Tweet
I don't know why I find how this one company does business so annoying, but I do.
My hobby-job is selling artwork at conventions, and my biggest seller is hand-painted fans. I just had a convention two weeks ago, and needed to restock my blank fans when I got home. So the 25th or 26th, I hopped online and proceeded to order a bunch of blank fans. I ended up ordering from three different sites in the hopes of getting the best deals on the three different types of fans I wanted. One site had the best regular fans (10 inches long, bamboo sticks). One site has some really nice fans with cocoa-stained bamboo sticks. The third site was new to me, and had some miniature placecard-sized fans I wanted to try out. It's this third site that I have issues with.
For starters, the fans themselves are tiny at 3" long when closed. I was only ordering a single 12-pack, but apparently even then, the cheapest shipping option with this company was UPS ground at about $10.50, which is about double the cost of the package of fans. I sucked it up and ordered because this really is the cheapest option for these fans (out of maybe four options total; the internet has failed me).
Two days later, my cocoa-colored fans arrive. Super speedy, and with cheaper shipping. I wish that company carried the place cards.
Finally, yesterday, I receive an e-mail from the company selling the tiny fans. Well, I received an e-mail. It took a bit of careful investigation to realize it was that company. The e-mail came from a domain I didn't recognize, with a subject line that read "your order has shipped" and a text body that basically said, "Your order has shipped. Tracking information is in the attached document." No identifying information in the e-mail body. Attached were two PDF documents, which just screams "suspicious" to me. The first PDF had a filename that consisted of a string of letters and numbers--still no identifying information. The second, by chance, just happened to have a filename that included the name of the site I'd ordered the tiny fans from. Hoping it wasn't some fluke, I opened the PDF file with the gibberish name.
Sure enough, it was order information and a tracking number for the fans I'd ordered a week and a half ago. The information noted that the fans had been shipped back on the 28th (this was the 4th), and the tracking information indicated that it would be delivered today (the 5th).
So aside from the high shipping costs, the company earned another black mark from me for their suspicious-looking e-mail that was a week late in letting me know the items had been shipped. Had they waited a day to send it, I would've received the fans before I'd received the notice that they shipped.
And then there's today. The fans arrived just fine, but now I'm really annoyed. Apparently this company has no smaller shipping packages. The box I received? 12" x 10" x 3". The bundle of fans inside? 3.5" x 2" x 2". So basically, I paid about $10 shipping for a box full of packing peanuts. And as I said before, the other three sites that actually carry these fans (and charge more for the 12-pack) have comparable shipping options, so it looks like I'd have to order a lot in order to make the shipping worth it.
I need a better supplier for these things.
My hobby-job is selling artwork at conventions, and my biggest seller is hand-painted fans. I just had a convention two weeks ago, and needed to restock my blank fans when I got home. So the 25th or 26th, I hopped online and proceeded to order a bunch of blank fans. I ended up ordering from three different sites in the hopes of getting the best deals on the three different types of fans I wanted. One site had the best regular fans (10 inches long, bamboo sticks). One site has some really nice fans with cocoa-stained bamboo sticks. The third site was new to me, and had some miniature placecard-sized fans I wanted to try out. It's this third site that I have issues with.
For starters, the fans themselves are tiny at 3" long when closed. I was only ordering a single 12-pack, but apparently even then, the cheapest shipping option with this company was UPS ground at about $10.50, which is about double the cost of the package of fans. I sucked it up and ordered because this really is the cheapest option for these fans (out of maybe four options total; the internet has failed me).
Two days later, my cocoa-colored fans arrive. Super speedy, and with cheaper shipping. I wish that company carried the place cards.
Finally, yesterday, I receive an e-mail from the company selling the tiny fans. Well, I received an e-mail. It took a bit of careful investigation to realize it was that company. The e-mail came from a domain I didn't recognize, with a subject line that read "your order has shipped" and a text body that basically said, "Your order has shipped. Tracking information is in the attached document." No identifying information in the e-mail body. Attached were two PDF documents, which just screams "suspicious" to me. The first PDF had a filename that consisted of a string of letters and numbers--still no identifying information. The second, by chance, just happened to have a filename that included the name of the site I'd ordered the tiny fans from. Hoping it wasn't some fluke, I opened the PDF file with the gibberish name.
Sure enough, it was order information and a tracking number for the fans I'd ordered a week and a half ago. The information noted that the fans had been shipped back on the 28th (this was the 4th), and the tracking information indicated that it would be delivered today (the 5th).
So aside from the high shipping costs, the company earned another black mark from me for their suspicious-looking e-mail that was a week late in letting me know the items had been shipped. Had they waited a day to send it, I would've received the fans before I'd received the notice that they shipped.
And then there's today. The fans arrived just fine, but now I'm really annoyed. Apparently this company has no smaller shipping packages. The box I received? 12" x 10" x 3". The bundle of fans inside? 3.5" x 2" x 2". So basically, I paid about $10 shipping for a box full of packing peanuts. And as I said before, the other three sites that actually carry these fans (and charge more for the 12-pack) have comparable shipping options, so it looks like I'd have to order a lot in order to make the shipping worth it.
I need a better supplier for these things.