Buyer beware when doing business with Satin Boutique. Their shopping cart system should have a disclaimer that the price shown is just an estimate and that you will be responsible for whatever amount the owner decides your order is worth. Additionally, you wont ever get your money back, because the store only issues store credit even if you never had a legitimate transaction to start with.in my opinion, I never completed a transaction with this store. I agreed to make a purchase of $549.08 for the items in my cart. I cannot help that his cart was not working properly. It was not something I was aware of at the time I submitted my order. I also cannot help that he did not discover this until nearly 24 hours later when he recreated my order with an increase of $142.83. When he recreated my order, he charged full price for everything including the items that must have been legitimately discounted and then took 10% off. The owner expected me to pay the difference. There was never the offer to cancel the order. After reluctantly telling him to go ahead, I received the invoice and reviewed it. An item worth $149.99 was missing. This brought the increase in the amount to over 53%. At this point I requested that the order be cancelled. I used this term loosely since I dont believe we ever had an actual order. Since he wouldnt agree to ship the items at the price I initially agreed to pay and I would not agree to pay the increase total there was never an official order. Although I did agree to pay the $142.83 difference for my order, that was with the expectation that I would receive my entire order. I did not agree to pay $142.83 for $149.99 less merchandise. Therefore there was never an actual order. I tried to be reasonable. I did not insist that he ship my order for the original amount, but maybe I should have. He insisted he would lose money if he didnt correct the total and I tried to be sympathetic. $841 is quite a bit of difference from $549. It is unreasonable to expect a customer to pay that much difference. After I requested that the order be cancelled, he threatened me with hefty restocking fees. He also sells through Amazon with a rating of 84% (10% negative and 6% neutral). After someone there left him negative feedback about his 25% restocking fee he stated We have had this restocking fee to discourage "window shopping". Well I wasnt window shopping. I have detailed situation in the timeline below, most of which is documented through e-mails. He charged both amounts to my card for a total of $690.91 and will not give me all of my money back. He initially gave me store credit minus a restocking fee in the amount of 609.19. After the questionable pricing, I would be hesitant to order anything else from him. His business practices seem fraudulent - quoting you one price and charging you another. Then he keeps your money when you complain/cancel. After several e-mails, he sent me a receipt showing that he was going to credit the full amounts back to my card. He credited the full $549.07 back for the first transaction. He credited $60.84 and $25.18 back for the second transaction leaving a $56.18 shortage. I guess I am lucky to get that, but I wanted to warn others about his questionable business practices.
12/03,12:21 A.M.: After considerable difficulty ordering with Satin-Boutique. Coms ordering system, including the disappearance of items from the shopping cart and the PayPal payment method not working, I called Satin-Boutique.com regarding the problems I was having with the PayPal transactions. The representative, who identified himself as David, told me to try the PayPal checkout again. I again attempted to pay for the order using PayPal. With no success, I resigned myself to using a Regions Visa CheckCard to pay for the $549.07 order.
12/03,9:53 A.M.: I received notification via email from Satin-Boutique.com that stated the order had been processed successfully.
12/03,10:07 A.M.: The Satin-Boutique. Coms owner (the person to whom I had spoken the previous night), Mr. David Clifford, called to inform me that the order had been received and that he would start processing it.
12/03,9:55 P.M.: I received notification via email from Mr. Clifford stating that an item had been shipped via UPS. 12/03,10:03 P.M.: Mr. Clifford attempted to call me but left no message on my voicemail. Please note the time.
12/03,11:27 P.M.: Mr. Clifford sent me via email a PayPal invoice requesting an additional payment of $142.83.in the email, Mr. Clifford stated there had been a problem with Satin-Boutique. Coms ordering system incorrectly computing discounts applied to orders. He further stated that he thought he had resolved the problem. He had recreated the order using the correct prices and felt he should also include a 10% discount on the entire order to make amends for the error. He also requested permission to charge this additional amount to the credit card used to purchase the original order. I was not aware of the existence of this email prior to my phone conversation with Mr. Clifford as noted below. This was nearly 24 hours after the order had been placed.
12/03,11:58 P.M.: Recognizing the origin of the missed phone call and having been concerned of problems with the order, I called Satin-Boutique.com and spoke with Mr. Clifford. He stated that the total price for the order was incorrect because of the website problem (as noted above). He stated that I needed to pay him an additional $142.83 (for a new total of $691.90) to finish processing the order. He suggested and I agreed for him to send me a PayPal invoice. It was implied during this conversation (and stated in the email noted above) that he had recreated the order just as it had been placed the previous night. I was not thrilled about the increase, but the prices were still alright.
12/04,12:29 A.M.: Mr. Clifford emailed a new invoice for $691.90.
12/04,12:34 A.M.: I requested via email that the additional charges be made to the Regions Visa CheckCard I originally used instead of PayPal.
12/04,12:58 A.M.: Mr. Clifford confirmed receipt of my message noted above and approved via email the change of payment method. 12/04,6:46 A.M.: After reviewing the invoice sent at 12:29 A.M.:, I noticed that an item worth $149.99 had been omitted from the new order. Overall, this amounted to 53% more than I had initially agreed to paid. I notified Satin-Boutique.com via email a notice requesting the cancellation of the order in its entirety.
12/04,11:14 A.M.: Mr. Clifford called to express his concern regarding the order cancellation because of the email he received. I told him that I would reconsider cancelling the order after discussing it with my partner and then get back to him.
12/04,6:37 P.M.: I sent Satin-Boutique.com a message via email to affirm the decision to cancel the order and to request a full refund.
12/05,12:26 A.M.: Mr. Clifford sent a message via email requesting that I create a new order and threatening to charge a "hefty restocking fee" if I proceded with the order cancellation.
12/05,12:35 P.M.: Mr. Clifford sent a message via email stating that he recreated my original order using his personal account and would be giving me a substantial discount. The new order total was $809.60; this amounted to a $199.69 (47%) increase to the original order total of $549.07. He did not provide an invoice for his newly-created order, so I still had no way of knowing whether or not this new order was correct.
12/05,11:13 P.M.: I received a message via email for a gift certificate to Satin-Boutique.com for the amount of $609.19. The value of the gift certificate did not include restocking charges totalling $49.14 and an unspecified amount that was promised to be credited once I had returned, at my expense, the item that had been shipped on 12/3.
12/09,5:41 P.M.: I sent another request via email for the full cash refund of the amounts charged to the Visa CheckCard. 12/09,8:01 P.M.: I received a message from Satin-Boutique.com via email stating I would get a refund in due course.
12/09,8:07 P.M., 8:08 P.M.: I received messages via email from a Satin-Boutique.com employee, Heidi Firehill, showing order refunds for both charges of $549.07 and $142.83.
12/10: I returned the item via USPS that had been shipped to me prior to the price increase by Mr. Clifford.
12/12,2:56 P.M.: According to USPS tracking, the package was received by Satin-Boutique.com. It was listed as an In Stock item a few days later.
12/12: I received two refunds: one for $549.07, the full amount of the initial charge, and one for $60.84. The total refund was $81.99 less than the total of the two charges made to my Visa CheckCard.
12/17,4:39 P.M.: I emailed Satin-Boutique.com about the receipt of the returned item return and requested a refund for the remaining $81.99.
12/17,4:44 P.M.: I received an email from Satin-Boutique.com stating that Refund is complete. No additional explaination was provided.
12/17: I received a $25.18 refund, leaving a $56.18 deficit of the amount charged to my Visa CheckCard.
12/18,11:19 P.M.: I sent an email to Satin-Boutique.com requesting a refund for the remaining $56.18. I have never recieved a response.
I have copies of all e-mails to back up this timeline.
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