Woman warns about House of CB after her $200 dress allegedly melts. Then she shows what their customer service told her, says ‘This is very embarrassing’

A TikTok creator known as Anna Lyas, who posts under the handle @rockforknapkin, said in a video that a gold bandage dress she bought from House of CB became stuck together and appeared melted in multiple spots after one wear. She said the damage left the dress “totally ruined and unwearable.”

As this is a TikTok video, it is the creator’s own account of events and should not be treated as verified facts, but Lyas said she wore the dress once while on vacation, then packed it back into her suitcase. When she got home, she said, the fabric had fused to itself in several places. She said the dress was not exposed to extreme heat, noting the temperature during her trip was around 75 degrees.

Lyas said the dress looked “honestly horrible” once damaged, adding, “This is very embarrassing.” She said she contacted House of CB’s customer service multiple times over several weeks and initially received no response.

Customer service allegedly asked her to pay for return shipping before a refund could be considered

According to the email conversation shown in the video, a House of CB representative identified as “Paul” responded to her email and apologized for the issue. The email asked her to fill out a return form and send the item back “using any tracked postal service,” adding that return costs were not covered by the company and that the item needed to be in “good condition, with all tags and ribbons fully intact.”

The email also stated that if the damage was confirmed as a manufacturing fault, the company would reimburse postage up to $25, Lyas said. She said this requirement did not make sense to her, since she would not have known the dress was defective until she wore it, which meant the tags still could not be attached.

Lyas said the dress had arrived already slightly stuck together, though she said the issue was minor and “pretty much not noticeable” at the time. She said she never washed the dress and would have taken it to be dry cleaned if needed, given the delicate material.

She said she pushed back on the shipping request, arguing that paying to send the dress back so the company could decide on a refund was inconvenient and placed the burden on her for damage she believed was not her fault. She also said House of CB did not respond when she said she would not pay for postage, and did not send her a prepaid return label. In another case, a New Jersey woman asked for a refund after her $400 hair looked nothing like what was agreed on.

In a follow-up video, Lyas said her first video had been viewed more than 35,000 times and had drawn hundreds of comments from people describing similar quality and customer service issues with the brand. She said she believed a company selling dresses priced between $200 and $400 should have stronger customer service.

Lyas said in the video that she hoped the situation would lead to an apology, a refund, and more awareness about quality issues with the brand. She said people often save up money for occasion wear like the dresses House of CB sells, and argued that damage like fusing fabric could also ruin other items packed nearby.

In a third video, Lyas said House of CB had contacted her and told her she would receive a refund. She said the update came after her videos reached more than 200,000 views. “Well guys, I guess that’s a lesson that if you ever have a problem and the customer service sucks, just go on social media, right?” she said.

Several commenters on Lyas’s videos described their own experiences with House of CB. One commenter named Gio wrote, “I bought a corset top, sized CORRECTLY, and as soon as I sat down with it all of the structure/spines of the corset came poking out. They wanted me to pay for it to be shipped back for a ‘possible refund’.” Another commenter wrote, “Dispute, even if you don’t win they will be charged a fee for the dispute and it’s a pain in the butt for them.” A similar dispute involved a nightmare Costco employee when a woman wouldn’t let her check her husband’s bag.

Other commenters said they would stop shopping with the brand. A commenter wrote, “Noted, I won’t buy from them anymore.” Another wrote, “I will NOT be shopping there.” A commenter questioned the brand’s positioning, writing, “I’m so sorry but house of CB is not a luxury brand.”

House of CB has not publicly responded to the claims made in Lyas’s videos as of this writing.