Am I Wrong- Upset Over How Order Handled

For the sake of brevity I am posting the text of an email I just sent to a supply dealer:

'I am a little upset over the handling of this order. I bought a Lighthouse page set listed as a closeout on your site. It was apparently already sold out- nobody notified me. I also ordered a pack of mounts to use for those pages. You sent the mounts- which I now no longer need and I got charged full shipping for one pack of mounts.

Over $15 for one pack of mounts. It was your mistake- I would have said to cancel the whole thing if I'd have known the pages were sold out.

Any way I can get a few dollars back on this? This whole thing just seems wrong, thank you.'

If this outfit had simply notified me that the main item on my order was no longer available I would have cancelled the entire order. As it is I wound up paying (with handling fees of $8.50) over $16 for one package of mounts. The main item was a closeout special- someone apparently beat me to it and the dealer never updated their listing on line to reflect it was no longer available. I do not seriously expect any monetary adjustment here and probably will not get any reply, but- it will sure make me think twice about ordering from them again

You are justified in my opinion.

At a minimum, I would expect a quality company to at least proactively notify me if an item I ordered was no longer available. While it was a 'close out' item, anyone with a brain should have stopped the order and made a new inquiry to the customer. (I assume that at least two people who handled the order understood that the primary item was not going to be shipped.)

'Vote' with your dollars.
Don

Common courtesy and a little common sense would seem to indicate contacting the customer about the order before shipping and explaining what happened and asking if they could interest you in something else. At the same time I think there are more than a few places that would do what this outfit did which is unfortunate. Some places are interested in maintaining their customer base and others don't seem to care one way or the other.

You are not wrong. Their action reflects pursuit of profit above customer satisfaction, although it also could be the fault of a clueless employee. Hope it's rectified.

Yeah the 'clueless employee' seems like a good explanation. They had my phone # it just seems a moment to call and ask if I just wanted the mounts would have been the right thing to do. This just sounds like whoever filled the order was on automatic pilot or something. That is the most expensive pack of mounts I ever bought.

You're assuming that real people were involved with your order! It sounds to me like it was all automated. I've run across this with a company who had no phone # and only a chat line from a foreign country. They have since changed. I'm confident you'll get a credit or you'll never deal with them again.

You are fully justified in being upset on the shabby treatment you received from the dealer. Personally, I would return the mounts and demand a full refund, including shipping charges. But, that's not to say that I'd get it, but I figure that I'm already out the money in any case.

You are not wrong. You based the decision to give them your money on the promise that the entire order was available and would be shipped. The seller took away your rights, as a consumer, by neglecting (no matter the reason), to inform you of their inability to fulfill the entire order. It was not their place, to decide whether you wanted only part of the order. They should have contacted you.

You deserve a monetary adjustment, at the very least, and I'd be upset, too, if I'm reading this right, you were charged full shipping, including the shipping fee, for the item not received in the order.

I understand, as someone suggested, an employee might go into 'automatic mode' and think 'well, since you gave us money, you really want this, so we'll just send it to you, when we have it' and not even look to see that it was a close out. Even, if they were expecting to get more in, at a later date, (which they aren't if it's a close out) you were due a phone call to be asked if you wanted to wait, or to cancel the order completely. Just because you had more than one item on order, that does not preclude your right to be given the opportunity to cancel the entire order, if any of it is missing.

I hope you do have a positive outcome and the seller is responsive, and conscientious, enough, to make this right with you.

I got an email from the owner of the company this evening. He sent me a code to use on a next order for a discount of $5.95. At least it's something. He explained that an employee retired and while there he had filled an order for this item and failed to remove it from inventory on the website. I had also inquired about some other items when sending my order and that query was not answered. Whether I decide to send them another order may depend on if they answer the question I asked that never got answered.

get your $5.95 credit and then look for another place to shop.

A real dealer would issue a FULL refund and tell you to keep the mounts for the inconvenience and for taking up your time due to THEIR error.

I agree with sdtom and stallzer.

Something went wrong, with your order. Period. He did not address your other inquiry. Period. He did not fully compensate you for his all his company's error. Period.

His 'explanation' as to why the problem occurred, is not relevant. His lack of addressing ALL your concerns, and additional inquiry, in his first response, back to you, is.

A good seller would want you to be satisfied, and to give his business another chance. A good seller would address all your concerns.

This seller did not even address your main concern. Your main concern was, this business took away your right, as a consumer, to decide whether to proceed with the order, when one item was missing. It doesn't sound like he addressed that. He gave an excuse for it, and store credit, to entice you to place another order, giving him more money, but it does not sound like he addressed your main concern .. you still possess, and paid for, something you no longer want, and weren't given the opportunity to decline.

I'd even go so far as to say, I wouldn't accept the $5.95 credit. It's a credit. It's not true monetary compensation for overcharging you for shipping. It's a carrot to get you back into his store. I'd count it as 'lesson learned' and move on to someone else.

I'm sorry it didn't turn out better for you.

I assume you paid with credit card. Dispute the charge! Take it off your bill and let the dealer "deal" with the credit card company.

If you don't plan to shop there again, a credit will do you no good. A REFUND however will sooth some of the pain. If a credit card was used, a refund can be credited back to the card, but then it is not really a credit, but a refund. If nothing is forthcoming from the company, I would definitely dispute the charge with the credit card company...you will probably end up paying anyway, but putting the company through so much needless work will make you feel better.

Sounds like they don't care for the customers. Turn them in to a Business Bureau, and warn people against ordering from them. They're about the buck, not the people.

I purposely did not mention who this was and still do not plan to, although I'd love to do so, some of you might be surprised.

If anyone feels the suspense is unbearable I will respond to a private message. I will say- it wasn't some little fly by night company.