Don't use uparents.com for linens

College Life
1

<p>Read this and you'll understand why: </p>

<p>September 25, 2005</p>

<p>We received a post letter from "Residence Hall Linens" (web site <a href="http://www.uparents.com/linens/linens.aspx%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.uparents.com/linens/linens.aspx&lt;/a&gt;) that looked like it was sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to purchase bedding for my son's first year of college. I ordered the linens since in the letter, it stated that UCLA beds are a special size. This was the beginning of what I would like other parents to avoid at all costs.</p>

<p>This company is a scam. UCLA has no knowledge of this company. Furthermore, my order was incorrectly processed, the quality is absolute junk and I received the incorrect color and size of the linens.</p>

<p>The quality of the towels, bed sheets, robe, and comforter is so bad that the first laundry destroyed many of the items and the dyes leeched on all the washed clothes and even stained my laundry machine tub green. I have never purchased linens of such bad quality.</p>

<p>My son has to leave this week for his first year so I have no time to return the junk and have lost about $189.00 on products I would never recommend anyone buying.</p>

<p>Although there is a guarantee advertised on their web site, all my interactions were so bad that I don't trust that the company will return my money after I ship the junk back. I certainly don't want to risk more loss by pay shipping costs. Details:</p>

<p>1) When I placed my order for $189.00, I received NO confirmation of the order over the web nor in email. Clicking on the "submit" for payment button gave me no confirmation number to refer to when calling customer service. I then called the company 2 days in a row, many times during the day, to change the default Green color to Blue and was told that the order didn't go through because there was no record of it on their computers.</p>

<p>They used my name to try to find the order. Customer service operators stated that they left paper messages with the request to change the color from green to blue but had no way of electronically recording my calls. I was never called back. This is after I submitted my credit card information! Obviously every web consumers nightmare.</p>

<p>2) Although I was told the order didn't go through, the shipment unexpectedly arrived, with the incorrect color and then another set of problems started.</p>

<p>3) The size of the comforter advertised on the web was an Extra Long. I received a normal twin size. I only noticed after I washed it.</p>

<p>4) The comforter is junk. After I washed it in cold water, as usually done before first use, the green color from one side leeched into the cream on the other and what used to be cream became a puke green color.
Also, The polyester filling scrunched up and became totally uneven. I have never had this happen to any other comforters that I have been washing for many years now.</p>

<p>5) The "special size" of linens is standard extra-long twin. There is nothing special about UCLA bed sizes and I didn't need to special order anything! It would have been much cheaper for me to go to K-Mart and I would have purchased far better quality.</p>

<p>6) The "Blue Velvet" Robe, which required washing before first use, fell apart with a hole in the shoulder AFTER THE FIRST WASH! Also, threads started coming out at the seams.</p>

<p>7) The towel quality is very poor. They also lost lots of green dye and left a unusual amount of lint, becoming thin after the first wash. I have never had towels of such poor quality.</p>

<p>8) I left email and phone mail with staff and supervisors and no one returned email or phone calls.</p>

<p>Because I have no time left to return the awful merchandise and I refuse to risk losing more money on shipping fees to a company I don't trust, my son is going off to college with holes in his robe, a puky green comforter that is too short for his bed, and green bed sheets and towels that leech dye badly. I warned him not to wash the linens with ANY of his clothes since his clothes will all be puky green too - a challenge for any college kid to remember and certainly not something I have ever had to worry about before.</p>

<p>Any parents that are thinking about ordering from "Residence Hall Linens" should stop immediately and go to their normal linen outlet for much better quality stuff at much lower prices.</p>

<p>Marina </p>

<p>I posted this in reply to someone's post in a thread...I thought I'd make it a thread title so that more people would notice. </p>

<p>I just don't want anyone to get scammed.</p>

2

<p>That looks awful. And to think I was 5 minutes from ordering those.- it was very convenient. </p>

<p>I believe you, and after a search I found some similar reports... But I don't get why universities (like Cornell in my case) would recommend those if they sucked that much. </p>

<p>Do any big retailers offer free (or reasonable) shipping to in-campus locations? I don't want to lie on those infamous bare rock-hard mattresses for the first few days!</p>

3

<p>great tip, i got one of their catalogues from them freshman year and it looked legit. However, my mom being the frugal person she is bought all the items for under 100. Not only were they great quality and comfortable, i got to try them before we bought it (checked them out at department stores). my friends roomate ordered from them and the dye washed out after the first wash.</p>

4

<p>All those things can be had for less than the cost on the site. There are sheet sets at target, walmart, linens and things, etc. for $14.99 right now. Two full sets would be $30. These are 250 thread count cotton wamsutta sheets- not a house brand or anything of the sort. 300 thread count can be had for $5 more.</p>

<p>A standard microfiber comforter is about $30. An egg crate pad is no more than $20. Two pillows can be had for $9.99. a regular mattress pad is $5. The bathrobe might well be the most expensive part of this set if bought separately.</p>

<p>This was offered to me my freshman year but I'm very picky about my sheet quality and got some egyptian cotton jersey sheets instead. It's a nice idea, but I wish it was offered by some of the big box retailers with name brand items instead of this online site.</p>

5

<p>Our schools must have had some part in this, otherwise these scammers couldn't have gotten hold of our addresses.</p>

6

<p>When I got the package for my residence hall info and whatnot, it included a note that you'd need extra-long sheets and a catalogue from some company that offered sheets and comforters and towels and bath totes and whatnot. We didn't order from them because it looked like they might be of dubious quality and they were more expensive than just buying it at Bed&Bath. I don't know if it was the same company or not but I heard from some other students that they got similar things mailed to them, so I guess these companies have some sort of advertising partnership with the schools.</p>

<p>Honestly though I heard of a few people that just brought regular sheets and stretched them, and I don't know anyone that actually bought some kind of special extra-long comforter. All the home store type places are fighting with each other to sell their college stuff right now, there's no reason to order it online unless you're coming from overseas or something.</p>

7

<p>you can buy extra long twins at almost any retailer.</p>

8

<p>hmm...I ordered from that site a few days ago for Indiana and didn't receive a confirmation in the e-mail either. I spoke to a kid who ordered from that company and got his sheets and said they were fine. </p>

<p>What should I do? Cancel my payment by calling American Express or jst leave it?</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
Our schools must have had some part in this, otherwise these scammers couldn't have gotten hold of our addresses.

[/quote]
Exactly right. Schools sell lists of admitted students, of students who are living in the dorms, etc. You can count on getting a basket of credit-card offers and other junk personalized to look like its sponsored or affiliated with your college. A few years ago there was another scam, a company sold ID cards to kids on mailing lists it bought (motto: "this may be the only ID card you'll need") even though every college is going to issue you one for free!</p>

10

<p>i got the order form for RHL from my college..it was in the package that contained my dorm information. i am really worried now..i ordered a few days ago..they give a guarantee..that's why i did not hesitate much but this new information is really making me nervous. i am international student...so this was a good option for me to buy my linens beforehand and get them delivered to my college..this is not cool at all.</p>

11

<p>I called them up today since I never got a confirmation e-mail and they verified that my order was made and gave me a confirmation # and tracking #. I think you'll be fine, it might've just been a solo case. Call and verify if you want. I've spoken to people who ordered from there and got their shipments.</p>

12

<p>i ordered thru the phone. they gave me an order # but not a tracking number. I will call them up again and ask for a tracking number. thanks for the information jlazz.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for the warning liveforindie. I was about to order them tomorrow.</p>

14

<p>it's really stupid for anyone to order linens online. have you never seen a walmart before??? come on now people...</p>

15

<p>Oh noooo. I just ordered my comforter and sheets from them offline last night and never got a confirmation page or email and they said the email would't show up for 2 days anyway or something...but I doubt it will. I clicked submit and it just went back to the home page and emptied hte shopping cart....a little sketchy!</p>

16

<p>WHAT THE HELL?</p>

<p>Am I the only person on this board who hasn't a problem with Residence Hall Linens?!</p>

<p>ONE incident in 2005, yes that just PROVES it's a scam! Why would a scam be mentioned on the websites of Occidental and NYU?</p>

17

<p>I didn't order from there because I thought the sheets were ugly...then again I'm a girl so I actually am anal enough to care what I sleep in.</p>

<p>My mom bought my sheets at Macy's...I'd recommend it.</p>

18

<p>i believe its a scam. when i decided to return my linens because they were so crappy, i received the wrong address to retun the material to. then it took like, another month before we got a refund back. scam, crap, whatever...they are highly unprofessional and aren't very trustworthy.</p>

19

<p>hmm I can verify that it isnt a scam because I got my sheets yesterday and they look pretty decent to me...but I'm a guy and not really picky. It seems like the same material you'd get at Bed Bath and Beyond or any other store for the same price range. As long as I'm comfortable in my bed and can sleep ok, thats all that matters..</p>

20

<p>I am not sure what all of you people are talking about. I ordered twice from those people, and I succesfully received both shipments in a remarkably short time period following the placement of said orders.</p>

<p>They did accidentally ship me an extra sheet set though, but I just did not tell them about it, and I kept it. </p>

<p>Now I have 5 sets of sheets instead of 4. Life is grand.</p>

<p>-Billy The Goat</p>