TikTokker Nicole Al Rais splashed out on clothing, a pair of shoes and makeup only to find herself stunned and ‘very upset’ when an empty box was delivered
A social media influencer was stunned after opening an expensive order from luxury retailer Selfridges, only to find the box was completely empty.
Nicole Al Rais, who shares fashion and lifestyle videos on TikTok, placed an order for more than £1,000 worth of high end products, including makeup and clothing, and set up her camera to film an “unboxing” style video to upload on social media.
Unboxing videos see content creators open their online orders for the first time to capture their genuine reactions to the unveiled items. When Nicole, who goes by @namednicole on TikTok, opened the large box from Selfridges, there was nothing inside it except packing paper.
Confused, she approached the iconic store for a refund but after an initial investigation, Selfridges informed her they would not be refunding or replacing her goods because the order had been processed “correctly”.
In a five minute video, Nicole shared her experience and disappointment at Selfridges’ initial response. She began: “Selfridges scammed me and I want to know if they’ve scammed other people because I am taking action.”
The influencer went on to explain “as a content creator”, she films “a lot of her life”, so recorded the unboxing of her order live. She then inserted the clip of herself opening the box and pointing out how “light” it felt before pulling the cardboard tab along the top to open it, and her shock at there being “nothing” inside.
Nicole explained after placing a call to Selfridges, she was advised to send any video and photo evidence of her order. She said: “I know I’m innocent, I even have live video evidence, so I don’t mind at all sending them anything that I have and hopefully helping them get to the bottom of their theft issue.”
The influencer later received an email from Selfridges stating they were unable to process a refund because “the item was correctly packed into the order and sealed correctly before delivery was made to [the] address”. This left Nicole feeling “very upset” because she knew “for a fact nothing was in this box”.
The shopper and store engaged in more back and forth, with Nicole going on to highlight the weight listed on the box, which was 0.1kg. She shared an image listing “typical” weights for products and said: “My order, it was rather large. I had five dresses, a pair of shoes, a skirt, sports bra, makeup products – there is no way that this checks out. Clearly, this is hard evidence that this box 100% came empty.”
Nicole detailed further unsuccessful communications with Selfridges which had left her feeling frustrated and hurt. So far, her initial video has racked up more than 1.6 million views and 3,800 comments. The content creator has filmed several follow up videos to keep social media users updated on the outcome of the situation.
When approached for comment, a Selfridges spokesperson said: “At Selfridges we want to make sure our customers have the best possible experience with us. We are investigating the circumstances around this specific case and remain in correspondence with the customer, however we are unable to share any further details due to the ongoing nature of our review and for reasons of confidentiality.”
In her most recent update, posted to her TikTok account, Nicole confirmed she had been refunded in full.
