Refund updates

[bladespark]

El has agreed to refund me. She says she can't refund shipping costs, which I completely understand, as that would be coming out of her own pocket, and she hasn't done anything horrible or criminal, she just made a mistake. It's hardly fair to penalize her that much for it. So kudos to her! I might reccommend you wait a month or two while she gets the hang of shipping things, but I would definitely say she's a good person to go to if you want beautiful art.

Randomsabers, on the other hand, has basically said "screw you." They're only giving me half my money back, because technically this is in their TOS, and they never gave me any specific dates or estimates. But when they have projects listed by days of working time, and I am behind about 50 days worth of projects, I can be forgiven for assuming that we're taking considerably less than a year to get my project done, not MORE than TWO years. Maybe they're not legally in breach of contract, and I'll take the half refund and write it off and a lesson learned, but I'm also telling you, NEVER do business with www.randomsabers.com They will take your money for the privilege of waiting years, and make no real effort to satisfy dissatisfied people. They've covered their own asses, they don't care about you or your happiness at all.

Comments

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

Lol, just checked the randomsabers sight and dunno how long the announcement has been up, but they are no longer taking custom orders for now.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

It's been up for the last four or five months. Which is why I wasn't contacting them sooner, honestly. I thought that with no new orders coming in, they'd stop having to do customer relations and sales, and would just be making sabers, and thus would get through their backlog rather quickly, but no.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

this is probably something worth taking up with the BBB... well, at least, i'd probably do that if it were me.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* They've covered their butts. Their site says that the times given are estimates, and that if you're not willing to wait "a long time" then you shouldn't order, and that once you've paid money they'll keep half of it. I agreed to all that when I placed my order. Legally they're perfectly in the right. What exactly would I tell the BBB. "I'm mad that they kept to their own TOS?" I guess I could say they have a lousy TOS, but there's no law against that.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

an estimate is a rough timeframe... that's something beyond "rough"

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I still don't get what you think I'm going to complain of?

And what am I going to accomplish? They're not a corporation, they're some guy and maybe a friend in his basement shop. I'm not going to get my money back. Nobody's going to check the BBB before buying from them. I've filed complaints before, and it does exactly NOTHING.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Yay for the dragon refund, glad that worked out. I would still order from her sometime despite all that, but yeah, probably not till the shipping is sorted out. Or, I'd now know ahead of time to request (and pay more for?) specific shipping details to hopefully help avoid a problem. She could change her sculpting style to make them more post-friendly, but then they'd just not be the same at all. The fragile details are unfortunately what make them so stunning.

Boo on the other folks. Sure they're following their terms, but they are providing services in bad faith, really. Lousy, terrible business "sensibilities" there. I wonder if they like having to deal with people getting ornery when they've had enough of waiting (and rightly so)? I can't imagine wanting to operate that way.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to try and get money back... Once I contacted the BBB to get someone to clearly state something better on their website, and it worked.

They described something as dark red, and it was in fact, bright red with black mixed in. I had asked about it on the phone before ordering, since it looked wierd on my computer screen. The lady I talked to must've been going through menopause or something 'cause she was really nasty, and she told me that if it said it was dark red, then that's what it was... and flipped out when I asked if it was a solid color.

I ended up getting the wig, and was upset that it wasn't what was described on the site or by the lady on the phone. They had told me it was non-returnable... I called them to ask if they could change the wording to say red and black... I got the same nasty lady, and she assumed I wanted a refund and actually hung up on me. So I called the BBB to get the wording changed.

I just thought this would be one of those kind of things... like instead of giving an estimate of 50 days, and saying you'll have to wait "a long time" change it to "up to three years" or whatever is going to be an accurate representation.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

heh, well as long as they get paid either way, why would they need to change their practices?

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Meh, I'd have to be paid pretty highly to make the stress worth it, myself. Some folks don't mind though, true.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

ditto that... it really bothers me when someone's upset with me, so that wouldn't be worth it for me... but some people don't mind, which is a shame, 'cause often you don't really know who those people are until it's too late. :-(

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Yeah and well, even if someone couldn't harass you legally, they often still try. Imagine that constant headache. ;P

Not to mention... for me, just the idea of knowingly conning people into what appears to be a scam is distasteful enough. There isn't enough money for me in the world for that. Thankfully, that probably goes for "most" people too. Sadly not all.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Edit: not to say that THIS appears to be a scam, but from the buyers' point of view, it sure would

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

right... i wasn't suggesting that it was an intentional scam, either... but I have run into enough poorly run businesses, and downright scams to be wary of anyone who doesn't come across as professional.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Sorry, meant to edit me instead. *LOL*

So, no buying "fresh" seafood off the back of someone's truck on the highway for you either, eh? Seriously, those guys creep me out... ;D

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

i knew i was feeling a little queezy after the 50 cent lobster i ate this afternoon.

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

Too bad too. I had been thinking of getting a couple of customs from them at some point, but not now.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that El is a good person to deal with. I definitely want to get something from her one of these days.

I know it probably wouldn't be the same as you were expecting, but my husband builds PVC lightsaber hilts if you're still looking for one.