ArcaMax

Tessa Tan orders a sweatshirt from Armani Exchange, but it doesn't fit. Why won't the company exchange it for her?

Q: I'm trying to get an item exchanged that I bought through Armani Exchange online. Last year, I bought several items from Armani online. One of them, a crew-neck sweatshirt, was too big for me.

I called Armani and a representative told me the warehouse was closed because of COVID-19. I needed to wait until the warehouse reopened to ask for the exchange. A representative told me I could return the item even though we were almost at the end of the 30-day window for returns.

I sent an email to the company, asking when the warehouse would open, but no one responded. I waited patiently. Eventually, Armani responded that it had "escalated" my case but couldn't process a return because I was 60 days past my order. But no one had told me about the 60-day limit, and I had tried to return it sooner.

Can you help me get my exchange from Armani Exchange? -- Tessa Tan, Dublin, Calif.

A: Armani Exchange, the youth-oriented brand of the Italian designer Giorgio Armani, should have sent you a sweatshirt that fit. Since that didn't happen, the company should have exchanged the sweatshirt for one that did -- pandemic or not.

I've reviewed the extensive email correspondence with Armani Exchange. By the way, nice work keeping all the emails. They are always helpful for a resolution. It looks like you placed your order at the start of the pandemic. Then the Armani Exchange warehouse closed. You asked for an exchange within 30 days, but a representative told you to wait. So you did.

Things get a little murky after that. It's not clear when the warehouse reopened, but by the time Armani Exchange began responding to you, it appears that more than two months had elapsed.

But here's the thing: The Armani Exchange refund and exchange policy is only valid for 20 days after your purchase. Although it looks as if you sent a return request within 12 days of receiving your order, Armani Exchange may not have received it until weeks later, presumably because of the pandemic.

This is a difficult case because we don't have Armani's side of the story. If you were within Armani's 20-day window, you should be able to get a new shirt. But there was no way to get a full picture without Armani Exchange's help. So I reached out to the company. It didn't answer (perhaps because of the pandemic?).

So I tried one more time. Silence, again.

Unfortunately, without Armani's cooperation, I can't mediate a resolution. My advice? Talk to your credit card company about initiating a dispute on the charge. It certainly looks as if you did everything you could to do a timely exchange. You deserve either a new sweatshirt or a full refund.

Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer for Elliott Advocacy. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help with any consumer problem by contacting him at http://www.elliott.org/help

© 2021 Christopher Elliott.