On October 2, I bought this lovely toothbrush holder from
I was so excited! A weird thing to be excited about, I know, but I had just painted our master bedroom and bathroom and couldn't wait to reward myself with a few great etsy touches around the room to finish it off. So I bought the lovely toothbrush holder with wide holes to fit the toothbrushes that we like.
Skip ahead a bit. I'm waiting and waiting. No word from the seller and nothing in the mail. Finally I contact him and he tells me he's backlogged. Fine. I don't care, just label the item MTO instead of ready to ship. Wait longer and nada. I contact him again and he gives me some story about how he's getting divorced and yada, yada, yada. (Now, don't think I'm being insensitive here. After reading through his negative feedback I realized how full of stories and excuses this guy is. So I'm not sure if I even beleive he is getting a divorce anyway!) OK, a little TMI, but get it to me soon. Another month goes by and NOTHING. So I contact him AGAIN, and this time he doesn't respond at all.
It is now December 7th, over 3 MONTHS since I made the order and I decided to jump a bit outside of character and get nasty. So I wrote him this email:
______________
"I must say I'm getting pretty sick of being dicked around here. This is way out of character for me, and seeing as I've been nothing by absolutely nice and understanding about the unreasonably LONG wait for my order with absolutely NO communication initiated by you in regards to its status, I'm demanding to cancel my order and receive a full refund.
I ordered a toothbrush holder from you on October 2, and it's now over 3 MONTHS later. To be honest, I couldn't care less about your personal problems. As a patron of a business I expect professional treatment regardless of your issues at home. If I were you, and getting backlogged on orders (which we ALL would be GRATEFUL to have) I would put my shop on vacation in order to catch up.
The worst of it, in my opinion, is that you don't seem to care about keeping your customers informed. If an item is MTO LABEL IT SO and include estimated wait time. If you are swamped- take steps to initiate communication before customers have to leave negative feedback and bitch and moan to you.
As a fellow etsy seller I am appalled at your customer service. Isn't that why we beg people to choose hand made in the first place? You are not just hurting your own business but turing people away from buying in the hand made community.
Even worse, I am so disappointed and sorry that I won't even get to see the quality of your work that you were so raving about.
Too bad. I want a refund."
_________
What's worse? There's plenty of others he's doing the same thing to of course. I'm not the only one. And I've heard that he leaves negative buyer feedback calling us impatient! The NERVE!! If I get a negative review for making the mistake of buying from a crappy seller, what can I do?!
We'll see what happens, if I actually get a response and a refund or not. I think just writing it and knowing that he'll read it made me feel better than getting my money back would.
**And I'm naming names because I'm SICK of crappy sellers not being held accountable. And I'm SICK of it being in bad blood to name names. You know why? Because everyone else works SO Hard to keep customers informed of their order status and otherwise provide good communication/ customer service. I also work hard to remain professional on etsy and totally resent others who don't. We're one giant community- and we should all work collectively to educate others about how great it is to buy handmade, not discourage them.
***UPDATED- Just filed a Non-Delivery report with etsy. Etsy will now force him to resolve the issue or face shop suspension. I've also filed for a refund through paypal, but even though they leave the case open, I am not eligible with them because the claim is more than 45 days from purchase.
**And I'm naming names because I'm SICK of crappy sellers not being held accountable. And I'm SICK of it being in bad blood to name names. You know why? Because everyone else works SO Hard to keep customers informed of their order status and otherwise provide good communication/ customer service. I also work hard to remain professional on etsy and totally resent others who don't. We're one giant community- and we should all work collectively to educate others about how great it is to buy handmade, not discourage them.
***UPDATED- Just filed a Non-Delivery report with etsy. Etsy will now force him to resolve the issue or face shop suspension. I've also filed for a refund through paypal, but even though they leave the case open, I am not eligible with them because the claim is more than 45 days from purchase.
17 comments:
You go girl! I've seen him around Etsy before, and his work is beautiful. File a complaint with pay pal to get your money back. His feedback is horrible. And there is no telling how many other people who he's done this to that haven't left feedback yet.
I had to laugh a little at the being dicked around part. ;-) But you made a beautifully worded case. It is so true. Idiots like this give buying handmade a bad name because it feeds into buyer's fears about buying handmade and especially buying online.
I hope you get your money back...
WAY TO GO! I for one appreciate the naming of names. This is extremely unprofessional of this seller. Your letter was right on. You, the consumer should not have to suffer because of his problems (or excuses, whatever the case may be).
I can understand a slight delay becasue of a move, or divorice, or death, etc.... But I would also expect to see a vacation sign on the shop so the person doesn't get any more behind while he is getting your item to you.
I think you did the right thing and since his feedback is so bad, I'm sure there are more angry buyers out there.
I hope you get your refund and you can buy that item from someone who deserves the sale!
Wow...that is really too bad, but that is a totally unreasonable wait time. Great letter BTW! Can you send a complaint to Etsy. If he has a lot of neg feedback, then perhaps Etsy should deal with him and his shop. It is not right for customers to be out of money, with no order.
Amy- Yes. That's the worst part for me- I actually still really want this dang toothbrush holder! Hahah. I know his work is beautiful and have never found anything like it before so I'm very disappointed. But I just couldn't let myself get mowed over like that! Sorry for the slightly exposit language, but I did need an opening line like that-lol. And thanks- now I will look into the paypal dispute.
Sher- Thanks! It's tough sometimes to stick your neck out like that, but I'm really glad I did. And if he continues to be an idiot about the situation, that's his prerogative and I'll just never again buy from someone without reading their feedback closely!
Susan- Yes...I'm going to look into reporting him on etsy too. I'll give him a few days to respond and if not, will report him for sure. It's not right and it's abusive of etsy's services too!
Man! I am so angry with you!! Ggggrrrrrr!
I've had a few bad experiences with online sales, one on etsy. The seller went away, never communicated with me, or sent the items. Paypal gave me a refund but I had to spend time writing an explanation and waiting. a bit emotionally draining to have to deal with this over a period of time.
I did report to etsy. I really don't know if they ever did anything except acknowledge my complaint. I just checked and it still shows up under my "purchases" with the statement "non delivery reported." The log says "June 26 sent notice to seller; August 3 case closed."
I really think etsy should be more proactive in cases of this nature. It would be totally unfair for you to get negative feedback. Etsy should take care of that!
And thanks for sharing! I had the names of a couple bad check writers that I carried with me to shows to remind myself and to share with others.
You definitely need to file a dispute with Paypal; hopefully you have not passed their time limit. He may do this as another ruse--keep telling customers he is working on it until the timeline passes and then he just keeps the money.
Bad business and I am glad you posted it.
OMG. I'm so sorry this happened. Did you read the feedback before you bought the piece? I was once tempted to buy something -- then I checked out the feedback, and I was like "no way".
I hate it when there's no communication; besides what has his divorce got to do with anything? He's not dying. I do hope you will get your money back!!!
Margaret- That's unfortunate. But I guess the positive thing to remember is that out of the 4 pages of purchases I've made over the years on etsy, he is the only one to have done something shady like this. Too bad. So sorry to hear about the bad check writer's list too- ugh! At least you know who they are!
Erika- Yes, as I was filing the claim with paypal I was thinking the same thing- he probably does string people along to get past that date. GRRR
Duni- No! Big mistake. I saw his seller rating and was aware, but I saw that he had 309 positive comments about the quality of his work, so I bought anyway. Big, big mistake. I will always read all negative feedback before buying!
I had to laugh a little at what Duni wrote about just because he's getting divorced doesn't mean he's dying. It may seem insensitive, but it's true. If your personal issues are really getting in the way of your business, it's time to close up shop for a while. Otherwise you still need to run things as normal.
One of my biggest pet peeves on Etsy is sellers who simply cannot get a grip on their "made to order" load and continue to take new orders even when they're way behind a reasonable schedule. Personally I don't think anyone should have to wait more than a month for the vast majority of "made to order" items out there.
It also drives me nuts when sellers are so bad with their communication. It reflects poorly on everyone on Etsy. You should look forward to ordering handmade because of the customer service that you'll receive.
I am so sorry that you got involved with this seller and hope that you can get a refund. Hopefully Etsy will take your complaint into consideration, too, and take a serious look at this guy's shop. Etsy turns a blind eye to so many of these situations, but guys like this need to be exposed.
You shouldn't feel bad at all about what you wrote. Again, it needs to be out there that this guy is running a shady shop.
I would be just as mad, and good for you for taking a stand. It is just bad customer service, I think you have every right to share his info so no one else has to have this problem. I hope you get your refund, and that Etsy puts his shop on suspension.
Valerie
Everyday Inspired
It just goes to show that a beautiful item is not all you need to run a successful Etsy shop. Customer Service is just as important.
I'm glad you let him know that what he's doing isn't right.
I hope you get this resolved quickly!
Wow...I just read his feedback! This has been going on for over a year now! It's not like it's just the holidays or anything..inexcuseable!
I would also ask him why this same item is STILL available in his shop!
Amy posted about your experience so I had to check out your blog...you go girl! I loved your letter and your nerve for naming names...I think more buyers should do that. I use to frequent a small neighborhood grocery that posted a list of bad check writers...with your full name on it. I really wish Etsy would crack down more on sellers with bad reps...they just do not do enough to keep this sort of thing in check.
Good for you. Now go report him to Etsy so they know how bad he is. He is giving the whole site a bad name when he doesn't deliver. People will have a bad experience and be afraid to order on Etsy again.
good for you! I'd be ticked off too and would have probably did the same thing: write a nasty letter, tell etsy and ask for a refund through paypal! {:-D
Sandi- Awesome, Amy is a very, very sweet woman and I'm happy to have the support! Thanks so much for stopping by to weigh in on this too. It's sad that it makes me feel so out of sorts because really he's a big bully and deserves it, but you're so right- it is very needed and meaningful to name names!
Lin- I did report him, and I'm hopeful, but at the same time afraid they won't do much about it. They like for people to resolve their own stuff, which is great, if the customer gets a response at all from the seller!!!
Deb- Yes! I did and we'll see what comes of it! Thanks for the support!!
What a mess! I hope you get this resolved and get your money back if he never sends it! I had a poor experience with a seller once who never communicated with me on why my purchase was so late and then she had the nerve to leave me a negative feedback after I convo'd her to ask where it was.
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