On 30 July 2008, I placed an order on Force-Anime (an Internet-based anime company located on Malaysia) for some DVDs, more precisely an anime series (8 DVDs) and two anime movies (1 DVD each). The anime series costed USD 59.99 and the movies costed USD 16.99 each. Grand total: USD 93.97 (the website carried a "free-shipping" campaign at the time, so no postage costs).
They took my money immediately (I paid with a credit card) and sent me the usual automated mail, telling me that the order has been received and would be taken care of. In that automated mail said, and I quote: "Delivery time on the orders is usually 5-7 days but in some cases up to 14 days."
So, I waited, and on 8 August 2008, I received another automated mail, telling me my order had been dispatched successfully.
Everything went well up until this point, and I waited patiently for my items. But the days passed, and nothing. Following their advice on the first automated mail, I waited more than 14 days (actually, 17 days) and contacted them via e-mail on 25 August. I asked if there was any problem with the order they were aware of, and told them I still hadn't received anything.
They answered on 27 August, telling me to check with my customs to see if my package was being held there. For that purpose, they provided a Track and Trace Reference Number. I used that number and went to my customs, but they had never heard of it. My items weren't there.
At this point, I thought that maybe there had been some delay with the mail, so I settled for some more waiting. I waited another full month, and then I contacted them again on 23 September, telling yet again that I still didn't have my items.
Their reply came on 8 October, and guess what they said... "Check with your customs or Portugal post".
Since then (8 October), I sent them three additional mails, explaining that I had already checked and they had nothing. (I phoned my customs again on 13 October, just to be sure). This time around, however, they stopped answering my mails.
So, this is it...
FYI: When I mentioned the company is on Malaysia, I did it based on the information contained in their automated mail, because they don't provide that info on the website.
Andre
Rio Tinto
Portugal