Hijinks
First Post
Just sharing my holiday shopping horror story in the hopes of sparking a few more in response, to make me feel a little bit better.
In September of this year, I ordered a meat and cheese basket for my boyfriend’s brother and sister-in law for Christmas (I’m the early bird shopper type). I have ordered from this mail-order company several times in previous years and never had a problem, however this was my first time ordering off of their website instead of through the snail mail catalog. This company offers you the option of ordering for Christmas delivery, which means the item isn’t shipped from their warehouse until after Dec. 15th. At the time that I placed the order, that was fine.
One month ago, the brother/sister-in-law announced that they were coming back to Iowa the weekend of the 17th, instead of Christmas weekend. I went to the company’s website and emailed them, asking them to please bump up the shipping date so that I got the item prior to the 17th. They emailed me back and said that they could not do this, because the shipping label had already been printed (causing me to say to myself, “so …. Print another one?”).
A week after that, I was checking my order’s status at their website. It said the basket was “Ready for shipment.” I thought, hey, great, I’ll get it in time!! At that time, I was happy with their service, even though they weren’t able to change the shipping date, because it looked like everything would be ok. So I placed a second order for a fruit basket to be mailed to my sister for Christmas delivery. This company offers “6 free gifts” to anyone placing an order, and the website asked me where I wanted my “free gifts” to be sent. Knowing from past experience that the free gifts were cheesy tacky items like a Christmas tree ornament with their emblem on it, and such, I wanted the gifts sent to me, and the fruit basket sent to my sister. No can do, apparently. It was send everything to me, which wasn’t feasible since I’m in Iowa and she’s in Virginia, or send everything to her. So I thought, fine, they’ll just tuck the dumb stuff in the box containing the fruit basket. So I had everything sent to her.
A week after that (2 weeks ago now), I checked the order status of the first item, the meat and cheese tray. Still showing “Ready for shipment.” Hmmm. I called their customer service number. I spoke to a young lady who explained that “Ready for shipment” meant that it would be shipping out very soon, and I would be receiving the item within 5 to 9 business days. I wanted to ask why that was, since it had been “ready for shipment” for two weeks now, but I didn’t. Sadly, I took her word for it.
One week later (last week), the item was STILL showing as “ready for shipment” at the website. I called again and spoke to a different lady, who told me that the item’s shipping date hadn’t been updated in her computer, and would I like for her to update it so that it goes out sooner than the 15th? …… Um, yes. So she said she had updated it, and it would “definitely” be going out within 5 to 9 business days, and I would “definitely” have it by the 17th. Which made me wonder: if she was able to just type something in the computer and change the shipping date, why wasn't the person who answered my previous email able to do that?
The fool, I, apparently.
I emailed the company again, through their website, and explained the difficulties I’d been having, detailed all of the customer service conversations, and I also explained that if I receive the item after the 17th, I will be returning it to them, and I will not be paying for it. They have not responded to that email.
Yesterday, I checked again. “Ready for shipment.” By this time I’m chewing on the carpet. I called a third time and spoke to a very rude young man – obviously hired for the holiday season – who told me the item was showing as “staged” on his computer, which meant it was about to go on a truck (which makes sense to me, having worked in a warehouse, that is indeed what “staged” means). I was trying to cancel the dang order at this point, but *of course* this wasn’t possible because it was now “staged” and couldn’t be pulled off the dock. ….. Fine. I asked him to put a note on my account that I had called, and that I was lodging a complaint, and that should I receive the item after the 17th, I will be returning it to them without paying for it. He said “I can’t do that.” I (trying to be calm) asked him why. He explained they were not able to put notes on accounts like that. I asked for a supervisor who could do this for me. Suddenly, after 5 minutes on hold, he was able to put the note on my account. Splendid!
In the meantime, I was checking the status of the fruit basket to my sister. It was showing as “Not shipped,” but yay! The free gifts shipped to her already! So, I had to email her and ruin the surprise, and say “Hey, this fruit basket will be coming, but before that you’re going to get some cheesy lame gifts, just pitch em.” She emailed me back that they had already received a fruit basket from this same company, but there was no note or anything as to who it was from. Nice! So either a.) someone else ordered them the same item from the same company, or b.) their website is really messed up and the orders are not showing the correct shipping status. Oh and also, the "fruit basket" that I paid $25 plus shipping for was: 2 oranges, 2 grapefruit, and a lime. :\
This company’s customer service sucks very much badly. God! I have never had such a bad experience with online shopping!
By the way, the meat and cheese basket is *still* showing as “Ready for shipment” on the website, and I am 99% certain I will be buying them a new gift this coming Saturday as we head down there. However, a local radio station is running a contest of who has the worst holiday shopping experience, and the winner gets a $45 gift certificate to the Outback, so I’m hoping I’ll win.
In September of this year, I ordered a meat and cheese basket for my boyfriend’s brother and sister-in law for Christmas (I’m the early bird shopper type). I have ordered from this mail-order company several times in previous years and never had a problem, however this was my first time ordering off of their website instead of through the snail mail catalog. This company offers you the option of ordering for Christmas delivery, which means the item isn’t shipped from their warehouse until after Dec. 15th. At the time that I placed the order, that was fine.
One month ago, the brother/sister-in-law announced that they were coming back to Iowa the weekend of the 17th, instead of Christmas weekend. I went to the company’s website and emailed them, asking them to please bump up the shipping date so that I got the item prior to the 17th. They emailed me back and said that they could not do this, because the shipping label had already been printed (causing me to say to myself, “so …. Print another one?”).
A week after that, I was checking my order’s status at their website. It said the basket was “Ready for shipment.” I thought, hey, great, I’ll get it in time!! At that time, I was happy with their service, even though they weren’t able to change the shipping date, because it looked like everything would be ok. So I placed a second order for a fruit basket to be mailed to my sister for Christmas delivery. This company offers “6 free gifts” to anyone placing an order, and the website asked me where I wanted my “free gifts” to be sent. Knowing from past experience that the free gifts were cheesy tacky items like a Christmas tree ornament with their emblem on it, and such, I wanted the gifts sent to me, and the fruit basket sent to my sister. No can do, apparently. It was send everything to me, which wasn’t feasible since I’m in Iowa and she’s in Virginia, or send everything to her. So I thought, fine, they’ll just tuck the dumb stuff in the box containing the fruit basket. So I had everything sent to her.
A week after that (2 weeks ago now), I checked the order status of the first item, the meat and cheese tray. Still showing “Ready for shipment.” Hmmm. I called their customer service number. I spoke to a young lady who explained that “Ready for shipment” meant that it would be shipping out very soon, and I would be receiving the item within 5 to 9 business days. I wanted to ask why that was, since it had been “ready for shipment” for two weeks now, but I didn’t. Sadly, I took her word for it.
One week later (last week), the item was STILL showing as “ready for shipment” at the website. I called again and spoke to a different lady, who told me that the item’s shipping date hadn’t been updated in her computer, and would I like for her to update it so that it goes out sooner than the 15th? …… Um, yes. So she said she had updated it, and it would “definitely” be going out within 5 to 9 business days, and I would “definitely” have it by the 17th. Which made me wonder: if she was able to just type something in the computer and change the shipping date, why wasn't the person who answered my previous email able to do that?
The fool, I, apparently.
I emailed the company again, through their website, and explained the difficulties I’d been having, detailed all of the customer service conversations, and I also explained that if I receive the item after the 17th, I will be returning it to them, and I will not be paying for it. They have not responded to that email.
Yesterday, I checked again. “Ready for shipment.” By this time I’m chewing on the carpet. I called a third time and spoke to a very rude young man – obviously hired for the holiday season – who told me the item was showing as “staged” on his computer, which meant it was about to go on a truck (which makes sense to me, having worked in a warehouse, that is indeed what “staged” means). I was trying to cancel the dang order at this point, but *of course* this wasn’t possible because it was now “staged” and couldn’t be pulled off the dock. ….. Fine. I asked him to put a note on my account that I had called, and that I was lodging a complaint, and that should I receive the item after the 17th, I will be returning it to them without paying for it. He said “I can’t do that.” I (trying to be calm) asked him why. He explained they were not able to put notes on accounts like that. I asked for a supervisor who could do this for me. Suddenly, after 5 minutes on hold, he was able to put the note on my account. Splendid!
In the meantime, I was checking the status of the fruit basket to my sister. It was showing as “Not shipped,” but yay! The free gifts shipped to her already! So, I had to email her and ruin the surprise, and say “Hey, this fruit basket will be coming, but before that you’re going to get some cheesy lame gifts, just pitch em.” She emailed me back that they had already received a fruit basket from this same company, but there was no note or anything as to who it was from. Nice! So either a.) someone else ordered them the same item from the same company, or b.) their website is really messed up and the orders are not showing the correct shipping status. Oh and also, the "fruit basket" that I paid $25 plus shipping for was: 2 oranges, 2 grapefruit, and a lime. :\
This company’s customer service sucks very much badly. God! I have never had such a bad experience with online shopping!
By the way, the meat and cheese basket is *still* showing as “Ready for shipment” on the website, and I am 99% certain I will be buying them a new gift this coming Saturday as we head down there. However, a local radio station is running a contest of who has the worst holiday shopping experience, and the winner gets a $45 gift certificate to the Outback, so I’m hoping I’ll win.
