A woman who thought she purchased the perfect beach cover-up from Shein received much less than she had bargained for.
Tori Walker, 25, ordered a crochet dress from the controversial fast-fashion website to take on holiday to Thailand with her fiancé Ben Nelson, 27.
An online listing of the item showed an olive-coloured dress with long tassels that covered the model’s thighs and reached her knees.
But Walker, an administrative worker from North Shields, claimed she received a garment that looked “more like a string shopping bag” than a dress.
She said she tried the garment on but found that it barely covered her belly button, despite her measuring in at 5’4”.
“It was just so funny,” she said. “It’s really short and gappy. When I took it out of the bag I was so confused.
“It just kept making me laugh. I thought, ‘Um, that’s short’ so I tried it on and was like, ‘No…’.
“I looked on the reviews and people’s pictures look like the website. So I just kept on laughing because how does mine look so different? It’s literally like a crop top.”
Although she was able to see the humorous side, Walker said the transaction left her “a bit fuming” because the garment she received was such poor quality that there were “threads hanging out of it”.
“I was really excited and happy when I ordered it and I thought it was going to look really nice,” she added.
“I thought it would really suit a holiday in Thailand.”
Walker said she had run out of time to replace the dress, but that she would wear it “just once for a laugh, but with a top underneath”.
She purchased it on 11 September for £10.12, down from the original price of £13.49 after using a discount code, and received it on 22 September.
After complaining to Shein’s customer services, the retailer offered her another cover-up or a refund and allowed her to keep the original garment.
“We sincerely apologise for the troubles that we brought you,” Shein’s customer service team said in a message.
“I have now reported this to our warehouse department and rest assured that we will do our best to improve our product inspection so we can provide you with a more pleasant shopping experience in the future.”
Shein has received a backlash in the past for delivering some products that do not match the pictures on the website to customers.
Items of clothing from the retailer, which sometimes cost less than £5, often feature in viral “What I ordered VS what I got” videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
The Chinese retailer also found itself at the centre of an online conspiracy theory earlier this year after a viral video sparked concerns and accusations that factory workers were leaving worrying messages on the tags.
Shein responded by calling the claims “misleading and false”.
“Our strict Code of Conduct prohibits suppliers from using child or forced labour and we do not tolerate non-compliance,” a spokesperson for the company told The Independent.
Additional reporting by SWNS
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