Rent The Runway

I no longer use Rent the Runway. Twice I've used them for a wedding cocktail dress. Twice I've been disappointed. My dresses arrived in time, however, they were in poor condition. One was badly stained and I had to have it dry cleaned (RTR picked up the tab). Another smelled like BO (not cleaned) and another had the under lining hanging out. Where's the quality control?!? Their customer service is very good, but it's too late when you're going out of town and don't have many options. I won't use them again and I actually steer customers away...

This was my first time renting from them. I ordered two long gowns for a black tie event for Mardi Gras. Two days before they were supposed to arrive, I received a message stating my first choice was no longer available. Then I called to see if they could go ahead and ship my second choice to arrive in the middle of the day, instead of 8pm on the day I was supposed to be leaving. The child to whom I was speaking on the phone then told me that my second choice was no longer available either. There was no comparable dresses to rent. As a consolation, they said, "We will refund you your $ and give you a mere $30. Ridiculous". I will NEVER use them again.

I paid $300+ for the opportunity to try on dresses. I was sent 3 formal dresses to wear to a wedding: one had the hem ripped out from a prior rental, and the other 2 were so tight that if I had tried to dance the seams would surely have busted. I rented them prior to the event date in hopes that they would offer me an "in store credit". I did not so much as get an email saying "oh gee, we are so sorry our sizing did not work out". I will NOT ever recommend them to others regardless of age or income. I am a 57 year old woman who owns her own design business. I exercise regularly and am in good shape and of medium build. The sizes were not true to size and did not provide enough information to ascertain if it would fit; similar to clothing web sites that provide size charts.

I opted for unlimited', excited to mix every day items in with some formal options. Sadly, my orders NEVER arrived on time, meaning I missed every formal occasion I'd planned for.
RTR is a very expensive mistake if you want reliable service. I contacted them immediately every time there was an issue; it's not fun to have to chase someone for fashion, and it didn't help, because my issues were never resolved.
It just became an infuriating experience which was totally unfulfilling. I'd rather spend my money on something fabulous that brings JJ it than be angry at RTR for literally wasting my money. I haven't been able to wear a single dress that I ordered. Horrible service.

Ordered four items. All were expensive. All were supposed to arrive today. Just tonight got an email saying that one of the dresses wouldn't be available. This is Wednesday. My event isn't until Saturday. Earrings I ordered are also not available. Women, don't put up with this sort of crappy care. Men wouldn't tolerate this for two minutes. Why are you? Put these jerks out of business so someone responsible can step up and do this properly. I am a 60-year-old physician. Cannot for a minute understand why these folks are still in business. If I had practiced this way, I would have been fired long ago.

If I could give RTR a zero rating I would. I rented a tuxedo dress for special event. The dress arrived on time, but it looked like it had been pulled from a rag bag. It was wrinkled, well worn and dirty. There was a problem with the sleeve. I ended up buying a dress for the event. My sister had recommended them but I would NEVER use this service again. I saved neither time or money. They did refund my money and gave me a 20% discount on my next purchase but forget it. Don't bother. Plus they don't post any negative reviews. It's a sham system. There is no transparency.

I cancelled my RTR monthly membership the first month I joined (April 2019) because the assortment was so unimpressive. I unknowingly still had 2 items in my possession but did not receive an email letting me know until 9 months later. The email was sent to me on 1/3 (a Friday at 4:16 pm) and was not opened until Monday morning. I am a full time working mother and checking emails from websites will never be a priority at 4:16pm on a Friday. I responded as soon as I opened the email the following Monday letting them know I didn't even realize I have the items in my possession and can they provide me with a shipping label so I can find them and send them back. Less than 2 hours later I was charged for the items in a separate email and the response I received from an associate was I am either liable for charges of $904 or the cost of the clothing. I checked my inbox and the only communication I received from RTR was 1/3 since I cancelled my account. The associate was rude and dismissive.

RTR's cancellation policy reads that if you do not cancel a full 30 days prior to the date you intended to receive your item, you will receive absolutely no refund but instead be given a "store credit." In my opinion, this is not a refund. Moreover, if you do not cancel the order a full 14 days prior to the items arrival, they will not only fail to give you a refund but also withhold about $15 of your store credit for the "late cancellation." This is true even if you initially make the order within that widow in error and immediately call to cancel it. In my particular case, for example, I rented a dress 15 days before an event and within two minutes of ordering realized I had selected the wrong date. The dress I requested was not available on the date I actually needed it, so I had to select another item, which was fine with me & found one the next day; however, because I was now within 14 days of when I originally requested the item's arrival I was also charge a fee for cancellation within 14 days & advised that because all of this occurred within 30 days of the (mistaken) arrival date, I would only receive partial store credit to my account. Needless to say, I will but not be using that credit as I want nothing to do with this company. After googling their predatory policies I see several articles written regarding their poor business practices and sad customer service.

I've rented four times. I won't do so again. First time, the dress I rented months in advance was no longer available. They substituted a dress I hated and that was much less expensive. I had to FiGHT for a refund.

The second time things were great!

Third time, the dress was in bad shape. Lots of stains and thread pulls. I sent it back on time and was surprised to see that they tried to charge me a late fee? Thank goodness I had my receipt from UPS.

Fourth time, I reserved a dress months ahead of time for a holiday party. The dress' arms were insanely long and my backup dress was too tight. They overnighted me- at my expense- replacements but by then - as you may know, they've had inventory issues- there were about 4 dresses in my size (4/6 petite). I went with a 6 (zipper was broken) and an 8 (no other choices- was huge!). They offered me 20% off next rental- so I paid $150 for nothing.

I would not use RTR if you are a weird size...

I always heard of Rent the Runway, would window shop on their webiste but never actually buy anything. That changed last year when I made my first purchase to rent a dress for my work's holiday party. I figured they had a lot of nice options, specifically for this type of occassion and at a fraction of the cost of buying one myself that would likely be worn once and sit in the back of my closet forever... why not? Boy did I wish I chose to buy my own dress. One day before my event (the day the dress was scheduled to be delivered) they emailed me saying the person who had my dress before did not return it on time and therefore they can't send it to me. They offered for me to choose from a selection of dresses available for that date still (which given the one day notice you can imagine the selection was slim pickings). I waited over an hour on hold with their customer support line to finally get through to someone to ask for a refund. They were nice enough and gave it to me and I found a dress elsewhere. Fast forward one year and I decided to give them a second chance. Wish I didn't. Given that the previous issue wasn't really their fault and was instead of the fault of the person who got the dress before me (I mean that is the risk you sign up for with an operation like this), I decided to order a dress for this years holiday work party. I got the email my dress was on its way so I was excited that this years attempt with RTR was already going better than before. The dress arrived ahead of schedule (awesome! Or so I thought). I open up the bag to find... the WRONG dress. Like are you kidding? Not only was it the complete wrong dress, it wasn't even the right size, and the wrong quantity (I ordered two dresses since they let you get a free additional size option). Nope, never again. I am done with trying to benefit from this site. Dissapointed to say the least since almost everyone I know who has used them had a positive experience, but not me. I'm in the same spot again this year as I was last year scrambling to find a dress days before the event. Trust me... not worth it - stay away if you can!

Where to begin? I started renting from RTR in 2013 and became an Unlimited member 7 months ago. Recently, I wanted to add a 5th rental for one of my shipments. It seemed clear to me that the $39 cost was a one-time addition. Much to my chagrin, I started getting charged monthly for the extra slot. When I addressed with Customer Service, I was told I had misunderstood and that I would not be refunded. I requested to be connected with a supervisor. "Katie T" was quick to say there was nothing she could do about the refund which would have been approximately $100. The worst part about this? The amount of money I've spent throughout the years on RTR (detailed below), the amount of people I've personally referred that have gone on to rent multiple times and/or become unlimited members and the amount of free press I've given RTR. In the past years I've walked many red carpets and always given them credit. Additionally, tagging them on social media many, many times. I immediately requested Katie cancel my membership and she didn't hesitate. I received her cancellation email within minutes. So much potential with such inadequate customer service from a managerial standpoint.

Ordered my dress for my event in plenty of time. Was to arrive today for a wedding tomorrow. Decided this AM to check on shipping status - and to my dismay, it said scheduled to arrive on Monday! 2 days after my event. Tried to contact customer service. Hold time was over 30 minutes. Finally got a call back and the resolution was to ship to me overnight to get to me tomorrow. Too close for my comfort so I cancelled. While they will issue me a credit, the worse part is I'm without a dress. I counted on them and they failed. Their business model is all about timely delivery. I'm so upset, and they have now ruined my day as I try and figure out what to do. If you aren't worried about things getting to you on time, you might give it a try; otherwise, stay away!

Love the clothing, but if you sign up for Unlimited just be aware the shipping is NOT 2 DAY shipping like they say. It has taken up to 7 days to get my clothes at times. I have complained multiple times and considered cancelling & their attitude is "okay email us when you are ready to cancel." For $160/month that's not how you treat someone. I am not saying they owe me the world, but at least be somewhat apologetic and maybe communicate an action plan to fix the MOST COMPLAINED ABOUT PROBLEM with unlimited...

Rent the Runway has by far the best selection out of the clothing rental companies, however, you can't hold items in the cart while you are building your garrment bag, so by the time you pick 4 items, you find that some of them are no longer in your cart.

When I first signed up, I "hearted" 343 items. When I went to build my bag, only 26 were available. I kept refreshing until I found the coat I wanted. I put it in the cart and then added a sweater. There still wasn't much to choose from, so I went to bed, when I woke up the items were gone. I called they said putting items in the cart doesn't mean other can't rent them.

So basically, you don't have much time to pick your selection. If you find an item you really want, you have to just go ahead and pick some other stuff. Even if you know there are items out there that you would prefer to wait for.

I am bummed, I really wanted to rent these clothes. But not willing to play merry-go-round with the cart to get them.

Rented for the first time for an upcoming wedding. I was super excited to be able to rent something and not have to buy another expensive dress I probably wouldn't wear a second time. I rented two dresses, and got a second size in one of them for free (yay!). I also rented some jewelry to complete my look.

The rentals arrived 3 days after renting, on the day promised. When I tried on the dresses I was not happy with the fitting of one (seams in unflattering places), and the other had a high slit that I felt was not appropriate for the occasion and decided to exchange the dresses for something else right away. There was thankfully an option to exchange right on my RTR page, double yay!

My problems started here. I tried to click on the exchange button and got a 'loading replacement options' page that never cleared. I tried from both my phone and computer with the same response from the web page... no alternatives ever loaded. So, still with hopes for a positive outcome I emailed customer service and described my problem. The next day I received a stock response, that had nothing to do with my original problem. I tried accessing the replacements page multiple more times that day with the same results as before, nothing ever loaded (from multiple different computers at different places, work, home, etc.). I never did get replacements for my rentals and without time to shop ended up wearing a dress I already owned to the event. I feel like I just wasted my money for no reason at all.

My email to customer service:

On Thu, Nov 7,2019 1:40 AM,______ wrote:
I'm trying to get replacements for my shipment. Every time I try the loading page "loading replacement options" just sits and nothing loads. Please help.

The reply from RTR:

Hi there,

Thank you for contacting Rent the Runway.

We're so sorry for any confusion! If dates on the reservation calendar or certain sizes appear grayed out, that particular style or size is not available for the rental period selected. Dates will also be grayed out if you are trying to reserve an item more than 4 months in advance.

At this time, we do not currently have a waitlist for styles. We recommend browsing styles by inputting your desired rental dates and sizes to see all styles available.

You can also check back in from time to time as styles are constantly rotating with customers and can become available. We get new arrivals every week, so you may find a new style you love even more!

Any other questions? Ask away.
Best,

Egypt N.

The day I was flying into Miami I received an email from rent the runway. They said I had 30 minutes to respond before they would be closing for the weekend. The email said they rented my dress to someone else. CAN YOU IMAGINE? So now I had to step aside from wedding festivities to find myself a dress with no avail. I had checked Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Saks, everything. Ended up having to wear something from Ross. When I called, they gave me a refund and a metaphoric pat on the back. Incredibly disappointed and SHOCKED at how they are still a running company.