I was looking at some bedding from Neiman Marcus that was really expensive and I started to order it. The order contained one 28" King size coverlet, one King size dust ruffle and 2 pillows.in the middle of ordering it, I checked my e-mail and saw that Horchow (a sister company of Neiman Marcus) was having a 20% off their entire web site. So I immediately went on-line to Horchow because they carry the same merchandise as their sister store Neiman Marcus and sure enough the entry portal advertises 20% the entire site on February 18th until 6:00 pm Central Time. So I started ordering the very same merchandise and entered my "promo code" to get the 20% off the merchandise, but when I went to the checkout, all of a sudden there was a $175.00 delivery and processing fee. I was sure it must have been a mistake so I went back to the Neiman Marcus site and ordered all the way through and the Delivery and processing fee FOR THE SAME MERCHANDISE WAS $32.00. What a rip-off. Horchow makes as if they are giving you 20% off, BUT THEY ARE CHARGING YOU $143.00 MORE TO SHIP YOUR ITEMS FROM THE SAME WAREHOUSE. I have shopped with both companies for many years and I could not believe that Horchow was trying to rip-off the consumer that way with times being as bad as they are all over the country. HOW UN-ETHICAL!!! Because you can go on-line and talk to "a real person" from the Horchow website, I decided to do just that and see how they could justify this additional charge. Below is my on-line chat with their customer service representative Stephanie Myers:
Info: A Horchow Customer Care associate will be with you momentarily.
Info: Thank you for contacting Horchow Online. My name is Stephannie Myers. Please stand by while I research your inquiry.
Stephannie Myers: May I have the item # please?
Pam Levitt: NMS09_H2K6S, NMS09_H2K6P, and NMS09_H2k6x
Stephannie Myers: One moment please while I research this for you.
Stephannie Myers: May I have the Horchow Online item # please?
Pam Levitt: HCS09_H2KN0, HCS09_H2KMZ, and HCS09_H2KML
Stephannie Myers: Thank you.
Stephannie Myers: We apologize for any inconvenience.
Stephannie Myers: Although Neiman Marcus Online and Horchow Online are the same company they are separate divisions and shipping charge and item prices vary accordingly.
Pam Levitt: What does that mean? You are going to charge $143.00 more for Delivery & Processing in order to get the 20% discount?
Pam Levitt: Are you trying to say that the same items costs $32.00 to ship from one store and $175.00 to ship from another store? Are you kidding me?
Stephannie Myers: The items do not ship from a store they ship directly from a warehouse, however Horchow Online arranges their shipping charges differently from Neiman Marcus Online.
Pam Levitt: Well Stephannie I know that you are probably just typing what someone wants you to type, but you know that this is just a rip-off and if Horchow is not willing to "honor" the same shipping charges as their sister store Neiman Marcus, which is the ethical thing to do, then I feel that I will need to announce this un-ethical practice to as many on-line shopping blogs as I can find, and given that my son is a web master, believe me, that will be a lot of blogs!
Stephannie Myers: I am sorry for the delay. I will be right with you.
Stephannie Myers: Thank you for your comments. Please be assured that they will be passed along to the appropriate department. We know that they will be most interested in your opinion and observations regarding the site.
Pam Levitt: No problem, they will be able to read it on-line very shortly.
About 20 minutes later I went back on-line and tried ordering without the 20% promo code and the Delivery and Processing fee was now $225.00! So the consumer not only doesn't get the 20% discount, they are paying $193.00 more to ship the same products from the same warehouse! Remember the Delivery and Processing fee from Neiman Marcus for the exact same product, from the exact same company was $32.00! (You can read above where the customer service representative admitted that they were the same company.)
As you can see, there was NO JUSTIFICATION for their additional charge other than they think they can trick the consumer and that no one will know. Especially in these economic times, consumers need to stick together and boycott companies that try to rip us off. That is exactly what HORCHOW is trying (and probably succeeding) in doing to everyone who orders from their company. Tell all your friends to beware of this trickery and false advertising. Those romans had it right—"caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware!)
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