Thursday 28 February 2013

The Trials and Tribulations of Online Shopping

Argh another horror story.  I mentioned the Louboutins I bought from an online retailer based in Texas.  Well the saga only just ended a few days ago.  I received the shoes and there was a manufacturing fault - different sizes.  I contacted them and was involved in a 5-way email thread with the retailer, their supplier, and a few other randoms.  Eventually I posted the shoes back to them on 8th Feb (cost me $72 for the most basic postage and I wasn't even able to track it - thanks Australia Post).  It took 13 working days to arrive when Aus Post quoted me 5-7 working days.  I started stressing after the 7th business day and was contacting the retailer to see if they had received the shoes yet.  No response (surprise surprise).

Finally 2 days ago I got an email saying they had received the shoes and would be issuing me a refund.  Great.  Finally.

Yesterday I decided I was going to take the plunge and buy myself a nice Burberry trench coat as I've wanted one for the longest time (it's also my birthday on Saturday and I have loads left in my Frugal Feb kitty since I sold my Chanel).  Found a trench on ebay in my size (which is already difficult) - BNWT from Bloomingdales.  Excellent.  Buy It Now.  Wasn't expecting anything from the seller til overnight as they are based in the US.

So at 3am my time, I get a message from the seller asking me:
Which is your address- Sydney AU or Erlanger, KY? Thank you.
Obviously it's 3am so I don't respond immediately.  At 9am I get another message:
Thank you for shopping. Your item(insured package) has been sent to Erlanger, KY 41018 today. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. Thank you again.
I woke up JUST after 9 and fired off a response immediately, hoping to catch them at the end of their work day.  No response for the last 3 hours so obviously they've gone home.

Firstly, I have no idea where they got this 'KY' address from.  I assume KY stands for Kentucky???  I only have an Australian address attached to my ebay account and I don't even know anyone who lives in Kentucky or anywhere in the US for that matter.  When I click on 'Order details' right now it shows me this (I've deleted some details but you get the gist):

Postage details

Kay


Sydney New South Wales 
Australia

My ebay page also says my location is Australia.

Secondly, why couldn't they wait a whole 6 hours for me to respond before shipping the item off?  Clearly they weren't certain of my address because they sent me a message asking me to confirm.  Why then send the coat without receiving a confirmation either way??  And if I don't respond in 6 hours maybe it's because I'm in Australia which is a different timezone.  And also, I PAID FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING.  HELLO!?!?!?!

Whoever lives at that address in Kentucky where they sent my coat will receive a free BNWT Burberry coat which cost me a mint.  I'm lodging a dispute with Paypal but I have kindly given the seller 24 hours to respond since I am aware they are in a different timezone and it's reasonable to allow people at least 24 hours to respond on ebay.

Thanks for letting me rant.  I'm in a horrible mood now because sorting all of this out will just be a huge headache.  I guess that comes with the territory when you online shop.

15 comments:

  1. Definitely Kentucky - I lived there for a year. Super crazy!

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    1. Haha maybe one of your neighbours will get my coat?

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  2. WHAT ON EARTH. How did this happen?
    Did you check your paypal was it a parcel forwarding address?

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    1. I don't have any address apart from my own attached to Paypal. Believe it or not I don't use a parcel forwarder :S

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  3. What a terrible predicament! Feel sorry it happened to you. Hope you get your money or your coat back in time for your bday.

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    1. Argh it's so frustrating. This is why I've started to pay Aussie RRP for certain things but definitely not AUD$2000 for a cotton trench coat.

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  4. Oh no-how bizarre. Fingers crossed it all works out for you!

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    1. I know it's just so random, right?? I have no connections to Kentucky at all and nothing on my account says Kentucky.

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  5. Oh how annoying. At least paypal should cover you. How random!

    Which trench did you get? The beige one?

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    1. I got the black one because I'm not really a beige person. I don't wear brown at all with the exception of one pair of tan leather ballet flats.

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    2. Nice one I agree I am not a fan of beige at all but it seems to be the most popular trench.

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  6. Ugh you poor thing how frustrating!

    I get so annoyed with people (be it businesses or otherwise) who expect that you'll be glued to your email 24/7 and need a reply straight away.

    I really hope it all works out for you!

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    1. Thanks Joanne. It's super frustrating and confusing and time-consuming!

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  7. I'm hoping that it gets sorted out Kay!

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    1. Thanks Cec!

      Will update everyone when it does get sorted...

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Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment :)