Complaint Review: Androtics Direct - Beverly Hills Internet

To start, I posted on the forums in the "hello", whereby one would receive a gift card for their online store. Having not received a gift card, I contacted the customer service representative Mickaelia. She was very pleasant and apologized that she was running behind on the giftcards. No worries.

    Hello Mickaelia!

    I was curious as to how one obtains the $25 gift certificate? I have a post from a few days back that gave    me the ideas for my purchase.

    Thanks!

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    I do apologize but the gc system was down.

    I issue these manually and so it is a great task

    I am waaaaaay behind but I will issue your gc today

    __________________

    Mickaelia Williams

    Sweetheart & Customer Service Extraordinaire!

Shortly after, I recieved TWO emails, summarized below. (I have included the GC ID for each to verify two separate emails/GCs)

    Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 16:56:02 +0100

    Subject: Androtics Direct: Gift Certificate for You

    Gift Certificate ID: 03AD40F7D6975114

    Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 17:48:08 +0100

    Subject: Androtics Direct: Gift Certificate for You

    Gift Certificate ID: 394F18F8A71463A7

I thought this to be a very generous offering, and after reading extensively on the website about their policies (such as the Double Your Money Back Guarantee and the phrase "We're not happy unless you're happy"), I was confident that I would be purchasing from Androtics Direct often.

The first issue, however, came in the form of checkout bugs in the system. Long story short, I had created an order, tried to pay for it with paypal and the payment was refused, so I ended up using my credit card. No problem. Found something soon after and tried paypal again with the other giftcard, same issue. So, two orders with one giftcard attached to each. I should have used both in the same order to save on shipping, but I was excited to purchase. It seems that the system did recognize my initial orders, but did not notify me the transaction completed (and the items were still in my cart). I will touch more on that later.

From here, I will convey the story in an epistolary manner, with an Androtics Direct staff member's email and my response. I sometimes emailed to inquire on the status and will include those messages as well. Bold emphasis added.

    John Sebastian (Androtics Concierge)

    May 29 11:38 (PDT)

    Hello Reggie,

    You may have noticed your orders went into Security Check. You seemed to have been the beneficiary of a gift certificate glitch that allowed you to place multiple orders with the same gift certificate. While I am extremely disappointed in the fact that instead of reporting it, you took advantage of us. However, I will allow the orders to go through since the error was within the system.

    Any further abuse of any bugs in the gift certificate system will result in a permanent ban from our store as well as our forum.

    In the future, please report these things so they can be fixed.

    Thank you,

    John

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    June 3,

    Hello John,

    The error in question was due to your system not recognizing a PayPal purchase. I tried multiple times and each time your website, not PayPal, alerted me the transaction was incomplete. I then had to use my credit card by returning to my cart (which would have been empty if the transaction was complete) to try the order again. It was a minor inconvenience, but seeing as though the pheromonetalks website was kind enough to give me two gift cards (a friendly gesture since a backup in their system overlooked me), I had no complaints. My intention was to purchase both items in one order but did not realize that inputting a gift card would end the transaction without prompt. I did not mind spending the double shipping considering the generosity, however a final confirmation would have been preferable.

    I then did try to leave a comment on each order that I was told did not complete, yet every time I tried to save, the field was left blank. Another error, but again I was pleased with the generosity of both the forum and shop.

    I do not, however, appreciate being insulted and labeled a scam artist, especially when the errors in question were caused by the website and were in no way intentional- in fact, I wasn't aware there were issues at all. I was referred to both the forum and shop by many, yet am finding your angry email unjustified.

    I hope this has cleared up the confusion and at the same time brought light to system malfunctions so this may not happen to another. Please feel free to send only one of each item; this was my intention then and now. I only ask the PayPal payments that were in error are returned.

    I also hope this does not delay my shipping, as I was hoping to receive the items in a timely manner.

    If you have any more questions or concerns, please let me know.

    - Reggie

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(I sent an email at this time to check the status of my orders, but do not have a copy of it.)

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    Jun 19 03:52 (PDT)

    Subject: Continued Inquiry on Order Status

    This is my third request to find information on my order status, as I have no notice of shipping or that my items have left Security Check. Details of the check can be found in my response to John Sebastian below. I am unaware if my orders have been canceled or if they are still active and would like some form of contact or clarification. As the charges to my paypal account and credit card have not been refunded, I assume the orders have not been canceled (and would prefer for them to be shipped and not canceled, as per my initial intent on purchasing). Thank you for your time and I anticipate your response.

    Reggie

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    Mickaelia (Androtics Princess) (Androtics Concierge)

    Jun 19 15:30 (PDT)

    Reggie,

    I am very sorry that our Operations manager did not handle this as he seems to be away a lot.

    I however do not take this type of thing lightly as it removes food from my mouth and from my daughters.

    You have attempted to steal from us,using multiple gift certificates.

    Your money was refunded back to your credit card and all orders canceled.Please note that all credit card refunds take a processing time of 2-10 business days.

    Warmly,

    Mickaelia

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At this time, June 19, my membership status was changed to "DO NOT SHIP."

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    Jun 19

    Hello Mickaeli,

    There seems to be miscommunication. If you are the same Mickaelia from the forums, you gave me two gift certificates. I received two gift certificates at the same email account in relation to the same username "motelgreat." I did not obtain them from dubious methods or any sort of trickery. I did not ask for two: two were given. If this is not standard procedure, this is not my error. Please also note, each gift certificate was used in a separate order, whereas they could have been combined to save on shipping.

    I was led to believe the issues were because your system created faulty transactions that never completed (I hope you had read my response to John, but I have included it below for further review). Now it seems there are multiple issues leading to my orders being canceled.

    Your forum and company looked like a great opportunity to better understand the world of androtics, so I gladly followed all rules. What I'm finding is many system errors (which will happen and did not bother me) and oversights. I am taking nothing from you or your daughters that you specifically did not give me. I once owned a business and website and know the hard work that must have been put into your efforts. But I do not appreciate being called a crook or added to an ominous "DO NOT SHIP" list. This is not my fault, and I do not appreciate being accosted.

    I have honestly tried everything in my power to simply understand the issues with my orders. Please let me know at what point I moved from a customer to a crook so that I may better understand your system, even though I have apparently been barred from purchasing again.

    Sincerely,

    Reggie

    P.s. Your Operations Manager John specifically stated "However, I will allow the orders to go through since the error was within the system." At what point did this change?

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(I did not receive a reply)

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    Jun 25

            

    Mickaelia,

    It seems the issue has been resolved within your system, however it has not been resolved on my end. I still have questions that require answers, especially at what point my order was canceled after John specifically told me my orders would go through.

    Also, I would like acknowledgement that all the errors and issues regarding my account and orders were entirely on AndroticsDirect and its employees.

    Thank you.

Though difficult, I've attempted to be as professional and understanding as possible, however none of my actions have produced results. both my credit card and paypal account were charged, then my character defamed, then orders canceled.

Please be aware that though there may be glowing reviews, their customer service is far from glowing. I have attempted to contact the company several times and will update with any more information.