The FTC is also turning up the heat on companies that provide "review management services" to online retailers like Fashion Nova. In addition to paying $4.2 million to settle the latest case, Fashion Nova agreed to post all reviews of products currently being sold (except any that contain obscene, sexually explicit, racist or unlawful content or that are unrelated to products or customer service) and to not make misrepresentations about reviews in the future, the FTC said. Department of Labor and a New York Times investigation in 2019 found Fashion Nova contracted with dozens of factories in the United States that owed employees millions in back wages, paid some workers as little as $2.77 an hour and had unsanitary conditions. The company agreed to pay $9.3 million in 2020 to settle allegations it prevented customers from canceling their orders when shipping was delayed and used gift cards to compensate for unshipped merchandise instead of disbursing refunds. Sun Devil Scammers: Arizona area codes top list for robocall attempts Other potentially illegal practices scrutinized The company "does its best to listen carefully to customer feedback every day" and "prides itself on knowing that 80% of its business comes from repeat customers," Fashion Nova said. "Fashion Nova is being held accountable for these practices, and other firms should take note." "Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce," the federal agency's Samuel Levine said. and could lead to other companies being punished for concealing negative reviews, the FTC said.
The case is the first of its kind in the U.S. Suppressing unfavorable reviews "deprives consumers of potentially useful information and artificially inflates the product's average star rating," the agency said. Hundreds of thousands of negative reviews were never posted from 2015 to 2019, the federal agency said. The company disputes the allegations.Īccording to the FTC complaint, Fashion Nova employed a system that automatically published four- and five-star reviews but held lower-starred reviews back for company approval. The company, which built its name on low-cost clothing touted by stars like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, misled customers about its fast-fashion brand by manipulating the reviews on its website, the Federal Trade Commission said. Fashion Nova, which rocketed to Instagram fame with its skintight, celebrity-endorsed apparel, has agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle accusations it stopped bad reviews from being posted about it online.
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