Cautionary Tale for Online Shoppers

Online Shoppers Beware!! If you are on a time crunch, online shopping sounds wonderful, When you ship, you carefully look at the options. Based on the claim on the website, your item should arrive by the deadline without issue. Actually you are a few days ahead of the game. However, you still might be in danger. This is a lesson I have learned first hand this holiday season.

I really do like to shop. Well I love to shop unless it is the holiday season. The only time I enjoy Christmas shopping is when I can do it somewhere like Chicago or San Francisco. I know those places are just as busy if not busier, but some how the crowds do not bother me there. Maybe it just is I'm not driving...or maybe being in the city is energizing to me, but it works. However, when I'm back in the urban sprawl of Northern Indianapolis, I just can't get into it. I work full time, have 2 part time jobs, and I'm trying to get one novel published and another one written. I do not have a great deal of time, and the time I have is usually after business hours. I even made time on a Saturday to try and shop, and I just couldn't into it. I couldn't seem to find anything that really stood out to me. I eventually turned to my old stand by: online shopping.

I went online and searched around. Within a few hours I had found the perfect gifts for each of my family members. Actually, I found two perfect gifts for my sister. One was through an Amazon Marketplace vendor, the other was on Walmart.com. I carefully looked at my shipping options. Walmart said that as long as I placed my order by midnight on 12/18 it would arrive by 12/24 with standard shipping. I was a good two days out from that deadline. The Amazon vendor could not guarantee it would arrive in time. I was already ordering a few other items from Walmart, so I chose that gift. All seemed good in the world until the next day,

I recieved my first shipping notice from Walmart, and everything looks in order. The second one is that threw red flags all over the place. The second notice had two alarming things. The first was the fact the it said the item would arrive between 12/21 and 12/27. Okay so what about that by 12/24 promise? The second item of contention is that part of my mom's gift is no longer listed as part of my order. I go and look online and it isn't listed there either. Early the next morning I did get a confirmation that the missing item and my sister's gift had shipped. Much to my suprise, Amy's gift now says it might not arrive until 12/26.

Now I am angry. I e-mail Walmart's help desk. but I do not get a reply for another 24 hours and it is canned. It tells me that if this e-mail doesn't answer my question, I need to e-mail them back. I send yet another e-mail back. The helpdesk sent a condscending e-mail telling me that all of my items have been shipped and that it clearly stated that they will arrive by 12/24 on their website and on the tracking data. I double checked my e-mails, the webiste, and the UPS tracking details....the email and the website say 12/26 and the UPS tracking has no delivery date listed. Nor did they even address the missing item or how it reappeared, This is still unacceptable. I send another e-mail, this time I reference all the previous e-mails and even give them a timeline. I reference the exact things they sent me and their very own website. I have yet to hear anything back from Walmart in regards to this e-mail.

The item that was missing did in fact make it's way to my parents' house today. That made me feel a little better. Still there is one item that left California two days ago and there is no guarantee that it will arrive on time. That does not set well with me. My biggest issue is that if a website says that an item will arrive by a certain time with certain type of shipping, they should stick to it. If an item just disappears from a customer's order, and the customer calls them on it, they should at least apologize. You know the "hey we had a glitch. We are sorry for the trouble." Also it is bad form to say that the website clearly says one thing, but really it does not.

I am disppointed by the lack of customer service. I get that it is the Holiday Season. I don't mind the 24 hour turn around. However, the fact they give false information makes me angry. Now I have part of my sister's gift making its way from California, and it may or may not make it to my parent's house by Christmas. I can't understand why misinformation and just avoiding simple questions can be common place in customer service. Will I ever order from Walmart online again? Most likely not. I am an avid online shopper, but there are a few stores I stay stear clear of. I guess it ordering from the site might not be too bad if you aren't on a deadline. However, I'm not too certain I am willling to take that chance. I guess the final turn out will determine the final result.