“ASOS cut me off”.

ASOS have come under fire this week for shutting down a group of ASOS customer accounts where they felt they had failed to comply with their fair use policy.

The fair use policy was put into place to deter users from over ordering and subsequently returning a large percentage of their items. Last year they even introduced a controversial returns charge for customers that made frequent returns or that kept less than £40 of their order value.

Is ASOS trying to tell us something? Has the world of overconsumption got so bad that the very brands that try and get us to buy more more more now want us to slow down?

Is conscious consumerism even a thing?

Financielle community member Harriett from London has been a loyal ASOS customer for over 10 years and felt that the brand had unfairly cut her off.

“Sizing is a real issue at ASOS, especially with their own brand label. Often I will buy the same item but in multiple sizes knowing full well they vary and are rarely consistent. Now I feel like them cutting me off is a slap in the face. They are constantly bombarding me with emails and discounts to lure me in and spend and when I do, they say I’m not following the returns policy. If they made their sizing more consistent in the first place they wouldn’t have this problem”

It’s not all bad however, it gave Harriet a moment of self reflection when it came to her spending habits.

“It probably gave me the wake up call that I needed to be honest. It made me realise how much I actually spent at ASOS. I actually became quite obsessed. The New In page would be the first thing I checked each morning as it was constantly updated with new drops.

I think ASOS have actually done me a favour in banning me from shopping there”.

Not all ASOS customers that have been cut off have been deterred. Amy from Southport has already worked out a way around the ban and has her new account under a different alias up and running.

“I’ll admit, I’m not the most honest customer when it comes to ASOS. I do sometimes buy things wear them and return them – it’s not big and it’s not clever but sometimes the quality isn’t amazing and only when I’ve worn it for a couple of hours do I think ‘this won’t last’, sometimes I’ve bought a wow dress for a boujee event and thought I won’t ever wear it again. I wouldn’t send something back in bad condition though.”

Are fast fashion retailers now turning their back on the customers that grew their profits through over consumption?

Is ASOS sharing the Financielle mantra of “Stop buying $h*t you don’t need”? We hope so.

It’s time for a new era of considerate consumption.

If you’d like some tips on how to stop impulsive spending check out our helpful article here