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Rihanna's latest shoe for Puma — an $80 furry shower slide that comes in white, black, and pink — sold out within minutes of their 10am release on Friday, April 22nd. Before stock was depleted, shoppers could find the Fenty slide at Puma, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Zappos, and a small selection of other retailers. Unfortunately though, some of the purchases placed at Nordstrom.com won't be arriving after all.
A Racked editor who tried to buy the shoes online says that she was told her order couldn't be fulfilled due to a "defect that made them unfit to be shipped," which is a bit dubious.
I went on Nordstrom's site at a little after 10am on the 22nd to order the Fenty slides in black. They were available in my size, but on the site it said they were backordered until the second week of May. I ordered them and paid without incident. Imagine my delight when the very same day I received an email that my slides were being shipped!
I then promptly forgot about them until last night. I went back to the email but the tracking link was dead, so I hopped on the customer service online chat. The employee was very vague and told me that they had attempted to ship them but something was likely wrong with the merchandise. They had never contacted me nor refunded my money until I reached out.
Today, I reached out to Nordstrom via Twitter to try to get more information and to find out if they were possibly backordered. The response:
"Thank you again for reaching out to us. I completely understand your frustration & disappointment with this order; it does look like we attempted to fulfill the slides, but found a defect that made them unfit to be shipped in the process. This is definitely not an ideal situation, or the service we pride ourselves on, & I'll make sure to share your feedback with the appropriate teams. Unfortunately at this point we no longer have the slides to send you; I wish I could do more! Thanks for your understanding."
And thus ended the saga of the Rihanna fuzzy shower slides that slipped through my fingers.
On Twitter, several shoppers are claiming that their orders were also abruptly cancelled. As you can imagine, the Navy is quite displeased.
Nordstrom cancelled my order for my Rihanna Pumas, saying its out of stock. I'm pissed
— China Morgan (@City_Babe_415) April 22, 2016
@Nordstrom ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS... THE FUCKING @rihanna SHOES WERE PURCHASED AND NOW YOU SAY THEY WERENT IN STOCK pic.twitter.com/F0xPbNtlHQ
— Crianna (@OgCurlsss) April 23, 2016
then Nordstrom cancelled my order for my Rihanna puma slides
— . (@Speakingofasiaa) April 22, 2016
@Nordstrom How is it that I order the Rihanna slides knowing that they are on BACKORDER on Friday at 10 am and I get an email TODAY
— Trendy (@AlexzGuurl) April 25, 2016
Um excuse me I paid $87 ......79 + plus tax dollars for the Rihanna puma slides I didn't get my full money back @Nordstrom
— zarriah (@drakegroupie) April 23, 2016
Racked reached out to Nordstrom for comment, and will update when we hear back. In the meantime, you can troll eBay, where a pair actually sold for $1,000 last week.
Update: Nordstrom clarified that its customer service representative misspoke when blaming the canceled order on a "defect" with the shoes. The rep said the shoes were in stock when the orders were placed but out of stock during the fulfillment process, a problem that happens occasionally when there is high demand for a particular item.