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Submitted by DemosthenesYou've ordered things online right? Everybody has at least once or twice by now.
Well, I have quite a bit... I love being able to buy things online.
http://www.amazon.com" target="BLANK">Amazon.com,
http://www.bestbuy.com" target="BLANK">BestBuy.com, my favourite
http://www.kenzerco.com" target="BLANK">gaming publisher... they have nearly perfected ordering products online to the point where it's now my preferred method of doing things like shopping for gifts, looking for hard-to-find books, CDs, other stuff.
I mean, if you hate people, and you hate traffic, shopping online is the way to go, right? You don't have to drive anywhere, you don't have to elbow your way through those stupid, stupid people that stand in the middle of a store aisle, blocking everyone's way because they have no idea where they're going, you don't have to stand in line behind some moron who doesn't understand the basic concepts of commerce ("Wait, wait, wait here... you mean I give you
money, and you provide me with
goods and services? I don't get it...")... heck, you don't even need to talk to any retarded order person over the phone in order to place your order.
Point, click, go. Couple of days later your stuff is in your hands. Heck, a lot of places even have free shipping now.
That's all well and good. Most of the good ones are fast, efficient, secure, and reliable.
But ordering online is only as good as the company behind it.
Example. I just ordered a present for my wife, whose birthday is this week. My wife knits, and I know she's always eyeing certain things in a catalog she gets from one company periodically, so I went to this company's
http://www.knitpicks.com" target="BLANK">site early last week to see if they had online ordering.
They did indeed.
I created an account there (as is required most of the time) and found the product I wanted to purchase, and added it to my "shopping cart" and proceeded to checkout.
I put in my credit card number, which is 1134--- wait a minute. Maybe I shouldn't put that in this article?
Anyway, I picked "3 day shipping", since I needed it rather early since I waited so long to decide what to get her.
I submitted everything, good to go.
I was momentarily taken aback because in my experience, most online shopping gives you a grand total including shipping and any applicable taxes, usually in a form you can easily print, once you're all set and finished with your order.
http://www.knitpicks.com" target="BLANK">This site did
not. That was irritating because I scrupulously keep track of how much I spend with my card, because I pay things off in exact amounts as I get the bill, and I like to know how much it will be well beforehand.
Well, no big deal. At least I got the order placed on time, and I will be getting my wife her present with a couple of days to spare!
WRONG.
I got an email on the 22nd (Thursday last week) saying "Your order has been shipped via Standard Shipping. You will receive it within
5-14 business days".
!!!
EXCUSE ME?
5 to 14 business days puts me well out past my wife's birthday. I was
not pleased.
I called them. Spoke to some moron who said "your order was placed through the web... we don't change anything on orders that come in through the web, so you must have picked standard shipping."
I told her, "well that's what it looks like you guys shipped it as, but I assure you, since this is a GIFT for someone whose birthday is quite soon, I very deliberately selected
three day shipping as my shipping option. I want to get this thing on time."
I was told that I didn't select three day shipping.
I told her that yes, I did.
She said, no, I did not.
I opened up a browser, went to their site, logged in, picked a product and added it to my shopping cart and went to their checkout page, selected "three day shipping", and watched as the page immediately refreshed and reset shipping back to "standard 5-14 day shipping".
I told her this and walked her through it step by step. She was able to replicate it exactly.
I then said, "So, as I said, I
did pick '3 day shipping', but your site is defective. You should have your web people look at that."
Instead of apologizing for their mistake, however, she said "Well there's nothing we can do about your order. It's already been shipped."
I told her that it will be returned. I'm stopping by a local shop here in town after work tonight to pick up a different gift for my wife and I'm refusing delivery of their stupid package once it does arrive (next week some time, by my reckoning... several days late for her birthday) and I'm demanding a refund.
Hint to wannabe e-commerce entrepreneurs out there: If you're going to sell your crap online, do it right, or don't do it at all. If you aren't sure you know how to do it right, then either get someone who DOES, or find a different line of work.