Etsy WWMMD (X-posted)

[Diana Prince]

Hey guys. I'm mostly a lurker that tries to participate here & there so I hope you guys don't mind me asking for some advice on a situation. I've never had an issue like this so I'm not sure what to do or if I need to do anything.

I ordered DS's costume from Etsy on September 19th. Description says "Schedule time 2-3 weeks". I contacted the seller on 10-7 & said "Item has an estimated ship date for 10/17. Just wanted to check in on the status of my costume" She writes back & says "I'm all caught up. I could work it out to send to you on Monday (10/13" Monday came & went-Nothing. No notification of shipment, or tracking number. On 10/17 I contact her again & say "Has my costume been shipped. If so can I have a tracking number?" She replies "I will give you tracking tomorrow, making another run of package deliveries. You should receive it by Wednesday at the latest."

Wednesday-10/22 came and went. Nothing. I message her and tell her I did not receive it. I get notified of shipment on 10/23 (Thursday). I kept checking it, no activity. Just "Shipping label has been created." I send her 4 messages trying to contact her and she finally responds back saying "It is leaving in tomorrows mail (Saturday)". I send one back asking if it would be here by Thursday, otherwise it's useless. Nothing.

What would you guys do? I'm so pissed off because I spent much more on this costume than I would normally have & now I probably won't even have it in time for Halloween.

Given the item description it should have been done around 10/10 (3 weeks).

[rosiedozie]

If it doesn't arrive in time for Halloween I would return the package and request a refund of the purchase and shipping charges (both ways).

[RandZB]

I would tell her to overnight or 2-day it at this point or you will cancel the order and get your money back. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. I have never sent any Etsy order out past the estimated shipping date, and almost always get orders out a day or two before they are due to ship. If I ever had to ship late, I would be in constant contact with my customer and probably throw in a little freebie for sucking so bad. It drives me crazy.

[Diana Prince]

Oct 25, 2014 9:41:19 GMT -5 RandZB said:

I would tell her to overnight or 2-day it at this point or you will cancel the order and get your money back. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. I have never sent any Etsy order out past the estimated shipping date, and almost always get orders out a day or two before they are due to ship. If I ever had to ship late, I would be in constant contact with my customer and probably throw in a little freebie for sucking so bad. It drives me crazy.

I just sent her a message asking to overnight or 2 day ship.  I highly doubt it's going to happen. I probably won't even get a reply out of her.  I almost just want to go ahead an open a case. I mean, she's told me 2 other times she would be shipping it out and nothing.  Ugh. It's so frustrating.  I know with stuff like this it takes time but her description says 2-3 weeks.  I think I've been more than patient.

[Deleted]

Open a case, etsy won't get involved right away, they give the parties a chance to work it out first.

[Diana Prince]

Thanks for the advice ladies.

[mollybrown]

Oct 25, 2014 9:19:50 GMT -5 rosiedozie said:

If it doesn't arrive in time for Halloween I would return the package and request a refund of the purchase and shipping charges (both ways).

I would do this.  The ship date was estimated, so I doubt that Etsy would do much now since it is only about a week delayed.  You obviously ordered it for Halloween, so I would definitely be sending it back if it didn't make it.  Did the seller guarantee delivery by Halloween?

How annoying that you won't know until the last minute if he'll get to be what you planned, or if you need a backup costume.

[Diana Prince]

Oct 25, 2014 10:16:11 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

Oct 25, 2014 9:19:50 GMT -5 rosiedozie said:

If it doesn't arrive in time for Halloween I would return the package and request a refund of the purchase and shipping charges (both ways).

I would do this.  The ship date was estimated, so I doubt that Etsy would do much now since it is only about a week delayed.  You obviously ordered it for Halloween, so I would definitely be sending it back if it didn't make it.  Did the seller guarantee delivery by Halloween?

How annoying that you won't know until the last minute if he'll get to be what you planned, or if you need a backup costume.

Nothing that says "guaranteed" but she has this in the description for shipping:

Currently for Halloween I will work closely with you to get your item on time, this may mean shipping priority mail for international. US order always have tracking and you will be able to track the progress of shipping.

I'm trying to find a back up but that was the whole reason I ordered from Etsy in the first place.  It's toddler Jack Skellington.

[mollybrown]

Oct 25, 2014 10:19:23 GMT -5 Diana Prince said:

Oct 25, 2014 10:16:11 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

I would do this.  The ship date was estimated, so I doubt that Etsy would do much now since it is only about a week delayed.  You obviously ordered it for Halloween, so I would definitely be sending it back if it didn't make it.  Did the seller guarantee delivery by Halloween?

How annoying that you won't know until the last minute if he'll get to be what you planned, or if you need a backup costume.

Nothing that says "guaranteed" but she has this in the description for shipping:

Currently for Halloween I will work closely with you to get your item on time, this may mean shipping priority mail for international. US order always have tracking and you will be able to track the progress of shipping.

I'm trying to find a back up but that was the whole reason I ordered from Etsy in the first place.  It's toddler Jack Skellington.

Sounds like a guarantee to me!  Hopefully she shipped it priority.

[ellipses84]

USPS flat rate is 2-day so hopefully she sent it that way. If you don't get it in time I would return it for a refund and if she hassles you about it I would take it up with etsy. Even though her policy says she will "try" you ordered pretty early for something that obviously needs to be there by a certain date and you have lots of correspondence with her promising it to you way earlier and not doing what she said she would.

[Deleted]

Oct 25, 2014 10:19:23 GMT -5 Diana Prince said:

Oct 25, 2014 10:16:11 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

I would do this.  The ship date was estimated, so I doubt that Etsy would do much now since it is only about a week delayed.  You obviously ordered it for Halloween, so I would definitely be sending it back if it didn't make it.  Did the seller guarantee delivery by Halloween?

How annoying that you won't know until the last minute if he'll get to be what you planned, or if you need a backup costume.

Nothing that says "guaranteed" but she has this in the description for shipping:

Currently for Halloween I will work closely with you to get your item on time, this may mean shipping priority mail for international. US order always have tracking and you will be able to track the progress of shipping.

I'm trying to find a back up but that was the whole reason I ordered from Etsy in the first place.  It's toddler Jack Skellington.

Even if she didn't guarantee it originally, she has already responded to you more than once saying she is going to ship it. I don't know how Etsy works but I would go ahead and open a case.

[lime]

I'd open a case at this point.

Hell, I'd be asking for a refund because I doubt she even has it done.

[newwithquestions]

I actually had the same problem this year with a seller on etsy. I ordered the costume in August and it said it would take 5-6 weeks. I sent the shop several messages about the status of my order and I heard nothing for over a week. Finally I went on their Facebook page and asked for a status update and still heard nothing. I finally ordered a second costume (so I would at least have something to put my kid in) and sent the shop another message saying that If I didn't receive a stays update in 24 hours I was going to stop payment on my credit card, file a complaint with etsy and write negative reviews about them everywhere ( Facebook, esty, etc). I received a message back in about 2 hours and it was shipped out the next day. I would have been heart broken to not the costume but I had just gotten to my breaking point and I felt that it was my last option.

[Diana Prince]

Thanks ladies! I just wanted to get confirmation that I wasn't being a bitch about all of this. I have sent her 4 messages since she told me it was going out in Saturday's mail & she has not responded. I went ahead and opened a case. The costume was really cute too I'm just so disappointed. This is the first year that my kid is really into Halloween & we've been talking about being Jack for over a month now.

[kaylie]

Ugh, so annoying and unprofessional. I had this happen to me with an etsy seller once (Pretty Plum Sugar actually, which used to get raved about on TN). I hope the costume comes in time. You should write a review about it for future buyers. Sellers like that give etsy a bad name.

[Diana Prince]

There's still not activity when I check the tracking. She finally wrote me back after I sent her the message about opening the case against her due to the fact she refuses to communicate & she has told me multiple other times she was shipping my item & it still just says shipping label created. This was her response:
"Your delivery is a priority 2 day turn around. You should be getting this by Wednesday and I'm sorry for putting any anguish on your end. I am working to get the remaining orders out before Halloween time. I need all the time possible for production."

I wrote her back informing her that it should have been shipped well before Saturday etc. I didn't hear anything else back and I messaged her one more time asking her to tell me YES OR NO if my package was put in the mail on Saturday since there was still no activity posted. Silence of course.

She had good ratings before now though. All of her bad ratings have been from this month, and they are piling up. Same issues I'm having with her too.

No one shop from Unbirthday4me! You'll just be left disappointed & frustrated.

[Diana Prince]

& I think she might have just closed down her shop. I get an error message when I try to go to it or view her reviews. This just keeps getting better & better!

[hopenotlost]

That would really piss me off. I love etsy, but some of the sellers on there can really suck. I hope you get the costume in time!

[Diana Prince]

I've never disputed a charge or anything on my credit card, do I just call them & tell them the situation? I'm totally clueless. I've been shopping online for 10 years or so and I've NEVER had a issue like this. I'm so pissed off and disappointed.

[AAM2012]

Oct 27, 2014 9:08:49 GMT -5 Diana Prince said:

I've never disputed a charge or anything on my credit card, do I just call them & tell them the situation? I'm totally clueless. I've been shopping online for 10 years or so and I've NEVER had a issue like this. I'm so pissed off and disappointed.

I would until Wednesday or Thursday to see if it's received. If not the. Most banks let you dispute a charge via online or you can just call. Tell then you never received it.

[my4girls]

ugh I hope she just put her shop on vacation or whatever until she's caught up and you get your costume!

if not, cc are really pretty good with disputes and you'll get your money back pretty easily in my experience but that really sucks

[Diana Prince]

Oct 27, 2014 9:10:57 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

Oct 27, 2014 9:08:49 GMT -5 Diana Prince said:

I've never disputed a charge or anything on my credit card, do I just call them & tell them the situation? I'm totally clueless. I've been shopping online for 10 years or so and I've NEVER had a issue like this. I'm so pissed off and disappointed.

I would until Wednesday or Thursday to see if it's received. If not the. Most banks let you dispute a charge via online or you can just call. Tell then you never received it.

Okay sounds good.  I'm not going to deal with it anymore until after Halloween.  I only have 2 days to get this costume together. The tux I ordered will be here tomorrow & then I work Wed & Thurs.  Hopefully I can pull it off.

[Diana Prince]

Oct 27, 2014 9:15:00 GMT -5 my4girls said:

ugh I hope she just put her shop on vacation or whatever until she's caught up and you get your costume!

if not, cc are really pretty good with disputes and you'll get your money back pretty easily in my experience but that really sucks

Wouldn't it say vacation or something instead of giving me an error? I'm not giving her the benefit of the doubt.  I'd say she shut it down because of the bad reviews she was getting.

That's good to know! I didn't know how frustrating of a process it was.

[Diana Prince]

I found her facebook page and this message is on it

"Shop is on vacation for until 10/48 hours starting 10/18/2014
Placed my serger in the shop and having a huge learning curb on the new one. This time will be used to process orders, very limited web activity in order to keep a steady and quick production turn around time with current orders. Orders affected will be given priority and express shipping.

I thank you for your patience"

I almost want to send her a message on FB.

Her FB page is under Pretty Elegance though. But she has stuff on there linking back to unbirthday4me & she states its her shop.