My order is out there...somewhere...
Oct 17 '00
This is actually a more general warning against eToys in general; what you're buying from them may not matter so much as whether or not you actually get it.
Last December I made my first and only order from eToys; two sets of fun socks for a cousin's new baby. Actually placing the order went well. One of the pairs of socks came only three days later; but not the other. I e-mailed the e-Toys customer service, and got a response within a couple hours; for reasons known only to God and to e-Toys, my order was being sent in two separate shipments. They helpfully provided me with the further information that both pairs of socks had been sent out in separate packages, on the same day.
However, for reasons known only to God and the postal service, that second package never appeared. I wrote to e-Toys again, requesting a confirmation that the second package had the correct shipping address. However, I never got an answer. I waited a couple days, then tried e-mailing them again. No response. I waited a couple more days, then tried calling. The toll-free number on their web page left me on hold for an entire hour before I gave up; their main switchboard also tried putting me on hold as well. I e-mailed them again. Nothing.
By this time it was ten days until Christmas, and I still had to send the socks to my cousin in another state. I sent increasingly more urgent e-mails asking first whether they had the right address, then asking whether they could send another package, then asking whether they could send another package to my cousin, then asking whether the item was still in stock, then asking whether my credit card could be credited and could they PLEASE confirm they were doing so, and finally a series of e-mails asking "Is anyone even THERE?" Nothing. I also tried another couple calls; now the switchboard wasn't even accepting calls, it was forwarding everyone to a voicemail that was full of messages and couldn't accept any more, so it hung up on you. I ended up sending the single pair of socks and calling it a day.
Finally, two days after Christmas, I called and actually got a human being. I told her my tale of woe, and she ended up refunding my order. She had no good explanation for why none of my e-mail messages weren't being replied to.
Would that that were the end of the story.
As anyone with a full in-box knows, any time you order from a catalog or order online, the company you order from loves to send messages to you soliciting new orders. They do, however, offer you the option to check a box stating that you don't want to receive such messages. There was such a box with e-Toys, and I checked it.
So when I got an e-mail from E-Toys two months later -- one that was in a format my computer couldn't even READ -- I was somewhat perturbed. I wrote e-Toys and pointed out I did not wish to receive such mailings in future. Two months later, I got yet another e-mail from them. This time I called and spoke with someone in customer service, stating again that I didn't want to get these e-mails. The woman I spoke with suggested that maybe I hadn't checked off the box refusing such e-mails; I stated that I was almost sure I had, but on the off chance I had not, would they please remove my name from their mailings now. She said that would be done.
Two months after that I got another e-mail from them.
We'll see if my threat to report them to the California Better Business Bureau finally gets them to leave me alone, but somehow I think not. I have no idea why e-mail is being mishandled at an online store, but customer service seems to be somewhat of a foreign concept here.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
etain
|
|
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.