Buying clothes online is always going to be a gamble, but for TikToker Ani (@anisaurussss), TheRealReal was keeping it a little too real with her recent order.
In a viral TikTok, which has amassed 60,500 views, Ani seemed as if she was in disbelief as she said: “This has to be like a joke or something.”
She then went on to show users the “beautiful” dress she bought from the clothes vendor, but everything changed as she inspected the item more closely.
As she showed viewers the dress’s attached bodysuit, she drew attention to what appeared to be a white discharge stain in the crotch area.
“That’s disgusting,” she said. “Do you guys not have quality control at The Real Real when you’re, you know, bringing in clothes and accessories and inspecting them? Like, is that not part of the process?”
Commenters were disgusted
When it came to the comments, users were horrified.
One commenter wrote, “Nothing could have prepared me for that.”
“Everything I see about that company is worse than the previous awful thing,” another added. “That’s a biohazard.”
“Do people not wash stuff before selling it?” a third asked. “I even wash stuff I donate.”
“I used to work there like five years ago, that was an immediate send back to customer if we saw that!” a fourth revealed. “Guess quality checks have gone down!”
While a fifth simply quipped, “Not the snail trail.”
@anisaurussss Just got a dress in from @The RealReal and was quite shocked at the state of the dress. #onlineshopping #therealreal #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – anisaurussss
The TikToker shares two follow-ups
Ani then issued two update videos. In the first update, she said that she reached out to The RealReal and complained, but was unimpressed by their offer of $15 credit. “Like, why would I want credit to shop there again?” she asked. “After this whole experience?”
In her second video, she detailed her negotiations with customer service. After some convincing, they offered $25, but Ani said she felt like the business was “breadcrumbing” her. “And so I finally emailed back, and I got a response just now, and they’re going to issue me a refund on this item,” she concluded. “But I felt like it took multiple emails and multiple asks to finally receive a decent outcome here.”
Ani didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment. The Real Real didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via email.
A similar experience
Concerningly, this experience is not uncommon. A Goodwill shopper recently went viral after finding her own purchase was soiled. In a clip that amassed 4 million views, Sierra Davis (@sierradavisdaily) urged via on-screen text that one should always “check items carefully at the thrift.”
As the camera panned to a pair of Levi’s shorts, Davis highlighted a suspicious brown stain inside the garment.
While thrifting is obviously different from buying online, both cases indicate possible quality control issues, which, with biohazards like these, definitely need to be improved.
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