Save yourself time and money! I am less than excited to have signed up for a membership. My intentions were to be conscientious about spending $$ on clothes and thought this would be a way to be "greener" in the clothing world.

My first order arrived just fine - after sorting through and finding available items on the site. One of the items arrived unable to be worn due to an extra button that didn't belong to a hole - so it would not button up the front properly and could not be worn. This was okay, I figured it was a glitch. Upon returning, I used the shipping bag provided in which it arrived which left me with 3 other items I had to return "on my own". Again, no big deal.

When ready to return those 3 items(I didn't wear any of the items) I tried to find a return label. This involved a "chat" with someone at Rent The Runway. It was not in my profile or anywhere to be found - even the chat person thought it was odd. She had to email a return label. Again, not a big deal. However, I am starting to feel less like a member and more like a hassle.

After returning the 3 unused items - I browsed for my next order. I placed 4 items in my bag - had a message of them "headed your way" by April 5th. Super! I was excited, feeling like maybe I'm a member. However, when I checked they were nowhere to be found and in fact now unavailable and did not ship. POP - there went my membership balloon.

Soooo, I went browsing again. I found a couple of items available that I placed in my bag. I thought okay...let's try it again. Saw the message of Headed your way April 11th! Perfect. Today, I woke up thinking "oh wow today is my lucky day - I will be getting a Rent The Runway package" and NOPE...when I checked my account. I see I have a Headed your way April 15th and again my items are down to 1.

Basically, I am truly disappointed. Every item that I find suits me is unavailable. I feel like I am paying for a service that is a joke. I wish I had thought this through before committing to a 2 month membership and paying for clothes that I can't find to rent.

I even rented an item for a wedding in May and paid an ADDITIONAL rental fee to guarantee it to be here for the wedding. I have a feeling I may be really disappointed and it won't arrive at all.

I am not feeling like a member - more like I have been scammed. When I am a member of any place else, I actually get to enjoy what I am paying for. I cannot say the same for Rent The Runway. Honestly, I think my account is only being seen on my end...and I just keep paying for a pretend membership.

I wished I had paid my money and bought clothes instead of wasting it here on items that I keep hoping to rent or searching for items that are not available.

If I ran my business like this, I'd be out of business. I am asking what can you do for my overpaid and under delivered membership?

Again, not sure this experience is for me. Very disappointing and a waste of $$!

I started off loving RTR. It was easy to use, the styles were cute, and I was able to to switch it up often.

Unfortunately, around 2022, their site started glitching terribly. Every month, I was paying over 240$+ and couldn't ship out anything to myself. I kept getting errors on the account for no reason. No one could figure it out. I pleaded, called, texted, emailed constantly. I barely heard from anyone outside of the customer service rep I was talking to at that moment. I reached out to someone almost once a day. There is a time limit on your shipments, so it became insanely stressful to get my money's worth.

After nearly 2 months of reporting the glitch, the issue finally got escalated to IT. Up until this point, I was only getting 1 shipment a month though I was paying for 2 and I couldn't even check out, the reps had to do it for me due to the account glitch. By May, I was offered "credits" since I couldn't use the account, which were useless considering my account was still having issues and IT still couldn't figure anything out. My account was paused. At the end of May, around the 21st, they claimed my account was fixed, they unpaused it, took the credits, and nothing was fixed. I was still experiencing the same issues. So they took the money yet again, no solution, and still a useless account.

Come June, I cancelled the account, asked for a refund of my 241$ considering I had been more than patient, and that the credits were useless if the account wasn't working. I was told I was going to be contacted by billing. I was never contacted until I got a late fee for my items even though my account was paused during this time and wouldn't officially cancel until the last period was over.

Finally, enough time passed to were the period was over, no one helped, the account was still broken, and my refund was not confirmed, even though I paid for a service that was not rendered. I called again. A rep told me to hold on to my products at home until I would hear back from billing. Billing only emailed me to tell me I was late and I was due for a fee. I asked about my refund, and they refused to talk about it until I returned the items.

I returned the items and now they are claiming that I did not return an item that I bought, and completely ignoring my questions about the refund for the month[s] I was unable to use my account (March - June). I called, and was told I'd get a call back and I haven't heard from anyone.

I called again today, and someone told me they cant transfer me to a supervisor and hung up. I called back, and finally got someone helpful, who confirmed I did buy the product billing claimed was missing but billing still hasnt called back. I am waiting to resolve the issue but its INSANE that it has taken MONTHS to get a hold of anything or anyone all while almost feeling gaslight the entire time.

I tried RTR based on a friend's recommendation. I like the concept, but I think it's probably better for someone who really likes to change their look frequently. Still, I wanted to give it a shot. Nothing about this service was good. First off, there wasn't really much in my size (XL/16 - not 16W); I'm sure this is different for smaller sizes. But even after I found some items, it was all downhill. Half of the items I received had a very funny smell, and the cut of the items was so different from the images on the models, I can only assume they'd pinned/taped things to change the shape, or perhaps they really do cut things differently at larger sizes, but if that's the case, it's pretty hard to know what you're ordering. I'm well aware of the difference between the models' bodies and mine but this was way beyond that.

There's no app for Android, and the website didn't work right (multiple computers, on different browsers) - it wouldn't update to show what items I currently had at home and I was getting logged out every single time I navigated to a different part of the site - which makes an endless loop, because once you login you're taken back to the home screen. I got the app on my iPad and that worked okay. At that point, though, it showed my items but was not giving me the chance to exchange, and for some reason when I tried to post reviews it wouldn't go through. I got no response by e-mail and had to call to get them to update the system on their end so that I could swap items. The new items came quickly, but I kept getting threatening warning e-mails that they hadn't received the items from my first order. Thankfully I had gotten a receipt from UPS and kept my tracking number. I e-mailed the help desk to that effect but never heard back, so when the items still weren't updated a couple of days later, I wound up calling and the person I talked to said my items had been received but the system hadn't been updated. I get that shipping is very backed up right now, but this item was received 12/7 and I didn't get the e-mail they were received until 12/21. And if they know they are that backed up, maybe they should hold off on the threatening e-mails.

I was unhappy with my second shipment and with the whole experience, so I wound up canceling, and I'm going through the same process with the second set of returns now. I will say that canceling was pretty painless, you have to send an e-mail rather than just doing it on the website but it was easy. Overall, RTR was a complete waste of time and money, so even if I'd loved the clothes I think I would still have canceled. I've been reassured that I won't be charged late fees, and I do think that they'll stay true to that, but I'm very tired of the continued, automatically-generated e-mails telling me I'm going to be charged.

The clothes weren't always washed well and stunk. Loose buttons on jackets. I once sent a package back with my dirty clothes, it made it to their warehouse and was signed for and then 2 weeks later it showed up back on my doorstep with the same dirty clothes in it just like I sent it in. I called and they didn't know how it happened but said they'd email me a free printable label "just this one time." Like it was my fault their employees mailed the old dirty clothes package back to me. Then they also put my account on hold because they were still waiting on that package. I paid over $200 a month and ended up only getting 3 of my 4 shipments that month because they put my account on hold due to their mistake. The shipping sometimes took a long time too, which I understand isn't their fault, but it also wasn't mine, but theyd keep my account on hold for that reason, so there were several instances where I didn't get my 4 shipments in time before the month was up. And they wouldn't reimburse me any of the money lost. So I ended up going down to the 2 shipments a month plan. Then the kicker, and the reason I finally canceled with them forever was when I returned a shipment to them but they never got it so they charged my card $1400. I reached out to them and UPS immediately when I realized my account was on hold because they hadn't received the package. I gave them the exact date, time and location where I returned it and they started an investigation which ended with them saying I may have put the package in the wrong drop box location and they were going to charge me. A package with 2 dresses and 2 tank tops in it that were used items, probably worn dozens and dozens of times by many different people, plus their cloth bag with crappy zippers ended up costing me another $1400 on top of what I already paid for the subscription. And then they sent me an email saying I could keep the items. Okay jerks, I don't have the items. I was with them for 8 months and they didn't work with me at all. I get that they were then out of 4 designer items, but I also don't have the items, and the items were previously used so they've already gotten their money's worth out of them. Instead of charging me full brand new item price they could have at the very least worked with me and we both eat the cost and they charge me half of that. I enjoyed the clothes and sometimes got compliments on how well I dressed and I would have stayed with them forever. But after they screwed me and took my money several times, including an amount so high its going to take me a long time to recover from, I'm finally done. They are a bad and greedy business and I will never go back and will trash talk them forever now.

I would love to give a critique of #renttherunway #RTR I have recently had the worst experience. See, I used to use them regularly (pre pandemic) then I canceled my membership and figured I would go back at a later time when I was able go someplace. Well, it's my birthday month so I thought it would be a good time to come back... well, I was wrong! I signed up for the "special" membership pricing for 2 months. I ordered my 4 pieces and promptly tried them on and decided that 3 didn't work for me. I sent the 3 dresses back within 1 week (The 3 items were received by RTR, because I wouldn't have been able to exchange them) and I was then able to order replacement items. I ordered 3 items to replace the 3 I sent back, and RTR SENT ME 4 items. Now #RTR wants to charge me a LATE FEE for the 4th item... After all this. RTR sends me a birthday coupon for 30% off to purchase an item... okay, I'll purchase one of the dresses I currently have to off-set the one dress that is "late". RENT THE RUNWAY still wants to charge me a late fee and NOT HONOR THE BIRTHDAY DISCOUNT THEY OFFERED on the item I purchased. AND after exchanging emails, #renttherunway was rude, not accommodating or understanding. I placed a phone call to them today asking that they consider applying the discount coupon so I can keep the dress I purchased. One of #renttherunway stylist put me on hold for 10 minutes. I had to call back. When I did call #RTR back, they told me NOT to return the dress I paid full price for because it is FINAL SALE... REALLY? NOW to top it ALL OFF, I just received an EMAIL CANCELING MY MEMBERSHIP OF WHICH I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A REFUND FOR THE 2ND MONTH. I am extremely disappointed in their Customer Service... or the lack there of. I will do my best to challenge their tactics but telling my story to any potential NEW CUSTOMERS and letting EVERYONE KNOW that #RentTheRunway is NOT A GOOD EXERIENCE. I WILL NOT SUGGEST THEM TO ANYONE!

Rented for the first time for an upcoming wedding. I was super excited to be able to rent something and not have to buy another expensive dress I probably wouldn't wear a second time. I rented two dresses, and got a second size in one of them for free (yay!). I also rented some jewelry to complete my look.

The rentals arrived 3 days after renting, on the day promised. When I tried on the dresses I was not happy with the fitting of one (seams in unflattering places), and the other had a high slit that I felt was not appropriate for the occasion and decided to exchange the dresses for something else right away. There was thankfully an option to exchange right on my RTR page, double yay!

My problems started here. I tried to click on the exchange button and got a 'loading replacement options' page that never cleared. I tried from both my phone and computer with the same response from the web page... no alternatives ever loaded. So, still with hopes for a positive outcome I emailed customer service and described my problem. The next day I received a stock response, that had nothing to do with my original problem. I tried accessing the replacements page multiple more times that day with the same results as before, nothing ever loaded (from multiple different computers at different places, work, home, etc.). I never did get replacements for my rentals and without time to shop ended up wearing a dress I already owned to the event. I feel like I just wasted my money for no reason at all.

My email to customer service:

On Thu, Nov 7,2019 1:40 AM,______ wrote:
I'm trying to get replacements for my shipment. Every time I try the loading page "loading replacement options" just sits and nothing loads. Please help.

The reply from RTR:

Hi there,

Thank you for contacting Rent the Runway.

We're so sorry for any confusion! If dates on the reservation calendar or certain sizes appear grayed out, that particular style or size is not available for the rental period selected. Dates will also be grayed out if you are trying to reserve an item more than 4 months in advance.

At this time, we do not currently have a waitlist for styles. We recommend browsing styles by inputting your desired rental dates and sizes to see all styles available.

You can also check back in from time to time as styles are constantly rotating with customers and can become available. We get new arrivals every week, so you may find a new style you love even more!

Any other questions? Ask away.
Best,

Egypt N.

Hey all,

I usually don't write reviews for items... but this one was soo bad I just had to warn people! I rented two gowns that I thought would be great for the Marine Corps Ball a couple of weeks/a month in advance. My husband found out about the schedule for the ball about 1 week in advance. The dresses were supposed to arrive on Friday at 8pm, but we needed to leave to get to our destination on Friday by 11am. So I thought I could either 1. Call to see if the dresses could arrive a day early or 2. Have the address changed from my home address to the hotel address we would have to stay at Friday night. The ball was on Saturday night so I thought I totally had time to get the dresses, try them on etc. I called customer service on Monday and they said they could change the date of arrival of the dresses to overnight shipment. I said wonderful! Such an easy fix! Wednesday evening... dresses aren't here. I email to ask the status of the dresses and was told that they weren't sure why the initial person I spoke to said they could change the shipment but that it wasn't possible to get the dresses early. I was like 1. WTF and 2. Ok fine then can I just change the address to the hotel... that way, once I arrive at the hotel by 2pm there would still be a ton of time for me to get the dresses to try them all... etc... I was told that a change of address may not be approved but that they would call UPS to make sure they had the right address for me. I said great. Friday comes along... no email. So I email them to make sure the address was changed to the hotel. They said yes! I said- excellent! Now we can head to the hotel and I'd have the dresses by Friday night... and if that fails... I'd have it on Saturday cause the ball wasn't till Saturday night. Friday comes along... no dresses... Saturday... no dresses... I try calling multiple times and every time there was a 2hr plus wait time. At this point... it's Saturday at about 12pm... I did pack a backup dress. But def not what I would have wanted to wear. Obviously. Cause I paid $100 plus to have two dresses to choose from. $100 may not sound like a lot, but I'm a graduate student... so yea... it's actually a lot for me. Anyway... whatever. I kept calling the front desk at the hotel to see if the package was there. And at this point, I'm in the nearby mall looking for a new dress. 5pm rolls around... no package... but luckily I find a bomb dress for pretty cheap. Today is Sunday... and I still don't have the dresses and don't know whether they are at my house... or still on the way to the hotel. I called again... emailed... no response. This was my first time using this service and def my last time. I really loved the idea of having an amazing dress that was affordable and loved the idea of the company... but clearly... there is a lot of work to be done. OHHH hahaha and to add insult to injury... the night before (Thursday) I had to leave home, I got an email that one of the two dresses I reserved, wasn't available anymore as someone didn't return it... or did return it but they didn't think it was in the best condition to send to me. In that same email they asked me if I was ok with them selecting another dress for me, free of charge, but I had to response ASAP. Which I did. I wish that I was afforded the same type of urgency in terms of responses as I gave to them. Either way... I have no idea where these dresses are... but I am hoping for a full refund.

My experience doesn't exactly rival some of the horror stories described in other reviews, but my renting experience was pretty awful in its own right. As a first-time RTR customer, I took advantage of a promotion that allowed me to rent one dress + a backup size and an additional dress at a discounted rate. The afternoon before the three dresses were due to arrive I was informed that I needed to select a replacement for one of the dresses. I find it absurd that this seems to happen so frequently. Regardless of the circumstances, it's completely unacceptable that a dress that I reserved nearly two months ago suddenly becomes unavailable the day that it's supposed to be shipped to me! RTR needs to bulk up their inventory or plan for these contingencies! I didn't have a super busy afternoon so I was able to devote what ended up being about 2 hours to selecting two replacement gowns (because the backup size for the first replacement dress was unavailable) with the help of customer service. For my trouble, they also offered me a 50% discount on a future order. I have no intention of using this.

The following day, when my now four dresses (backup size for the first reserved dress, second originally reserved dress, and two replacement dresses) are due to arrive, I logged into my RTR account to check the shipping status for the order. I immediately noticed several things: 1) The second dress that I originally reserved was unavailable and wasn't shipped with the others. I never received an email notification for this. 2) The now three dresses that were supposed to be shipped to me were all shipped separately. 3) Only one of the three dresses was scheduled to arrive on time, that evening. One of the dresses was scheduled to arrive by 8 PM the following day (but I needed to leave for the wedding that I was attending in the morning), and the other dress was missorted at a UPS facility and its arrival had been delayed. No ETA was available.

Furious, I called customer service and received a call back about an hour later. I requested a refund for the second dress that I originally reserved, which was granted and subsequently processed. BUT WHY DID I NEED TO REQUEST A REFUND FOR A PRODUCT THAT I WOULD NEVER RECEIVE? HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE DO THEY DECEIVE--and let's be real, steal from--IN THIS SAME WAY? Why wasn't a refund automatically issued when the dress became unavailable and I wasn't able to select a replacement because the shipping window had closed? In any event, I explained to the customer service rep that I needed to leave the following morning before two of the dresses were due to arrive. To RTR's credit, she was able to contact FedEx and UPS to move up the delivery time to 8-9 AM the following morning.

Long story short, I received one of the replacement dresses on the day that it was scheduled to arrive but it was too small. The dress that was missorted by UPS arrived the following morning and I ended up wearing this dress to the wedding. The third dress arrived the following afternoon after I had already departed for the wedding. I was gone through the weekend so I had to ask a friend to drop off the package at UPS so that I wouldn't be slapped with their outrageous late fees.

Looking for positives in this situation, I ended up having a dress to wear to the wedding and I only ended up paying $6 in total after the full cost of the second dress that I originally reserved was refunded when it became unavailable (this was because of the first-time customer promo that I used at checkout). But in total, I probably spent about 4-5 hours selecting replacement dresses, dealing with the shipping disaster, rearranging my schedule to accommodate the delayed shipments, and coordinating the dress return with my friend. In the end, none of this was worth the headache that renting with RTR became and I would NEVER recommend this service to anybody else.

I have used RTR for military ball gown rentals since 2013. I LOVED it in the beginning, but as time goes on, I am less happy with every order, particularly since they released RTR Unlimited.

This is now my 6th or 7th ball gown rental in the span of 6 years. The second-to-last rental I received, the size 4 was so large it fit like a size 8 or 10, but the size 6 fit like a glove, leading me to think either dress had been altered by someone else or the sizing was just messed up. It was also their own "Slate & Willow" brand, so I vowed to never select that brand again. I overlooked this "issue" and decided to order them for my most recent ball here. Big Mistake.

I spent hours and days 6 months before the ball scouring photos and reviews for the "perfect" ball gown. I found it, and booked it exactly 4 months in advance (as far as you can). I knew it was prom season, and wanted my dress locked in. Week of the ball, I noticed the dresses weren't shipping out as early as they usually do. So 2 days before, I call and ask about the order and they inform me they will ship after dry cleaning. 1 day before they were supposed to arrive, I call again... dresses just need to go through quality control. That evening before they were supposed to arrive to me, I get an email at about 8 pm that my primary size choice won't be shipping, and I can pick a replacement. Well it's prom season, and they are LITERALLY sold out of everything... I didn't want a replacement, I wanted the dresses I ordered, paid for, and spent hours researching. I even bought all the accessories to match said dress. I called and asked for about 12+ dresses before I found one available in my size, of course it was not something I wanted at that point, but I was nervous my backup size in my first choice wouldn't fit. It was also 1/3 of the price I paid for my original dress. They promised to overnight that replacement dress to me and I would still have it one day before the event. Well... of course that is not the case... tracking on that shipment has stalled and for whatever reason, they decided to send it 3-day instead of overnight. So it won't arrive until Saturday... after my Friday event... and after I have already returned my other dress at noon on Saturday. I am so so fortunate that the backup size in my primary choice dress fits, so the replacement is not needed, but I am now "on the hook" for this dress that I didn't want, don't need, etc... I just know the "late fees" will come next week for this replacement dress, and there goes another headache that I don't even want to think about.

It has been a stressful week dealing with them, between the worrying about the ONE dress size fitting me (I have literally 0 backup options at home--as I said, I rent all my ball gowns), and calling and emailing them for help.

Also, their chat function on the website doesn't work, it's a "front" to send them an email. I have sent them so many emails and they never respond, let alone in a timely manner. When you call them, you have to wait 30+ minutes only to be given scripted responses.

I LOVE the quality of their ball gowns (all other dress have been so lackluster, imo), but their customer service and issues with the last few dresses means I will no longer order from them. I am also greatly embarrassed that I have recommended them to friends renting from them for the first time, and I am hoping they don't have the issues that I do. Lost a long-time customer from me.

Oh... and don't get me started on my opinions that they A) inflate the "retail price" of the dresses B) they charge 200% of the retail price if a dress is stolen or missing or never returned, which angers me since that is linked to point "A", why not just replacement cost? C) I also have this sneaky suspicion that the designer dresses aren't "designer," but rather that they buy the rights or patterns and make them in their own sweatshop and put a designer label on it. I have never seen any of my gowns available for purchase through other sources. I could be wrong, but I have had this hunch for awhile now.

UPDATE: I feel it is only fair to provide an update to the situation. After MANY phone calls to RTR about the back-up dress that was going to be arriving AFTER my event, they re-routed it back to them, so I didn't have to deal with returning it and the possible late fees (yay for me, but I still shouldn't have had to do all this extra work). They also promised me a small refund back to my credit card, and of course after 7-10 days, I never saw it, so I had to contact them AGAIN to ask where my refund they promised me was (I never even asked for it, they graciously offered it to me), and I got some drama about refunds taking 7-10 days, but then it came immediately after I asked about it's status. IDK... the whole company seems shady now and even with the small refund, it wasn't worth the headache. I also can't trust that things will work out for me in the future, so I don't foresee any future orders.

RTR is a great concept for some people, but for me, just hasn't made sense and I will be canceling. I really wanted it to work.:)

I joined RTR Unlimited because I hoped it would help curb my compulsive online shopping (at least a bit) and my constant dry-cleaning bills. I'm someone who spends several thousand dollars/month just on clothes and accessories. Not Kim K by any means, but I do spend.

PROS:
- Great customer service
- Fun experience, it's fun to browse and pick out your wardrobe.
- Probably will save you some money, if you frequently buy new clothing
- Convenient

CONS:
- You get 4 items at a time with the basic unlimited plan. 4 items at a time, is not enough. Let's see... jacket, pair of pants and a top. That's 3 items right there. Basically I get 1, maybe 2, outfits in a shipment. The shipment needs to be at least 6-8 items. What am I supposed to wear all week?... I upgraded to the 5 item plan, but still felt like I needed more.
- *THE BIGGEST ISSUE* Too much downtime between shipments. When I drop off my shipment, it takes 2 days to get back to RTR. Assuming I pick out my next items right away, then 2 MORE days to get the next shipment to me. That's 4 days of me being naked. It would be so much better if RTR would let you pick out your next shipment, when it gets scanned at UPS, to keep things moving.
- The clothes are just - ugly. They are the designers' cast-offs. The items that made it in the clearance or never made it to the showroom. I love some of the designers... Theory, DVF, etc. But don't be thinking you're getting the beautiful, current, full-price stuff in the stores. It's more like weird colors, cuts and styles... maybe this is how RTR gets to work these designers? There must be some kind of arrangement.

And finally... the clothes often look beat-up. Many of the items; it's obvious they've been dry cleaned 100 times or more. It doesn't look fresh and new. Clothing can't take that much.

The problem with only getting 4 items at a time is you're not going to like all the items or they won't fit. Typically, I only like 1-2 of the items...

I think Rent the Runway is great for one-time rentals for special occasions, like that $3,000 gown you don't want to buy. RTR Unlimited may be a good fit for you if you have tons of special occasions every weekend (like weddings) and need to wear a different dress, and aren't picky on what that is.