WARNING: Do not leave your belongings with this Plato's Closet location…read more
I would strongly caution anyone against selling to -- much less shopping at -- this Plato's Closet. After this experience, I will NEVER shop at or sell to this store again, and I recommend anyone considering doing business here follow suit.
On May 11, I dropped off one bag of clothing to sell at the Brodie Lane store. I received a receipt and was told they would text me when they finished reviewing my items. They texted me later that day saying they were done, so I returned that same afternoon to complete the process and pick up anything they did not buy.
When I got there, the employees at the counter acted confused for several minutes before one casually said something along the lines of, "Oh, you're the girl whose bag went missing."
That was how I found out Plato's Closet had lost my entire bag of clothing.
Not one item. Not a receipt mix-up. An entire bag of my personal belongings.
The bag included items from brands like Lululemon and REVOLVE. It 1000% did not consist of the low-quality, cheap items this store notoriously carries, like SHEIN and similar throwaway brands. I do not have an exact inventory of every item in the bag, and neither do they -- which means there is now no way to know the full retail value, resale value, or actual contents of the bag they lost.
Looking back, I gave this store far more trust than it deserved. I assumed they had competent staff, organization, and safeguards to track customer belongings for a few hours. This location is usually frustrating at best: dismissive employees, overcrowded racks, piles of merchandise everywhere, and a store you can barely move through or shop. Even with all of that, I never imagined an entire bag of my belongings could disappear within hours.
I was told the owner was aware, would review camera footage, and would call me before the end of the day. She did not call. I called the next day and was again told she would call me. She still did not call. I finally received a call from the owner more than a week later, on May 19, only to be told they could not find my bag and the footage did not provide answers.
Instead of taking responsibility, the owner was defensive and dismissive. She focused on irrelevant excuses instead of the actual problem: Plato's Closet accepted my property, lost it, failed to return it, and had no explanation for where it went.
I was willing to consider store credit only because the bag disappeared while in their possession. If they had accepted the full bag for resale, they likely would have offered me a reasonable amount. Since there is now no way to know whether the items were given away, misplaced, taken, thrown out, or otherwise lost, it should be treated as though they accepted the full bag. The items are gone either way, and I should not be left absorbing the loss because they failed to track my property.
The only thing the owner vaguely mentioned on her own was maybe giving me a "discount to shop in the store," without ever giving an amount. After I explained what I believed would be fair, she reluctantly threw out what was basically a pennies-on-the-dollar store credit, which felt insulting considering they lost my property, waited over a week to call me, and still had no explanation.
To make it worse, she said, "Well, we recommend you stay in the store while you are selling items," which is absurd. If you recommend customers stay in the store, why allow drop-offs?
If you offer a drop-off service, you are responsible for having enough basic control over your operation to know where people's property is while it is in your store. My bag was only there for a handful of hours. I followed their system exactly: dropped off my items, got a receipt, waited for their text, and came back the same day. They are the ones who "lost" my belongings.
If Plato's Closet cannot safely manage customer drop-offs, they should not offer drop-offs. Period. Other resale stores require customers to wait or complete the buying process in person for this exact reason.
For all I know, they could have given my bag to another customer, thrown it away, misplaced it, or someone could have taken the items for themselves. I hate even speculating, but when a business loses customer property and cannot -- or will not -- explain where it went, every possibility is on the table.
This was not just bad customer service. It was careless, shady, and unacceptable. I have bought from and sold to this location for years, but I will never give this store my business again. I would not trust them with my belongings, and I strongly recommend no one else does either.
Do not shop here.
Do not sell here.
Do not leave your belongings here. This location cannot be trusted to protect customer property, take accountability, or handle a basic issue with professionalism.