Shopping for the little ones can be one lousy experience, that's why we prefer leaving them home while going to the mall. But with the good old internet, you can shop at home conveniently on sites like FabKids. The problem is you can pay a heavy price for that convenience if you don't know the scams to avoid. You're probably wondering whether whether it's safe to shop on FabKids, probably why you're going through a couple of FabKids reviews.
Well, we have all you need to know , including the good, the bad and the ugly.
What is FabKids?
FabKids.com is an online subscription-based fashion retailer that primarily sells kids’ clothing and accessories. FabKids was founded by tech businessmen Adam Goldenberg and Don Ressler, founders of the FabKids’ parent company TechStyle Fashion Group. TechStyle is also parent to four more online fashion retailers including JustFab and Fabletics. FabKids has been around since March 2010, and is currently headquartered on 609 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3506.
How FabKids Membership Works
Just like Fabletics, you can either shop and check out as a regular customer, or subscribe for VIP (apparently to them that stands for Very Impressive Parent) membership that will cost you $29.95 every month.
You can also opt out and “skip a month”. They won’t charge you for that month, but you have to opt out between the 1st and the 5th.
You can use the $29.95 as store credit to spend or save at any time. Being VIP gets you a 50% discount on items, in addition to discounts and special offers.
Before shopping around, you’ll have to create an account or login if you’re a returning customer. During sign up, they’ll ask you a couple of questions regarding your child’s gender, name, interests, style and so on.
FabKids Prices
FabKids banks on returning customers, hence the subscription business model. But let’s look at a few price examples.
Girls’ clothing including tops, leggings and bottoms average $35 each, but you can get two for the price of one as a VIP member. Boys’ clothing including shirts, shorts and pants average $30 a piece for regular shoppers, but VIPs also get the “buy one get one free’’ offer.
Boys’ shoes, sandals and sneakers top $50 for regulars, with VIPs getting them at half price. Girls’ shoes also cost the same as boys’, give or take.
FabKids Refund & Return Policy
FabKids provides a 30-day window for returns, as long as the items remains unwashed, unworn, and original tags are intact.
FabKids says if you’re ordering from the US and Canada, you can either return the item store credit, ask for a refund or exchange for another item.
However if you ordered from non-contiguous states including Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and APO/FPO boxes, you’ll pay $9 for return shipping.
To return an item, simply log in to your account and request for a return label via email. You’ll then stick the return label to the package and send it back to them at 8161 National Turnpike, Louisville, KY 40214.
They claim refunds take an average 5-7 days to credit, depending on the payment option you used, and the financial institution itself. But you won’t get a refund if you either shopped with the $29.95 membership or you used store credit.
What Types of Payments Does FabKids Accept?
It appears FabKids only accepts credit card payments.
FabKids Shipping
Well FabKids ships to the US and Canada only. That said, the company ships orders above $49 to the 48 contiguous states for free.
Otherwise it costs a flat rate of $4.95 for standard shipping that takes 4-10 business days including processing time.
It takes longer during end-month and the holidays when there’s high traffic. Sounds too long? Well, you can avoid all that and shop on Amazon.com and still get FREE guaranteed two-day Amazon Prime delivery.
Rush shipping to the 48 contiguous states costs $14.95, and it takes 2-3 days. You can't use rush shipping in Canada and the non-contiguous states. You can view their international shipping rates on their full shipping chart here.
Once you place your order, they will send you a tracking number a day or two after they ship your order.
You can then follow up on it through your account on the website. FabKids says local orders take up to 10 days to arrive. Shipments to non-contiguous states and Canada may take up to a month. I'll be damned!
FabKids Customer Service
If you need to contact FabKids customer service, you have three options. You can either contact them on 1-855-FAB-KIDS, or via their Facebook page or Live Chat 9am-9pm EST.
FabKids Gift Cards, Coupons or Promo Codes
FabKids coupons, promo codes and discounts are available on different sources around the web such as sites like Ebates.com. Did you know you can earn cash and free gift cards on Swagbucks.com just by doing what you already do online like watching videos and much more? You can then use that cash or gift cards to shop on FabKids or anywhere else. Another option is you can shop on Amazon.com for similar clothing and pricing as FabKids.
FabKids Complaints
Ok so this is the part of the review you've been waiting for, especially if you are considering paying that $29.95 per month for VIP membership. Well, you know us to keep it straight, so here’s the one thing that might stir you up about FabKids.
Awful Customer Service
I’m sure there are two sides to this story, but customers are complaining about FabKids’ customer service. Apparently you'll have to be super patient with them. Some say they take forever to answer calls, while others claim the reps they talked to were rude and insensitive.
FabKids Alternatives
If you're like me, you probably want to have a lot of options to consider. Fortunately there are other stores.
You can always shop on Ebates.com or Amazon.com for quality stuff at affordable prices from verified sellers and also get FREE guaranteed Amazon Prime delivery.
Is FabKids Safe?
FabKids is safe. There are no red flags that suggest anything shady going on. Most of the complaints we came across suggest people don’t fully understand how membership works. But all in all they seem legit. Their rating with the Better Business Bureau is A+ for those of you who need that stamp of approval.
That said, there are other trusted and proven options like Ebates.com or Amazon.com where you have free 1-2 day shipping. So you always have the option of shopping however and whenever you want there. Remember, you can earn free cash doing what you already do online like watching videos and visiting websites at Swagbucks.com. You can use that cash to shop at FabKids or anywhere else.
Well, that’s my two cents about FabKids.com. If you have any question about the company, you can visit their FAQ section here. But hey, we would love to know of your experience with this or any other online retail store in the comments section below!
By the way we've written other reviews about online stores here that you may want to check out if you enjoyed this one.
Until next time
Eddy “with a Y”
FabKids Review
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Our Overall Rating
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Summary
FabKids is one of the favorites when it comes to kids fashion. But the subscription-based fashion store has been getting negative buzz, and we sought to find out why. If you want to know whether Fabkids is safe, we have it all in this FabKids review.
Fabkids
Fabkids is a scam you could never unsubscribe, and charge 40 a month could never get ou
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Fabkids is a scam, the package never arrives
I submitted an order that never arrived. If you buy anything on the website they sign you up for a membership which will charge you each month. They keep updating the tracking link to say it’s coming but it never arrives.
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No problem
I purchased 4 pairs of boots from FabKids with no problems at all. I called customer service and asked to be removed from the auto pay membership and again had no difficulties in doing so.
Fabkids is a SCAM! Don't do it!!!!
FIRST, I never received my package when they said “it was delivered”. They said to wait several days “just in case” it may come (why would it say that in a “your item was delivered” email???) & it never came. Called & what they did was “credit my account” for the items & reship. Ok.
Then I got their “soft leggings” – they were NOT soft at all, they were standard leggings, which my daughter can’t wear. They hassled us for 35mins just trying to get a return receipt. They also said that we won’t get a refund, but “store credit” – when we protested, they said that also, just to get that store credit, we would have to wait until the items were returned, & “when we get that email, call back for a store credit” – they don’t just credit you!?!? Alarm bells going off now in my head.
Now, we have to wait until we get an email to call back & argue about it again. THIS WAS NOT IN THEIR STORE RETURN POLICY. Their store policies also state that you can opt for a credit card refund & we are clearly within our rights to get this refund, but customer service has stated over & over again that “we can only get store credit or an exchange”!? Well, there’s another kicker: YOU CAN NEVER USE YOUR STORE CREDIT. Because you have to pay full price in order to use your credit, and the full price is 3X what any normal price would be, so just say goodbye to any store credits; they are not the same as cash or any other store credit you’d get. You have to choose whether you want to pay for the sale prices (which are normal prices, comparable to other places), or you can use your store credit, but your items would be 3x the sale price amount. I’m going to be disputing this, of course, but I’m also filing a complaint with the FTC & BBB – this is a scam!!!
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Scam!!!
Scam! I ordered some things from this company and they were supposed to come. I got an email that said that they were delivered. They were not delivered. I waited 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, then 5 days and then called because I never got my items (and I really needed them because we’re traveling to cold weather and my daughter has no leggings that fit her). So they said theyll ship them out again (1st red flag). But what they “actually did” was credit my account and then send the items against that credit. Even though I paid cash for them!?
That should have never happened. I should have gotten a refund or just had the items reshipped out. But scam companies do this type of thing and say “oh but you bought them on credit”. Bull. I bought these items with my credit card and this company tried to scam me and say they shipped them to me. And that’s just the “first” scam.
The second scam was crediting my account when an item wasn’t in stock. Instead of getting a refund to my credit card like most companies would do, most legit companies would do, they gave me “store credit”. What a CROCK! That was completely against my will & unbeknownst to me until now.
The third scam was then sending the items that I originally bought, with my credit card, “against my store credit”. That way, if I returned anything, then they would say “but you bought them on credit so you can’t return them and get a refund on your credit card, you can only get a credit on your account”. Which is exactly what they did when I returned the leggings that Fabkids said were “soft”. They were NOT soft WHATSOEVER. They were normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill leggings you could get from Amazon (& much cheaper!).
The fourth scam, consists of the fact that Fabkids has continually sent me emails telling me I can only get credit on my account for the items I return. At first, it was the mere fact that I returned them, and that’s why I was getting credit. Now, they’re trying to say that they were “final sale items” when they were NOT FINAL SALE ITEMS AT ALL! (I have screenshots & orig invoice as evidence)
The fifth scam, is that Fabkids told me that I would have to wait for an email that said that ‘they received the items’, & then I’d have to call into Fabkids, AGAIN, in order to get my crappy, unusable “store credit”. It wouldn’t just be issued upon receipt of the items, I had to actually call in and argue just for my “store credit”. That’s ridiculous. It is not in their rules or regulations, just like NONE of this is in any of their policies, or the US Merchantability laws, rules or regulations.
The sixth scam is that YOU CAN NEVER USE YOUR STORE CREDIT anyway! When you go to buy something you can either pay the full price which is three times the retail price of any other retailer for crappy one of the mill clothing & use your “store credit” against 3x the price. OR, you can just buy the items at the sale price, which is much, much cheaper. So, basically, you cannot EVER use your store credit! I tried to use my $18 in store credit against three items – leggings, a jumper & a pair of shoes, worth maybe $40. BUT, the only way I could use it is if I paid $110 for those 3 items, THEN used my little$18.15 against that! So basically I would pay more than twice the amount just to use my store credit. SCAM is not even the appropriate word for this, it’s FRAUD. Period.
So, no matter what, every time I try to get a lawful refund, Fabkids tries to stop me & tries to claim some other reason (each time it’s a different reason) why I need to have store credit instead of a full refund to my credit card. No matter what, they try to keep my money, even though I did not receive adequate consideration in return. This is ILLEGAL.
As a matter of fact the only reason I even went to them and tried to buy anything was because I thought you had “soft leggings”. My daughter has SPD issues and needs soft clothing. I thought I had found it in Fabkids, because that is what they advertised (soft leggings), but that, also, was false advertising.
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SCAM ALERT
absolutely do not buy items from this store. i ordered boots for my daughter, received the items no complaints there. HOWEVER my order was only around 40$ and months later scrolling through my emails i see that my order total somehow changed to 199$!! THEN after never authorizing or signing up for “vip membership” i didnt realize i was being charged an additional 39.95$ per month. i called talked to a representitive, was asked my email an upon telling my email i was hungup on. i called back SEVEN TIMES and was hungup on every time before i even got a word in. finally i talked to a woman told her i wanted all my money refunded to my card, said this was fraud and a fraudulant website and what do u know… an instant refund. ABSOLUTELY NOT WORTH THOSE BOOTS I ORDERED. they take your card and keep charging/overcharge.
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