troy s.

Hello,
My name is Troy. I will attempt to keep this review clear and simple. I was buying fence, which Plumbersstock.com (an affiliate name with this business) was selling. On the main sight page they listed free shipping on items over $1000 USD, with the quantity i was looking to purchase my final price was ~$1200 USD. After adding the quantity to my shopping cart and using the companies shipping estimator tool, i then purchased the item in quantity sufficient. My e-mail confirmation even verified my understanding, stating clearly "Free shipping on items over $1000", and my receipt had "shipping: $0.00".

Now imaging my surprise when 2 days later i receive an e-mail informing me my items need to be shipped by freight and will incur a $300.00 fee for doing so. I denied them permission to charge my card an additional $300, and informed them of my clear expectations as demonstrated on their site and my multiple documents of receipt from the company. To which this company referenced me to their shipping policy, stated that "We reserve the right
To notify you after the order has been placed of any additional shipping or
Handling charges necessary to deliver your order. Please note that these
Additional charges generally occur when shipping an item via freight. If
Notified of any additional charges, you have the right to cancel or make any
Necessary changes to your order.
Free Shipping
Orders > 1000$ = FREE Ground Shipping
Orders < 1000$ but > $500 = %50 off Ground Shipping
Free shipping is offered on orders over $1,000.00 that DO NOT have to be
Shipped common carrier freight (any item(s) over 100lbs, Toilets, bathtubs,
Water heaters)."

Please not that I am perfectly fine accepting and understanding of these charges, however i am not ok with the Very deceitful method of employing these methods. I have been on MANY web sites searching for the fence i wish to purchase, due to COVID, the manufacturer has paused producing the particular fence i want and the comparable replacement is trick to track down. On the sites i have found it All the companies informed me the product would likely incur a freight charge which would be calculated during checkout.

Plumbersstock is the only company which completely ignored that possibility on this items main page, ignored that possibility during checkout, and ignored that possibility on my receipt and e-mail confirmation. For a company to have been in business for 31 years already and miss the opportunity to appropriately inform a customer of the likely freight charge for any item/s over 100 lbs is not only NEGLEGANT but outright Deceitful and therefore of evil intent. I took the time to inform their customer service representative of that understanding. To their credit they did pass my remarks on to the manager of the department who responded well attempting to come to a reasonable resolution to my problem. The resolution I am seeking however is that the company clearly inform customers where their items will likely incur a freight or shipping charge, and not continue to be deceitful and evil leading customers to think that shipping is free only to buy a product and then be wrestled into paying more to get it. Other companies have been able to figure it out in their shipping estimator, checkout and followup. I'm not asking that they have it all figured out, I am asking that they simply have a tag on the Free shipping announcement that clearly indicates the reality of exceptions, and a link to the shipping policy, (at a minimum!) I informed them that my conscience requires me to inform anyone willing to listen to not support a company willing to acquire funds from customers through such methods.

No efforts were made to make the shipping conditions more clear by the company, nor any indication of an inclination to do so. I realize the customer support representative is not involved in the programing for the website, and thankfully the manager did indicate they would pass on my concerns and returned my money in full.

I can not purchase items from a company with policies intent on deceit and trickery, and I hope you do not either. They have an opportunity to correct this error and I hope they do. But until they do, please buy from an honest company with the integrity to treat you like a person of value who deserves to know what something costs.