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Mike M.

Contributor Level

Total Points
181

1 Review by Mike

  • BetterProductsOnline

2/26/15

I run a small business online and my inventory was depleted so I needed to outsource an order from another online retailer betterproductsonline.com seemed like the best choice their webpage stated that they had my products in stock and I ordered $700 worth of merchandise and found out the next day that they only had a lot of six for my inventory and zero of my 11 remaining orders at $41.50 per item. No one said the products were not in stock so I looked up their phone number and I reached the vice president of operations. He said he was out of the country in Europe and the call was costing him a fortune.(google voice or skype could have helped or maybe hire an odesk employee) I ordered on the 22nd for orders that needed fulfilled. Nobody told me the eleven orders I purchased were not available and Birger Joehnk vp of operations said he apologizes but he only had six of the 17 I ordered and he was refunding the money I paid. The next day, nothing so I contacted customer service in the am. Waited until evening and contacted him again. The next day (two days later). This was the reply from the vp of operations.

"Don; t worry. I said I put them on hold and will cancel/refund within 24 hours. I am in the middle of merger meetings and will take care of it the first time I have an hour or two break.

Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely, Birger Joehnk
VP Operations
www.betterproductsonline.com"

So after 48 hours went by, I emailed them in the morning stating I was frustrated because it is not that hard to refund a customer. When I can't fulfill an order I refund immediately no matter the cost. I filed a dispute with PayPal after no reply for ten hours and instantly started getting refunds. This was four days after the order was placed and two days after he promised to refund after 24 hours. Afterwards I get this email.

(Why any of this should help me? A bunch of excuses.)

"After several days of non-stop meetings, I just arrived in Copenhagen from driving all day from Germany and got my first break since we spoke. As promised, I sat and started to do your refunds and after doing the first of your refunds I noticed that you had just made a lot of claims while I was issuing the first of your refunds. I have a tenant who had to move his family out because of damage to ceiling on three floors from a burst water pipe due to the cold whom I have also been trying to help over the past few days in between meetings by coordinating with insurance adjusters and remediation companies. If I only have a couple minutes between meetings then the displaced family is a higher priority. I operate 3 websites and multiple channels plus just concluded negotiations to be the sole distributor for several German manufacturers. I tried explain to you the other day that I would address your request as soon as I had a couple of hours to log on, but that it would probably take a couple of days and as it turned out I had to tack one more day in German to complete my business there. We are expecting a large shipment of (product ordered) which you know is as good as Gold, but I intend to block your account from being able to make purchases because I have no time for a barrage of emails, bad behavior and threats. (My threat was I would post reviews on the bad service if my funds were not returned) I have excellent relationships with our suppliers and if you want to grow your business I suggest you learn not to burn bridges.
Sincerely,
Birger Joehnk
VP Operations
Better Products LLC"

He must be very important and more important than the people who order products from him. I suggested he hire a programmer to show inventory out of stock.
Be careful to order from this company because he does not delegate and does not use simple methods to ensure customer service. I hope this helps and although pricing was competitive products and price aren't worth gold, customer service is where the real gold is. Perhaps he should read delivering happiness by zappos founder.

Tip for consumers:
If you need your product fast do not trust the availability, or depend on automated emails stating orders are unavailable.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

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