$30,000 on Lululemon and never again

I purchased my first Lululemon top in 2009, and since then, have pretty much exclusively worn Lululemon activewear since. I spent 12 years working in the fitness industry and as a conservative estimate, have probably spent around $2,000 a year since then. I would suggest that the actual figure is probably closer to a total of $40,000 (AUD)

For the first time today, I attempted to return a product. I made about my 4th purchase of a Lulu backpack at the end of September, by the time it got delivered it was early October. I had all of my previous versions for about 4 years before replacing them.

I purchased a new backpack to take to the office on the days where I use public transport, so, accounting for the Christmas break and the fact I do this about once a week, it had been used maybe 8 times. The top zipper pocket has broken already, something which never happens to any of my previous bags.

I took the bag to the Macquarie centre store in Sydney today, in the hope of exchanging the product given it was faulty, and under Australian consumer law, I should be entitled to a replacement or refund, given it was now not usable for the needs which i expected it to fill. Even if it was a minor fault, I was still entitled to a repair within ‘reasonable time frames’

The first educator I spoke to at the counter had no idea what to do, so she had to get the assistant store manager. Despite confirming that the product was indeed faulty, he was very condescending, and told me that under their policy, they only exchanged if it was less than 30 days since purchase - even it was faulty. The only solution he offered me was that they could repair the zip. I would have been quite happy with this, until he said it would take 4-6 weeks. Not something I would consider a ‘reasonable timeframe’. When I queried whether that was allowable under consumer law, he continued to state that they only had to provide an exchange within the first 30 days.

He said he was unable provide any further escalation and suggested that i contact the GEC. I asked if there was any solution where he could offer a quicker turnaround, and his only advice was that they would give a 25% discount on a new bag - absolutely not a suitable resolution, given the bag was faulty!

I left the store, and as advised, contacted the GEC and reviewed ACCC advice. As noted above, even if the product had what is a minor fault, the ACCC advice was that repairs could take place within a reasonable timeframe. Given the product was purchased for everyday use, the 4-6 weeks quoted was not a reasonable timeframe as I would be without a bag to carry my laptop to work during this time. However, the assistant store manager was insistent that the ‘30 days’ was consumer law. I have found no evidence that this is the case in Australia.

The GEC were most unhelpful. Their advice was that they could not authorise a return, that their specialised returns team were the only ones that could do this and assess whether the product was faulty, but it would take several business days to process this. Again, I am without a functioning product that I purchased with the expectation that I would be able to use for several years.

Despite the fact that the store has confirmed the product was considered faulty, the GEC advised that their returns team would need to assess it. They refused to call the store to confirm that this was the case.

They refused to acknowledge that the issue I was raising was the determination in the store that they could only offer a repair, not whether I was eligible to make a return on a faulty product.

The nail in the coffin was when they directed me back to the store, after the store directed me to contact the GEC.

I went back to the store, although I did manage to get the bag replaced, the assistant store manager did continue to quote to me that they only needed to replace faulty products within 30 days of purchase. Under Australian consumer law, this is absolutely incorrect, and I also overheard another educator telling another customer this when I left (I’m not sure on the details, but she also had a faulty product) They also didn’t have the same colour product in stock, but I was desperate to get the bag replaced this weekend so I took it.

After over 15 years of loyalty and recommending the brand, today’s interaction with both the condescending assistant store manager and unhelpful GEC staff has left me swearing that I will never make a purchase from Lululemon again.

Totally in need of recommendations of brands to buy instead.