Trying not to be furious

Written on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 by Jessica

I ordered my sister's Christmas present from LTD Commodities well in advance -- November 7. I had to prepay using a ridiculously inconvenient system: they sent a postcard with the item's cost minus shipping, which took several days via snail mail. (You can't pay with a credit card on their site b/c they don't accept credit cards.) I immediately sent payment, and then I waited. And waited. Finally, on December 17, they "shipped" my package. Of course, I use the term "shipped" loosely. The 17th was a Saturday, after all, on today (Tuesday), the item's status at UPS is "billing information received," which means the item hasn't even been picked up yet. I don't know how I'm possibly going to have time to get it by Friday, which is the day we're having Christmas with my sister.

Maybe it will in fact arrive on or before Friday, in which case my current mood will be pointless. I'm trying to wait until it really is too late before I become furious.

UPDATE: I received an email from LTD Commodities to tell me my item has shipped and should arrive in ten business days. Here's the letter I wrote, which was a waste of time because I don't feel any better.

I am officially furious. I ordered my item on November 7, well in advance of Christmas. When nervously checking my item's status on December 14 or 15, I naively believed the statement on your site that promised, “If you’re item’s status is ‘preparing to ship,’ assume that it has shipped. We won’t be updating order statuses until December 20." The first thing I did the morning of the 20th was check the status of my item. It finally "shipped" on December 17, which merely means that your site claims it shipped on December 17. As of today (December 20), however, my item's status at UPS is still "billing information received," which usually means the carrier hasn't even picked it up yet. The last straw was the e-mail I received this afternoon (December 20) saying that my item has shipped and should arrive in ten business days. I need it in three days for Christmas with my sister.

It is absolutely unbelievable that it takes six weeks to ship an item. I'm sure that part of problem is the ridiculous policy of sending a postcard via snail mail so that I could pay in advance of shipment. After I placed my order, it took two weeks for the postcard to arrive. I had to return this payment via snail mail because there is no way to pay instantly with a credit card. I sent payment immediately because I was concerned about receiving the item in time for Christmas. It took over a week an a half for my check to clear. It then took another two and a half weeks for the item to finally ship. If I'd had any idea that LTD Commodities was such an undependable company, I obviously would never have placed an order. Even if my item miraculously arrives in time for Christmas, I can assure you it wasn’t worth the stress.

UPDATE #2: Well, guess what. UPS now says my item is in transit and will deliver today! Does this mean I have to eat crow? I'm not sure, because as I said in my letter, even if my order arrived in time, it wasn't worth the stress.
UPDATE #3: My package arrived in time for Christmas. LTD Commodities never responded to my letter.

Posted in Complaint letters |

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to our feed