I was trying to purchase this scuba wetsuit online and that online dive shop doesn't ship to HK and they suggested Bongo International on their website and said all international customers must signed up for a US address. So I clicked into the website (https://bongous.com/register_now.php) and read this:
Classic ($5 Registration Fee)
- Discounted Shipping Rates
- 1 Delivery Destination
- Consolidation Services
- Personal Shopping Services
- Imaging Services
- No Monthly Charges
Advantage ($15 per Month)
- Highly Discounted
- Shipping Rates
- 5 Delivery Destinations
- Consolidation Services
- Repackaging Services
- Personal Shopping Services
- Imaging Services
- 3 Month Minimum
Since I know mine is just a one time order (I seldom order from the States, if not never). So I signed up for the classic account.
Then my wetsuit arrived and from my own order, I knew the weight of the wetsuit is around 3lb. And then later on when I proceed to my payment, the billable weight became 7lb (more than twice the actual weight)!!! So I was like what on earth is going on. So I contacted the agent online and they just kept on copying what they have on their website and pasteing it to our chat box. I was like, I understood the billable weight for DHL is based on the dimention of the container of the product, but why on earth would there be a box around my wetsuit (which they never answer that question - but later on I found out on the web that they will actually take your goods out and then place it into THEIR OWN BOX). So then I asked - can't you just remove the box then? They said I need to upgrade my account to the advantage account before they can remove the box. Oh really? Where does it say on the sign up page? *NO WHERE.* Anyway, feeling frustrated. I ended the chat.
A couple minutes later, I tried another agent. The respond was even worse. So I ended the chat as well.
Then I thought, okay, maybe I'll just ship it to my friend who lives in the States. So I checked the mailing fee for 7lb billable weight and it says $10-ish USD. So I amended my mailing address but it turned out to be $60 something USD. Got frustrated again, so I talked to *ANOTHER* agent. This time I was told I need to upgrade my account to a business account (also $35 for a minimum of 3 months). So I asked what about Canada, then agent said Canada is alright just cannot mail within USA. Still not happy with the answer but the chat wasn't going any where - so ended the chat again.
A few days later, I tried another agent, and this time, this agent actually said, as the classic member, I can only mail the goods to the address which I initially signed up for! And this time I got really pissed. I was like Oh yah, this is absolutely something new to me. So I took out the sign up page and asked her, when I signed up for this (i.E. Entering into the contract) your contract doesn't say I cannot switch my address to an USA address. Then she copied and pasted a long para to me saying why I need to upgrade my account and I was like but that wasn't on the page where I signed up for. I said this is a scam. Basically you tricked us all to sign up and then force us to upgrade our account. Then she kept on copying and pasting words into the chat and so I asked her where the hell did she get those because they were NOT ON THE SIGN UP page. Then she said under the FAQ. I was like, when I sign up, I looked at the sign up form (i.E. Contract) and I thought it was clear, and there was NO other direction to read the FAQ, and if I didn't have any question in mind, why on earth would I read the FAQ??? That sign up page is simply a misleading page to trick you all to sign up and then later on with all those restrictions which will push your shipping fee to the max. Level and then force you to upgrade your account!
How on earth can a 3lb wetsuit turn out to be 7lb (that's almost as heavy as some new born baby!!!) and the shipping cost turned out to be $98?
This is the most ridiculous service I've ever heard of. I mean if you listed out all these restrictions etc and if I still sign up, then that's MY problem. NO where in the sign up form that says I cannot mail my goods within USA. NO where in the sign up form also say that I cannot change my shipping address as the classic member.
Finally, I told the agent, if you cannot answer my question, get your legal counsel or legal representative to talk to me. She refused. I asked her to give me a specific email so I can talk to the right person, she just gave me the default @help email which I highly suspect will be replied by the agents. Then after many many many many many x 1000 attempts, she still refused to either give me a name or an email. Although she say she will refer this case to her manager and someone will get back to me, but apparently several days had pass an no sign of any contact from anyone.
Just extremely pissed. I would NOT HAVE SIGNED UP if I knew there were so many UNREASONABLE restrictions. I was TOTALLY MISLED by that sign up page.
Funny thing is, the agent also said to me, well all our customers are happy and they know about all these clearly (indicating that I am such a moron and am the only person on earth who doesn't notice their stupid restrictions). And because of this, I immediately started to google about this company (while the chat is still going on) AND THEN FOUND LOOOOOOOOOOOOADS of negative feedbacks online and a lot of people had the same experience as me! I even copied and pasted all these forums to the agent and she did't say a word in reply.
Gosh. Even if I don't get my money back, I wish people read this and do not fall into the trick of this company!!
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