I don’t want to name the retailer. I’m sure he has a good business. But, y’know? Every freakin’ time there’s something wrong.
My first order was about a year and a half ago. The quality was excellent. The price was okay, not great but about right for the quality. My $500 shipment arrived on time, but partially thawed. This retailer doesn’t use styrofoam, and doesn’t use dry ice, but uses those soft-insulation boxes and gel-packs. This was in January. It should be frozen, I’d think. I sent an email asking about it, and he replied that it should be fine, just re-freeze it. And of course, it was.
My next shipment was this February. It was a "mystery box", and it had a mix of good cuts and strange cuts. The price was right, but again, it was shipped the same way, and half of it was thawed. Again, I sent an email, but I also left an honest internet view, that the shipping was problematic and the quality was mixed. And THIS time, I got an email chiding me for leaving a bad review, and not giving them a chance to fix it before complaining. So I started an email exchange explaining my position, and, unsolicited, he refunded my money. Which, I didn’t ask for and didn’t want; I wasn’t taking an angle shot, I had an actual complaint that I didn’t thing the product was all that good, and that it arrived thawed. IN FEBRUARY. But, he insisted, so I took the refund.
IDK, fool me twice, whatever. I got an email a couple weeks ago, and I couldn’t resist: 60% of assorted super high quality Wagyu. Like olive beef, snow beef, etc. And, it was specifically stated, "FREEZER SALE!" So I bought two steaks. And I kept my eye on that sucker. I ordered around mid afternoon. It shipped that evening. It arrived the following morning. Total time between order and box on the doorstep was 17 hours.
And the steaks were packed in fiber insulation, with gel packs. And one was 40.8*, and the other was 39.3*
So I took pictures of my IR thermo, showing the temps. And I emailed him, asking for guidance: NOT a refund. NOT an angle shot. And his return email was the same: just refreeze them, they’ll be fine. And I wrote back, "With no loss of quality?"
And this time, I got a pissy email telling me about all the other times I complained. And pointing out that I’d left a bad review. And pointing out that he’d refunded my last order, and that if I wanted my money back he would send me a return authorization and I could send the product back.
To which I replied that I didn’t want a refund. That I didn’t want a refund last time, but he’d insisted. I wanted good product delivered cold. And then, I told him that he should "fire me as a customer". Because for some reason we just haven’t been able to click.
If you’ve made it this far, this is where I’m going to have to trust that my reputation stands for itself. I don’t pretend to be someone else; what I write here, this is who I am. I’ve been in sales my whole life, dealing with difficult customers. I know that sometime making people happy is hard, and I know that mistakes aren’t spread evenly among your deals, but that errors tend to "clump". But jeez, man. I’m not complaining just to complain! You’re selling a super premium product! Pack it in a super premium package!
And, here is my proof of premise. I placed an order with Cheshire Pork on Tuesday. The shipping label was created Wednesday afternoon. The product was picked up (by UPS! Uh-oh!) Wednesday evening, with a promised delivery between 12 and 2 today. At 2:30 the time was changed to 5:30-8PM, so Mrs and I want to the movies; the box arrived at 5:57, and I got to it at 7PM. It was packed in that same fiber insulation, but with dry ice, and those ribs were FROZEN SOLID. Like I could hammer nails with them.
Whatever. I had to tell someone who would understand. I’ve ordered from many internet retailers. I don’t know why this went down like it did. Well, I do, but this is just my side of the story.
My first order was about a year and a half ago. The quality was excellent. The price was okay, not great but about right for the quality. My $500 shipment arrived on time, but partially thawed. This retailer doesn’t use styrofoam, and doesn’t use dry ice, but uses those soft-insulation boxes and gel-packs. This was in January. It should be frozen, I’d think. I sent an email asking about it, and he replied that it should be fine, just re-freeze it. And of course, it was.
My next shipment was this February. It was a "mystery box", and it had a mix of good cuts and strange cuts. The price was right, but again, it was shipped the same way, and half of it was thawed. Again, I sent an email, but I also left an honest internet view, that the shipping was problematic and the quality was mixed. And THIS time, I got an email chiding me for leaving a bad review, and not giving them a chance to fix it before complaining. So I started an email exchange explaining my position, and, unsolicited, he refunded my money. Which, I didn’t ask for and didn’t want; I wasn’t taking an angle shot, I had an actual complaint that I didn’t thing the product was all that good, and that it arrived thawed. IN FEBRUARY. But, he insisted, so I took the refund.
IDK, fool me twice, whatever. I got an email a couple weeks ago, and I couldn’t resist: 60% of assorted super high quality Wagyu. Like olive beef, snow beef, etc. And, it was specifically stated, "FREEZER SALE!" So I bought two steaks. And I kept my eye on that sucker. I ordered around mid afternoon. It shipped that evening. It arrived the following morning. Total time between order and box on the doorstep was 17 hours.
And the steaks were packed in fiber insulation, with gel packs. And one was 40.8*, and the other was 39.3*
So I took pictures of my IR thermo, showing the temps. And I emailed him, asking for guidance: NOT a refund. NOT an angle shot. And his return email was the same: just refreeze them, they’ll be fine. And I wrote back, "With no loss of quality?"
And this time, I got a pissy email telling me about all the other times I complained. And pointing out that I’d left a bad review. And pointing out that he’d refunded my last order, and that if I wanted my money back he would send me a return authorization and I could send the product back.
To which I replied that I didn’t want a refund. That I didn’t want a refund last time, but he’d insisted. I wanted good product delivered cold. And then, I told him that he should "fire me as a customer". Because for some reason we just haven’t been able to click.
If you’ve made it this far, this is where I’m going to have to trust that my reputation stands for itself. I don’t pretend to be someone else; what I write here, this is who I am. I’ve been in sales my whole life, dealing with difficult customers. I know that sometime making people happy is hard, and I know that mistakes aren’t spread evenly among your deals, but that errors tend to "clump". But jeez, man. I’m not complaining just to complain! You’re selling a super premium product! Pack it in a super premium package!
And, here is my proof of premise. I placed an order with Cheshire Pork on Tuesday. The shipping label was created Wednesday afternoon. The product was picked up (by UPS! Uh-oh!) Wednesday evening, with a promised delivery between 12 and 2 today. At 2:30 the time was changed to 5:30-8PM, so Mrs and I want to the movies; the box arrived at 5:57, and I got to it at 7PM. It was packed in that same fiber insulation, but with dry ice, and those ribs were FROZEN SOLID. Like I could hammer nails with them.
Whatever. I had to tell someone who would understand. I’ve ordered from many internet retailers. I don’t know why this went down like it did. Well, I do, but this is just my side of the story.
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