• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Rent the Runway Pays Angry Customers $200 After Service Failures

Rent the Runway Pays Angry Customers $200 After Service Failures

Online Retailer
September 30, 2019
Bloomberg

Fashion rental service Rent the Runway is refunding and giving out extra cash to disgruntled customers even as it warned that the service disruptions that have plagued the startup for weeks are likely to continue.

“We know we have broken complete customer trust by not delivering their orders on time,” Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Hyman said in a phone interview Thursday evening.

She said Rent the Runway will issue refunds as well as give an additional $200 in cash to customers who have had their orders canceled due to the supply chain problems. “To repair that trust, we didn’t feel it was right to offer credit to Rent the Runway,” she said.

Complaints about outfits that didn’t show up on time or never arrived have plagued the clothing subscription service over the past few weeks. Hundreds of customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with both Rent the Runway’s special event service — where customers take out designer outfits for formal occasions — and its everyday wear business. The start up, which is valued at over $1 billion and backed by investors like Franklin Templeton, has blamed the installation of a new warehouse software system for the issues.

In an email to customers sent early Friday morning, Hyman warned customers she couldn’t guarantee that the weekend’s scheduled orders would arrive either. All event orders scheduled to be received the first week of October are canceled and the company is not accepting any new event rental orders or new subscribers until October 15. Regular subscription orders may also be delayed by one or two days until then, the email said.

Rent the Runway’s latest troubles began on September 13 after it installed a new system in its New Jersey warehouse, said Hyman. The integration of the new system wreaked havoc on fulfilment, impacting the number of orders that could be shipped each day.

Ultimately, the new software should be “the most significant transformation in our company’s history,” said Hyman. It will allow the company to make items available faster, thanks to a new racking system for inventory.

Hyman said the problems affected 14% of Rent the Runway’s subscriber base and a smaller percentage of event renters. Following the mishaps, the company’s supply chain head Marv Cunningham, who previously worked at Target Corp. and Amazon Inc., is stepping down after about a year in the role.

In recent weeks, Rent the Runway’s social media pages have been inundated with complaints from customers who weren’t able to get help from customer service representatives. There have also been complaints since July over long wait times for customer service, before the warehouse issue. The company said earlier that it would double its customer service staff and make it simpler to cancel subscriptions.

The company was founded in 2009 by Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, who now works at Walmart Inc., as a rental platform for women to get outfits for special events. It’s since grown rapidly into a subscription business, with most of its customers now paying a monthly fee of $159 to rent items ranging from Kate Spade dresses to Oscar de la Renta earrings for everyday use. The service has also started renting out children’s clothing and home decor, attracting criticism that it’s expanding too quickly.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics All Warehouse Services Order Fulfillment Warehouse Management Systems Apparel E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Retail
KEYWORDS Apparel E-Commerce/Omni-Channel order fulfillment Retail Warehouse Management Systems
  • Related Articles

    Rent the Runway Wants to Replace Your Everyday Wardrobe With Its $89 Monthly Plan

    Rent the Runway CEO Says Access, Not Ownership, Is Fashion’s Future

  • Related Directories

    SnapFulfil

Bloomberg

Baby Formula Shortage Shows Risk of U.S. Industry Concentration

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Medical drone

    Amazon May Be Proof That Delivery Drones Aren’t Practical

    Last Mile Delivery
  • digital work

    Supply Chain Managers Are Quitting in Unprecedented Numbers

    Coronavirus
  • North Jakarta, Indonesia

    Physical, Financial Visibility: A Dual Approach to Supply Chain Resilience

    Supply Chain Planning & Optimization
  • Heat Wave Triggers Blackouts

    Vast Swath of U.S. at Risk of Summer Blackouts, Regulator Warns

    Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt
  • Worker using tablet

    Podcast | Stitching Together the Physical and Digital Supply Chain

    Technology

Digital Edition

Scb may 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing