Complaint Review: Grapevinehill.com - Danvers, Massachusetts

Well, Christmas is coming, and I was looking around for Taryn Rose shoes, when Grapevinehill came to my mind.

I googled and came across this site, and was sad to see that the company went out of business.

However, as a satisfied customer of them, I decided to weigh in and post a few lines about my experience with them.

I have ordered probably more than a dozen pairs of Taryn Rose shoes in different colors, styles and heel heights from them. If I would have paid $56 only for any pair of my shoes, I would have been very happy, but I paid much more. However, every penny spent at this company was worth. Shoes arrived on time (although if I plan something, I plan well in advance, and not in the last two days!), shoes were always brand new in boxes with dust bag and authenticity card, well packed, genuine. I even kept the (outer) paper boxes. Shipping charges were reasonable, too.

At one time a small issue encountered, but it got fixed in a very courteous manner. If you have ever heard of Taryn Rose, you know that they are Italian-made shoes, designed by an orthopedic surgeon (called Taryn Rose), upscale stores sell it, and the price is more expensive than Grapevinehill charged, plus GHV had a larger selection (and forget how much I would have paid if I buy them in Europe!). You may have also heard that Taryn Rose is now made in an Asian country marketed as Taryn by Taryn Rose, and that quality is not even coming close to the Italian-made ones. GVH has never sold other TR than the Italian-made. So I was absolutely happy with them. 

Yes, it did happen at another time that the shoes arrived, and the heel was higher than I could walk comfortably, but it was solely my mistake. And you know what I did? I kept it! I did not send it back with excuses or looking for apology or discount, because I love the brand, and the worst scenario is that I sell it later on, and probably will easily get the same price -if not more- I have paid for. Even worse than the worst scenario that I give it to a friend as a present, and make her happy at least for a day, if not longer. 

GVH was a true gem in the online shoe business, and I am so sorry to read that they no longer exist.

And my short note to the writer of the above complaint: I would have never added which city and state I am from (I will now though!), or my name (regardless it is a real first name or not), but seeing the city's name, I can just tell that I am so sorry about your difficulties, I am pretty sure that the $56 bucks (oh, and the $10 for shipping) caused you a hardship (even with the $15 credit and continuous apologies), especially because most probably there are no shoe stores in your city and probably no transportation to the next, ~35 miles away, small town called New York City where you definitely could not have found any -pink or not- shoes, when you had a time frame before your hiking (who is hiking in pink open shoes anyway?!)...

Grow up people. There are countries where people cannot afford even shoes. If you don't like what you got, return it, and gulp down the shipping fees, because that is always lost. Leave a negative feeback on ebay if you want, then get over it.

Beatrix

Houston, TX

(from Budapest - to be exact)

PS.

Btw, did not the instructions clearly state that no uppercase letters?

I am a former customer service representative for Grapevinehill. I loved working for them- hardworking, God-fearing leadership. Unfortunately, I had to deal with Pamelas on a regular basis. The quintessential picture of entitlement. This woman won a pair of sandals off eBay within DAYS of a hiking trip. So, as a seller of discounted footwear let's take this step by step.

I am an avid backpacker. I spend many weekends in the Appalachian Mountains, and I can say that if you are wearing sandals on a hiking trip then you are not actually hiking. As a customer service representative with the customer's best interests in mind, I would have counseled heavily against hiking in these sandals. That is besides the main point.

The way discounted shoes typically work is that the vendor would purchase a lot of excess inventory from a retailer. In this case, I could almost guarantee that GVH purchased X number of pink sandals. They could have very well not even had the items inventoried on site (sometimes the original retailer maintains the inventory as a case in sale). For whatever reason, the wrong color was sent, clearly an inventory mistake. "To her dismay"? Talk about hyperbole, sounds like her puppy was run over. What apology would she have expected? The 100% proper response is:

"I am sorry that you received the item. We will reimburse the shipping back to us and would gladly assist you in finding something in our store that fulfills your need(s)."

Further, to offer any additional discount is going above and beyond to protect the reputation of GVH and to hopefully not lose a customer off a simple mistake. What "consolation" is there for someone who is so butt-hurt about getting the wrong color sandals? Clearly, she is beyond consolation and incredibly immature if her ego was somehow bruised by an honest mistake. Admitting that they did not know why it said PINK is a pretty adequate consolation, I think.

No, Pamela, no one can see your frustration. They can see your nasty attitude though. You deserve to be trolled, Pamela. Maybe you can learn a lesson from wantonly embarrassing yourself. 2 days before a hiking trip? Sounds like you're not prepared and blaming other people.

A manager who just keeps saying "sorry for the inconvinience" is trying to console you. Also, they are trying to console their employee who you berated. You made an accusation about fraudulent advertising, you are vindictive and raising the stakes from an honest mistake to a spoiled brats crusade. You are the primordial example of what is wrong about the internet. You would NEVER treat someone so rudely, so dismissively if you had to look them in the eye. 

Pamela, what was your debate over? How you DESERVE pink sandals? How GVH must give you a credit for the purchase + more to another vendor to buy these shoes? What would you define as a "win" for you in this debate? Making someone regret ever selling shoes? It probably worked, as GVH no longer exists. How did you feel cheated? It was a mistake, no one, other than you and your "principles", is perfect. 

I am sorry that Team Pink dismissed you from the hiking competition (???) for the color of their shoes. I bet there were so many team shots of those color coded team feet that your blue shoes were just too much to bear.

"At the end he offered me $15 credit toward the shoes.Big WHOOP." So that sounds like a 27% credit on the value. That's pretty good acommodation! Scammed by a highly rated company? Okay, well, I guess I already made this point.

I hope you can find a cure for the bitterness in your mouth. As Jesus said, "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45). If you are overwhelmed with bitterness in your mouth and your words, well... where did it come from?

Pamela, you seem very confused on what being a decent human being is. On behalf of Grapevine Hill, and the rest of the world, I really, truly, and sincerely am sorry that this is how you see the world.

It is absolutely ridiculus to expect perfection from any company. Here by the customer's own admission this company provided an additional discount. They also provide for returns which is highly unusual for ebay sellers. The fact that the customer had an event in two days and needed pink shoes is unfortuante but it certainly cannot be held against the seller, at least not by any reasonable standard. mistakes are inevitable, to try to tarnish the company after accepting it's generosity speaks to the character of the customer and not the company. 

This customer has shown her true colors and they are neither pink nor blue, they are the dark hue of a spoiled and inmature person who cannot deal with life on its own terms. I shudder to think what this individual will do when when real loss arises in her life. Get a grip and shop in brcik and mortor establishments hwere you will pay a cost equivalent to your demands.

PS: You say that you want an apolgy but in this are hypocritical since by your own admission the company did apologize. Do you think that this mistake was not stressful for them. Think about it.