Complaint Review: Unbeatable Sale

In early October I purchased a table set from Unbeatable Sale. The set consisted of a table and four chairs, and total shipping costs were $200.28. I then purchased two additional chairs to go with the set, and was charged $299.26 in shipping. Assuming this must be incorrect, I shot off an email to the company asking them to look into it.

After receiving no response, even after sending a second email, I called their customer service department. The representative I spoke with conferred with her supervisor, and informed me that it indeed appeared that something was not right. I was told the supervisor would investigate and get back to me the very next business day. At that point, I assumed this was a simple error that would be quickly and easily corrected.

However, I received no phone call from the company over the next few days, and finally called them back myself the next week. I was told by the representative that "the person in charge of these things" was not in the office that day, and would get back to me tomorrow.

No one called me back the next day, and when I again called them a few days later, I was told the same thing: "the person in charge of these things" was not in the office that day, and would get back to me tomorrow. When I had to call back a third time, I was AGAIN told that there was no one there I could talk to, so I informed them that someone needed to address my concern or I would be forced to take further action. They assured me that someone would call me back, and the next morning, I did receive a call from them.

They told me they would be willing to offer me a rebate of $100. Since this meant that I was still paying the same shipping cost for the two chairs as I had paid for the whole table set, I told them this simply wasn't good enough. They insisted this was all they could do, and explained that the higher charge was the result of my chair order being shipped together with the table set--even though the two orders had been placed and billed separately. Finally, they transferred me to a supervisor's voicemail--someone named Krista--and I left a detailed message, which was never responded to.

Unbeatable Sale's website states the following: "All items sold by UnbeatableSale.com have a set shipping charge based on items weight. If you ordered two or more items, you may receive them in multiple boxes on different days, because of varying item availability and shipping locations. We do not charge you extra shipping for split shipments." However, according the explanation I was given, it seems they DO charge extra shipping for combined shipments (go figure).

So I decided to investigate on the website what I would pay for the chairs had I ordered them alone. The price was, in fact, exactly the same: in placing the order for just two chairs, I would be billed $299.26 in shipping (so why did they tell me otherwise?). Further investigation of the product description led me to the listed shipping weight of one chair, represented as 150 lbs. BINGO. Two chairs, listed as 150 lbs. each, at a shipping rate--as indicated on the website-- of $.98/lb. equals $294, pretty close to the original $299.26 I was charged.

Since I now own six of these chairs, I'll be the first to tell you that they do NOT weight 150 lbs. each, or anywhere close to it. In fact, I took the box of chairs to the post office to have it weighed. The two chairs, still in the packaging just as I had received them, weighed in at 40 lbs., 5 oz. The post office informed me that for standard 7-10 day shipping, I might be charged as much as $50, but could ship the box for as little as $30. Suddenly, that $100 rebate is looking pretty stingy. Even with the rebate, I still paid $200 to ship those chairs.

So how does Unbeatable Sale get away with respresenting a 20 lb. chair as weighing 150 lbs. for shipping purposes? ISN'T THAT FRAUD?? I've been trying to ask them, but after 5 or 6 emails and 3 or 4 phone messages, I cant get ANYONE to call me back and respond to this question. The only time I've been able to get any response at all was 1) when I got assertive and threatened further action if they didn't call me back right away, and 2) when I posted negative feedback on their website relating to my order.

The response to that came from someone named Dana, who emailed me to let me know that if I removed the negative feedback, they would offer me another 25% rebate, which I estimate would be around $50 (and still about $100 short by my estimate). Pretty audacious. Dana told me to email or call if I had any further questions, so I emailed her telling her that if they were willing to offer me a rebate that would result in a shipping charge that ACCURATELY reflected the weight of the chairs, I'd consider removing the feedback. And then I called and left her a phone message. And it probably wont surprise anyone to learn that Dana hasn't responded.

Jenn
Salt Lake City, Utah
U.S.A.