Frances B.

Amazon used to be great for refunding or replacing damaged shipments, no questions asked. That is no longer true. I received a box of glass canning jars shipped by Amazon that was partially shattered because there was no padding in the shipping carton. None. Reported that online (Amazon now has a Bot doing its customer service Chat, not a human) and was told that because it was from a third party seller, I have to send back the shipment and wait for a refund. Absolutely no way I am going to send back broken glass, and I am not going to wait for a refund. So I requested a phone call from customer service. Agent initially did the "third party seller" thing, but I called her on it. Almost everything is from a "third party seller" now, at Amazon, so that is a BS excuse. Even when it appears in the listing that an item is from Amazon, it is usually from a TPS. Also, the items broke because Amazon did such a shyte job at packaging them for shipping. So I suggested that she refund me only for those broken pieces. She agreed, but after checking to see whether she could do that she said all she could offer was a "promotional credit" toward Amazon merchandise. Once again, I called her on this, and demanded a true refund for all or part of the damaged shipment (I had provided a photo of the broken jars, btw.) I pointed out that this issue had nothing to do with the TPS because Amazon packaged the items for shipment. I said that she could just send an entire new shipment, since I did not get what I ordered, and I have consumer protection on my credit card account. Once again, she disappeared to check on this. She came back and said she could refund my credit card just for the broken jars.

Hardly worth my time arguing, given the low cost of the items, but I hate being jacked around by businesses when they are so clearly in the wrong. If you run up against this kind of thing with Amazon, stick to your guns and make them do the right thing for you. The TPS excuse is not thing but a way for them to dodge responsibility. If it is an item "fulfilled by Amazon," and it is damaged in shipping, Amazon is responsible for that, and Amazon should refund you for your loss.

YOU CAN ALWAYS REQUEST A PHONE CALL from Customer Service. Just go through the Chat screen procedure and click on the prompt that indicates you need more help. Then click "request a phone call."

I've purchased luxury linens from this company for many years, mostly buying items during white sales or things on close-out. It used to be an actual brick and mortar business, with stock on hand, and most orders were filled promptly. Sometimes if you purchased a brand that was offered on a manufacturer's promotion, or a retired pattern, an item would not be available or would have to be procured from the manufacturer, and that sometimes resulted in a long delay. But the contact person I dealt with, in past years, was always nice and very personable. I liked the fact that I was buying from an independent business, with a real store. I don't know what happened whether the business was sold, or something but now FLandB seems to have morphed into a purely procurement-on-order service. Everything is on a shipping delay. I see that they are now marketing themselves as an "in-store shopping experience online." But a store has stock on hand, so that characterization is not quite correct. I'm not sure this company is right for me, now. I don't need to go through a middleman, when I can buy most linens directly through the company websites. I don't need the fabric swatches they offer. I think FLandB may be courting a different kind of customer now (they have a banner on their home page saying, "Supporting estate, house and yacht managers worldwide"). I don't have an estate or a yacht, or a property manager. I am not a designer (they have always offered a designer to-the-trade program). I just like luxury linens, and I splurge once or twice a year. I hope FLandB doesn't forget their "smaller" customers, like me, while aiming for the custom of the super wealthy.

I received two (non furniture) items that we're damaged (worst packaging I have ever seen). I live nowhere near an Ikea, so tried to deal with the matter by phone. Get a phone menu, offering options 1 to 3. Three is what I need, but system won't accept it. Try option 2 (order tracking) and am told I will be transferred to the right department. I get automated message about high call volume and they "cannot answer right now." Click. So I try the email contact form online. Options under "about my order" are "business customer" or "order cancellation." Nothing else. Another dead end. What the heck is a customer supposed to do? Phoned again and tried option 1 (new orders) and the agent is now trying to get through to the right department. I am listening to screeching "music" and repeating recorded messages. My life is passing before my eyes. Never ordering from Ikea again.

I used to buy household goods from WS and WSHome fairly often, and I thought they were a reliable company. But a couple weeks ago I ordered a small appliance for Christmas delivery, and it didn't show up in time. Not a huge deal, but I just tracked the order and found out that the projected delivery date is eight weeks from the order date! And no one at WS informed me of the delay. When I made the purchase it was listed as I stock and available to ship. That is not the way to treat customers if you want them to come back again, WS!

(Just found out that item was still on backorder, and the delivery date was pushed back even further than the projected delivery window mentioned above, so I phoned WS and canceled the order. The galling thing is that I found this out only by checking tracking on my order. Williams Sonoma did not notify me of the change, again. Terrible way to do business! The current predicted delivery window not guaranteed, mind you was approaching 12 weeks from date of order.)

Purchased a Speck case for an iPad. The one I received made the buttons on my decide impossible to use, so I contacted customer service. They said that all of their cases are "tested by a lab" before being sent out. Really? If so, it must be a Labrador retriever. The case also had horribly sharp edges that could slice skin. The response from customer service, when I complained about this, was, "Our cases are designed that way." Again, really? I ended up returning the case, using a prepaid label they provided. But the refund has been slow in coming. I won't be shopping here again.

Is this even a legit company? I ordered garden bulbs from them, and received an emailed order confirmation. When many weeks passed and no bulbs arrived, I went to their website to track my order. It was still listed as "new order." The website lists no phone number and has no chat option, so I filled out the contact form, asking them when my bulbs would ship. I got not reply. I tried emailing them directly, but still did not get a reply. I opened a dispute on PayPal, waited another week or so, and then escalated it to a claim. In all those weeks I heard nothing from Edens Blooms. PayPal just closed the case and refunded my money because Edens Blooms did not respond to their enquiries, either. Very strange. Their website is still active. Is this a scam?

I purchased a pair of shoes during their "once a year" sale. No notices came up during the checkout process about the shoes not being available, either when I placed the item in my basket or when I finalized the purchase. Two months later, I realized that I had not received my shoes, so I searched my emails for notices about a delay. Nothing there except confirmation of my order, two months ago. So I went to their website and did a "chat" with customer service. I was told that the shoes were a "preorder" and that a message about this would have popped up when I was checking out. The agent even said something about understanding that I might have missed it. Bull$#*!. There was no message. And why would the company never send updates? I think they are covering up their own inventory and fulfillment problems with that blatant lie. I won't be ordering from this company again. I even had to ask for expedited shipping when my item finally comes back in stock. This little upgrade (a very obvious, small apology) was not offered. The agent granted it, but I should not have had to ask. If I do get my order when she says I will, that will be almost 12 weeks fulfillment time. Not acceptable.

UPDATE: I am gobsmacked by the dishonesty and incompetence of this company. A couple days after I went through the nonsense noted above, I got an email from Margauxny.com telling me that it would be ANOTHER 10-12 weeks before they can send the shoes that I PAID FOR UP FRONT! So that would be six months to fulfill an order. I have demanded a refund, since they have been holding my money for almost 12 weeks already. This company is a scam. Avoid it at all costs. Here is the email, sent 12/08:

"I hope this email finds you well! I am reaching out, because our team just realized we had a slight inventory miscount and are unfortunately backordered in the Black Pointe you selected in your October order. I am so terribly sorry for this inconvenience, and that we weren't able to communicate it sooner! If you don't mind waiting on this item, we can have it made at our factory specifically to fill your order in about 10-12 weeks' time...".

Lots of fake-friendly language and apologies there, but the plain fact of the thing is that they are talking about holding my money for six months. Utterly ridiculous. Thieves!

I ordered bulbs and plants online from about half a dozen companies this fall. This company stood head and shoulders above the rest, for both quality and shipping practices. All of my bulbs were perfectly fresh, plump, healthy, mold free, and of good size. They were shipped in a well ventilated plastic crate, which is a genius idea. Most companies ship in taped-up cardboard cartons, and almost always there will be some mushy, blackened bulbs in there because bulbs don't like to be handled that way. I would order from Dutchgrown.com again in a heartbeat. Highly recommended.

Purchased a five gallon tree and several perennials. Tree was okay quality but was not the selection I ordered, and the perennials were some of the worst collection of plant stock that I have ever received. I reported the poorest specimens (one was blackened, soft and rotting) to customer service, and was reimbursed. But that is not enough to make up for the fact that they sent out plants that should never have left the growing grounds. The plants even come complete with wood lice! Their prices are on the high side, too. Furthermore, they have no information on their website on plant culture, placement, water needs, etc. The only reason I ordered from them is that I needed that tree and could not find it locally. And then they sent the wrong tree! Wasted my money on the perennials, and I have a mature tree I never wanted. Do not recommend.

I still buy the occasional Annie's Annuals plant at my local garden center, mostly because they're isn't a lot of choice, but I no longer order them online. I used to place huge orders. A few years ago one order was something like 65 plants! I was initially impressed by the quality of their plant stock and their packaging for shipping. But then they sent me some truly rubbish plants and did not replace them or reimburse me for the loss. They also misrepresented a plant and lied about it when I called them out for it. For that deception, they were selling a variegated mutation of a common plant, which I knew had to be propagated from a cutting. What they sent me was non-variegated seedling. When I contacted Annie's, their "expert" tried to tell me that the plant would change color as it got older. That is a blatant lie, and was insulting to me, a customer who is a knowledgeable plantswoman. The other incident that turned me off of Annie's involved plants that arrived nearly dead, and ultimately died. Annie's claims that they guarantee their plant stock. I reported those damaged or diseased plants upon receipt, and was told to keep an eye on them and report back if they did not make it. I was told that they would replace any that failed. When the plants died and I contacted the company, as instructed, I was brushed off. They simply stopped responding. So I stopped ordering. Do not recommend.

(Warning, if you do have an account at Etsy: Do not allow people to "follow" you. Block them when you get the notification. I have seen the following function used to harass.)

In the end, I got my refund as a chargeback executed by Etsy, but it was a ridiculous fight to get there. Unethical seller still has his shop on this platform!

Lowering this by two stars because my mailbox has been overflowing with bra and lingerie catalogs since I became a ThirdLove customer. Thanks, guys. It's not only a pain for me (and probably makes the mail carrier smirk) but it's really bad for the environment. It's puzzling because I always opt out of the "share your information with our partners" choice when I set up an account with a merchant. But it must beThirdLove that did this because they are the only new lingerie company I have signed up with in a few years. And the catalogs started coming about a quarter year after my first order. That's generally how often mailing lists are sold. It doesn't make me "love" the company.

I have purchased plants online for as long as that was an option. Before that I bought them over the phone. I have been gardening seriously for 40 years. The trees I have received from Trees of Antiquity are among the best bare root specimens I have ever purchased. The send out large-caliper, well branched trees with well developed roots. I have approximately 20 TOA fruit trees in the ground at the moment. Most of those trees produced fruit their second year. I recommend this business without reservation.

(I discovered, in corresponding with customer service, that these jeans shipped much later than I thought. I order a lot of jeans from Madewell, hence my confusion. So this order was backordered for six months! Awful!)

I recently contacted customer service about a defective pair of jeans that I received in the spring. Because the jeans had been on a long backorder (really common with Madewell), they arrived at the beginning of the hot season, and I had not worn them all summer. I first wore my new jeans in the cool fall weather. It was only then that I noticed that they were deformed in the way they were sewn, which was something that was not evident on initial try on. So I contacted Madewell with a complaint. I stated in the email that I knew the item fell outside of return guidelines, but they need to know about this quality control problem. They emailed me back saying that yes, the return requirements dictate that the item be unworn and no more than 30 days in hand, but that they might have "other options" to explore. They asked for more information. I provided it, and then got a reply saying that the jeans fell outside of their return window, so there was nothing they "could" (would) do. This was something that I had acknowledged up front. So why bother saying there might be some remedy? Awful customer service. I'm over Madewell.

Update: I had a good laugh at the company's snotty reply, below. What a great way to win over customers! Glad I stopped shopping the site. They suck. I've figured out what the rush of rave reviews is about. HerRoom is forcing customers via a pop-up window to post a review here in order to complete their transactions and get an order number. Awful company.

I count 22 HerRoom full-star reviews in a row, all arriving together on the same day (today), all from reviewers with just one review on file. Shame on you, HerRoom. Yours is a business that I used to support. I've placed at least a dozen orders with you, over the years (the last one in 2018), and perhaps more. Now you have lost me. I hate it when businesses have their employees flood review sites with fake reviews. (Since you need an order number to review for HerRoom, how did those fakes get in, hmm?)

My ordering experience with HerRoom was always unpredictable. They would draw me in with a sale item that they did have in stock (emails announcing that brand X is on sale), but most of the time anything else I added to the order would be backordered. Sometimes the backorders were for many weeks. I'd often cancel items that kept getting delayed. I kept returning to the site because they carried so many brands and had good sales, but overall I would say that order fulfillment was terrible. Finally, I started buying my lingerie elsewhere.

As proof of their backorder habit, here is an excerpt from a 12/2018 HerRoom email:

"We have not forgotten you! The items you selected which were on back order have arrived and we are prepared to ship them to you immediately. In order to complete the shipping process, we will need to update your payment options. Orders paid for with PayPal cannot be resubmitted after a 30-day lapse, but you have several options..."

Update: had to get my refund through PayPal dispute, escalated to claim.

Current and Elliott used to make really good tee shirts that fit well and lasted for ages. I recently purchased two online, though, and one arrived with a large hole in the collar binding. The hole was front and center on the shirt, and fully visible inside the clear plastic bag the shirt was packaged in. Yet the warehouse sent it out anyway. The company sent me a return label when I reported the problem, and I mailed the defective tee back to them. Most reliable, ethical companies would have either requested a photo of the damaged shirt, and refund me up front, or would have refunded me when the return package was scanned. Not Current and Elliott. After two weeks had elapsed with no word on my refund, I emailed them. They replied with a confirmation that they'd received my returned item, and they stated the standard "allow 7-10 business days for processing your refund." But they had already had either nine or 11 business days to process it, depending on how you count business days days. And the refund was for defective merchandise they sent out. So there is no justification for making me wait so long for my money. These are $90 tees shirts, by the way. It's a good chunk of change they are holding. Do not recommend this company!

Update: Right after I requested that my order be canceled because the predicted fulfillment date was too far out, I received an email saying that Gilt is so sorry but they cannot fill my order as the item is no longer available. Right. So did they see this review and decide to bail on the order? I think so. It's sort of funny, but the fact is they wasted my time and held my money for too long (or at least the preauthorization for the charge), without ever having the merchandise I purchased on hand! The way they pitch their flash sales is that they have limited inventory, and that there are "only two left!", and so on. But they don't have the stuff in stock, apparently, based on the delay in fulfillment. Very misleading. Very dodgy.

Original review: So I bit of one of their dangled flash sale baits. Purchased some Tom Ford eyeglass frames. Found out only when I have completed the purchase that they won't ship for a month! Totally dishonest sales practices there. Now I see reviews here saying that the site sells fakes, so I am so wondering what I will receive. And when. The delay in shipping is a red flag for this not being a sale of genuine overstock, but knockoffs made to order. I just now went to the Gilt website and looked up my order to see whether I could cancel it. Answer is unclear. So I clicked on return information for my order and it said that "none of the items in your order are eligible for return." The flash sale listing pages had noted all items as eligible for return! Again, totally dishonest business practices.

Submitted a request for contact on this matter, got back a "What can we help you with?'. Replied with explanation of problem with evaluation and "repair" of my shoes. (Not only. Are they still too stretched out, they just don't fit anywhere since the adjustment. I think the repair crew lessened the width of the forefoot, so now the shoes are really loose in back and pinching my feet in the front.) Customer service has, so far, ignored my reply. Do not recommend this company for anything! Reviews on the website are meaningless because they will not publish anything critical of their products.

Downgrading this review for two reasons. First, a dog bath that I purchased a little more than a year ago failed exactly one week past the one-year limited warranty Chewy offers. They told me they could not do anything and to contact the manufacturer with "questions or concerns." You'd think that for an item that gets used maybe a couple times a month, at most, an extra week of warranty coverage might be logical. But no.

Second, I have submitted reviews on Chewy for that bath twice, and neither review has posted. The first review was mildly negative, pointing out some dog-safety concerns. The second was a one-star review because part of the product broke, with normal use. The product has almost all positive reviews on Chewy's website, so I suspect some cherry picking of feedback is going on here. I am so disappointed. I used to love this company.

Dermstore was once a reliable business, but it has now been sold (by Target) to the same UK company that owns Skinstore. That is bad news, indeed. Skinstore is one of the most unethical companies I have ever dealt with! What made me research whether something had happened to Dermstore is the message "Thank you for your enquiry" came up after I messaged Customer Service. "Enquiry." That is British usage. So, I scrolled down to the bottom of the web page and saw that The Hut Group is listed as the parent company. Uh oh, that's Skinstore's parent company! They once stole $600 from me. I don't have high hopes for resolving my issue with Dermstore now.

What happened is I received a defective cosmetic product from Dermstore. Customer Service brushed it off instead of offering to send a replacement product or requesting that the bad one be returned ("I will report this to the Team and they will get back to you," said the person in Chat). This is precisely the tactic Skinstore used. They would take the information and never get back to you. They always had some excuse (I need to consult the team!), but would just bin your request. Stay away from Dermstore if you value your money and time.

Even if you file a dispute through your payment service, the company will find a way around your payment service's customer guarantee. That is part of their business practice. With that other online cosmetics company they own, when I got deep into a dispute with them over an undelivered shipment, they required that I sign some dodgy "legal forms" before they would proceed. The Hut Group is a UK company, based in Manchester (headquartered at the airport!). Keep in mind that even if it appears you are ordering from a once-reliable US company that has been around for decades (Dermstore), you are actually dealing with an overseas business that is nothing more than an e-platform. Your items with ship from the UK.

Stay away from this business!