Should I throw a hissy fit at Aspinal?

[Alter]

Ordered some goods from Aspinal of London on December 27. They only offer shipping via courier (3 days) and it is very expensive (18.50 pounds+3.30 pounds for handling and insurance) but I figured that it would be nice to get quickly as it was a late Christmas gift for my wife.

I realized that it was a busy time of year so I wasn't really worried about it until by January 8 I had still not received it. I emailed to ask about it. On January 10th I still had no reply so I emailed again. On January 12 I still had no reply so I emailed again.

Today I got this message:
In response to your email . your order is being processed at the moment and will hopefully leave here by Friday so it should be with you by Tuesday next week at the latest .

If you have any further questions then please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help.

No explanation or apology at all. Just thought I would see if anyone had any thoughts before I fire off a complaint.

 

[amerikajinda]

I think you should explain your situation to them in a very polite, matter-of-fact way. Say that you expected to receive it by the end of December and you paid for the shipping via courier service. You deserve an apology.

 

[Gradstudent78]

Originally Posted by Alter

Ordered some goods from Aspinal of London on December 27. They only offer shipping via courier (3 days) and it is very expensive (18.50 pounds+3.30 pounds for handling and insurance) but I figured that it would be nice to get quickly as it was a late Christmas gift for my wife.

I realized that it was a busy time of year so I wasn't really worried about it until by January 8 I had still not received it. I emailed to ask about it. On January 10th I still had no reply so I emailed again. On January 12 I still had no reply so I emailed again.

Today I got this message:
In response to your email . your order is being processed at the moment and will hopefully leave here by Friday so it should be with you by Tuesday next week at the latest .

If you have any further questions then please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help.

No explanation or apology at all. Just thought I would see if anyone had any thoughts before I fire off a complaint.


You paid for courier shipping which is what I assume your going to get, but for most places that doesn't really guarantee a quick processing time, only that when it does leave it will ship via your selected method.

 

[Alter]

Originally Posted by Gradstudent78

You paid for courier shipping which is what I assume your going to get, but for most places that doesn't really guarantee a quick processing time, only that when it does leave it will ship via your selected method.

But their website states the following (my order did not require any personalization, delivery to Japan):

Q. When will my order be despatched?
A. Orders received before 12.00 noon Mon-Fri are usually despatched the same day. This does not include orders with personalisation which can take an additional 5 working days to complete. Please note that we are not open on Bank Holidays.

DHL will deliver parcels to the mainland UK on a 1-2 day service.

Orders being delivered to Ireland, USA, Canada, Europe and ROW are despatched with DHL on a 2-3 day service.

**Please remember that all 'Personalisation' orders require 3-5 processing days prior to despatch.

During busy periods such as Sale time, Valentines, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Christmas, orders will be despatched within 2-3 working days. Orders that require personalisation will require up to 10 processing days prior to despatch.

Q. How much does delivery cost?
A. All parcels are despatched with DHL and will require a signature upon delivery.

* UK - 1-2 days £4.95 ($8.50)
* USA & CANADA - 2-3 days £10.50 ($14.95)
* Europe - 1-2 days £12.00 ($21.00)
* Rest of the World - 2-3 days £18.50 ($30.00)

 

[Gradstudent78]

Also from their website:

Can I specify a day for delivery? A. Unfortunately, we cannot specify an exact delivery date but we do advise that you call customer services if your order is urgent, so we can speed up the process wherever possible.

If you feel like you want to complain go ahead, I'm just not sure it will accomplish much. But I'm sure some businesses appreciate the feedback and there is the off chance it might do something. If you do complain I'd call them instead of emailing, as at least you'll get some immediate feedback.

 

[Alter]

Originally Posted by Gradstudent78

Also from their website:



If you feel like you want to complain go ahead, I'm just not sure it will accomplish much. But I'm sure some businesses appreciate the feedback and there is the off chance it might do something. If you do complain I'd call them instead of emailing, as at least you'll get some immediate feedback.

Good points! Thanks!

 

[zupermaus]

Mention in passing (in your complaint) it had been intended as a present for someone's birthday on Jan 2nd.

 

[Alter]

I sent off an email to Aspinal 3 days ago asking of there was some reason why the shipment has taken so long. No reply

. I know I should telephone but really don't want to deal with paying for a useless long distance call from Japan to the UK.

 

[Alter]

In case anyone is interested...a happy ending:

The reply from Aspinal...

Firstly please accept my sincere apologies for the lengthy delay in receiving your order. I have investigated the reason behind why it has taken so long and it has now come to my attention that there was actually a technical fault on the day your order was printed in our warehouse.

The products were actually not out of stock but your order had been "in picking" with our warehouse since the 2nd of January. It now appears that there are a few orders (yours included) that were printed off in our warehouse on the 2nd January but due to a fault were not physically printed but the system showed them as in process.

Obviously because your order "appeared" to be in process it was not flagged up on any reports so we were unaware until you contacted Stacie and she then brought this matter to my attention. As we were not aware of this situation as it's not something that has happened before Stacie believed the delay was due to a lack of stock. I have now sorted your order out and it will be leaving our warehouse today.


I hope this makes the situation clearer to you and can assure you this is a very rare occurrence with Aspinal. We pride ourselves on our customer service and the communication we have with our customers and clients. Clearly this has not been the case and as a result of this I would like to offer you £10 to an account with us for you to purchase in the future.

 

[Robes of Executiveness]

It certainly did do something for them... I didn't buy.

I sent off several emails asking them to explain their price differences between the UK & US website which was around $10 difference for a wallet and had inaccurate currency conversion, and probably other items I never looked at.

They never replied.

As a business myself, I don't take this lightly. I refuse to do business with businesses that do not reply. You don't F with the customer, because you never know WHO they may be, and you could be costing yourself large scale bulk orders or recurring sales.