Rent The Runway Unlimited Subscription Review

I finally got off the wait list in January – Those interested in this service beware! I’ve been using it since then and have gotten so frustrated in the past month or two with how few things on my list are available to unlimited members. Like others mention, if try to rent the same item it’s available, and often has no dates that it’s reserved for. I was told the first time I asked that items don’t appear as available to unlimited members if they have been reserved within 4 months, they pull them for that reason alone. Which would be one thing if that is even true – but it’s clearly not. The most frustrating part of the whole thing is that there are NO hard and fast rules or explanation as to what is actually available or ever will be available or is even in the unlimited “portfolio” per say. So as I’ve been noticing fewer and fewer things are available as the months go by – there could be a day when nothing is and the only include the crappy inventory they can’t rent out. Which is unfortunate because with unlimited members investing well over $1,650 a year in the service – no other company would be able to get away with not treating those members as the priority. But RTR instead prioritizes those that spend $45 to rent one dress a year. It’s a shame. I agree with the others, customer service on an individual basis has generally been great, but they still can’t provide an answer as to what (as in what items) we’re really paying for. The past month all that has been available has been very matronly, simple or extremely dressy pieces that either don’t stand out or don’t work for almost anyone’s needs. Needless to say, save your money for now – hopefully they get everything figured out so they’re not isolating their highest paying customers.

OMG! I was on the waitlist for MONTHS! I just received an invite to join! Of course, it’s when my school semester starts so I won’t be going to as many events but I don’t think I can resist joining. I will have to make some serious cutbacks in my spending to justify the $139 cost. I will see how my first month goes.

Thanks for this review! I’ve been thinking about whether or not I want to do this, especially since they raised the price to $139. I’ve been on the waitlist since March 2015 and I feel like a full year will loop around until I’m off the list. I’m basically just buying the things I want. I wish they would do a pre-pay option. Maybe then they could buy more quantities of popular items so they can let people off of the list. Either way… the wait is annoying.

The wait-list takes a long time. I was on the wait-list for like 7 months. I was unhappy with my unlimited subscription, and items in my queue were never available. When I logged in under another email, i could rent them. I found out, they put blockers in place for unlimited folks on premium items, as they cannot afford to allow them out for a elongated period of time. I get this is a business, but I really wish this was disclosed before i signed up. They control what you can rent, so you can not rent the good stuff. I spoke with the manager, (BTW, there customer service is exceptional) and she gave me a good faith credit, and assured me this was being worked on. I am going to keep my subscription for a bit longer ( i fear i leave and they fix this, and it will take another 6 months to get back on), and see if my selection list improves. If not, i would not recommend you get unlimited. What is the purpose of paying a monthly fee, if you can never take out items you want. If you read Yelp, and other reviews they say the same. However, if you want to rent something the classical way. Please do so, you will love it. I have rented both ways. Renting the classical way lead me to the unlimited. It really is a good service, it your willing to pay full price for each rental.

Are you a unlimited member? Things you love from your queue are never available? Well logout and then login under another email. You’ll see RTR has placed restriction on unlimited members so that some Luxe items and items they deem premium are not available. When I contacted them about it, they could not justify it so they gave me a answer that made no sense. There response “the styles are not currently available to be rented through Unlimited since the styles have other reservations on them at this time. ” Clearly if I can rent them for the same dates and sizes via the classic method, they should be available via unlimited. I have contacted corporate about this. No response yet, but ladies please beware.

Hi Liz and Friends!

How long did it take you to get off the waitlist? I’ve been waiting for over 7-8 weeks and nothing yet! 🙁

Hey Liz! What fun dresses! I signed up for Unlimited back in March at the beginning of the wedding season this year! I love this service and fell in love with multiple pieces I rented. I agree – the clothes and jewelry have arrived in pristine condition! Two of the purses that I have received were in decent condition, but I could definitely see some wear. I would highly recommend their customer service though, fantastic!! And their shipping does not take forever unlike other clothing sub-boxes. I usually receive my items within 2 days of shipping and they notify me and allow me to choose my next shipment within 2-3 days, which to me is extremely quick!

I don’t know how much longer after wedding season that I will continue with the service, because they don’t carry a ton of plus sized items and, besides weddings, I don’t have much need for fancy dresses a lot and my money may be best used to invest in a great dress for my closet or saving up to rent one of theirs for particular events!

I’ve had RTR Unlimited since last Sept/Oct and I absolutely love it! It’s gone through several improvements since then…it used to be only jewelry/purses/accessories and they’ve since updated it to include dresses. And you can choose your items now, which you didn’t use to be able to do (you just filled your queue and then they shipped you stuff from it randomly).

I mostly use my subscription for accessories for work. I work in a dressy business casual environment so it’s perfect. I always have new, in-season bags, necklaces, earrings, etc and I get compliments all the time. So far this spring I’ve already carried a Rebecca Minkoff bag, a Kate Spade bag, and an Annabell Ingall satchel all from Unlimited. It’s great!

I totally want to see photos of you wearing the dresses!

I love my RTR Unlimited subscription. I don’t have too many fancy events but I am of a certain age where I can still wear tight Herve Leger dresses and the like to bars and stuff. In addition I’ve had graduation parties and work to wear the items to. I have never had any problem and have probably received about 6 shipments. I even purchased the most amazing BCBG jumpsuit from them when I realized I didn’t want to give it back. Overall its a great deal and super fun to see whats available each time.

I am so excited to see a review of this service! This is something that I have been thinking about for a while, but I didn’t know too much about it and was unsure. This really helps!

Liz-
When did you get on/off the wait list? I signed up almost two months ago and have not yet moved off the wait list. I have heard it takes between three and six months to get off the wait list.

Is there an option to buy if you fall in love with one of the items?

Wow! I love all 3! This is a Fab deal especially for wedding season like Liz said!! So happy you sub’ed so we could see the amazing quality of these gowns!! Thanks Liz! Love it 😉

This site is great, but it would be so much more helpful to see clothes and jewelry on an actual person. Seeing them on a mannequin or a catalog model doesn’t help much at all. Can you post photos so we can see what it’s like on a person, it would be great!

I looked awhile back, and the gold dress caught my eye too! Another nice thing is that users post pictures of themselves in the dresses. It makes it a little easier to see how it will look on someone the same size as you.

I did a month of unlimited recently. The shipping is very quick, within a couple days of picking items out of my queue they were at my door. They were also quick about crediting my account when they received a shipment back. I always found a decent selection of dresses in my size (12/14) available when it was time to order. They were very helpful when my final order was incorrect and I cancelled the service as I no longer needed it. I believe I had 4 shipments altogether in a month, so was definitely able to use it as much as I expected to. It was interesting how much the items available changed by the time I could order more.

Glad to see this review! I’ve seen people saying that it was hard to get things in their queue, but it looks like you got everything you wanted on the first try. (And Badgley Mischka is one of my favorite designers!)

I signed up for RTR Unlimited on March 24 and was placed on a waiting list at that time. Because I had 2 weddings in April and a cocktail attire charity event that I needed dresses for, I made several contacts with customer service to determine when my unlimited service will begin. They advised me to rent dresses through the normal service at the normal price for my events and were unable to provide any information on the waiting list for unlimited. As of today, May 4, my service still hasn’t started and the events that I needed dresses for have passed. It seems that they started this service without the appropriate capacity.

I wouldn’t have found this service if I weren’t following your reviews. Thanks. I have an afternoon wedding to go end of the month and I don’t have a dress that fit me anymore. So, I might try them.

Thanks Liz. This would be great for a special occasion. You should of posted pics of yourself!

Gorgeous dresses! I agree that the Night at the Oscars Gown is especially stunning! Love. 🙂

I absolutely love Badgley Michka gowns (and shoes)! I’ve been able to snag several on flash sale sites like RueLaLa, HauteLook and ideel. The designs are timeless, the fit always true to size (for me anyway which is usually a struggle since I’m two very different sizes top and bottom), and the tailoring and materials exquisite. The dresses you chose are all so elegant. I’d create events just to wear them!

This isn’t something I would typically need because I am very casual too, but I have a wedding in July that this would be good for. Is it easy to cancel? I hate it when subscriptions make you call or email to cancel.

I’m so glad you tried this out and posted about it, thank you!!! I’ve always wanted to try it out, but like you I’ve been skeptical about the condition of the dresses once receiving them…good to know they arrived in pristine condition! {sorry if you mentioned this above}, but how long did it take for the dresses to arrive once you placed the order from your queue? I’d like to see what else you rent this month, hope you post another review =)