RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Initially, this seemed like an easy way to get the product I needed (100 fold flat Koozies imprinted on one side in one color). The price seemed reasonable, the proofs were sent quickly and a requested correction also came quickly.

That is where this order came off the tracks, however. No confirmation was ever sent telling me that the signed & faxed acceptance had ever been received and/or that the order had been sent into production. I called two days after faxing my final proof acceptance back and was told that it had been received and sent to production. I asked what I could expect in terms of a ship date, letting them know what my drop dead date was and was told that was going to be no problem.

I then called the week I expected the item to ship and asked for an update on when it would ship. I ended up having to call four times over two days as the first three women I talked to said they had to call the "factory" and then get back to me. No one ever did, whether because the factory didn't call back or because customer service didn't call me back. I finally did get a call back from the fourth woman (who assured me on the phone when I talked to her initially that she hadn't been the one who didn't call me back ... as if there were others in customer service for whom that was possible). There was no apology on behalf of the Customer Service department, just a slightly belligerent attitude that made me feel as if I was imposing by asking for an order status.

When she finally called me back, she told me the order was due to ship four days after the original person had told me. I told her that would be too late and that I would have to cancel the order. She said, "no problem." I had to ask if the credit card had already been charged. I also enquired why no confirmation of the estimated ship date was ever sent. To both questions she told me in a "Who-is-this-idiot?" tone that that information was all available on the website.

I told her I thought it might be nice to have that information on the order confirmation and that it might be nice to get an order to production email with an estimated ship date. She said "They would take it under advisement" in tone that left no doubt she would forget me as soon as she hung up the phone.