Tidewater Workshop Peter Caporilli They took my money and didn't deliver Egg Harbor City, New Jersey
On July 7, 2011 I placed an order with Tidewater Workshop for 2 outdoor white cedar trashcans plus a can of stain. They charged the full amount of $239 to my credit card at the time the order was placed. Several weeks had passed with no communication from them as to the status of the order. I placed a call to their "customer service" which is just a voicemail box. Later I received a call from Cathy very apologetic that the item was on a longer backorder than expected because they were waiting for lumber delivery to make the items.
A few more weeks had passed with no further communication. I called again, and Cathy called back saying it would be delivered "next week". Again time passed, no delivery or shipment confirmation. More apologies and more commitments that the order would be shipped "next week" via FedEx. At this point I don't know if they are habitual liars or just completely incompetent to run a business.
I have asked for a refund, even leaving a voicemail with their "CEO" Peter Caporilli. No call back.
Avoid doing any transaction whatsoever with Tidewater Workshop. Otherwise you are just donating your money to them.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Tidewater Workshop
Oceanville,New Jersey,
Issue resolved in 2011
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Mon, March 24, 2014
This issue had been resolved in 2011 (before this report was filed on this website), but reports cannot be removed from this website once they have been created because the original author agrees to give up ownership of what they have written once they post it.
Dale
Brighton,Illinois,
USA
After much confusion, problem was resolved
#3Author of original report
Sun, October 16, 2011
Apparently the best way to resolve issues with Tidewater Workshop is contacting the CEO, Peter Caporilli directly by email. I received a response from Mr. Caporilli which was very cordial and detailed in explanation. In his response, he pointed to a problem in mislabeling in the shop which resulted in the order being returned to the manifest area. The system still showed the status of my order as "shipped", although he did explain why no one could see that status when I inquired. Consequently each time the order was scheduled for reshipment, the system failed to produce new labels. This sounds like a fundamental problem with how their system works. It also appears that their system does not notify the buyer when an item is marked shipped. In addition he stated he did not receive my voice mail, which indicates a problem with the phone system.
In any event, he stated a full credit was being issued to my account and I have verified the credit was processed by the credit card company.
My advice to anyone looking to do business with Tidewater Workshop is to be very cautions. I am suspicious of the explanations given that every time I contacted them previously I was told they were waiting for the lumber suppliers who where abnormally late in their delivery. Giving them the benefit of doubt, explanations can change depending upon how much digging into the issue is done in the first place. But there are other choices out there if you want to avoid potential hassle.