyer Beware of this Company..

From 2001 to 2004 I had a credit card account with Newport News. They sent me a letter that said they were no longer going to offer credit cards and they wanted payment in full. I had about a $2, 000 balance and had paid on time every month. My husband had suffered from an illness and was out of work. I couldn't afford to pay off the balance. They offered me a settlement for which I was forced to accept and reported a charge off on my credit report. A short time later (and I noticed even now) they started to offer credit cards again. I decided to look into it closer and found that others had gone through the same thing with them. I decided to dispute it on my credit report in 2006. I was denied and now they updated my report to reflect an update of 2006. Now I have to wait until 2012 to have it off my report, unless Newport News plays dirty again and lists an update of this year. >:[

Do not trust Newport News!

They are horrible! I sent a return to them using their return label on June 3rd (personally handing it to the UPS driver however I didn't write down the tracking number assuming I wouldn't have to!). After a great number of emails and inquiries, they finally told me the return was received on July 15th (not sure how this is possible). It is now September 1st and I still don't have a refund. I am in a dispute through the BBB and they responded to my dispute saying they issued me a gift card because the return wasn't received within 30 days (my guess is it was received but just not processed!). I am so frustrated and still have nothing to show for my return and I really don't even want to use a gift card with them because I never want to place another order with them again, and not just Newport News but with any business under their parent company.

All i want is my money back, is it that hard! I returned about $200 worth of merchandise on June 3rd and they recived it June 9th. It is now Agusut 6th and nothing! I have called them at least 2 times a week for the past two months. They say they haven't recived my merchandise and they have no record of the return. I called another time and they said I was being issued via gift cards since it was past 30 days, another person told me they recived the merchandise and it would be refunded to me on July 17, the kicker is when I called today and they said I owe them money! WTF, when did I owe someone money for paying and returning merchandise? BS I tell you Ludacris. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and called my bank to have the amount credited to my account, which they gladly did and should post in two days. I can't believe this, it's been a night mare. I have been needing the money back in my account to cover a few bills and it's messed up everything. I will never buy from them again and plan on telling everyone I know to not as well. I am taking this as far as I can, I might even start a boycott / petition online and send it to the company. Yes I will do that tonight research how to post a blog or something of the sort boycotting Newport News, i will then send the link to them in a nice letter.This company is going down and I'm not stoping.

I should read these comments before I made a purchase 2 days ago!

NEWPORT-NEWS ONLINE SHOPPING IS THE MOST UNETHICAL SHOPPING WEBSITE I'VE EVER MET. PLUS, THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE WORST ON THIS PLANET.

RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT SHOP AT NEWPORT NEWS ONLINE.

I like their fashion line. However, when I was charged more $$$ than what is showing on my invoice, NO! I bought some sales items on their official website 2 days ago. On my invoice, it shows the total amount as $13.12 dollars. When I checked my credit statement, Newport News billed me $26.52 for the same murchandise.

1. They charged me $14.99 on a single item that's priced as $4.99 on their website.
2. They charged me $$$ on something they do NOT have in stock.
3. They charged me $8+ shipping fee while I used their promotion code for FREE shipping.

I called their customer service to get the problewm resolved. The guy sounds like CUSTOMERS ARE NEVER RIGHT. He gave me an attitute, strong, unprofessional, impolite! When I asked him why NEWPORT News charged me $13.40 more than my invoice amount, he said the total amount on the invoice is JUST an estimate. I shop online all the time, this is something really funny. ESTIMATE? You guys cannot provide with an accurate $$$ amount when customer places an order on your website? What is your business ethic?

I will share my bad experience with my friends and family, also with my subscribers on XXX chanel. Do NOT place orders with NEWPORT News online. DANGEROUS...

Newport News has been charging me a monthly membership fee since August 2008 for something that I never signed up for. I called and demanded proof that I enrolled and they told me that since they have my email address, that is proof that I enrolled, they do not have any documentation or paperwork to prove that I signed up for them to take money out of my bank account each month. When you purchase anything online, you submit your email address, just because they have that information does not mean anything. They tried to credit me 2 of the 10 months to get me off their backs, but I demanded to speak to someone else. At the end, they said that they will credit me back the full 10 months, but we will see if that happens. Newport News is tricky and decieveful in it's business practices and everyone should be warned! DO NOT BUY FROM NEWPORT NEWS!

Here's my update too: After filing a complaint with the "Attorney General's office" I did get a cold response from Newport News. It was vague and came across as they were completely justified. Also at the bottom of the letter, they clearly stated "not to respond to them". I am still out $58.00 for two returns and have learned my lesson. There are many complaints against this company.

Just to update my situation...I am still having massive problems with Newport News. I would advise EVERY consumer to shop elsewhere. They are clearing incompetent and shady. They are now trying to charge me for items I returned and they are very ruthless. They never admit their mistakes and even went so far as to charge another person's mastercard to force me to pay a bill for items I returned. Image my shock when they recited a charge account number which does not belong to me. Image the person's shock to be charged by newport news for items they didn't order. I really think this company shoudl be investigated by the Better Business Bureau.

I just called Newport News to request a date for my refund. They say it can take up to 60 days to get it on their recorded message though the website says only 15 days. They've had my items for over a month now. They received the item 2 days after I shipped it and it was just scanned into their warehouse 2 weeks later. Then on top of the 4 weeks I've been waiting, I was told it will take another week or two to process the refund.

I asked to speak to a supervisor to find out why it took so long and was told that I was not allowed to by my customer service rep Bernice ID#71828. When I asked if that was company policy she never answered my question. She only said that the supervisors were busy on the floor supervising her to talk to me, the customer. When I asked the name of her supervisor so I could write a letter, she said it was not their policy to give the supervisors name. I asked her if that was Newport News policy and she said it was.

This place is a rip off and a scam and they are not intent on helping the customer at all.

I'm going to call again to try to get a supervisor. If I can't get one, I'm going to report it as fraud on my credit card since they say I'll get my money in 15 days and I have not received it yet.

Horrible customer service and return process
I had extremely bad experience, returned dresses more than month ago (with confirmation that they received it) didn't get refund (till now) refund not correct, instead of sum that they should refunded (dresses+tax- return label per THEIR web policy ) I got app 10+ dollars less. Whole return process is time consuming, they HOLD your item AND your money one month after they RECEIVE your items back, and then when they refund they don’t even state a sum! I needed to ask for it, and noticed that they refunded LESS than per their on-line legally binding policy. Still struggling to get my refund (took me at least 10 mails and over a month to get refund, even now not correct). Do avoid Newport-News, just problems with refund and return. I requested to be removed from their catalogue and e-mail lists. Never again I will give them my business

My Amex just flagged this "Encore Marketing" purchase. Apparently I too have been being charged 14.95 per month for about the last year. They wouldn't tell me where the charge originated I was told by the operator that it was "some household items or flowers". Really? My best guess is that it came from Red Envelope or Pro Flowers. Very upsetting that two seemingly legit companies would get ties up in this nonsense. I was refunded the last six months by the company but am still considering disputing all the charges with AMEX. Beware mystery charges!

I whole heartedly agree with the above complaints.

I really want to share this story with as many people as will take the time to read this!

I have had just a couple of dealings with Speigel and thier "sister" company Newport News.

Last summer I had ordered a vest from Newport News...when the vest did not arrive in a timely manner, I called looking for it. I was told that it had been shipped to my previous address, even though when ordering online, I specifically put my current address in as the shipping address. When I asked what Newport News was going to do to get this product to me, I was basically told that it was up to me to get it from my previous address or it would be returned back to them with no attempt at that point to get it to my current address. I told them that when they recieved it back that they could just keep it.

Then, this past holiday season, I had a wedding to go to on New Years Eve, living in Wisconsin, I did not want to wear a dress while the temperatures were dipping to -15, I wanted to wear slacks, so I thought palazzo pant were dressy enough for such an occasion. I searched all over the internet and Speigel had the nicest ones. In my search, (I did figure out that Newport News and Speigel were sister companies, but because this was the only place that I could find palazzo pants that didn't look like something you would schlep around the house in, I decided to take a chance. After all, in the past Speigel has had a pretty good reputation)...OMG was I wrong! I ordered 3 pairs of pants (had to make sure I got the right pair and the right fit) and a sweater. When my order arrived, I tried all the pants on and immediately returned the two pair that didn't fit. I tracked the order...the order went out and was recieved by Speigel 7 days later...It has now been 10 days since they have recieved the returned items and they still do not show up as returned so I called customer service. I too received automated recording...this one telling me to allow up to 6 weeks for my refund to process...WHAT, 6 WEEKS?!...WHAT POSSIBLY CAN BE THAT TIME CONSUMING?...So, today I sat on hold to wait to talk to a "customer consultant" (anyway!)... who confirmed that the merchandise had been recieved, but that it could take as long as 6 weeks for it to show up on my card statement. Doing my very best impersonation of a pleasant person at this point, I politely ask this poor guy who has had to resort to this job to pay his rent, what could possibly take up to 6 weeks...he very honestly responded that he did not have a legitmate answer for that...hmmmmmm. What frickin' recourse do you have for that?...I guess I have to suck it up!...Now I know you're wondering at this point what does this have to do with Priviledge Pass...Well here ya go...After ending my phone call with this poor guy, I now switch over to review my bank card statement and there sits a pending transaction for ...you guessed it...PRIVILEDGE PASS !...for $14.95! The unmitigated BALLS of this company to tell me that it could take up to 6 weeks for my refund to process and not EVEN a month since this order was placed and my hurried inadversion to sign up for this POS...they are taking more $$$$$ from me!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE FELLOW CONSUMERS...Think twice before ordering so much as a pair of socks from either of these companies. I am normally just a titch more savvy when it comes to signing up for these supposed "Special Offers", but in these times of trying to save where you can, I didn't STOP to think about how much an initial $1.95 could hurt. It can...and clearly will

My husband ordered from Haband and tonight while checking our AMEX statement, I noticed a $1.95 charge from Encore Mktg. that noted Haband Perks. I don't know what the "Perks" are supposed to be, since he was charged by Haband for shipping. I'm quite sure he'll never order from Haband again, but now I have to get whatever Encore program he's in cancelled.

This has happened to me with Spiegel purchase in March this year. Got the initial $1.95 and $14.95 charges.

Contacted Maryland BBB and filed claim. Contacted my credit card company and filed claim and asked them to reverse charges and change my credit card number to stop any more charges.

All charges were reversed after Maryland BBB contacted the Encore. You need to file a report with them.

What does it take to shut down these unscrupulous companies from scamming consumers. Shame on Speiegel - I will never buy from them again. They keep sending junk in mail - all recycled immediately.