Customer sends back clothes to bankrupt Chadwicks, but can’t get refund

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Updated: March 6, 2012 8:18AM

Dear Fixer: I have been a longtime customer of Chadwicks of Boston. I shop through their catalogs because it is easier for me due to my disability. I have cerebral palsy.

I placed an order in September. When I received my order, one of the items was too big and the other did not fit right, so I decided to get a smaller size on one item and a refund on the other.

To this day, I have not received the exchanged item or the refund.

I have called Chadwicks several times and have gotten as far as talking to a supervisor. I was told the management would call me back but have heard nothing.

I tried to go on their website, but that is under maintenance. I also wrote a letter to the corporate headquarters. The last call I put through, I was hung up on.

I have bought at least five or six items from this company, but with this recent development, I will think twice about ever purchasing anything from them again.

Can you help me get my money back for the return and the replacement item — or better yet, all my money back?

Ramona Nitzschke, Morton Grove

Dear Ramona: You probably didn’t know it when you made your purchase, but Boston Apparel Group, which owned the Chadwicks brand, has been dealing with major financial problems. It filed for bankruptcy protection last summer, then was purchased out of bankruptcy court by Distinctive Apparel Inc., a holding company of Blackstreet Capital Management LLC. Lots of workers lost their jobs. With that sort of business backdrop, it’s no wonder the pants and coat you returned in October went into a black hole with no refund or replacement.

We took this to Caroline Miller, CFO at Blackstreet Capital. We soon heard from Jeremy Wright of Distinctive Apparel Inc., who explained that during the bankruptcy proceedings, there was significant interruption to the business, including a temporary closure. He said the plan is to restore the retailer’s former glory by moving manufacturing back to the United States and by resolving its customers’ outstanding issues. Wright promised to make this right, and he did: After first offering a store credit (which you declined), he promised to send you a check for your $169.97. It took a little while, but you finally received the refund last week.

COSTLY LESSON: Consumer’s tale of woe

The Fixer has heard plenty of stories about wasted gift cards and gift certificates for stores, restaurants and spas that went out of business before the recipient had time to use their gift. In some especially sad cases, people have been given gift certificates just weeks before a place closed its doors.

Ordinarily, consumers have some protections when it comes to gift cards (though nothing can protect against a business that suddenly goes broke). In Illinois, gift cards can’t expire before five years or amass fees for inactivity — and there are protections for consumers in the federal CARD Act of 2009, as well. But even with our consumer-friendly Illinois law, there’s a loophole for credit card gift cards and bank-issued gift cards, which can have monthly fees deducted.

Which brings us to Fixer reader Kathy and today’s Costly Lesson.

Kathy’s mom died, and as the family sorted through her belongings, they found two unused bank gift cards, each worth $25.

Kathy went to the bank to ask about the value and got an unexpected answer: “I was told the bank charges a dollar amount every month when someone does not use the card,” she wrote The Fixer. “So in essence, my daughter purchased the cards for her grandmother, and now these cards — just because she never had a chance to use them — are no good.”

Understandably, the family feels ripped off. They learned the hard way that bank and credit card gift cards are a bad deal, not only because of the monthly fees but because some also have upfront fees at the time of purchase.

Getting the runaround over a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at suntimes.com/fixer , where you’ll find a simple form to fill out. Because of the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can’t personally reply to every problem.