River island Reviews 5,407

I visited River Island Birmingham. Whilst browsing the sale rack and I picked up a pair of tailoring black and white trousers and made a decision to purchase them. The young lady by the name of Lauren was so lovely and attentive. We talked about my item and a top to pair this with. She said that this item was a set.

She showed me a picture of the full set and tried to find the matching top in store but it wasn't available. So, she searched on line but my size had sold out. What I liked about her is patience, helpfulness and knowledge
of items sold in store and slick sales tech technique.

Thanks for very much Lauren for your service. Please continue to shine 💫
Best wishes
Marcia B

Ok they have some nice clothes, but just high street and nothing amazing. Better quality and styles elsewhere.

After sale is terrible. Store return are shocking, and I returned two items in the locker but same bag as wasn’t paying £4 each! Anyways 4 months it took to get my refund. I didn’t give up and keep responding to their stupid email. They did get quite bunt in the end. Finally got my refund.

Don’t let them scam you, make sure you get your refund!!!

Spent alot of money on an online order. Wasn't able to use the payment method I wanted due to a fault. I placed the order anyway as didnt want to lose the items. Paid next day delivery as wanted one item for the weekend. When it arrived the dress I wanted specifically 4 beads came off and the zip doesn't work fully. So completely unwearable. Contact River Island customer service and its like talking to yourself. First email advisor obviously hadn't even read in their response. Was asked to provide further information did so just to received another email asking for the same. The responses are so obviously copy and pasted. Poor quality items but even worse quality service.

Dealing with yourselves directly has not resolved the issue and just added to the frustration.. I have unsubscribed from all River Island correspondence.

Order No 100979861

I ordered a few things online and kept them. One item was a t.shirt.
I literally wore it maybe 3 times and found the back arm seam had split - while I was wearing it.
I got in touch with cs and they said I could return it where they would inspect it. Which I did.
A few days later, I get an email stating they'd provided my refund via a River Island gift card.
I've emailed pointing out that they are not allowed to charge me for the return postage costs when it's a faulty and item and also, they must refund via the method paid.
I'm waiting to hear back from them.
Yet another company who either doesn't understand consumer law or wilfully chooses to ignore it.

Wow the staff at the metro centre branch are so lovely, not only are they helpful, they actually interact with customers, absolute pleasure to shop there. Well done you are all amazing .

Contacted river island weeks ago about a missing delivery (apparently delivered but wasn’t) weeks ago to be passed from pillar to post, told I’d get a refund and haven’t, emailed twice since with no reply! Awful experience, shall not be purchasing again and I’m seeking further action.

I purchased a leather silver metallic shopper bag early last year for £45.00 plus £1 for delivery to a store. I only used it on a few occasions as I was ill and then diagnosed with a very serious condition.
I went to use it this year only to find the silver colour had come away and the bag was unusable.
I saw the bag being advertised on the Next Website on Facebook. I could see why I had purchased it; it looked great, this led me to contact River Island.
I informed them about the fault. They advised me they were unable to do anything as the bag was purchased over 6 months ago.
I took advice and discovered I was covered under the Consumer rights act 2015 for goods between 6 months and 6 years. I asked them to repair or replace the bag. Once again, they quoted their terms and conditions of items more than 6 months and refused to do anything about this bag.
I opened a case on Resolver and put in a claim for a refund.
I also contacted my credit card company, however the bag cost under £100 and hold out little hope they will be able to assist me.
I have been a customer of River Island for many years, including when they called themselves Chelsea Girl.
Just before my diagnosis I bought many clothing items from them which I was unable to wear due to my condition, only to find a hole in one of the seams when I wore it this year.
I can repair this myself, however I am now questioning the quality of their products.

0 stars if I could.

Absolutely shocking customer service. I raised a complaint on 1st August and got nowhere, so I asked to speak with a manager—only to be told all managers had gone home. What’s the point of having a contact centre open if there are no managers available?

I was promised a call back on 2nd August, but that never happened. I chased it up myself and was told I’d get another call. Eventually, I was given a time on 13th August at 12:45, so I rearranged my work break to take it. The call came late—and not even from Michelle, as arranged, but from another colleague.

I specifically requested contact from a higher manager due to the poor handling so far, but that still hasn’t happened. To this day, I’ve received no proper response regarding my complaint or the missing gift.

The whole experience has been incredibly stressful, inconvenient, and shows just how incompetent and unprofessional this company’s customer service is.

I have visited your Romford store RM1 3RL , I have received absolutely appalling customer service. Disgusted at the attitude of staff member. She is really rude and extremely unhelpful. I spend an absolute fortune in RI but I certainly will not be returning to your Romford store . I would like you to investigate and let me know what you can do about it ?

I have visited the store on 04/06/25 around 12:30 , till no :0102 . Lady who served me is super super rude and extremely unhelpful. Even after complaining to customer service no outcome yet after 2 month . Pathetic company!!

I returned a tote bag end of june as it was faulty. I had an email to say the refund has been processed on 11th july and money will be back in my account within 10 days. Still no refund on 12th August. Contacted them numerous times about this but just get fobbed off. They never return an email or give me an answer. I want my refund now!!

Visited the Bexleyheath branch today as I needed something very specific for a special event, I’m 50 now so I thought there’ll be nothing for me , however Poppy & Meg really helped me choose an outfit and took me a little out of my comfort zone but I felt fab when I got home and showed my daughter and she said Mum you look fantastic x thank you girls for making me feel young again

Still waiting for refund for a dress I was unable to pick up from Blackburn Store by 21st July . Rang twice to advise I had not received a refund to be told it was picked up and marked as received on 23/7/25 (2 days over the pick up date )!?. Shocking Customer Service, no response to my email sent today chasing up your 'investigation '. You should be able to advise exactly who (if anyone, )picked the dress up as you supposedly check ID!? No wonder you are closing stores. As most of the other reviewers on here have stated, I definitely will not purchase anything from you again. If my money is not returned ASAP I shall be making a claim through the small claims court and making it very public how shocking River Island really is

I ordered from River Island through their website, which clearly says that if you are in the EU (I’m in Italy), “the price you pay is the final price — no nasty surprises.” Yet my parcel was stopped and I was asked to pay customs taxes.

When I contacted customer service, they told me to ignore the payment requests and just wait for delivery because my parcel was “late.” If I had listened to them, my order would have been sent back! Only after I paid the taxes of 36€ (which they said would not be charged) did my parcel start moving again — the tracking confirms this.

This whole experience felt completely misleading. I will never shop with River Island again.

If I could I would add prove to my words (screenshots). That’s what they responded to me:

Hi Anastasia, thank you so much for your patience while I looked into this for you. I can confirm that you won’t be charged any customs fees for your order. It’s currently in transit and may be running a little late. You can safely ignore any emails you received regarding customs charges.
Best,

Jodie-Ann

Team RI

Returned an item from an online order to the Birmingham Bull Ring store on 6 Aug, whilst I was in town for work. Gave the assistant the order number and was told that I’d get an email to my account confirming the refund. Several days later, no email and no hint of the refund. Contacted customer services online and after chasing them for a response and despite telling them all the info (time I dropped it off, etc), they simply told me to go back to the store as they can’t do anything without proof of return. I’m not able to go back to the Birmingham store for at least a week and have tried calling the store numerous times and nobody ever picks up.

Don’t know what to do now. Don’t even know if they’ll still have the item. I shouldn’t just have to forgo the refund (or be made to feel I’m not telling the truth) because THEIR digital system, which they’re clearly totally reliant on has failed. Appalling customer service and if this is not resolved, I’ll never purchase from them ever again.

Avoid I returned 3 items only refunded 2. Communication is slow and poor with dishonest staff

Missing items on deliver. Gone to investigation with carrier and was advised I would here back 3-5 days.

After calls and chats on day 5 to request an update - they are still waiting on carrier.

Now heading into day 7 and they have my money, yet I haven’t got the items.

Heading into a weekend and they said the earliest Evri would reply would be Monday.

I’ve been patient whilst they do the investigation yet the customer service team have no empathy or answers which doesn’t give me much confidence in them as a business, or the delivery partners they use.

Absolutely disgusted with the lack of ownership of my situation as I am out of pocket by £350.

Asked to speak to a manager and they customer service agent said there were no managers available - I feel sorry these agents don’t have support at a higher level for customer escalations, never mind the frustration this is causing me.

Never again will I purchase anything g from River Island - they don’t care!!!

No wonder they are going bust.

A month ago return online. Still not received a refund.

Never ever will I buy anything again from them

Would give zero stars if I could. Customer service is absolutely disgusting. They lost my parcel, meaning I paid for something I didn’t receive. Was refused a refund time and time again until eventually they agreed to refund me after contacting the store and seeing I didn’t actually receive my item! They’ve only refunded me some of what I paid because they’ve charged me a return fee!!! A return fee on an item I didn’t even receive. Disgusting, I’ll never order from here again and don’t recommend anyone does.

I bought a couple of white shirts online, after I received them, but became shocked to find of if the shirts was already used and the colar was very dirty and the armpits were smelly. There was no inside paper to keep it straight either.
I reported to the customer service, and the lerson who toke my call, wrote an email later on saying that I have to return it as a faulty item with a proof of reciept. Then I said to her, is that how you treat your customers who were offended by such horrible actions, she tried to make it as a normal faulty item. Very bad

They sent me the wrong dress and it took me a week to get through to someone on customer service to arrange a free return. Once my order got back to them, my card got charged for the dress again and I was sent an email saying I would be charged £8 for the return... Avoid.