Horrible Shopbop experience

T

tiktok

O.G.
Jun 19, 2011
454
5,736
#1
I made a purchase at Shopbop that was guaranteed to arrive by tomorrow, Feb 14. They guarantee 3-day shipping, and said during checkout and in their confirmation email "your order is guaranteed to arrive by February 14". I have a trip I needed the item for and had to have it by Feb 14.

Then I saw UPS updated their shipping to Feb 15, which would be too late for my trip, so I asked Shopbop for help. Their response was basically "we apologize for the inconvenience". When I pushed, telling them they specifically have a guarantee on the website, and what is their guarantee worth if they don't stand behind it, their response was:
"We ship our items at the right time for the guaranteed delivery date.
When an item ships, it is under the carrier which we trust enough to deliver the item on time or earlier.
Unfortunately under some circumstances, such as this one, we are unable to control them and we can only apologise for such situations.
I can understand that this is not what you want to hear but I do not have anything else to say."

Is it just me or is this just a horrible way to respond to customers ("I do not have anything else to say"? REALLY?), not to mention why the heck would you have a guarantee if you can't stand behind it? And why would you give me excuses about your supply chain to justify not standing behind your promise to customers?

Has anyone had a similar experience with their shipping guarantee?

Thanks for letting me vent :smile:
 
#2
tiktok said:
I made a purchase at Shopbop that was guaranteed to arrive by tomorrow, Feb 14. They guarantee 3-day shipping, and said during checkout and in their confirmation email "your order is guaranteed to arrive by February 14". I have a trip I needed the item for and had to have it by Feb 14.

Then I saw UPS updated their shipping to Feb 15, which would be too late for my trip, so I asked Shopbop for help. Their response was basically "we apologize for the inconvenience". When I pushed, telling them they specifically have a guarantee on the website, and what is their guarantee worth if they don't stand behind it, their response was:
"We ship our items at the right time for the guaranteed delivery date.
When an item ships, it is under the carrier which we trust enough to deliver the item on time or earlier.
Unfortunately under some circumstances, such as this one, we are unable to control them and we can only apologise for such situations.
I can understand that this is not what you want to hear but I do not have anything else to say."

Is it just me or is this just a horrible way to respond to customers ("I do not have anything else to say"? REALLY?), not to mention why the heck would you have a guarantee if you can't stand behind it? And why would you give me excuses about your supply chain to justify not standing behind your promise to customers?

Has anyone had a similar experience with their shipping guarantee?

Thanks for letting me vent :smile:
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about this. Bought from them a few times, arrived early ( i am in Asia) instead. Could it be the weather? Or just too many orders?
 
#3
Oh dear. So sorry to hear about your experience.

I must say shipping speed is honestly out of their control though.

Can't imagine why they would put a guarantee on that though. Most merchants give a vague range.

Doesn't help that they say "I do not have anything else to say." either.
 
#4
Although perhaps customer service could have been a bit more sympathetic, Shopbop cannot control what happens to the package once it is out of their control. So long as they ship it in the time and by the manner that should have it to you in the appropriate time, they've done all they could do. They cannot account for any delays that UPS (or whoever) may have.

Sorry your package isn't going to arrive on time.
 
#5
Lindsay2367 said:
Although perhaps customer service could have been a bit more sympathetic, Shopbop cannot control what happens to the package once it is out of their control. So long as they ship it in the time and by the manner that should have it to you in the appropriate time, they've done all they could do. They cannot account for any delays that UPS (or whoever) may have.

Sorry your package isn't going to arrive on time.
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the kind words. My issue is not with packages being delayed, it's with the fact that they guarantee shipment and then say "sorry, yeah, we guaranteed it but it's just not going to make it. Btw we don't care". If you give a guarantee you have to stand behind it, not just say "sorry" when the guarantee isn't fulfilled. What's the point in offering a guarantee then?
 
#6
tiktok said:
Thanks everyone for the kind words. My issue is not with packages being delayed, it's with the fact that they guarantee shipment and then say "sorry, yeah, we guaranteed it but it's just not going to make it. Btw we don't care". If you give a guarantee you have to stand behind it, not just say "sorry" when the guarantee isn't fulfilled. What's the point in offering a guarantee then?
Click to expand...

Again, they can only guarantee that they do everything they need to do in order to have the package arrive on time. If the shipping company loses the package or experiences delays (like for weather), Shopbop cannot be held accountable for that. Their guarantee extends to the fact that they have the package packed and shipped by the date required in order to use the carrier's three day shipping method. Shopbop cannot guarantee what happens to the package once it is in the carrier's control.

If Shopbop shipped the package using three day shipping, and the shipping company now indicates that it is going to take longer than the three days to get there, your issue is with the carrier, not Shopbop.
 
#7
Shopbop has given me a 25 .oo gift certificate before when my package was not received in the 3 day time period.
Expecting a package , and not getting it-especially for a special event-is heartbreaking, but it happens. I have issue with the attitude of the SA-
Recently I was shipped TB flats on time, but wrong size, and they sent another pair overnight and told me to ship back the others-I was impressed, and the SA was very nice and accomadating.
Hope your item gets in and you really love it at least.
 
#8
Lindsay2367 said:
Again, they can only guarantee that they do everything they need to do in order to have the package arrive on time. If the shipping company loses the package or experiences delays (like for weather), Shopbop cannot be held accountable for that. Their guarantee extends to the fact that they have the package packed and shipped by the date required in order to use the carrier's three day shipping method. Shopbop cannot guarantee what happens to the package once it is in the carrier's control.

If Shopbop shipped the package using three day shipping, and the shipping company now indicates that it is going to take longer than the three days to get there, your issue is with the carrier, not Shopbop.
Click to expand...
I guess we have a difference of opinions there, because the company I bought from is always the company I have an issue with, not whichever subcontractor they use to provide their service.
If you buy a piece of furniture and the delivery guy dents it, would you be happy with the store telling you to resolve your issue with the delivery company that they subcontract the job to?
The least I would expect is some offer to either go above and beyond with UPS to find out if anything could be done, or offer some sort of compensation to make me feel better about the whole thing (e.g. expedited shipping on my next order), as LABAG described above, instead of telling me "I do not have anything else to say".
Otherwise they are effectively misleading customers, getting all the benefit of "guaranteeing" their shipments, when in fact the guarantee is completely empty and they blow you off with rude dismissals when you complain. There isn't any asterisk that says "btw we're not responsible for UPS delays" when they post the guarantee all over their website to get you to buy, is there?
 
#9
LABAG said:
Shopbop has given me a 25 .oo gift certificate before when my package was not received in the 3 day time period.
Expecting a package , and not getting it-especially for a special event-is heartbreaking, but it happens. I have issue with the attitude of the SA-
Recently I was shipped TB flats on time, but wrong size, and they sent another pair overnight and told me to ship back the others-I was impressed, and the SA was very nice and accomadating.
Hope your item gets in and you really love it at least.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is more along the lines of what I expected them to do. Not to blow me off like some pesky unreasonable customer. Glad you had a good experience with them - I hope it's just that particular rep that was terrible and not their customer service attitude that has changed.
 
#10
tiktok said:
I guess we have a difference of opinions there, because the company I bought from is always the company I have an issue with, not whichever subcontractor they use to provide their service.
If you buy a piece of furniture and the delivery guy dents it, would you be happy with the store telling you to resolve your issue with the delivery company that they subcontract the job to?
The least I would expect is some offer to either go above and beyond with UPS to find out if anything could be done, or offer some sort of compensation to make me feel better about the whole thing (e.g. expedited shipping on my next order), as LABAG described above, instead of telling me "I do not have anything else to say".
Otherwise they are effectively misleading customers, getting all the benefit of "guaranteeing" their shipments, when in fact the guarantee is completely empty and they blow you off with rude dismissals when you complain. There isn't any asterisk that says "btw we're not responsible for UPS delays" when they post the guarantee all over their website to get you to buy, is there?
Click to expand...

First, there is a difference between a subcontractor and a shipping carrier. Shopbop does not "subcontract" to UPS; UPS is a shipping carrier and it is not the same thing.

Second, again, there is absolutely NO WAY that Shopbop can guarantee what happens once they place the package in the hand of the carrier. Shopbop cannot control what happens to the package. Certainly, if the carrier is not consistently not delivering the packages within the time frame for the shipping method that Shopbop pays for, I'm sure Shopbop will raise the issue with them, or switch carriers if it is routinely a problem. But absent that, there is nothing that Shopbop can do if the carrier has to spend extra time delivering a package. My guess is that (especially having been in Chicago this past weekend, not too far from Madison) the weather is not helping matter right now, and it may be difficult for the carriers to get the packages delivered on time.

Why don't you try calling them again and explaining the situation? Like another poster before said, they credited her some money for the fact that the carrier did not deliver an item within the scheduled time. I've always found their customer service to be extremely helpful, so maybe you just happened to get someone who was not in a particularly helpful mood that day (not that that is any excuse for poor customer service). It can't hurt to try again.
 
#11
Have to say I totally agree with you, if Shopbop themselves guarantee a date it will arrive, then it should arrive on that date. If things might happen and UPS might not get it there on time then they should not guarantee a date. The only time I would accept their excuse is if there were some sort of EXTREME weather conditions that prevented it arriving on time - that really is out of everyone's control.

I'd kick up more of a fuss, call them instead of emailing and see what happens.

I haven't been that impressed with their email responses either. Their prepaid duty charge has gone up at least three times of what it used to be when the rates haven't changed, I asked why this happened and for an explanation and the response I got was a 'I don't know and can't be bothered finding out for you'. Not great.
 
#12
A business shouldn't place a guarantee on something they can't control. They weren't very smart to guarantee a shipping date, but because they did, it is now their responsibility to remedy the situation with their customer, ie. shipping credit or similar compensation.

Businesses, and people, should stand behind their word. A good rule to remember is don't place a guarantee on something you won't...or can't...control.

The original poster has placed her dissatisfaction with the proper entity, ShopBop.
 
#13
Also just to add that the reason why I think this is Shopbop's responsibility is that they have basically misled you into buying from them. You needed it by a certain date, they said it would get there on that date, and that's why you chose to purchase it from them. If they had said it might be a day or two late then you wouldn't have bought it. The information on their website is misleading. They really should just not offer a guarantee and add a bit of leeway to their delivery times.
 
#14
tiktok said:
Yeah, this is more along the lines of what I expected them to do. Not to blow me off like some pesky unreasonable customer. Glad you had a good experience with them - I hope it's just that particular rep that was terrible and not their customer service attitude that has changed.
Click to expand...

Someone was having a BAD DAY! My experience was right after Christmas.When you get it, why dont you call them and ask for a gift certificate, for your inconvenience, nicely off course.:smile:
 
#15
Lindsay2367 said:
First, there is a difference between a subcontractor and a shipping carrier. Shopbop does not "subcontract" to UPS; UPS is a shipping carrier and it is not the same thing.

Second, again, there is absolutely NO WAY that Shopbop can guarantee what happens once they place the package in the hand of the carrier. Shopbop cannot control what happens to the package. Certainly, if the carrier is not consistently not delivering the packages within the time frame for the shipping method that Shopbop pays for, I'm sure Shopbop will raise the issue with them, or switch carriers if it is routinely a problem. But absent that, there is nothing that Shopbop can do if the carrier has to spend extra time delivering a package. My guess is that (especially having been in Chicago this past weekend, not too far from Madison) the weather is not helping matter right now, and it may be difficult for the carriers to get the packages delivered on time.

Why don't you try calling them again and explaining the situation? Like another poster before said, they credited her some money for the fact that the carrier did not deliver an item within the scheduled time. I've always found their customer service to be extremely helpful, so maybe you just happened to get someone who was not in a particularly helpful mood that day (not that that is any excuse for poor customer service). It can't hurt to try again.
Click to expand...


I agree that OP should contact Shopbop again and tell them that the item wasn't delivered on the promised date and that she received extremely poor customer service the first time she called to discuss the matter. It would also help if she makes it clear to Shopbop what she wants them to do now - give her a credit, pay for return shipping of an item that is now useless to her because she bought it for a specific event, or whatever.

I disagree with you, though, that Shopbop is not responsible for the delay; the website states quite clearly that if you use the particular methods listed, they guarantee - no if's, and's or but's - that the order will arrive on the date stated in the consumer's checkout and confirmation letter:

http://www.shopbop.com/ci/aboutShopBop/customerservice.html#usa-shipping5

Just because Shopbop can't control what happens when they place the package in the hands of the carrier doesn't mean they shouldn't be held liable for the delay; they are the one who made the promise to OP and she purchased the product from them, not the carrier, in reliance on that promise. If Shopbop can't be sure that the carrier will deliver on time 100% of the time, they have no business guaranteeing delivery dates to consumers, and they should certainly try to make things right when a delivery date is missed! Or at least, that's my perspective.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back