I decided last week to place my first order with Vons.com so as not to have to lug my fourth month old out in the heat during the day. I placed the order for over $150, before the cutoff deadline, and had a delivery scheduled for between 10am and 12 noon. At 11:59am (1 minute before my delivery was suppossed to arrive at the LATEST) the delivery driver called saying that he was running about a half an hour late asking if I could wait.
I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and waited. A FULL hour later, at 1pm he called saying he was less than 2 miles from my house but his truck had broken down. He explained another driver, that was about 5 miles from my house was on his way to pick up his remaining deliveries (for which he had told me on our earlier call that I was his last delivery) but it would take until 6pm that night (5 hours for 5 miles?) for me to receive my groceries.
I let the driver know I was leaving town for the upcoming holiday weekend at 3pm, which is why I thought their service would be so convenient, and could not wait an additional 5 hours. He said no problem, he was very sorry, would take back the goods and have a refund posted to me since I was charged immediately upon placing the order.
As the weekend progressed I never saw a refund and proceeded to send Vons.com two emails and within the next four days called twice. My emails were never responded to and on both phone calls I was told it would take TWO WEEKS to process my refund. I explained this was not as if I wasn't home or refused and sent back the delivery. I had never received it, they never delivered it to me. I asked why I should have to wait two weeks for my grocery money to be refunded. There are many families who cannot afford to lose their budgeted funds for two weeks. The first rep offered me a $20 credit on my next order, as if that makes up for the $150 I was out, or as if I would EVER use their service against after this debacle.
The second rep actually said "that's just too bad for you" and that it wasn't their fault this had occurred, then hung up on me mid-sentence. I understand the call center environment and the barrage of yelling and screaming the representatives receive everyday, but never once did I raise my voice, curse, or even cut her off, yet she hung up on me! Unbelievable!
During both calls I said if I didn't receive the refund I would go ahead and file a dispute against the charge with my bank, and both reps told me to go ahead and do so (which being from the credit card processing industry I am well aware of what a no-no that is. It costs the merchant not only the charge, but a fine from card processing bank, and too many can close their account.)
After countless attempts to rectify the situation in a mutually amicable way to no avail I ended up contacting my bank. I am still yet to receive a refund from them, only the credit from my bank. What gets me the most is not only did they mess up in the beginning by not making the delivery as promised, but they failed to make amends when given so many chances by someone who was very patient and understanding.
It was a double whammy. Now I will not even shop in my local Vons because I was treated so badly by online service. I am just thankful that this debacle did not cause me the type of financial distress that having your gorcery money held up for weeks could have caused for so many families.
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