Complaint Review: Flatfair.com - Internet

Flat Fair advertised a much lower price than their competitors for the product I purchased. It wasn't until I was checking out that I discovered the shipping cost covered the difference. After I made my order (March 18, 2016), I received an invoice, but there was no shipping date. Five days later, I was sent a poorly worded email that explained the item I ordered was not in stock, and would require additional time to ship. I waited an additional three days (March 26), then emailed the company to inquire about the status of the order. The next day, I received an email stating the item still wasn't in stock. On March 29 (eleven days after my order), I received the following email. I am quoting it directly, in it's entirety: "Hi [Customer]! We thanks for your waiting! We talked with the manufacture about this status of this order. They said it is failed to transfer from other warehouse since nobody have it now. The estimate available date for this item will be Mid of April, would you like to consider to wait? Or we will cancel this order for you. We are apologize for this inconvenience caused to you! Please advice! Thank you!" I opted to wait, since the shipping from another company would have likely caused my merchandise to arrive around the same time anyway. The next day (March 30), I was emailed again. Flat Fair had managed to get everything together and was going to be able to ship my merchandise within the next few days.

On April 1, I received shipping confirmation through a company called Custom Co. The email explained that I would need to schedule a delivery with the driver, and the driver would call me to schedule. On April 6, CustomCo's tracker said the package would be delivered by 8pm that day. When I hadn't received a phone call by 6pm, I called the shipping company to attempt to schedule the appointment for delivery. The package had been contracted to a local shipping company and was still being tracked by CustomCo, but they could not provide me with contact information for the new shipping company. When the truck did arrive today, at the time the driver and I scheduled, he arrived at my apartment complex with a 40' semi trailer. I didn't really mind waiting for my merchandise. I wasn't really upset that Flat Fair couldn't give me the same answer from one day to the next. I was a bit frustrated that the shipping company contracted my package, but that's their prerogative, and I understood why (nevermind the fact that I can't figure out why an online retailer boasting national curbside delivery used a California based freight company to accomplish that). Talking to my delivery driver six times in an hour to act as his navigation system wasn't even that troublesome. But standing in traffic in front of my apartment complex, guiding a full size semi-trailer out on to the road, and stopping vehicles in four directions for the better part of thirty minutes while this guy backed his trailer out into the street? That's asking a bit much, Flat Fair. 0/10 stars. Would not order again.

Reading other reviews, this company seems to have a lot of backordered merchandise, and the customer appears to find out through email days after the order is placed. They also seem to have similar shipping issues. P.S.: merchandise arrived in great shape, was exactly what I wanted, and I couldn't be more pleased. With the merchandise, I mean. I hope somebody at Flat Fair reads this. And I hope it's somebody that can fix their process. 21 days from start to finish. Had I gone to the retailer with the next best price for identical merchandise, I'd have paid $34 more, and I would have had my merchandise in 10 days at maximum, probably delivered on a box truck by a driver that knows the area. I was too generous earlier. -10/10. Will actively recommend any other service to literally anyone.