On November 12th I placed an order with Concepts International by mailing an order form and a check to the address listed on their order form. I ordered a 2004 Automobile Gran Prix calendar, Christmas cards, a book, and Christmas gift cards (different items than the Christmas cards). The book and the calendar were to be Christmas gifts for the same person.
On 11/17/03, the check I wrote to Concepts Internatl cleared my bank.
On 12/6/03, I received a partial order from this company, the calendar and the Christmas cards. The postmark of the package was 11/24/03 and there was no packing slip and no note as to when I would receive the balance of my order. On 12/10/03 I sent the company an email asking when I would receive the rest of my order and got no response from Concepts International. I sent another email on 12/16/03, this one marked urgent, again inquiring about my order and also mentioning that the book was a Christmas gift and that I would need to have it by 12/19/03. Again, I received no response.
This same day I did some research on Concepts International based on the address listed on their website and order forms. It is an address for a mailbox type operation, not a physical address for the company, and there are no phone numbers listed for the company as named. I contacted the State Attorney General's office for the state of Texas (where website is listed as registered and business is licensed), as well as the Texas Secretary of business license division. They gave me contact names and addresses of those listed on the business license for Concepts International, but phone numbers are not available.
I sent a 3rd email on 12/17/03, again marked urgent, outlining the timeline of my order from order placement forward, plus the information I found about their address etc, and I requested an immediate reply. I got no reply at all.in the meantime, 2 friends who placed orders with this same company emailed Concepts International (using the same email address I used) requesting status of orders they had placed. Both received replies from Concepts within 2 days regarding their orders.
On 12/27/03 (2 days AFTER Christmas), I received an email from Concepts that they got word from their vendor that the book I ordered was not available in hard copy (as I had ordered it) and would I still like the book in softcover format with a refund of the difference in price. I emailed that I still wanted the book and a refund in the difference in price would be acceptable. I also mentioned that I found their lack of customer service very poor and very frustrating and to please let me know when this item was to ship out to me, in addition to the gift cards I ordered at the same time but had not heard the status.
As of this report on 1/12, I still have not heard back from Concepts International regarding the book I ordered, the gift cards I ordered, nor the substituted soft cover book they asked me about, nor any refund of money of mine that they've had for nearly 2 months. I have not received the rest of my order, 2 months after I placed my original order.in the meantime, I've seen the same book on Amazon.com at a reduced price with a noted shipping time of 2 to 3 days. I am so disappointed that the gift I ordered in a timely manner never showed up in time and that Concepts International has no regard for the history I've had as a customer with them, nor the referrals I've sent their way.
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