I tried ordering a pair of Steve Madden heels on their website. The website first told me my address was too long? So I had to call to place my order. When I first called, they transferred me to a different part of the phone call to type in my credit card number, first red flag, and then said they would transfer me back to a representative to finalize my order. When the transfer was supposed to occur, the call went blank and I was hung up on. I called back, after a 30 minute call wait that was supposed to be 10 minutes, and a representative said my order was saved as a draft so it wasn't completed and we could complete it. About 20 minutes after I hung up and my order was complete, I noticed my bank account was charged twice for $90 shoes that I was told only were ordered once. I immediately called back, waited another 30 minutes to speak to someone, where I was FINALLY able to cancel my order. Or so I thought. I went through an entire cancellation process with a representative, and about a day later I received an email that BOTH pairs of shoes were being shipped to me and got tracking numbers for both. After being very pissed off and frustrated because I had gone through an entire cancellation process the day before, I called the company again. This time I waited on the phone so long, that I had to put in a call back order because I couldn't wait any longer on the phone. When a representative finally called me, they told me there was nothing they could do about it because the order had already shipped. I asked the representative if they could contact Fed Ex and see if they could just send the package back to them immediately, which of course the representative said that wasn't possible. I hung up with the Bon Ton representative who was extremely hard to understand, and decided to call Fed Ex myself. When I was on the phone with Fed Ex, I gave them the tracking number I was emailed for the shoes, and they said that tracking number did not exist, that the shipping label had not even been created yet, so that the company has to still have them. Funny enough the email Bon Ton had sent me said they had been shipped out that day. I am a frequent online shopper, and this is BY FAR the absolute WORST company I have ever had to deal with. They are terrible, sketchy, contradict themselves, they shouldn't even be a company! DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!
My wife placed an order on carsons.com for Clinique cosmetics. Our local Carsons store was closed due to a fire, and she wanted to receive the "free" gift with a purchase of X dollars.
Due to the great experience I've had shopping on other retailers sites - penneys.com, sears.com, overstock.com and kohls.com - I convinced her to order the cosmetics on carsons.com, which is bonton.com. That's where the fun begins.
After placing the order, she received an email confirmation of Order #******* on 11/17@ 5:39 PM CST. Items ordered: lipstick, nail polish and free gift set.
Seconds later, she received another email at 5:39 PM CST showing that the Clinique 7 pc. Gift with purchase was canceled! She called bonton.com to tell them to cancel the order, since the only reason she placed it was so she could receive the free gift. We were told that the order couldn't be canceled because 90 minutes had passed since the order was placed.
She then received a third email at 10:36 AM on 11/18 showing that the nail polish was canceled! Now, the only thing left on the order was lipstick. Again, she called to cancel the order, and was told that the order was already shipped.
She received a fourth email at 4:36 PM on 11/19 confirming shipment of the lipstick.
Based upon this experience, I can only conclude that their internet site must be something out of the prehistoric age run by the Three Stooges.
The only good thing to come from this, is that I've been able to convince her that the "free" gift is possible due to the fact that she's paying for overpriced cosmetics, and that in the future, she should purchase her cosmetics from Ulta, CVS or Walgreens.
If you're going to run an internet site, you better have a "real time" inventory that your sales agents can see, so that they can tell customers when products are out of stock, and when they're expected back in stock.
You should also be able to cancel an order two days before it's shipped.
And, if you can't supply the "free" gift with purchase, stop deceiving customers.
I called one of Bon Ton's C. S. supervisors to vent yesterday (11/25), but she seemed very non-plused, like this is S. O. P.
Due to the treatment we've received, I doubt very much whether we'll doing any further business with Carsons. There are too many other good retailers who don't take customers for granted.
I WILL NOT EVER USE MY BONTON CREDIT CARD AGAIN. THEY CHARGE$ $ 25.00 FOR BEING LATE ONE DAY. VERY UPSET WITH THEIR CUSTMER SERVICE.
Maryellen