A lifestyle influencer has shared the shocking threats a brand made to her after she was late to share videos promoting their product.
Joanne Romarate, who has almost 37,000 followers on TikTok, made a deal with Rugsstyle to create content about her rugs in exchange for a free one.
But when the Texas student and mother of two missed the release date by two days, the company flooded her email with harsh, violent messages.
Romarate chronicled the situation on his TikTok page to warn his followers about the brand and the general risk of working with TikTok Shop companies.
She wrote in a post: “Point of view: you forgot to post a product on TikTok and a Chinese company wishes death on you.”
Joanne Romarate, a lifestyle influencer, posted about a heated email exchange she had with a brand.
Rugsstyle sent him death wishes and threatening comments
Rugsstyle employee Ping Xu sent several harsh and threatening emails to Romarate because he missed two days of the agreed upon publication date.
Romarate then showed an email from a Rugsstyle representative that caused a stir on TikTok.
The cruel email reads: ‘Liar. Didn’t your parents teach you to be honest? Or are you an orphan without parents?
‘Do your children know that they have a mother who has no dignity and lies to others?’
Xu also said that if Romarate did not post a video promoting its rugs within 24 hours, Rugsstyle would report all of its videos using more than 20 different accounts.
The messages ended in death wishes.
‘You live without meaning, why don’t you die sooner? As someone you’ve cheated on, I sincerely wish you a quick death,” one email reads.
Romarate posted a TikTok about her terrible experience with rug company Rugsstyle
Xu threatened to report all of Romarate’s videos and called her “shameless”
The video has around 4.8 million views.
In a five-minute follow-up video designed as a ‘get ready with me’ post, Romarate shared that Xu also told him: ‘Fuck you and your family, your whole family will die.’
Addressing the confrontation, he said he was sorry for being late in posting the content he promised the company, but was ultimately glad he was able to see its true colors.
Romarate said on TikTok: ‘I honestly didn’t care, but then they started adding my family.
‘When it comes to my family, yeah, don’t go to the family.
“I have two young children and this is not right.”
After Romarate posted his first TikTok to the threatening emails, Rugsstyle sent him a direct message apologizing.
Rugsstyle sent an apology to Romarate after they started receiving messages about how they treated her.
They wrote in a direct message: ‘We are deeply sorry for this. We greatly value our partnership with you and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.
‘I regret that this was a mistake by my employee and that she did not detect her problem in time, we have treated her seriously. He fired her.
In the conversation, Romarate told the company that the email correspondence was extremely unprofessional and that he hoped Rugsstyle would learn from its mistakes.
The influencer will no longer support the brand or its products.
Rugsstyle publicly apologized for the employee’s behavior in a statement posted to its TikTok page.
It says: “We recognize that the employee’s inappropriate behavior was concerning to the creator and everyone else, and we regret it.”
The letter, signed by Rugsstyle founder ‘James’, details the steps the company plans to take to ensure this never happens again.
These steps consist of firing “irresponsible” staff members, apologizing to people the brand has been rude to, and retraining employees on how to interact with influencers.
Rugsstyle issued an apology statement in response to the controversy.
After this bitter experience, Romarate said he will no longer participate in TikTok store partnerships.
In the comments, people supported her.
One user wrote: ‘Wow, how unnecessary. I hope this video goes viral and no one orders Ping Xu!’
“If this is how they treat the people they do business with, imagine how this company treats their employees,” another added.
