What is going on with The Rake's online store?

[leapyourbar]

The Rake....wasn't great to buy from, in my experience. I put a $450 order in for a pair of C & J penny loafers and a Drake's tie. I emailed them two and a half minutes later asking for Saphir Reno to be added, which they refused to accommodate. They asked that I place a separate order and pay a second shipping fee; I think I paid like $45 in shipping, which is also absurd. And, the shoes are quite inferior to regular C & J's (they're made "for the Rake" and it is blatantly obvious many corners were cut). Never again.

 

[Connemara]

I still haven’t received the two most recent issues. This is getting absurd.

 

[brax]

I have not received the last here issues even though customer service promised that they are in the mail. I think they stopped shipping to USA but won’t admit it.

 

[Aquafortis]

I am completely, utterly done with The Rake. I managed to put up with their challenges and consistent delays in printing and distribution of my hard copy subscription over the last year, and shipping to my location in the US.

I had definitely not planned on renewing, and last week opened a my email to see a bank account alert of a charge from the Rake (in Singapore) that had been charged against my Visa debit card in the amount equating to a 1-year subscription renewal. WTF!?

I did not have any type of auto renew setting in my online account, nor had I authorized any renewal of my subscription. The most disconcerting aspect of this is that the debit card number which The Rake had charged, was for a brand new debit card which I had been issued only about a month ago, and which there was no way The Rake could have had access to.

I immediately sent emails to The Rake customer support with a screen shot of my bank alert email showing the charge against my card from them that same day. After receiving no response by the next day, I called my bank and filed a fraud claim as I had not authorized the charge and had never provided that debit card number to The Rake.

In a follow up call with my bank's fraud department, they said that The Rake could have contacted Visa directly, based on (mistaken) belief that they had the right to auto-renew my subscription, and requested my current Visa debit card number directly from Visa!

Wow. I have never heard of a vendor being able to go around a customer's back this way. It is now several business days later since I emailed the The Rake customer support to ask about what they were doing with charging me for a renewal without my approval, and how they managed to get my debit card number - and there has unsurprisingly been no reply.

So I guess not only has their store inventory and customer service declined, but I've found the content of the magazine has devolved with featuring less captivating/interesting material, and the wanna-be over-aspirational bougie advertising is taking up increasingly more copy space per issue.

Too bad...

 

[chobochobo]

Rake is still a thing? Ah memories, not great ones. I tried to do people a favour by sending them out at cost. Did I learn my lesson?