Mary K.

Something is very wrong over at VTC. During the Black Friday sales, I placed an order for nearly $200 worth of items. That was 11/29. As of today, 12/19, I still have not received my items and there is no tracking information. Several calls to their customer service line have ended in nothing but frustration. Each rep has fed me a different line of garbage. The first rep told me the warehouse was just a little behind because of the Christmas rush, but that she could see on her end that my box was next in line to ship! Yay! Except...it didn't arrive. And the website still showed it was "In the warehouse". I called again. Another rep told me it had been shipped and gave me a tracking number; however, the tracking number didn't work. She told me to "give it a little while to update" and told me that there was no issue in the warehouse; it was a problem with their software not working well with Fed Ex's software. She reassured me that this would be "fixed soon". The number never did work.

The issue is that I am moving. I ordered these items with PLENTY of time to be delivered. I called again, for the third time. This rep reassured me that my box was on the way and that she had the correct tracking number. She said that FedEx was not able to see this, but that she could. For the third time, she could not explain to me why the website still showed my order as "not yet picked" and why it had taken so long to get to me. I asked to just cancel the order - as I really didn't think it would get to me in time at that point. She said no. I asked to have it re-routed to my new address. Again, she said no. I entered the tracking number into the FedEx system while on the phone and saw that it, again, showed that the label had been created but that the package had not yet been given to FedEx. She told me (in a rather agitated voice) to be patient and that it would DEFINITELY arrive the next day (not sure how it was supposed to get from Kansas to Texas in one day, but what do I know?). She insisted that there was some vague problem in communicating between VTC and FedEx, but that she could clearly see that the package would be here "tomorrow".

That was last Friday. No package arrived on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Today, I called again and was greeted by the following recording: "Dear Customers, We have reached the limit of orders we are able to fulfill this year. We are no longer taking orders over the phone. If you need any assistance, please visit our website or email '*******@VictorianTrading.com'." Pressing 0, waiting on the line - nothing. There is no human being answering the phones, ostensibly for the remainder of the Christmas season.

I am surrounded by boxes and the moving truck is headed out in a few hours. Still, no package. I am out nearly $200, as I do not have the luxury of driving all that way to come check a porch which is no longer mine. And this is a rental. I don't know the new people who will be here and the rental company will not check on my behalf (not their problem).

However, it should not *be* their problem. I did the right thing. I ordered nearly a MONTH before my move. This lies squarely with VTC.

As of this writing, they are still advertising stupidly fantastic deals, with no mention of the horrific issues going on behind the scenes (with the exception of a small banner which states, "due to processing delays, new orders may arrive after December 25). I have a terrible feeling that they may be going out of business. I can't be sure of that, of course, but something is very, VERY wrong over there.

***Of note, the first person I spoke with was located in Kansas. However, all of the other reps were working out of a call center in India. Each one of the latter reps was very short with me and interrupted me to try to "solve" my problem by reading cue card responses like, "Mail can be very slow in America during the American holidays", and such. It was just...really strange.

I've had no problem with the kitchen gadgets or children's clothing I've purchased at MyHabit.com; however, I just had a HORRIBLE experience with some framed photos I bought. They were advertised as photos of famous people or giclees from films, each a numbered original from James Dashwood and professionally matted and framed, yadda yadda yadda. The list price was something arouond $400, but MyHabit offered them at $139. I ordered two as a Father's Day gift for my husband.
They arrived in a box that was about twice the size of the frames and with NO packing material to protect them. Each frame merely had one layer of bubble wrap around it, along with some styrofoam around the corners. The box was damaged beyond belief and the glass from one of the prints was completely shattered. The other sustained several dings to the frame. I contacted MyHabit to get replacements; however, the girl I spoke with (who did not speak English as a first language and was obviously reading from a cue card) said that MyHabit cannot replace damaged items because the sale had ended and they had no more stock. I could return them for a refund; however, I needed to completely remove all the shards of glass AND I had to get new packaging materials and ensure that no further damage was incurred. WHAT? She said she was "so sorry" that there was damage to the frames and that to make it up to me, they'd give me a 30% credit on that print. Figuring I'd be better off to go have it re-framed than to try to spend $$ shipping it back, I took the partial refund.
I took the prints to a local framer, whom we've known for years, and upon removing the frame he showed me that it was a cheap print on cheap paper run from somebody's computer... the frame was SO cheap, the glass was just regular glass, the print, which was cut crookedly/ripped along one side, and showed a laser tag bearing the date, time and computer from which it was printed was GLUED to a cheap piece of cardboard and MASKING TAPE was used to hold everything (frame, mat) in place. I could have achieved the same effect in my home by printing a picture and slapping on a Wal Mart frame for about $20.

You get what you pay for, I guess...