I recently made a purchase of personalized bar signs from their web page. Before making this purchase I checked their return policy. I am very leary of ordering items online. Their policy clearly stated:
"If you're not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return it to us in brand new condition and you will receive a prompt and courteous refund. No returns on engraved items (unless we made a spelling mistake)."
I was happy to see this. The signs were not an engraved item. I figured that the company must not have included them as the up front cost to produce those signs is much lower than the upfront cost of a metal item to be enraved. So, I ordered seven signs. I got them in and was disgusted to see how cheap looking they were. The picture online simply didn't portray what low quality they would be. The base was cheap looking and the picture was ugly, grainy around the edges and shiny. The online image simply didn't portray them that way. So, I contacted the company to inform them that they would be returned. After hours of back and forth on the phone with an employee who informed me that the items were not returnable, the policy should have included all personalized items, that the problem was "semantics" and that although he couldn't authorize my refund, he was going to change the policy. I told him I needed contact information for the person who could authorize the return.
I then, emailed Lisa who is in charge of sales. I explained the situation to her. I told her that I was unhappy with how the signs looked and that I would never have ordered them if the return policy hadn't indicated that they could be brought back. Lisa replied that I should return them to the company for a return.
Almost a month after sending the signs back I received an impersonal receipt as my reply. It stated that the signs were in good condition and that they would refund me fifty percent. I again, emailed Lisa as I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. I assumed that a customer service rep had simply dealt with this and was not aware of the situation. It wasn't long before I received a reply from Lisa. She stated that:
"Typically there is no return/refund on engraved or personalized items (as they cannot be restocked since they have the customer's custom wording on them) but we refunded you half as a compromise."
I certainly understand that the company does not normally issue refunds on personalized items and that the policy on their website was an oversight. However, as I informed Lisa, the company should have owned up to this mistake and issued me a full refund. As it certainly isn't my fault that I was under the impression that the signs were able to be returned. I have since returned to their website and see that the return policy is no longer listed there. I have also filed with the Better Business Bureau and am waiting to hear back.
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