Well, it's hard to say if you would call it business, but I did get a delivery today. I ordered some books last month, (1/21/04) which was supposed to come UPS ground (overnight, as I'm only about 100 miles away...we even have the same
area code, for cryin' out loud! It's been nothing but a hassle. On 1/31/04, after numerous unanswered emails and voicemails (when their voicemail worked) I finally faxed them, which got a response from Anna, claiming that they mailed it once, but it was damaged in inspection and returned (which, according to the USPS, is B.S. They claimed it's up to the recipient to file a claim, if it happened...). I pointed out that according to my invoice, they were supposed to send it UPS, not USPS. She said it would go out again right away, via UPS...
Of course it never came.
Numerous phone calls later, I finally get another response from Anna on 2/6/04, claiming that she hasn't been able to deal with company business all week, due to personal issues, and assures me that it will go out THAT DAY, and she would contact me with the UPS tracking number via phone or email.
Of course, it never came.
I started emailing again on Tuesday (returned with fatal errors), tried calling (voicemail won't take message) and faxing. In the fax, I asked to be called by 5:00 on my cel, or I would need to been given a refund.
Of course, there was no response.
On Wednesday, 2/11/04 I emailed, faxed, and sent by certified mail to their business address a demand for refund. Then, did a little investigating to find out who the owners were. The person listed as the President of the corporation with the state (who I got on the phone at work) claimed that he had a falling out with the other principle, and hadn't even spoken with his ex-partner, or his partner's wife, Anna, in a couple of years.
I left a message at the partner's home number, getting the same voicemail system as the Rocketmotion phone number.
Finally, on 2/12/04, since I paid through Paypal, I filed a complaint through them, asking them to try to obtain a refund from his account. A couple hours later, I noticed a new tab on my Paypal screen, showing where they had frozen funds in Rocketmotion's Paypal account, and that they had sent him a notice stating that they would freeze those funds until he showed that he had refunded the money, or provided proof of delivery. He had 10 days to respond to them satisfactorily, if not, they'd credit my account with the money. So I was satisfied that I would get my money back sooner or later.
Well, freezing the account got a reaction...
Checking my email at work this morning (2/14/04) I get an email from Rocketmotion:
Hello,
I am sorry I was suppose to send out your package last weekend, but didn't get around till yesterday to do it. Anna had to leave for a few weeks. I will call her and have her refund your money to you. I am sorry I didn't go through email either. So just go ahead and refuse the package.
Of course, since it's only an overnight trip, when I got home, the package was sitting on the front porch. He didn't request a signature, so I had no chance to refuse it. Apparently, hitting them in the wallet is the way to go here, if you can. I also read a couple of negative postings to this effect at the Rocketryonline forum, as well.
This is one vendor who I will not do business with again.
Alan
