Here's the update...
on January 24th, I got a refund! Let's see, that was 6 months and 20 days...
I would like to think it's a sign that they are trying to turn things around over there, but they've lost me as a customer anyway. I had to work too hard just to get my money back! How crazy is it that I got my refund just 2 days after my blog post, when I've been trying to get someone to talk to me for months? Coincidence? Hmmmm...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sphiatt.com and Seth Hiatt
This is an example of how not to run a business.
My first transaction with them was on eBay. It took about a month for my DVDs to arrive, but they did eventually arrive. I left feedback stating that the shipping was slow, but the price was good. I checked his feedback before my fist purchase and there were a few disgruntled customers, but nobody gets a gazillion feedback ratings without encountering a few problems, and he always seemed to have a good reply - refunded or whatever. Plus, I have the safety net of paypal on my side, right? Turns out he had a website, with even more tempting things. (Hey, I got hooked on some silly little Japanese cartoon! There were lots more episodes to be watched!) Eventually, I placed a second order, this time from his website, again paying with paypal, and after about a month, it also shows up in my mailbox. All's good so far...
The third order is my largest yet, because I figure if it takes a month to get here, I'd better just buy the last 3 seasons and finish this. And this is where I join the ranks of unhappy customer. After a while I realize I didn't get my DVDs, so I go to the website (by this time he has a new and very slick website with forums and live support chat and all that good stuff, so I send some emails, I make a few phone calls, I fill out some customer support tickets. I get no emails back, no phone calls returned, and my customer support tickets are closed without any explanation. I check with paypal and it's no big surprise that I've let it go too long to get any help from them. Ok, that was dumb on my part. A little googling and investigating while I'm waiting for my phone calls to be returned reveals that he's no longer a registered ebay user. That usually means he's failed to deliver to a lot of people on eBay. I also notice that he's changed his paypal email address and that usually means that paypal's processed a few too many chargebacks for me@sphiatt.com. Of course, I don't really know if eBay kicked him off or paypal locked his account or he just decided he liked the new email address better (anime-sales@sphiatt.com, in case you were wondering). I also see Seth making a post on some anime forum explaining that he's had some troubles, but he's fired 2 of his customer support people and everything's wonderful now. So, I try another phone call and file another support ticket and again, no response. Still no stuff. So I more or less give up on getting the the DVDs from SPHiatt and order some of them from a guy on eBid. It did take a couple weeks for them to get here, but I've been waiting on SPHiatt since July 4, 2007, so it's good to finally have it, even if I did have to pay twice.
I still need to buy the last season, and I found a guy on eBay who has it! His user id is ironmorgan2 and his feedback is spotless! But here's where it gets strange... he's located in the same little Utah town as SPHiatt and in some of his listings it says:
My first transaction with them was on eBay. It took about a month for my DVDs to arrive, but they did eventually arrive. I left feedback stating that the shipping was slow, but the price was good. I checked his feedback before my fist purchase and there were a few disgruntled customers, but nobody gets a gazillion feedback ratings without encountering a few problems, and he always seemed to have a good reply - refunded or whatever. Plus, I have the safety net of paypal on my side, right? Turns out he had a website, with even more tempting things. (Hey, I got hooked on some silly little Japanese cartoon! There were lots more episodes to be watched!) Eventually, I placed a second order, this time from his website, again paying with paypal, and after about a month, it also shows up in my mailbox. All's good so far...
The third order is my largest yet, because I figure if it takes a month to get here, I'd better just buy the last 3 seasons and finish this. And this is where I join the ranks of unhappy customer. After a while I realize I didn't get my DVDs, so I go to the website (by this time he has a new and very slick website with forums and live support chat and all that good stuff, so I send some emails, I make a few phone calls, I fill out some customer support tickets. I get no emails back, no phone calls returned, and my customer support tickets are closed without any explanation. I check with paypal and it's no big surprise that I've let it go too long to get any help from them. Ok, that was dumb on my part. A little googling and investigating while I'm waiting for my phone calls to be returned reveals that he's no longer a registered ebay user. That usually means he's failed to deliver to a lot of people on eBay. I also notice that he's changed his paypal email address and that usually means that paypal's processed a few too many chargebacks for me@sphiatt.com. Of course, I don't really know if eBay kicked him off or paypal locked his account or he just decided he liked the new email address better (anime-sales@sphiatt.com, in case you were wondering). I also see Seth making a post on some anime forum explaining that he's had some troubles, but he's fired 2 of his customer support people and everything's wonderful now. So, I try another phone call and file another support ticket and again, no response. Still no stuff. So I more or less give up on getting the the DVDs from SPHiatt and order some of them from a guy on eBid. It did take a couple weeks for them to get here, but I've been waiting on SPHiatt since July 4, 2007, so it's good to finally have it, even if I did have to pay twice.
I still need to buy the last season, and I found a guy on eBay who has it! His user id is ironmorgan2 and his feedback is spotless! But here's where it gets strange... he's located in the same little Utah town as SPHiatt and in some of his listings it says:
"If you have ANY problems with your DVD please email us at anime-sales@sphiatt.com and we will address the problem. We strive for 100% feedback! Please email us before you get mad! Thanks!
Seth"
Yeah, right. Like I didn't email first...
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