I tought I'd copy a short summary of a thread going on in the SexTalk forum to the shopping forum because it actually has become a shopping problem. I'm pasting my last mail of that thread. It only contains a short summary of what happened. In case you're interested you can read the whole thread which starts at
Now THAT'S it ! :-/ As Dumblonde said I was indeed seeing the comedy behind all this. Today I got a mail from A&E which made me quite angry though. Wow... Didn't even think that was possible.
Short summary of the situation :
After writing a mail to A&E customer support asking for toy shipping to Germany they replied that toys were no problem, although they couldn't send videos and magazines to Germany. I placed a toy-order on 12/20 and after sending a mail to customer-support asking for an order status I got a mail telling me they were sorry but they couldn't send videos, magazines or catalogs to Germany and that my credit card hadn't been billed. Dumblonde also called their hotline and some lady called Taylor told her my order was canceled and I should re-order. So I ordered again on 12/23. Shortly after I had placed that order I received a shipping confirmation referring to my order from 12/20. I immediately wrote a mail to the customer-support explaining the situation and asking them to cancel my second order (only a few hours after having placed it). The same day (still the 23rd) I got a reply that my two orders had already been shipped. I knew this couldn't be and asked for a detailed re-check of my orders and which orders were shipped when, when I had placed them and what they contained, and I told them that I don't think that second order had already been shipped since it was only some hours after having placed it. To my surprise I didn't get a detailed reply but only a copy&paste-version from the former reply telling me that my two orders had already been shipped.
That we already knew. Now comes the news.
I just got another mail with a shipping notification stating my second order was shipped yesterday.
I was SOOOOOOO annoyed after having read that mail that I sent them another mail back making clear that I was annoyed and disappointed about the whole procedure and about the fact that my credit card was going to be billed twice and I was going to have the trouble to send the order back hoping it arrives safely so I was able to get a refund some time. And all that after immediately canceling my order and asking for a re-check several times always getting the reply my order had already been shipped and couldn't be canceled.
Now I'm really angry. I guess I have to count slowly to 100.
I hoped anybody could give me some hints about what to do now or at least tell me if anything like this has happened to anybody before.
Only a short update today because nothing spectacular happened (which on the other hand is the main reason for the update).
After having written my last mail to A&E expressing my disappointment concerning the whole situation and asking for clarification why my order hadn't been canceled on time I haven't heard anything from them.
The retail site is not my area, so I have no idea regarding the facts of this situation, or their policy on Shipping non-content related items to Germany.
However, I hate to see this kind of problem, and I assure you I will bring it to the head of that area, personally.
i am sure it will be handled in a manor more in line with our customer service reputation.
please keep me up to date if you achieve anything.
I still haven't heard anything anymore from A&E's customer support and I actually start to worry a bit about how many orders were really sent, what to do with the second one if it arrives, what to do if I really only get one order, and most important I'd like to know why they always told be my order couldn't be canceled because it had already been shipped although that wasn't the case.
Sorry for bothering you again, I'm sure you're doing your best and I know you don't even belong to that department, but since this whole procedure already took so long without any clarification and since I'll be away for a while after the 5th, I'd be happy to hear anything from A&E before if it was possible.
I forwarded all info to head of that division. They really feel bad, and have some more work to get to bottom of HOW it happened.
Heres the good news, Adam & Eve is refunding your Credit Card $268.60, and asking you to enjoy the products, on us.
Obviously this is not standard company policy, however your problem was (and is) not of the "normal Variety". Each problem is looked at individualy, a full refund, apology and keeping the products is truly a rare event. Please let me know when the credit hits.
We value your business and hope you give us another chance to prove we are the very best in the business.
Hi JKRULL,WOW... I'm amazed and grateful for that decision ! Thanks a lot for your support !I really appreciate it and can imagine that this decision is rare and unusual. And since it is rare and unusual this makes clear that I encountered a rare and unusual problem, so I guess this was exceptional and doesn't seem to have happened yet. After having had doubts if I should order at A&E again I appreciate this apology very much and will certainly order at A&E again believing the next order won't be that tricky.
Actually no package has arrived yet which also made me start worrying, since my experiences with USPS were that packages usually arrive after 4 days. But I think it might take a little longer because of the christmas-holidays. I'll keep you updated when it arrives.
Another difficulty is that there's a delay of 3 months before my account gets charged after having payed by credit card, so it might take a while before I can check for the refund. I'll tell you though as soon as I find out.
Thanks a lot again and please tell the people at A&E how much I appreciated this and that I'll certainly come back to order again.
Best regards,
Spesedy
UPDATE:
I just received a mail from Greg Ross from A&E. Well, you'll certainly know, since he sent you a CC, so I'll personally answer his mail and tell him what I just told you (you'll receive a CC as well).
Wow! As we say here "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". Spesedy, you got more than greased, you got lubed, honey.
I just wish Dell Computer had been so generous when I ordered one online, and was sent two identical ones by mistake. My credit card was billed for two, and as I always pay it in full, I was out an extra $2000.00. It took two months to straighten this mess out, I finally had to telephone them, and the person I talked to sounded doubtful of my story, and started talking about a 15% return fee. I lost it about then, but in the end UPS finally picked up the other computer, I was credited in full for it. And I still like Dell Computer.
Spesedy - as you probably already popped your nut when you got this news, I wonder if it's necessary to continue our little movie, heh heh
They're telling me there was a package from the US waiting for me and that they'd need some more information about the package.
I can only assume that it's the package from A&E I'm waiting for.
They ask me to initiate custom treatment for that package by sending them some card with a number describing the content referring to some custom tariff. I don't really understand what they're trying to tell me.
Would be very annoying if they would open the package. I also got the choice of sending the package back, but of course I don't want that either.
They also want me to initiate everything in the next week which is impossible since I'm travelling to another country for a week tomorrow :-(
Anybody got any hints about what this means, if they'll open the package and if I have to pay something ?
BTW: They say the sender was "PO Box 800" How can a sender be a PO Box ? As address they wrote something I'm not really able to read. It looks like Lanford, NC or Canbord, NC or something like that :-o
Spesedy: "They ask me to initiate custom treatment for that package by sending them some card with a number describing the content referring to some custom tariff. I don't really understand what they're trying to tell me...Anybody got any hints about what this means, if they'll open the package and if I have to pay something ?"
No answers to this one, so I´ll give it a try. There are two fares to take care of when importing outside the Union.
1.VAT, which is determined by your country (IIRC the non-reduced VAT in Germany is 16 %). VAT is applied for the price you´ve actually paid for, and usually they just check the invoice in the shipment.
2.Taric (Tarif Intégré de la Communauté) is determined by EU and is a function of shipments origin and content. There´s a database at Union´s page you can browse, to get the code and the precentage. For kids´ toys tariffs are usually no more than 4.7%, and this is propably around the precentage that´ll apply to your order also.
