Bench.ca Review : Is Legit or Scam? 2024

Bench.ca is the Canadian site of the fashion retailing company Bench. They advertise as a brand that presents “a carefully selected range of multipurpose functional clothing suited to the need of 24 hour life”.

This makes Bench.ca sound like the go-to place to get your everyday fashion products. But the big question is whether this is just a marketing blurb or whether Bench.ca really offers multipurpose functional clothing. If the store does have the product, what about the service? Does the store offer the service we’ll expect of a go-to fashion destination (such as fast delivery, easy and cost effective returns, effective customer service etc)? In the first place, is Bench.ca legit?

This review will examine Bench.ca in order to provide the information that’ll help you answer these questions and more.

Bench.ca review at a glance

• www.bench.ca is the Canadian website of the fashion brand Bench
• Bench.ca is operated by Freemark Apparel Brands (FAB) Inc
• Provides clothing and accessories for women, men and children, with a focus on street inspired styles and activewears
• Ships merchandise to only locations within Canada
• Free standard shipping is offered for orders above $99
• Returns of unwanted items are accepted if made within 30 days from purchase date (for full price items) or within 14 days of purchase date (for sales items)
• Customer support service is available via post, email (info@bench.ca), and telephone (1-866-240-2808)

What is Bench.ca? – Background

Bench.ca is the Canadian website of the British clothing brand Bench. The brand was founded in 1989, and at the time focused on the t-shirt niche. Over the years Bench quickly evolved into a serious clothing brand, and began to source, design and sell cool active-inspired and street-inspired products for women, men, and kids.

The Montreal based distributor Freemark Apparel Brand (FAB) Inc. brought Bench into Canada, and Bench.ca was born. The website exclusively serves Canadian customers; thus, all prices displayed in the website (and used in this review) are Canadian dollars. If you’ll want to buy from Bench but not resident in Canada, you’ll have to visit the appropriate Bench website. For example: www.benchusa.com for customers from the US, and www.bench.co.uk for customers in the UK.

Bench.ca can be used by persons who are 13 years of age and above. To buy from the site, you’ll have to create an account, which is an easy process that entails simply providing your details in the required fields.

Is Bench.ca legit and Safe?

Yes, Bench.ca is legit and also a safe platform to make purchases online. Your ordered product will be shipped to your destination without a problem. And your credit card details are safe because they use highly secured technoloy and SSL. In addition, there have never been a complaint about Bench stealing customers money or charging their credit cards without the customers consent.

Products

Product Range

The ideal fashion store will hold a variety of fashion products so that you can shop all your fashion needs in one place. First, it saves you the headache of checking and dealing with multiple stores. Secondly, it comes with cost savings; as you may get large order discounts, and you’ll also be able to pay to ship all purchased items as one order instead of paying different shipping charges to ship different items from multiple stores.

Bench.ca does relatively well in this regards. They provide clothing and accessories for men, women and kids. However, they focus on activewears and streetwear; and they provide a variety of apparel types in this niche. The product categories, and the different items you’ll find in each category, are as follows:

Women

• Clothing – Jackets and Coats, Sweats, Knitwear, Tees and Tank Tops, Dresses and Skirts, Leggings and Bottoms, Tops, Denim
• Accessories – Bags and Wallets (Backpacks, Laptop Bags, Pouches, and Shoulder Bag), Hats, Scarves and Gloves, Socks and Underwear, Other accessories

Men

• Clothing – Tees and Tank Tops, Jackets and Coats, Sweats, Knitwear, Bottoms, Tops, Tees
• Accessories – Bags and Wallets, Hats, Scarves and Gloves, Socks and Underwear

Kids

• Girls – Bottoms (leggings, Skirts, Shorts, Pants), Tops (Sweats, Tees, Vest), Dresses, Hoodies, Jackets, and Hats (Beanies)
• Boys – Tops (T- Shirts, Sweats, Knitwear), Hoodies, Jackets, Windbreaker, Joggers, and Hats (Base Ball Caps)

Another product section you’ll find in the men and women category is “Collections”, where you can shop activewears, as well as new arrivals and sales items. That said; if you want street inspired styles and functional 24 hour casual wears, Bench.ca is a strong contender. However, you’ll find Bench.ca lacking if you want a range of formal wears. You’ll also have to visit another store for your beauty products.

Inventory Size

While a variety of products is important, it’ll mean nothing if what is available is only one of the different product types. Thus, the ideal store should hold a sizeable inventory of the different product types they provide. That way, you’ll have a selection to choose from when shopping; and you’ll be more likely to find pieces that you like.

However, Bench.ca does not particularly do well in this regards.  At the time of writing this review, we found the number of items in each product section to be relatively very low. For example, in the women category: the Dresses and Skirt section had only 2 items; the Leggings and Bottoms section had only 13 items; the sweatshirts section had 30 items; and even the Tees and Tank Tops section had only 31 items. The men’s category was no different. Men’s activewear collections had only 2 items; the Coats and Jackets section had only 36 items; while the sweats section had 47 items. In the kids’ category, the entire collection in the girls section consisted of only 42 items; while the entire collection in the boys section was even worse off with only 27 items.

In the fashion retailing business, it is easy to find shops with hundreds or even thousands of different items in particular product sections. That said; the stock of Bench.ca (which is less than 50 in every product section) comes out as small. The consequence is that when shopping in Bench.ca it is very likely that you’ll not find items that you like. For example, none of the two dresses featured might appeal to you.

Prices, Promotions and Related Policies

Prices

The majority of customers will want fashion stores that feature prices that are reasonable. In this regard, we’ll look at the prices in Bench.ca and also how it compares with prices in competing stores.

When that is done, Bench.ca does not come out as a destination for low price merchandise. However, while the store’s prices are a little on the high side, it is not by any means an expensive high price store. 

For example, at the time of writing this review, women’s leggings cost $49 – $129 at full price, but knocked down by promo coupons to $27.99 – $66.75. The dresses listed cost $89.99 – $119 at full price, but knocked down by coupons to $48.99 – $62.99. Women’s sweats cost $79 – $129 at full price; and even Tees and Tank Tops were listed at $35 – $55 at full price, and only brought down to $21.75 – $41.25 by the coupons. The men’s category was similarly priced. Jackets and Coats went for $99 – $229 at full price and discounted to $69.99 – $149.25; while Sweats went for $69 – $129 at full price, and discounted to $45.49 – $89.25.

To put this in perspective, the stores generally regarded as low and affordable will feature a lot of prices below $50, and the expensive stores will have items well above $100, and even in four figures. Thus, Bench.ca falls somewhere in the middle; that is, it is a little overpriced, but still somewhat affordable.

Promotions

Customers are attracted to promotions as ants are to sugar. In fact, promotions are actually the sugar that sweetens any deal; as they allow customers to obtain listed item for less than the full price. Thus, the ideal online fashion store should offer a lot of promotional offers.

Bench.ca does very well in this regard. Like every store that is generous with promotions, you’ll be greeted with different promotional offers as you get to the landing page of their website. One of the first we found was a “wheel of fortune” styled offer. You’ll have to enter your e-mail address and click “spin”; then watch what perk on the wheel the pointer will indicate that you’ll be rewarded with. The wheel had sections with perks such as: Free spinning, $25 off (orders $100), 15% off, Gift with Purchase ($59).

Also, as we went through the website, there were various pop-ups, all with a time-specific 10% off promise. There were also different promotional coupons that significantly slashed prices; some bringing down prices by as much as 52%.

Ordering and Payment

The ideal online fashion store should offer a smooth ordering process. This starts with a functional and intuitive website. The Bench.ca website ticks the box in this regards. Navigating through the site to select an item from the product sections is fairly easy. Alternatively, if you have a particular product in mind, using the search button will bring out products close to your search. Selecting a particular item will take you to the item’s details page; and you can proceed to “Add to Shopping Cart”.  You can click on the cart icon at any time to view your cart, and proceed to checkout.

Interestingly, after an order is placed, Bench.ca is able to effect any desired change or modification if the store is contacted within the same business day. This is a good one considering that sometimes, customers want to modify an order immediately after its placement; and many fashion stores in the market do not allow order changing or modifying an order after it is placed.

When it comes to paying for the item, you’ll want that the store support a wide range of payment options so that finding one to use will not be difficult. In this regards, Bench.ca does not tear down the roof with options, but they do support the popular payment options. You can pay for your Bench.ca orders using Visa, Master Card, PayPal and Visa Debit. With these options, making payment should not be an issue.

Shipping

After placing an order in Bench.ca, the item will be shipped to the location where you’ll take possession of it. Thus, shipping is an important consideration when considering online purchases. The most important shipping considerations are: shipping destinations, shipping times, and shipping costs.

Shipping Destinations

Except a store ships merchandise to your territory, receiving delivery of your orders will be difficult. Thus, one of the first things to check in a store you’re considering is the locations that the store ships to. In this regards, we’ll want a store that ships to many worldwide locations, so that customers from different locations can use it for their purchases.

The American company Bench actually ships merchandise to worldwide locations. However, because Bench.ca is the Canadian website of the fashion company, every item purchased from the Bench.ca store will ship to only locations within Canada.

Shipping Times

You don’t want an online store that will take forever to deliver your orders. Thus, the ideal online fashion store will offer quick delivery. Delivery times consist of order processing time, and package shipping times; and stores with fast delivery will deliver on both counts.

In this regard, Bench.ca offers two different delivery options – Standard delivery and Express delivery. Order processing takes 1 – 3 business days for Standard orders, but it takes 1 business day for Express orders. After the orders are processed, they are dispatched, and shipment times starts counting. Standard orders ships within 3 – 6 business days, while Express orders ships within 1 – 3 business days.

Bench.ca also offers in-store pick up. With this offer, you can choose that your order be delivered to a Bench retail outlet close to you, and you can go there to pick up the package. Shipment to Bench store takes 4 – 9 business days.

A look at the delivery times of Bench.ca shows that the company will not be winning the delivery sprints. For example, you should expect delivery of Bench.ca standard orders in 4 – 9 business days (adding order processing and shipment times). If you’ve seen reviews of other fashion stores, you’ll find that there are stores that deliver standard orders in less time. It also does not help that Bench.ca does not have expedited delivery options such as Same Day delivery or Next Day delivery.

Shipping Costs

The cost of acquiring anything online is more than just the purchase price. This is because the total spend on any item consists of the cost of the item and the cost of moving it to the shipping address. Thus, high shipping costs can easily make the item expensive to acquire. As a result, the ideal online fashion store will feature shipping costs that are as low as possible.

Bench.ca does relatively well in this regard. Their Standard delivery cost $9.95, while their Express delivery cost $24.90. You’ll find that the shipping cost of Bench.ca is a little on the high side (relatively). However, it’s good that flat rates are offered, so what you pay for shipping will not increase with an increase in your order size or weight. Also, the lowest possible shipping cost that customers can get is zero, which is free shipping. Thankfully, Bench.ca also offers free shipping.

The first free shipping offer is the “Ship to Bench Store” service. If you’ll be picking up your online order from a Bench store, Bench.ca will ship the order to the store free of charge.

The second free shipping offer will move your order to your door free of charge. However, the delivery option will be Standard delivery, and it comes with minimum order requirement. To get free Standard delivery, your Bench.ca order must be over $99. It’s typical of fashion retailers to attach minimum order requirements to free shipping offers. However, while the $99+ qualifying mark of Bench.ca is relatively fine, you’ll find stores that will ship free for $50+ orders.

Returns

It’s possible that after receiving delivery of your order, you’ll find that the item delivered is not what you ordered, or is defective. It’s also possible to have ordered the wrong size, and the item happens not to fit. And it’s possible not to like how the item looks in real life. In all cases, you’ll have in your possession an item that you’ll rather return to the retailer.

Thus, the ideal online store should allow customers to return (back to the store) items that they are not totally satisfied with. Like any serious online fashion store, Bench.ca allows returns. What follows is a review of their return policy.

Return Process

You won’t want to have unwanted items in your hand and be deterred from returning them to the retailer because of a cumbersome return process. Thus, the ideal store should feature an easy return process.

The return process of Bench.ca is fairly easy. First, you’ll have to process a return authorization by simply sending Bench.ca an email (via info@bench.ca). In the mail, you’ll state your intention to return the item(s), as well as the reason for returning the particular item(s). If the company approves the return, they will respond by issuing you a Return Authorization Number (RAN). You’ll then proceed to package the items appropriately, write the RAN on the original invoice you received, and include it in the return package. The last step is to simply mail the return package to the return address, which is:

Bench Web Returns,

1035 Hodge

Ville St-Laurent, QC, Canada

H4N 2B4

It should be said that though Bench.ca operate a lot of retail stores, they do not allow the return of online purchases to store. In Bench.ca; online purchases must be returned online, while only in-store purchases can be returned to store. In-store returns are more convenient than online returns, and there are fashion stores that allow in-store returns for online purchases; thus, this policy of Bench.ca was disappointing.

Items that can be returned

Returned items are almost definitely put back for sale. Thus, only items that are in their original condition will be accepted by Bench.ca. Thus, the returned items must be unused, unwashed, or unaltered. Returned items must also have all their original tags and labels in place; and as much as possible, items should be returned in their original packaging. As far as fashion stores go, there is nothing out of the ordinary about all of this.

Bench.ca does not accept returns of underwear and swimwear. For health and hygiene reasons, it’s understandable that returns cannot be processed for these items. However, it should be said that, while Bench.ca puts a blanket no-no on the return of these items, there are many stores in the market who accept returns of these items if the hygiene seals are unbroken.

However, we’ll rate Bench.ca high in this area because, except underwear and swimwear, every other item purchased from Bench.ca can be returned to the store. Whether an item is purchased at full price or at discounted price, it can be returned to Bench.ca. This is a good shift from the unfriendly return policies floated by many stores in the market, where only items bought at full price can be returned, while sales/ discounted items cannot be returned. This puts customers in between a rock and a hard place; where they’re given the choice of buying at the usually high full prices and be eligible for returns or buying at the low discounted prices and be ineligible for returns. It’s no news that most customers buy discounted items from the sales section of stores; and as a result, most often than not, they’ll be ineligible for returns. However, Bench.ca does not put their customers in such positions.

Return Window

The unwanted items you wish to return will only be accepted if they are received by the retailer within a time period. Thus, you’ll want an extended period so that the items will not get to the retailer’s facility late and be rejected.

In this regard, Bench.ca does very well. They allow a return window of 30 days from the date of purchase. However the 30 days return window only applies to items purchased at full prices. For sales items (bought at discounted prices), there is a reduced return window of 14 days from the date of purchase. While the 14 days window may come out as small, as explained in the last section, most stores don’t allow returns of sales items, thus the 14 days that Bench.ca allows for returns of sales items is more than welcomes.

That said, since most customers will be buying discounted items, it’s advisable to act fast if any item must be returned back to Bench.ca.

Cost of Returns

Many online fashion stores have received shots for having high cost of returns. Simply put, customers will not want to have unwanted items in their hands and be put off returning it to the retailer because of the high cost of the process. Thus, the ideal online store should feature returns costs that are as low as possible.

The lowest possible cost is always zero (that is free return shipping). At the time of writing this review, Bench.ca was offering free returns shipping as a promo. However, as typical of promos, the free return shipping offer had only a month remaining on it; after which things will reset to status quo, which is that customers bear the cost of returns shipping. Bench.ca will only bear the cost of returns when the reason necessitating the returns is the company’s fault.

Most of the times, the cost of return shipping is all the cost of returns there is. However, there are some fashion stores that also charge restocking fees and other surcharges. While Bench.ca does not charge a restocking fee, there are situations where they have applied charges that have taken customers by surprise.

For example; if the returned item was originally shipped for free (e.g. where the order was $99+) Bench.ca will deduct the cost of standard shipping from the refunded amount that will be issued. This essentially means that Bench.ca will be reversing their free shipping offer, if you return any item that was shipped to you free of charge. Needless to say, this can be really frustrating for customers, especially since customers will be already bearing return shipping cost. Also, for any item returned without the original tags, Bench.ca will deduct $10 from whatever is refunded or credited.

Refunds and Refunds Processing

First, you’ll be issued a full refund for regular items returned to Bench.ca within the 30 days return window. The refund will be issued via your original payment method, which means that you may decide to use the funds for future purchases in another store. However, for the returns of sales or discounted items, you’ll only be issued store credits. True, store credits will tie you to Bench.ca such that you must use the funds for purchases in the store. However, it’s better than not being able to return the items.

Another import consideration is the refunds processing time; that is how long it’ll take the store to issue the refunds after receiving the returned item(s). Once again, Bench.ca is not particularly fast. Returns are processed and refunds issued within 30 days of receiving the returned item in their warehouse. Needless to say, many customers will not want to wait the full 30 days before receiving their refunds.

Customer Support Service

A time will come when you will have questions or concerns, and you’ll want to reach out to the store for answers. If you won’t like to be left out to dry, you’ll want a store with an effective support department that addresses customers’ needs. Bench.ca advertises as one such fashion store, saying that because their customers are very important to them, their goal is to provide customers with a dynamic shopping experience and excellent customer service.

The first place to getting answers is the FAQ page of the bench.ca website. The page holds articles answering questions relating to account setup, ordering, shipping, returns, and more. If you’ll rather deal directly with a customer support rep of the company, Bench.ca provides a couple of contact channels which includes postal mail, email, and telephone support.

For the postal service, the address to send your letters is: Bench Canada, 5640 Rue Pare, Mont-Royal, QC, Canada, H4P 2M1. Feedback is slow with postal mail; thus, it is not an oft use channel. To use the e-mail service you should send your submissions to info@bench.ca. Though the email service gives faster feedback, it may take up to 24 hours to get the needed response. Thus, the instant feedback channel of the telephone service is welcomed. The phone numbers to call is: 1-866-240-2808.

However, the customer service does not work 7 days a week, but is only available Mondays through Fridays. What is more, on the days you can get through, the service is not available round the clock, but only works between 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (EST). We like customer support services that work 24/7 especially for worldwide facing companies; so that the problem of different time zones will be avoided where certain customers’ uptime will be the downtime of the support service.  However, since Bench.ca is only Canada-facing, such problem will not surface.

Summary

Bench.ca started in the T-Shirt niche and so it’s transformation into active-inspired clothing is not surprising. They advertise as providing “multipurpose functional clothing suited to the need of 24 hour life”, and they live up to that promise by providing a range of carefully selected active-inspired and street-inspired wears. You’ll find a wide variety of exquisite fashion products and accessories for men, women, and kids. One bump on this road is that the number of items in each product section is relatively few.

Though Bench.ca ship to only Canadian locations, and delivery is not the fastest in the market, their overall service is fine. This is because ordering is easy, orders modification is allowed, free shipping is offered, returns are easy (and free at the time of writing), and customer support contact channels are aplenty.

Pros:

• Offers a wide variety of street and lifestyle inspired wears
• Offers a lot of promotions and coupons which bring prices down to really attractive levels
• Unwanted items can be returned for a refund (albeit within  a window of 30 days from purchase date)
• Return of sales items are allowed (albeit with a reduced return window of 14 days from date of purchase)
• A range of channels is provided for contacting customer support (post, email, and telephone)

Cons:

• The size of the inventory in each product section is relatively small
• Prices of their items are a little on the high side
• There is no support for expedited delivery options such as Same Day delivery and Next Day delivery
• Shipping cost are a little on the high side
• Online purchases cannot be returned to store
• Deduct cost of standard shipping from refunded amount for returned items that was originally delivered free of charge
• Customer support service is not available round the clock