Entrepreneur and former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel blasted T.J. Maxx over the weekend after she claimed that she purchased Manolo Blahnik shoes that ended up being fake.
In an Instagram video on Saturday, Frankel explained that she purchased a pair of flamingo flats from T.J. Maxx and posted a TikTok of her doing so.
Fashion influencer Jack Savoie then saw Frankel’s video and stitched it, pointing out flaws and discrepancies in the two shoes that proved the shoes were not actually from the designer but were fake — including off-center stitching, an incorrect logo, and the wrong color on the soles.
“I think you need to go return those shoes,” Savoie said bluntly. “These are fake. As soon as I saw those, I immediately knew they were fake.”
@jack.savoie #stitch with @Bethenny Frankel #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Jack Savoie
“I’ve bought tons of sh*t from them, and the prices aren’t great I’ve said that before,” Frankel said fumingly. “I love the store, I’m there all the time. Never did I think that there could be a fake product in there, it never occurred to me.”
She then said that she got in touch with T.J. Maxx who told her that though it rarely happens, sometimes shoppers make counterfeit returns, which is what happened in her case.
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Frankel chose to keep the shoes despite being offered a full refund — though Frankel said she expected more from the retailer.
“I’m going to wear these fake counterfeit shoes with pride because I own them now, but do not buy luxury goods at T.J. Maxx,” Frankel warned viewers.
T.J. Maxx confirmed the incident with Insider.
“We are aware of Ms. Frankel’s recent shoe purchase, and sincerely regret her experience. We believe that this may have been an instance of return fraud, in which an individual returned an item to our store that was not purchased at one of our stores. This unfortunately happens in retail from time to time,” the statement read. “We greatly appreciate Ms. Frankel’s longtime loyalty to T.J. Maxx and have reached out to her directly to work to resolve her concerns.”
T.J. Maxx did not immediately return Entrepreneur’s request for comment.
