First, I am an EBay Top Rated Seller with 100% customer satisfaction rating so I know a little about dealing with customers and providing service.
I found this site under a wholesaler contact site. This guy lists multiple product categories. No address is provided but there is a "24/7" customer service line. It offers the generic shopping cart and checkout system.
I decided to try this website because it listed itself as in Hillsboro, Oregon and so with the Chinese New Year holidays in progress now I wanted a domestic source even if only temporarily.
I found an item, a 7" IPad-type computer, that I wanted to list on EBay so I listed it. When I sold the item I went to this site and placed my order. I provided my credit card number (which is linked to my PayPal account) and proceeded to buy.
The checkout function allows you to enter a different shipping address than the account billing address, so I entered the name and address of my customer as the shipping addess. I did not see any reference on the site previously that they did not drop-ship.
The first thing I noticed was that even though I received an order confirmation and a purchase receipt, the item was never moved from the "Shopping Cart" to an order. This concerned me because I had never done business with this site before, and also, I had already sold the item on EBay and needed to make sure it was delivered to my customer on time. I called the customer service line and (nicely) explained my situation. It was obviousl that this was not the company's customer service line but instead was some kind of third party contracted "customer service" line.in any case they said they would have someone contact me.
Several hours passed and I heard nothing so I called them again. This time, I received a call from a guy named "Joe." Luckily the number showed up on my phone or else I would not have been able to call him back later. Anyway, I explained to Joe that I just wanted to make sure my order went through OK. I also told him that this was my first time doing business with him but if everything went OK with this order, I would give him more business. He told me that he works a day job and only does this business at night, and he said he would contact me when he got home. I never heard back from him that night. I was never rude to this guy!
The next morning (today) I received a brief e-mail just stating that the money ($115.74) that I sent him was being refunded. No explanation whatsoever of why he was not shipping the order. I then checked my PayPal account many times during the day and the refund did not show up. This concerned me so eventually I texted him and asked him to explain. Then he called me, apparently while driving in a car. He said the reason he cancelled the order was because he does not drop ship. He claims that is posted somewhere on his web site but I did not see it. He also said the refund would take 3-5 days to get back to me. When I suggested that perhaps he should make it more clear/prominent on his web site that he does not drop ship, he got mad at me and said I was not the type of customer he wanted?
Are you kidding me??? I placed an order with this guy in good faith, and I paid him up front for the product in good faith. I asked legitimate, reasonable questions and I was polite, not rude. This guy has the nerve to get mad at me and say I'm not a good customer just because I wanted to know why he cancelled my order and asked where my refund was???
This guy is a perfect example of why it is so hard to do business on line. I normally don't deal with these "questionable" sites and thank goodness I only placed one order with him. I still don't have my money back yet, and now I have to turn around and tell MY customer I can't take care of him! IMHO and experience with him, this guy Joe thinks all you need to do is post a web site and get people to send money to you, without the need to actually provide some decent customer service.
Hopefully I will eventually get my money back from him (I'll repost here if I don't) but if you see this guy's site and think about buying something from him, just know that you're not going to get professional or courteous treatment!
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