On the 26th of September I purchased costume jewellery from Designer-Jewellery in Miami. The minimum order you for purchase was $190.00. I filled my order as instructed, paid the account and received the package approximately two weeks later. So far so good.
Part of the order (six rings) were too small for me, so I purchased a Post Office parcel bag, enclosed the rings with a letter advising the Invoice No. And requested the rings be exchanged for a larger size. The company emailed me back saying I had to place another order online, and the prior transaction would be credited against this new order and the larger rings sent back to me. I emailed back advising I did not want to purchase additional jewellery, just wanted the rings exchanged for larger size.
I got the standard one line email "Please place order online and credit for order will apply". I then tried to place the order for the rings online as requested but it would not accept the order due to the amount not reaching the minimum purchase of $190.00. I then contacted them again via email stating I could not place the order and received the same standard reply, "place your order online".
This correspondence went backwards and forwards (12 emails in all) with me not getting any further. I called the number as shown on their website twice and was greeted with a recorded message stating to use the online service. No human interaction with this company appears to be possible. I then attempted to placed the order through their "contact us" box - with the same response from them - "please order online".
I then sent an email asking that the Manager or Owner peruse the paper trail and get back to me to sort this matter out. Another email (from staff) being quite rude, advising that as I didn't want to make another order of $190.00, I would be charged an additional $25.00 as a "favour" to me and all up, I would have to pay $48.00 US to have the rings exchanged and sent back to me.
As I only paid $4.95 (AUS) to return the rings to the US, I advised them that i believed $48.00 postage was a tad excessive and I also wanted to confirm which rings would be sent back to me, as they had previously advised stocks were running low and it may not be possible to fill the original order. Their reply was that they would inform me of the order being sent back to me only once I had paid the $48.00 postage.
This transaction and all correspondence has been obstructive, negative, non-helpful and the staff have been dismissive of questions I have asked when attempting to clarify the situation. I have a paper trail of events that is mind-boggling in its apathy towards a client. I cannot believe that a Manager or Owner of this business would not take a more active role in keeping staff trained sufficiently to give reasonable customer service.
I strongly advise overseas clients to give this company a very wide berth.
Lynda
Hobart
Australia
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