Thursday, June 19, 2008

Venting or Ranting, whatever

Update at bottom
Last month, I searched the internet for a bicycle for Ashlyn. Schwinn has a cute little girl's bicycle that I ordered for her birthday. I found a company through Amazon.com that, according to their store information, was willing to ship to an APO, Performance Bicycle. I was charged for this bicycle and shipping on May28th. The same day, I received an email that my order had been shipped, including a tracking number. According to the tracking number, my order had been picked up for shipment.



I kept checking our mail, hoping to see a large box. I didn't get worried about it until last week. I finally contacted Performance bicycle this week when I still hadn't received the bicycle. After my second email to them, telling them that I assumed the bicycle had been lost in transit and would like a full refund, I received a response.

Dear Ms. Harris,
Performance does not offer shipping of a bike to an APO address. You will need to contact Amazon for a refund. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Regards,
Jennifer
Customer Service

Ashlyn's birthday party is tomorrow! I received this email last night.

Had this company told me A MONTH AGO that they couldn't ship to an APO, I could have 1)had it shipped to one of our parents or 2) bought the cheaper one that I saw at the PX in Graf last weekend.

First of all, I find it quite irritating when companies don't ship to an APO, since the government picks up the extra tab for shipping. It costs the same to ship (through the USPS) to New York as it does to me. Amazon.com (or one of their partner stores) has shipped both a stroller and a car seat directly to me. Both of these weighed as much or more than this little bicycle. This isn't even the point, though. I should have been given this information 1 MONTH AGO. Before I was charged. When I could have ordered from somewhere else, or when I could have purchased the bike at the PX. Now, they may still have a bike at the Graf PX. However, it is an hour and a half away. The party is TOMORROW, and I was there last week. I could also drive to Regensburg to buy a bicycle. It's less than half an hour away, but bikes there were about 100 euro, which comes out to over$150, for a bike that will be only be used for a couple of years. And, Ashlyn's party is TOMORROW. I have plenty of other things to do to get ready, besides run around looking for a gift that I had the foresight to order a MONTH EARLY.

Ok, I'm going to bake a cake, and call the px when they open.

Fortunately, the Graf PX did have a bicycle left when I called, AND they held it for me! AND, it cost less than I was paying to ship the other bicycle!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find this all very frustrating also! I had an Old Navy order take ONE MONTH to get here, while an Amazon order of books and cd's only took one weekend...how weird. I am sorry about the bike, maybe you could get an alternative present and cut out a picture of the bike for Ashlyn and tell her that it is coming soon?

Unknown said...

Brenda has a good idea. But, how frustrating! I wish congress would pass a law about APO/FPO shipping. The only companies I do not get mad at are the companies who ONLY use UPS or fedEx. Though, I don't know why they do that b/c it's cheaper 90% of the time to ship USPS.

I too would be so upset about this. And driving around town to get what you need is more than frustrating. I think I lose hair every time something like that happens! Good luck with everything!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am feeling you, Angie. I'm trying to get a swingset for Beth, so I find a seemingly safe, simple to put together one online and order it...to later be told they're temporarily not selling it online. So now I'm planning a trip two hours away to get the thing (the gas will probably cost more than the shipping), which may or may not even be there, and the people working in the ACTUAL STORE cannot tell me what the dimensions of the box are, so I know whether I need to borrow a truck or what. I realize that these are tiny, tiny problems compared to what many people are faced with every day...but they are annoying! And avoidable, if people would just do what they should!

Thank you for allowing space for my little rant. I hope Ashlyn has a beautiful birthday...I cannot BELIEVE that she'll be three years old! This isn't going to happen to Beth, is it? And if it is, will she magically potty train herself by then?

ceemarie said...

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Have a wonderful day!!