Beginning Boutique Reviews 

found them on social media and ordered 2 dresses for my graduation. Import duties came by and i contacted the customer service how i should act, because i have never done that. They are fast and helpfull, nice and understanding. A great company with great products. They only want the best for the customer!!!

Buyer Beware: Beginning Boutique or (beginningboutique.com) et al, is a scam company.

On, May 16th, I purchased $593.70 worth of products and selected 4-6 day rush DHL shipping for a birthday present for my sister.

On May 17th, the company reached out to me in breach of Australian privacy laws, and attempted to phish my personal banking account information, including asking me for a screenshot of my bank.

Their exact words in their email said:

"Can you please access your online banking history and quickly provide the following...?"

Then they asked for a "Screenshot."

The reason I ordered online was because of the Secure SSL in the browser that protects my personal data.

I refused to send them a screenshot of my bank (as they requested) and now they are refusing to send my sister her birthday present.

This company is morally reprehensible and potentially engaged in fraud. Buyer Beware. All statements are my opinions based on my personal experience.

UPDATE:

Beginning Boutique and it's founder Sarah Timmerman's team lied again. After I sent them my entire credit card statement, validating my purchase was authentic. They cancelled my order wasting hours of my time and ruining a personal gift.

Beginning Boutique and it's founder Sarah Timmerman should be ashamed of themselves. In my personal opinion their entire operation is a phishing scam. They might potentially be operating only to steal your personal data and commit fraud. Beware.

You should have a clearer note on your home page warning overseas customers of the potential additional hidden charges that may occur in addition to your particularly high delivery charge. The website does state that anyone buying from outside of Australia is responsible for tax/import duties, I had no idea this would amount to nearly over 50% of the total cost of my order. That is ridiculous. I have never paid that much in tax/duties before and I’ve ordered clothes from other boutiques in Australia previously. Beginning boutique should make these high charges clearer on their website rather than stating check with local customs office or hiding it in free shipping for $50 part of their website. Their clothes were cute, but I paid 100$ in tax/import alone for 3 pieces of clothing. That is not worth it. I will not be buying from them again. And I can see that several people have said the same thing in their reviews but they still haven’t done anything about it. Very disappointing.

Customer service was amazing! Such lovely girls who helped me sort out an expedited exchange for the weekend. Super grateful - Thanks Girls

I've recently purchased the Cecila Bodycon Midi Dress US Size 4. For your reference, I live in Canada ($CAD). After trying it on, I realized not only the size was wrong, but the material of the dress also wasn't what I wanted. Therefore, I wanted to request a refund. Then I noticed the dress on the website is USD 49.99, but the refund slip states the dress costs USD 38.25. I then tried to match the tax amount to my original receipt, but none of them matches. I paid CAD 73.63 for the dress, but the refund slip cost breakdown only gives me back USD 19.85. So, where did the CAD 47 go?

I am disheartened by the actual refund amount that I am potentially getting. Before buying, I did check the refund and exchange policy. The website states that I would need to pay $13 as a refund processing fee. But after all the deductions, the company takes $47? The math doesn't add up. The refund processing fee is $47, which is 63% of the original price that I paid for the dress.

THIS IS INSANE! TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM.

I bought a dress recently and on the model it looks perfectly fine the right length and everything beautiful. Once I put it on myself it was way too short. Extremely short. It felt like I was wearing a child’s dress. It never said anything about shortness in the description.I decided I should exchange it maybe for a bigger size hoping it would be longer but I see there is a return fee. That isn’t really an exchange then if I am paying for it…??? It’s frustration also because to just do a return in for my money back it is $13.99. I payed a total of $91 for this one dress hoping it was going to be my birthday dress and now I have to return it and only get $67 back of my money….. this sucks. I wish something could be different. I was praying this dressed works because I waited so long for it to come back in stock.

My daughter bought two dresses from here and we've been trying to return them. When following the steps to do so online, we get notified that the original payment method used is not an available credit option. We DO NOT want store credit! I've tried numerous times calling during busness hours and it goes right to an automated voice mail. Incredibly frustrating!

I contacted Beginning Boutique about a top that was unworn and had the tags still attached, though one of the birch eyelets was faulty, thus the top was unwearable due to the backing being loop through string, which would have ripped through the faulty hole, making it unwearable. After back and forth emails with the company for over a month, I received hostile and cold replies, stating that I should have known the item was faulty earlier, and that I was not being truthful about the top not being worn. To top it off, Beginning Boutique flat out refused to provide a refund for the faulty item. After escalating the matter to Consumer Affairs who advised of the breaches of section 54 and 55 of the Australian Consumer Law Competition and Consumer Act of 2010, Beginning Boutique have "ghosted" me and will not reply. I have never had such a negative experience with a brand, and warn other fellow consumers that Beginning Boutique does not abide by or respect consumer laws.

Excellent customer service!

I placed two orders last week trying to find some new date dresses. The orders arrived 2-3 days later (to WA) and it was a huge relief to know I could return or exchange the ones that didn't fit right or that I didn't feel confident in - and receive a refund, not just store credit!

I landed up sending some back the following day for a full refund, but also exchanged some for other items. The options and process available for items you don't love was super easy and stress free!

Shopping online when you already don't feel confident and having things not fit right is a big mood killer - I really appreciate that BB supports us to change our minds and not be at a financial loss! ❤️

Beware of this sales group. My daughter bought a dress on here and we canceled the order within five minutes. Although it reads they have a 14 day moneyback return, they wanted to give us a store credit because we had not received the items. I explained it’s within the 14 day window, and unless I allow them to ship me the dress, I could not have my money back. Pretty unprofessional and actually ridiculous. It’s all semantics. I am now waiting on a dress to return it to get my money back. I’m not sure who owns this company, but they may want to review their policy. With that said, we canceled because my daughter didn’t realize she purchased a dress last year from the same company and it literally fell apart the first time she wore it. Is it’s extremely cheap, yet expensive. Run as this is not a good option and especially for kids that are on a limited income.

Since I am unable to respond to the vendor that has sent the email below, I will go ahead and respond here. I made multiple attempts to resolve the situation, and quite frankly it is easier than actually shipping the item to me since the individual confirmed it had not been shipped (again, I cancelled within minutes of the purchase). The bottom line is this company seeks to make it extremely difficult for a return in hopes that one does not choose to return the item. I am now having to approve this company to go ahead and ship me the item, knowing I will turn around and return the item in search of a full refund. It is not different as noted. It is simply poor customer service. I have multiple email exchanges, and I strongly suggest management evaluate those as I made multiple attempts to resolve such a simple situation to avoid airing my poor experience. The “gotcha moment” is where you were told you can return the item upon receipt within 14 days. Since I had not actually received the item, I was told I could only get a store credit. Seriously people! I’m a business woman, and when I saw that my daughter had purchased this and received the responses we’ve received, I was infuriated. I’ll make sure I post this on every website I can possibly find as these kids don’t have $107 sitting around when they’re only 16 years old! Horrible service and the post below is an attempt at being open to working with the customer, yet i have 5 emails from what is “customer Service” declining anything other than a store credit because the item had not reached my residence. The power of referrals is pretty great and it’s hard to believe ripping off teens is worth an organizations reputation. Business 101. Customer service is paramount!

Exceptional customer service! They went above and beyond expectations, provided very fast replies and genuine help with an ordering error made at my end. Every interaction was easy.

I made a mistake on one of my orders and TRISHA came to the rescue on the online chat and helped me! Amazing customer service and super fast!!

The quality of clothing can vary in material. However, I am very impressed with their customer service. They replied email within 2 hours and was actually really helpful in assisting my requests.

Their returns policy is 14 days, but this is 14 days for them receiving the item back. So if you live in a different state or there is a delay with Australia post then good luck, they won’t honour it

Very helpful with all my needs and helped me find the perfect dress

5/5 stars for sure!! I received numerous dresses that fitted my bridesmaids perfectly so I can say with confidence their sizing charts are accurate. The best part is their customer service. I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with such great customer service before. They have gone out of their way to help me with a pickle I had with returns and I am so thankful to them for it! Thank you so much for the great dresses, pricing & service. Couldn’t have asked for more.

Love Love Love !!!
Fast shipping, quality clothing and such good customer service. Highly recommend

The customer service staff are so lovely! I had submitted a return request and made a second instant order, however didn't realise that they go out with standard shipping (1-6 business days). I was hoping to get the order before going overseas and that delivery timeframe meant that I might not have received it on time. I sent a message via the chat enquiring into it and received a quick reply with the staff (shout out to Max!) being very understanding and upgrading my delivery to express shipping with no added cost! Would definitely recommend BB, they've always been incredible! x

I am so impressed with Beginning Boutiques customer service!
I accidentally ordered the wrong thing online and asked whether it could be cancelled and reordered. They replied and refunded me my money straight away even though it was out of office hours. Bridget was so lovely and easy to chat to. Everytime I’ve purchased items from this store I’ve never been disappointed! I highly recommend Beginning Boutique!