• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • About Us
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Parcel & Express
    • 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
    • Robotics
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Customer Relationship Management
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • Green Energy
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Management & Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Warehouse Automation
    • 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
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • WHITEPAPERS
  • VIDEOS
Home » Rent the Runway Pays Angry Customers $200 After Service Failures

Rent the Runway Pays Angry Customers $200 After Service Failures

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 Management & 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

      How China's Tech Giants Alibaba and Tencent Want to Shape How the World Pays

    • Related Directories

      SnapFulfil

      Tecsys, Inc.

      ProcureAbility

    Bloomberg

    Deadly Screwworm Pest Spreads in U.S. With Three New Cases

    More from this author

    Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

    Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

    Featured Product

    Popular Stories

    • GIST-webinar-DecisionPoint.png

      From Fragmented Tools to Unified Workflows: How to Transform Field Operations

    • 023_automation's_scalability_in_the_warehouse_v1 (540p).png

      Watch: Automation's Scalability in the Warehouse

      All Warehouse Services
    • TWO WORKERS SITTING AT A DESK CONSULT OVER A TABLET COMPUTER, SEVERAL COLLEAGUES VISIBLE BEHIND THEM

      Supply Chain Resilience in Today’s Geo-Political Mess

      Artificial Intelligence
    • MULTIPLE SHIPS PLY WATERS WITH A COASTLINE IN THE BACKGROUND

      Hormuz Gauntlet Runner Says Trump Has Been Good for Shipping

      Global Gateways
    • A LARGE AIRCRAFT BEARING THE LUFTHANSA LOG FLIES ABOVE FLUFFLY CLOUDS

      787-9 Dreamliner’s Nose Collapses on Runway

      Air Cargo

    Digital Edition

    2026 esg cover main scb q2 2026 cover

    SupplyChainBrain 2026 ESG Guide: ESG — The Supply Chain’s Biggest Secret

    VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

    Case Studies

    • Recycled Tagging Fasteners: Small Changes Make a Big Impact

    • A GRAPHIC SHOWING MULTIPLE FORMS OF SHIPPING, WITH A HUMAN STANDING AT THE CENTER, TOUCHING A SYMBOLIC MAP OF THE WORLD

      Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

    • A GRAPHIC OF INTERLACING HONEYCOMBED ELEMENTS REPRESENTING GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

      Moving Robots Site-to-Site

    • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

    • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

    Visit Our Sponsors

    4flow Arkieva Blue Yonder
    Carton Cloud CoEnterprise Dassault
    Duravant E2Open General Logistics Systems
    Hy-Tek iGPS Korber
    Lyngsoe Procurability Quinyx
    SAP Sikick Systech
    S&P Global Mobility TADA TransImpact
    US Bank Werner Enterprises WSI
    • More From SCB
      • Featured Content
      • Video Library
      • Think Tank Blog
      • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
      • Whitepapers
      • On-Demand Webinars
      • Upcoming Webinars
    • Digital Offerings
      • Digital Issue
      • Subscribe
      • Manage Email Preferences
      • Newsletters
    • Resources
      • Events Calendar
      • 2026 Event Coverage
      • 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 ©2026 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