A student says he has been left "extremely distressed" after allegedly discovering pair of used boxers and a dirty tissue inside his ASOS parcel.
Tye Kirk, of Collingham, Nottinghamshire, purchased a pair of new black boots from the online retail giant earlier this month, but says he was in for a nasty shock when the shoes arrived.
According to the 19-year-old, the shoes, which he says had already been worn, were accompanied by some unexpected black boxers.
Repulsed by his discovery, the law student donned protective gloves to investigate further, and quickly realised that the pants had been worn.
It was at this point that Tye says he also spotted the tissue, with the contents of the parcel leaving him "disgusted".
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After complaining to the online retailer, Tye claims he was offered a £100 gift card but chose to decline the compensation.
He has since asserted that the incident left him emotionally scarred, stating that he is now reluctant to shop online ever again.
Tye said: "I'm so angry, how could they let this happen? I immediately started anxiously laughing for I was disgusted that these had been sent to me like this.
"I placed on PPE, placed the items back in the box, took photos of the goods, placed the box in the garage, and sanitised all areas and my hands.
"I initially contacted their online staff via customer care and they stated I would only receive a refund for the shoes".
He continued: "I believed a mere refund was unacceptable for this sort of case and decided to reach out to their legal enquires team. I now feel so reluctant to purchase goods online due to the fact I have been exposed to this situation due to the lack of quality checking.
"I don't understand how the process those shoes must have gone through, that no one noticed either product in the shoes, the unsatisfactory quality of the shoes, and the fact there was a pair of boxers inside".
Tye says the ASOS legal team contacted him to offer a refund and said that they could organise for a courier to come and collect his parcel. However, he feels as though the incident was just brushed off, and so decided to refuse.
Tye added: "I was disgusted at their response. This would not have happened had their quality checking of goods been satisfactory. Especially after the pandemic, I would have expected a company like this to take their returns procedure more seriously.
"I stated they need to investigate the matter and wanted the result of the investigation, but ASOS stated this was confidential and they could not share this with me. I don’t believe ASOS took this matter as seriously as I needed to be".
An ASOS spokesperson said: “We want all our customers to have a positive experience when shopping with us and were disappointed to hear that this wasn’t the case here.
"We have robust processes in place to ensure that returned items are up to standard ahead of resale, however, on this occasion, it is clear this fell short of the standard we would expect to deliver.
"We have apologised unreservedly to the customer and have raised this incident to the teams involved".
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