Horrible experience with Reptile Depot. Need some advice.

[fifthdawn]

Ok, heres the story.

On November 29th, I placed an order on some live plants, a CHE, and some shipping supplies. I got an email confirming my order and they'll send a shipping confirmation. I never got the shipping confirmation email. But I thought thats fine, Ive had that happen with other places in past but they shipped anyways. Waited a week for order to come (December 4th).

Never got my package so I decided to email them. Never got a response. I just figured maybe it takes some time to reply. So I waited till December 8th. Then I figured okay, why don't I just call them (December 9th).

I called and the conversation pretty much went like this
RD: Reptile depot...
Me: Hi, I placed an order on the 29th and I was wondering if its shipped yet and if not, whats might be the problem?
RD: I'm sorry, the shipping manager isn't in right now, try calling back in an hour.
(Hour later)
RD: Reptiledepot...
Me: (same thing above)
RD: I'm sorry the shipping manager isn't in today, try calling back tomorrow.

So I did (December 10th), same thing happened pretty much.
So I called back tomorrow again (December 11).

I got a different person this time, or I think so, I couldn't tell.

RD: Reptile depot...
Me: (same as above)
RD: What did you order?
Me: Some plants, CHE, and shipping supplies
RD: Oh, it seems like that plants you ordered are not in stock but they're in now, I'll ship them today.
Me: okay cool, thanks a lot (December 11th).

So I waited until December 17th and decided to call them just because I never got a shipping confirmation. I wanted to get a tracking number.
Same convo, shipping manager wasnt in, call back tomorrow.
So I called back, (December 18th)

So heres what happened. Said he wasn't in, call back in an hour. So I did, and I finally got the shipping manager to give me the tracking number. He said the number, I repeated it back to him as I wrote it down.

Next I checked and the shipping number does not work. So I'm thinking maybe I made an error and wrote it down wrong. So I decided to call fedex. Normally you can give them your address and they can tell you if any packages are coming to you. Nope, no packages at all.

So I called them back again...
They told me the shipping manager left for the day. Call back monday.

So I need some advice. This feels like a horrible joke. What do I do? Do I have 90 days on my credit card to dispute the charges if I don't get my package?

 

[egyptiandan]

That's definately "no way" to run a business. You might want to call Monday and cancel your order. You should be able to call your credit card company and cancel the charge (I think) or file a claim if you can't.

Danny

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Tell the Better Business Bureau... But I doubt their is anything can do besides tarnish them?

 

[webskipper]

Tell the Better Business Bureau... But I doubt their is anything can do besides tarnish them?

Call them once more and if the conversation is another waste of oxygen then Go through your credit card company.

I have my own business and communication is the key to life in general.

 

[Weloveourtortoise]

I would call them again, if the shipping manager is not available ask to speak to the shipping manager's boss-- president, owner, etc. If still not satisfied cancel the order and call your CC company and cancel the charges claiming you never received merchandise.-- good luck

 

[Candy]

As long as you tried to take care of it through them and they wouldn't help you now you can dispute it with your credit card company. I would do what Danny said and cancel the order and tell them that you will take it up with your credit card company. Always get the name of the person to whom you've spoken and write down the date and the time so you can give that to the card company or the company that you are dealing with if needed. Good luck. Thanks for passing on this information about this company. It helps. I just yahoo'd that name is that the one in Chatworth, CA?

 

[fifthdawn]

Thanks, for all the advice

Yea its in Chatsworth. I'll wait till Monday and see whats up. If I can't get them to ship it or give me a working tracking number, I'll just call my credit card company.

 

[Akuma]

If the item you ordered was in stock - and a week later they tell you it was out of stock - that is a significant sign that they are not running a serious buisness.
I would be very wary of such an organization that claims having lots of products in stock but in reality they have very little - or none.
I would ask for a full refund and shop somewhere else.

 

[Shelly]

Haven't there been previous complaints about this business before on these forums?

 

[fhintz]

Judging from their website, this looks like a single location store which leads me to think one of two possibilities (or both):

1) Either they really aren't geared towards online ordering even though they offer it, and probably do only have 1 person dealing with it at all

2) With the extra business at Christmas, things are getting lost in the shuffle

On ReferenceUSA, the store owner's name is Larry Martin. You may want to try asking for him directly on the phone and/or writing a letter to him directly if you still want to pursue the order, though canceling altogether and disputing the charge may be less hassle from what you've said so far. It also shows they only have 5 employees, which is less than I see at my local pet stores any time I go in. My impression is that they just are not suited to offer online ordering.

Hope you get resolution one way or the other.

Frank

 

[TylerStewart]

Sounds like the Reptile Depot I know. There's been a million cases just like this. Check FaunaClassifieds.com on the Board of Inquiry, there's a bunch of these.
You'll never get "upper management" on the phone. I bet half the calls they get there are people with complaints. The managers know better than to be available for phone calls.

Your best bet would be to call and give them 24 hours to show you a tracking number that shows something is on the way to you (meaning, they need to pack it and ship it out, then give you the tracking number within 24 hours), or you want to cancel the order. If they bat around the bush at all after the 24 hours, I would do a chargeback on the card or PayPal, or however you paid.

You would think these guys wouldn't have the guts to show up at the expos, but they still do all the time on the West coast (they'll probably be at the Pomona show in a few weeks). The only reason they're still in business is because a few people still don't know they run business this way.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

I didn't see you say whether they had even charged your card yet or not. A lot of businesses don't put the charge on your account till the product actually ships.

If I were you, I'd also print out the first post you put in this thread, and send that with an accompanying note to the company president, registered mail.

If this was all an accidental mix-up, you will get an apology, an explanation and possibly a coupon for some free stuff. If you get no response, do not make any more purchases from Reptile Depot and tell all your friends and relatives to avoid it as well, thus speeding its exit from the marketplace.

 

[fifthdawn]

Yep, its charged.

Well, I called today, the shipping manager wasn't in, try again tomorrow...

So I said I would like a refund. They said they can't refund it and they can only give me store credit. I said what good is storecredit if you can't even ship out my order. He gave me an attitude and said its store policy, so I just hung up.

I'm just gonna call my credit card company. Even if they're willing to ship it, I don't even think they deserve my money.

 

[Meg90]

That's so interesting! I've ordered twice from Reptile Depot and been happy (and had timely orders) on both occasions.

 

[fifthdawn]

I must be unlucky then.

I would still be cautious of future orders. I shoulda checked the BBB before I ordered, its just I got so used to orders going as planned.

http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/Reptile-Depot-13115338

 

[Candy]

Wow! I would never do business with them after seeing that rating that they got. Meg you'd bettered check it out before you order from them again. You might have just been lucky those times before.

 

[Stazz]

Well don't you worry - I ordered my stuff in August !!!!!!!!!! STILL NOT HERE !!!!!!! I actually totally forgot about it recently, thanks for reminding me. I am not sure as to how we should go about it from here ! I think I must call our Credit card company and tell them they put the charge through (which they have) and I have yet to receive anything !!!! I am absolutely fuming !!!!!!!

---

Fifth Dawn, I have had the same thing as you, shipping manager is never in, blah blah blah, always some excuse, and I think I am ready to blow my gasket. They are STEALING, that is fraud. You cannot charge someones credit card and not send them their order. I will let you know how I go with this.

 

[fifthdawn]

Thanks, I just saw your thread in you made in august. Very similar situation. Your shipping manager is Pedro? Mines was Peter lol Unless they changed manager in 3 months.