Lack of professionalism and work ethics, no refund
Advice and tl dr: check the refund terms. I ended up paying £220 for 2 hours and Ramina refused to refund me when she failed to deliver any results. While the website says it's £110 per hour, she claimed £150 was for pre-work (which really was her biggest failure — she did not do this work properly, did not understand my needs and was pushing me to dress the way she wanted, not the way I wanted). She said £70 could be refunded if I ordered the things she suggested, tried them on and didn't like them — that’s hundreds of pounds and weeks of time. Very convenient given that I told her I did not want to work with her anymore, and was definitely not going to spend any more time or money.
The story: I know people who used Ramina’s services and I was excited to work with her, but unfortunately I did not have a good experience. I was surprised by lack of professionalism and work ethics, and it got so bad I had to ask her to stop messaging me.
The service was Personal Shopping. Everything seemed to be going well, I filled in her questionnaire in as much detail as possible and we agreed on the style. However when we met, it felt like Ramina had not given much thought to my specific needs, and tried to dress me in what she liked/what was fashionable instead of what I asked for. I found myself repeating the things I said on the questionnaire, but it was like Ramina just wasn’t listening.
I was shown some tops and jeans that I didn’t like, nice jumpers from COS that is my store of choice, and we also glanced at some coats. She kept giving me excuses like “I didn’t think it would be oversize”, “I really thought we would find something”, complaining how hard it was to find this and that. Not what you expect to hear from a professional stylist, as it’s a part of their job and not the client’s fault. It was quite frustrating, and Ramina understood that, so she suggested to send me a few links to see if I liked them, and if not we would part ways. I didn’t like them, and that was that.
The next day I asked for a refund as I didn’t get any results, and also felt that she had completely neglected me and my needs. Ramina refused, claiming she spent time working on my case, questionnaire, etc. But it didn’t feel like she did, as she definitely did not understand my needs or the kind of person I was. She got defensive and then the worst part started. She was sending me long messages with excuses and accusations, and also tried to pursue me to order the things she thought I needed, which was unacceptable in the circumstances. She did not stop when I said I wasn’t happy with her tone of voice, and asking to respect my boundaries and to stop pushing me. At this point I just wanted this horrible conversation to end. My last message ended with “please leave me alone”, and she didn’t — she sent another message suggesting I order the clothes.
This was an important project for me, and I really believed Ramina was the one to guide me through it, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to understand my needs and couldn’t deliver any results. I had two very stressful days and lost my money. I think it’s completely normal to make mistakes and if Ramina just recognised that and issued a refund, it would be ok. But the way she handled the whole situation was completely unprofessional and unacceptable.
October 27, 2022
Unprompted review