I purchased a "home business" opportunity from Market Trends (www.markettrends.com) and I paid for it November 21st 2005 (electronic receipt available). I had read about them in an ad on the magazine Business Opportunities. At the time they claimed they would ship3/4 days. I attempted to contact them on Nov 29th for the first time, assuming that it was reasonable to either have already received my order or at least some information regarding shipping and what not. I received their "regular duty" automated response that states you'll be given a response in 24/48 hours immediately after sending the message.
I waited until Dec 5th to send another email to them. After receiving another automated response, I sent another message on Dec 6th, informing them that I would contact authorities if I would not receive a response. At this point I received an answer in less than 60 minutes and I was told that my package was backordered and it would ship that week; they added that they had been in business for a long time, that they wouldn't be threatened by anyone as they are honest, blah blah blah. I waited until Dec 16th (10 days) to contact them again. I simply asked if they would give me some information on the shipment.
I once again received no answer (since there were no threats, I guess). I waited another 3 days and sent another polite email asking for information. I received no consideration again and I decided that I could blame it on Christmas coming around, I had some time off, I thought I'd get back on it later. I sent another inquiry on Jan 3rd that summarized my contacts and my experience with them. Nothing came (other than their automated response).
Four days later (remember, the automated response says max 48 hours) I sent them another email (Jan 7th), I gave them a 24 hour deadline to respond to my inquiry. On Jan 8th I received a response that apologized for the delays, but there was a backorder, they offered to compound my order with another "business opportunity" for free, they would ship next day, apologies. I accepted the offer, and asked if they could confirm the package (s) to arrive within 7/8 days (I gave them the 18th of Jan as a "deadline"). They said yes, I replied I'd wait.
On Jan 18 I did not receive anything. I sent another email asking for information on the package and the shipment; I added I would carry on with my course of action (report to authorities) if I would not receive any information. They replied saying that somehow they had confused my order with someone else's. They profusely apologized and asked me to send them a copy of my original order, along with information, so that they could (and would) ship tomorrow. I asked if they could email information instead of shipping, I asked if they could do a fast, 2-day shipping. They said they couldn't do either as the materials had a physical consistency that they needed to ship and that they would send through Global Priority Delivery and it would take up to 5 business days.
At this point I asked them if they could provide me with a tracking number, so I could follow the progress of the shipment. They said yes, and gave me a package shipment number. I contacted them shortly after saying I couldn't get any information for the package online. They told me to give it a couple of days and it would show. I waited until the 26th (meanwhile, I had received nothing) and I proceeded to contact them again, asking for information on the package, shipping company and what not. I didn't threaten them, and -of course - I didn't receive any attention (remember, every time I received an automated response).
I attempted to contact them the next day, Jan 27th, with the same inquiry, but received no response. At that point I decided to wait until Monday (today) morning mail delivery, to see if the package would arrive, but I received nothing today. So, I proceeded to send them a message informing them that I was going forward with making my experience public and I was going to let as many as I could know.
By the way, I have not been contacted yet in regards to my last message, that I sent to them approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes ago.
Giovanni
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada
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