I'm going to admit right off the bat it was stupid of me to order a suit from the USA to Japan. The thing is the suit I wanted is not a common style and it was for a costume−ish party so I thought "what the heck". In my defense I did look around Japan. I found only 3 places that might have a similar suit. 2 in Tokyo, one in Osaka. But I wrote the one in Osaka and they never got back to me. I visited the 2 in Tokyo and they didn't have my size and I thought it would take them longer to get my size than to just order it myself. I guess though I should have listened to my first instinct.

I visited Siegel's website. I had visited their store in SF and always found it interesting though I had never bought a suit there. There was one in particular I thought looked cool. No idea if it would look good on me but I thought I'd try it anyway. So, I had to go out and get a measuring tape. I had a friend help measure me and I sent in the order.

They said it would cost $150 to ship to Japan which would have been fine .... except, they didn't send what I ordered.

When it finally arrived 3 days before the event I needed it for I immediately tried it on. I had sent my measurements and also told them I wanted a 42L. You can check what size a 42L is here

A 42L is 42" at the chest and 36" at the waist. Plus or minus an inch or so. The jacket they sent me is 47" at the chest and 46" at the waist. That's a full 5 inches too large at the top and 10 at the waist. There's no possible way this is a 42L. You can see the measurement here

Note, the measuring tape is in centimeters. You can convert by typing into google "120cm to inches".

Just for comparison here's are 2 off the rack 42 size jackets.

You can see these are actually the correct size. 105cm (41") for the first and 110cm (43") for the second. Those are both within an inch of 42. They're even labeled.

I wrote them and said my suit was not the right size. They didn't respond for few days. I wrote them again and here's their response.

They claimed they sent exactly what I ordered to my exact specifications.

We'll let's see. They quoted my order in their response. In it we can see I ordered a 42L

And I even gave them my measurements just in case

You can see from the photos above the suit they sent matches neither the correct measurements for a 42L nor the measurements I sent.

They also sent the wrong suspenders. You can see on the order I ordered clip−ons

And you can see on the website that I ordered from they clearly have two kinds, button−on and clip−on. You can see in the picture the difference between the two.

The top shows the clip−ons. The bottom shows the button−ons. Here's what they sent

Oh, but it gets worse. It's not just the size. The suit doesn't even match the description. Here's their web page, screen captured just in case they try to change it

Let's compare that suit to the one they sent

At first glance they look kind of similar but then take a closer look. The one on their website buttons high. The one they sent me does not.

Here's a close up of the description

Reading the description we can see it's clearly not the suit I ordered. From the description:

There's supposed to be 3 buttons on the front. The one they sent only has 2. Just in case you think one of the buttons is hiding under the lapels here's a picture with them folded back

They also describe 4 front pockets. The one they sent only has 3.

There's also a description of the vest.

Notice it says the vest has 6 buttons. Here's the vest they sent.

Just 4 buttons.

And just to be clear, you can see the item number on the order and it matches the item number on the web page

and in the URL

So why not just send it back? Well first off it took several days to get a response out of them and went I responded again that the order didn't match they didn't respond and I stupidly waited. On top of that I'm on vacation and showing people around. The day after the suit arrived a friend also arrived in Japan and had been busy showing her around. Yes I know those are just excuses but the point is I don't have time to deal with this. When I finally got around it it was 3 days before Siegel's supposed 30 day deadline and I was leaving to Thailand in 2 days with no easy way to ship it before then. Second, I paid $150 to have it sent. It would cost another $50 to sent it back even slowly and with the event already past I didn't want them to replace the suit I wanted a full refund.

They claim on their website that shipping is not refundable. That's understandable if they actually sent what I ordered because then it would be my fault if I changed my mind or if I ordered the wrong size. As it is though they could have sent an empty box and I'd still be screwed according to their policy.

I'm confident if I was local to them I could take them to small claims court and get everything back since I didn't pay them to ship this suit. I paid them to ship the suit I ordered and as clearly demonstrated above that's not what they sent. Effectively that means they stole my money. By shipping me something I didn't order and charging me for it while not sending me the items I ordered.

Unordered Items

If you receive merchandise that you didn't order, you have a legal right to keep it as a free gift. According to the Federal Trade Commission, you don't have to pay for it. Federal laws prohibit mailing unordered merchandise to consumers and then demanding payment. You also have no legal obligation to notify the seller. But the FTC notes that it is a good idea to write the company and let it know you didn't order the item and that intend to exercise your right to keep it for free. This may discourage the seller from sending you bills, or it may help clear up an honest error. The FTC recommends you send your letter by certified mail, and keep the return receipt and a copy of the letter for your records.

If the unordered merchandise you received was the result of an honest shipping error, the FTC recommends you offer to return the merchandise, provided the seller pays for postage and handling. Give the seller a specific and reasonable amount of time (about 30 days) to pick up the merchandise or arrange to have it returned at no expense to you. Tell the seller that you reserve the right to keep the merchandise or dispose of it after the specified time has passed.

In fact AFAICT they still own me a suit (and suspenders) and free shipping to Japan. The fact that they shipped the wrong item means I received something I didn't order which by US law means if they want it back it's their responsibility to pay to have it shipped back and they still owe me what I paid for. Unfortunately short of taking them to court, which for ˜$500 is not worth it, I'll never see either the correct suit or my money back.

In any case, DO NOT GIVE YOUR BUSINESS TO SIEGEL'S (the zootsuitstore)