- Report: #792132
Complaint Review: designersnuggie.com - Internet Internet
Reported By:
Annoyed -
, Oregon, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
designersnuggie.com
Internet, Internet, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
https://www.designersnuggie.com/?tag=im|sm|go|tm&a_aid=011&a_bid=bc3058de&chan=G&data1=TM
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
designersnuggie.com Beware ... Internet, Internet
A "Snuggie" is a blanket with sleeves. I have no problem with the product; I've bought them before and they are great. The web merchant "designersnuggie.com" purports to sell Snuggies in a variety of interesting pattersns, such as zebra-striped or leopard-spots, etc. And perhaps they do, but I may never find out for sure.
It's their web site which is the ripoff. I should have been forwarned, I suppose, by the lack of readily available contact information. There is no e-mail address or phone number to by found. The "customer service" link provides a street address in Wallingford, Connecticut, and an 800 phone number. The phone number does _not_ connect you with designersnuggie.com, but with an answering service which is, as seen below, less than helpful.
The offer: The website advertises the product for $19.95 plus $7.95 shipping and handling.
Currently there is an advertised special which promises "two for one" if you order now. It's not
completely clear that there is an /additional/ $7.95 S&H charge for the second Snuggie, but on
careful reading of the offer, it is in there.
(1) The first problem: When you go to order a Snuggie you are asked to enter the quantity; since
the offer is 2-for-1 it might logically be assumed that the correct quantity is "2". However,
since I wanted a different pattern on each of the Snuggies, I only selected "1" in each of the
two patterns. This was a mistake.
(2) The second problem: you are asked to input your credit card information /before/ you can see
the actual contents of your order as recorded by the website. This should have been a big red
flag, but I was feeling (a little too) trusting that day. Also, most websites that take credit card
offers give you an opportunity to do a final review of the order before committing to the
purchase, and I expceted that to be the case here. Not so. On this site, once you've entered
your CC info and clicked the "next" button /your purchase has already been made. Only _then_
do you see the invoice listing of what you've ordered, too late to make any changes, if
necessary.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had not been charged the $27.90
($19.95 + $7.95) I expected to pay, but * $71.70 * -- nearly three times the
anticipated charges.
In effect I had been charged for two Snuggies (even though one was supposed to be free),
and shipping for -four- of them ($31.80 in shipping).
(3) I immediately tried to cancel the order, but there was no way. There is no "customer service" or
"sales" e-mail address on the site -- there are no e-mail addresses at all. So I called the "800"
number given on the "customer status" link. The gentleman who finally answered (after 15
minutes of muzak) told me that he couldn't cancel the order since it takes as much as 4 hours
for it to show up on his system. He advised me to call back in 3-4 hours, or when I got a
confirmatory e-mail with an order number.
He further told me that if I waited until tomorrow to call back, the order might be shipped
anyway, and that even if I refused delivery, my credit card would still be charged for $31.80 in
shipping and handling.
An hour later an e-mail appeared with an order number, and I called back, only to be told that
even though I had an order number, the order still wasn't in "the system." and nothing could
be done. I aksed if they could flag the order number, so that when it did turn up they would
know it should be cancelled, and they told me "No".
Basically I have two options: Either I keep calling back every half-hour or so, all night, until the order finally shows up in their system so I can cancel it; or I wait for my credit card to be charged and then call my CC company to dispute the charge.
In summary:
* The advertised offers are unclear almost to the point of deception.
* The site adds unexpected charges to your order.
* There is no opportunity to review and correct the order before it's been finalized.
* There is no on-line way to cancel an incorrect order, no matter how fast you act.
* There is no easy way to contact "customer service" about a problem.
* "Customer service," such as it is, is less than helpful in resolving problems.
To be fair, I don't know that these problems are due to a deliberate intent to defraud, or simply to
an extremely shoddy business model and a poorly designed website. But either way, the reault is
the same: I expedted to make a $28.00 purchase and got soaked for $72.00, and now the burden
is on _me_ to try to get it back.
Caveat emptor, indeed.
It's their web site which is the ripoff. I should have been forwarned, I suppose, by the lack of readily available contact information. There is no e-mail address or phone number to by found. The "customer service" link provides a street address in Wallingford, Connecticut, and an 800 phone number. The phone number does _not_ connect you with designersnuggie.com, but with an answering service which is, as seen below, less than helpful.
The offer: The website advertises the product for $19.95 plus $7.95 shipping and handling.
Currently there is an advertised special which promises "two for one" if you order now. It's not
completely clear that there is an /additional/ $7.95 S&H charge for the second Snuggie, but on
careful reading of the offer, it is in there.
(1) The first problem: When you go to order a Snuggie you are asked to enter the quantity; since
the offer is 2-for-1 it might logically be assumed that the correct quantity is "2". However,
since I wanted a different pattern on each of the Snuggies, I only selected "1" in each of the
two patterns. This was a mistake.
(2) The second problem: you are asked to input your credit card information /before/ you can see
the actual contents of your order as recorded by the website. This should have been a big red
flag, but I was feeling (a little too) trusting that day. Also, most websites that take credit card
offers give you an opportunity to do a final review of the order before committing to the
purchase, and I expceted that to be the case here. Not so. On this site, once you've entered
your CC info and clicked the "next" button /your purchase has already been made. Only _then_
do you see the invoice listing of what you've ordered, too late to make any changes, if
necessary.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had not been charged the $27.90
($19.95 + $7.95) I expected to pay, but * $71.70 * -- nearly three times the
anticipated charges.
In effect I had been charged for two Snuggies (even though one was supposed to be free),
and shipping for -four- of them ($31.80 in shipping).
(3) I immediately tried to cancel the order, but there was no way. There is no "customer service" or
"sales" e-mail address on the site -- there are no e-mail addresses at all. So I called the "800"
number given on the "customer status" link. The gentleman who finally answered (after 15
minutes of muzak) told me that he couldn't cancel the order since it takes as much as 4 hours
for it to show up on his system. He advised me to call back in 3-4 hours, or when I got a
confirmatory e-mail with an order number.
He further told me that if I waited until tomorrow to call back, the order might be shipped
anyway, and that even if I refused delivery, my credit card would still be charged for $31.80 in
shipping and handling.
An hour later an e-mail appeared with an order number, and I called back, only to be told that
even though I had an order number, the order still wasn't in "the system." and nothing could
be done. I aksed if they could flag the order number, so that when it did turn up they would
know it should be cancelled, and they told me "No".
Basically I have two options: Either I keep calling back every half-hour or so, all night, until the order finally shows up in their system so I can cancel it; or I wait for my credit card to be charged and then call my CC company to dispute the charge.
In summary:
* The advertised offers are unclear almost to the point of deception.
* The site adds unexpected charges to your order.
* There is no opportunity to review and correct the order before it's been finalized.
* There is no on-line way to cancel an incorrect order, no matter how fast you act.
* There is no easy way to contact "customer service" about a problem.
* "Customer service," such as it is, is less than helpful in resolving problems.
To be fair, I don't know that these problems are due to a deliberate intent to defraud, or simply to
an extremely shoddy business model and a poorly designed website. But either way, the reault is
the same: I expedted to make a $28.00 purchase and got soaked for $72.00, and now the burden
is on _me_ to try to get it back.
Caveat emptor, indeed.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Another Possibility
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, October 27, 2011
It seems to have been the result of a crappy website design, coupled with lousy customer service.
- There is another possibility..Customer Error.
I took a look at their web site and while most things you said were correct, one thing that you mentioned was actually quite clear.
------------------------------
Send Me: The Buy One Get One FREE Designer Snuggie set and FREE Book Lights
Select Your Color & Quantity:
Choose Your Sets of 2 in Camel:
Choose Your Sets of 2 in Leopard:
Choose Your Sets of 2 in Zebra:
-------------------------------------------------
It clearly states that you are ordering SETS of 2, so a quantity of 1 would give you 1 set of 2(total of 2), a quantity of 2 would give you 2 sets of 2(for a total of 4). It is also pretty clear that your "free" one would have to be the same color/print. So when you chose 1 of each pattern you in fact did order 4, each with their own Shipping and Handling.
Now I will say that I have no idea what the screen looked like when you ordered it, but it is how it looks now. But I do doubt that they changed it recently because other items you mentioned seems to be still be present(or not present).
This is why it does not matter what web site you are on, you need to read EVERYTHING in detail before you enter your credit card number. If there is a link that says "Terms" or anything about their policies..you better click on those links as well. If you get any "red flags" in your mind it is often best to just walk away.
Bis
Drain,Oregon,
USA
Update: designersnuggie.com
#3Author of original report
Thu, October 27, 2011
UPDATE: After 24 hours my order status finally showed up on "customerstatus.com", and sure enough, everything in my original order had been doubled, including shipping charges, and there were -two- orders showing on my account, even though I only entered -one- order at the website.
Fortunately, the status report provided a link to -cancel- the order(s), although I had to go through the process twice, once for each order. So far, it appears that I was lucky enough to catch the order before it shipped, so my credit card hadn't yet been charged. Had I waited an hour or two more I would have been responsible for shipping and handling to the tune of -half- the cost of the incorrect order, even if I refused delivery of the order.
As far as I can tell, the order(s) were canceled successfully, and I was not charged -- although I won't know for sure until I get my next credit card statement.
CONCLUSION: This was probably not a deliberate ripoff.
It seems to have been the result of a crappy website design, coupled with lousy customer service.
I still won't order from this site again, but perhaps if they see this report they may be motivated to improve their web ordering process before someone else gets accidentally ripped off, and decides to go further than a simple report to resolve the issue. At the very least they need to add a step whereby a customer can review the list of what they are about to be charged for /before/ entering their credit card information, and make changes, if necessary.
