I purchased a laptop on Amazon on 5/11/15. The computer configuration looked great for me and the price compared to other sellers were more than favorable (HP Envy 17t 5th Generation 17.3-inch i7-5500U 12GB 500GB SSD NVIDIA GTX 850M 4GB Full HD Blu-Ray Windows 8.1 and Bluetooth for ~$1200). The seller had a stellar feedback on Amazon, so having no reviews available on this item before, I decided to take the risk and invest into this computer as my B-day gift. I am also a teacher and to prepare my online videos, I needed a better computer. It was advertised that ships within 6-10 days, so I said OK, that still allows me a plenty of time to work on my videos. Then I saw that shipping label was created on 5/22/15 with a UPS tracking number stating that I can expect it anywhere between 5/26/15 and 6/3/15. I anxiously kept checking every single day both on Amazon and UPS when it arrives and wanted to make sure that I am home (since signature was required), and the time of starting my class was fast approaching. It was yesterday, 6/1/15, when I realized that no advancement has happened since 5/22/15 (label was created at seller's facility, and that's it), and that was caused by nothing else, but the seller (I blamed it on the long weekend first, then flooding that took place in the south, etc.). I contacted them on 6/1/15, they replied on 6/2/15 stating that "it appears that tracking information was uploaded to your order by mistake" (sorry, I am too long enough to be on Amazon and eBay to know what it means...), and that the 500 SSD waiting for "should be here Friday" (6/5/15!), and it "if the wait has been too long" they can cancel the order, so I went ahead and cancelled it. Yeap. This is how simple and easy was for them. Just cancel it! Never mind guys that people and their work might depend on you! What can I expect from a seller that has not taken any step to notify the buyer about the delay? What can I expect from a seller that under false pretensions created a shipping label when the item was not even built yet, just to satisfy the description requirement on Amazon that the item is shipped within 6-10 days? This is misleading business practice. My head is livid, because I am behind my work, and I have to wait days to get back my money and purchase a new one. More time lost. I understand that this is not the most expensive computer on the Earth (hence still not Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing!), but not the cheapest one either. Sadly, not all buyers comes forward with the negative feedback, and if there is, a bad feedback can be edited later after negotiation with sellers. I did not have many issues before with sellers, but when I had, we were able to work out with the satisfaction of both parties. And this company just lets people to cancel. I don't think they are interested in customer retention, or doing a great business with anyone. Moreover, Amazon allows you to leave a short feedback about the seller and that is not well visible, and the (space for the) long feedback is for the item which is right in front of the eyes of the potential buyer is allowed if you write about the item (which I have never received), but how should I leave about the item, when I did not even receive it? It must be changed. In addition, I am unhappy with the process Amazon is handling complaints, but at least my refund is on the way. Sorry, as I wrote before, my head is livid (as I have now less than one month left to work counting on the refund and do my search again for a new one, and receive it...), and I am very disappointed. Do a favor yourself: if need to work on something fast, look for someone else who offers communication and fulfils the delivery promise, and don't be allured by the seemingly great configuration and price.
I have Amazon e-mails and screenshots to support my above statement. Thank you.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Computer Upgrade King LLC
Powhatan,Virginia,
United States of America
Explanation
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, June 04, 2015
I am the Customer Service Manager at Computer Upgrade King and I wanted to clear a few things up. I agree that this was not handled correctly and I have spoken to my team regarding this situation. In regards to the tracking uploaded on accident situation. I cannot be certain as to why tracking was uploaded, as there are many departments involved with that. The inventory manager believes there was a problem with the upgrade and possibly the problem was one of the last components left, which could make sense, but again I cannot be certain as to what happened as there is only a log if the unit is successfully QA’d. As far as the rest of the communication, this is what happened. The Customer Service Associate contacted the inventory manager concerning 500GB SSD’s earlier in the day which this unit required. At no time did the Customer Service Associate mention a specific order to the Inventory Manager, so the Inventory Manager did not bring up the fact that this customer’s computer would be shipping on June 2nd with free overnight shipping as to be on time for the Amazon estimated delivery date of June 3rd. We were late on the estimated shipping date, but the intention was to be on time for the estimated delivery date. While the Inventory Manager was at lunch the Customer Service Associate, went based on the previous knowledge of not having any 500GB SSD’s in stock, and responded to the customer accordingly. Unfortunately some mention of accommodation, partial refund, or free overnight shipping, did not happen. I agree with the customer, that this was not the proper way to retain a customer, and had spoken to the associate before this customer had left any feedback's at the many websites she has now posted on. The customer then asked for cancellation, and again the Customer Service Associate was considerably too short in the reply and took care of the cancellation without any attempt to retain the customer, and again this has been addressed internally. I then reached out and tried to explain what had happened and that we did have the components to build her computer, and if she could get a new order in that day, we would ship it out with free overnight shipping. The customer did not respond to my offer. We do not want a back and forth at this point and we simply want to let everyone know what happened from our perspective. Essentially miscommunication created the situation, had this not happened the unit would have landed on the estimated delivery date.