Village Hats | Hats & Caps Reviews
Reviews (2)
No reviews yet!
Find companies you have experience with and write reviews about them! Your reviews contribute to a more transparent market and improve the reliability of companies.
Epsom Fur Felt Fedora
Misleading website creating a false expectation. Appalling Customer Service
Village Hats ..... what a truly awful company. Please note that ‘Hats and Caps’ and ‘Village Hats’ are the SAME COMPANY.
I ordered an Epsom Fur Felt Fedora from them. It took them 4 days before they contacted me to tell me the size I had ordered was out of stock.
I went back to their website and opted to try the smaller size in the hope that it fitted, and they told me that they would accept a return if it did not. They did not explain their returns process, nor highlight any costs therein at that time.
I ordered the other hat, and it arrived 2 days later. I opened it immediately, excited by my purchase, only to find what I consider to be a very poor product which bore little resemblance to that shown on their website.
The material was flimsy, and the hat would not retain the shape shown on the website. This is obviously what I had in mind when I ordered, otherwise why else would have chosen this style ? The brim constantly wanted to turn upwards, and the structure in the crown/peak was poorly defined and lacked the character shown on their website. I believe that the two hats were of different quality. Furthermore, the brim was asymmetric and looked odd when I put it on. Even my wife agreed with these views, and she rarely agrees with me !!!
I emailed Village Hats customer service, and got n o response.
I emailed them again, and got a response asking me to send photos.
I took photos and emailed them to Village Hats customer services ........ and got no response.
I sent another email asking them to look at the photos and respond ........ but got no response.
I called the customer service number, and was redirected to what I believe was a non-UK service centre where I eventually spoke with what I consider to be a surly customer service assistant.
I explained my case and he went away to retrieve the email, but couldn't. I sent it again, and eventually he acknowledged that he could see my photos. He went away to 'study' the photos and eventually came back to inform me that the photos did not corroborate the points I had made in my email complaint.
Apparently a fedora with a turned-up front brim which makes you look like Benny Hill (showing my age there) is perfectly acceptable, given the style shown on their website which inspired my order originally is most definitely not in the same vein.
He agreed that I could return the hat, but would have to pay for the return and use their 'Rebound' service. I was not happy and told them that I would want the return fee refunded as the hat was not as expected and that the website has created a false expectation on my part. He said they would decide if my complaint was justified when they received the hat back.
Reluctantly, and somewhat peevishly, I returned the hat, paying the fee. It then took this wonderful 'Rebound' service more than 10 days to convey the hat back to Village Hats, who then took another 20 mninutes after the formal delivery time notified to me by the carrier to assess that my complaint had no basis and that the hat was 'as described'. This is what they said in their email to me:
"I suppose we could have specified the above information on the product page, but the description of a product has to focus on the most important information and stay short enough to be readable quickly enough by our website visitors."
How about that eh ? A contemptuous view of their customers, and even they acknowledge that the information on their website is misleading and lacking in detail.
My view remains that the hat sent to me fails to match the styling in their website image, and I suspect that the quality/weight of the material used in the website image hat was higher than that sent to me, evidenced by the fact that the hat they sent would not hold any shape other than the Benny Hill style.
I recommend that if you are considering a purchase from Village Hats, you either look elsewhere as this is a big multi-national company with a strong web presence and appalling customer service, or you go to a REAL SHOP where you can see what you are buying before you spend any money and enter into a farce which you later regret ....Absolutely excellent service and quality
I received my order today from Village Hats. It was delivered by the Post Office in a box. Inside a carefully wrapped hat in perfect condition and fit. I was most impressed and would have no hesitation in recommending the Company to any prospective customer
