This is the almost epic story of my dealings with Absolute Titanium Design (ATD).
I ordered a pair of earrings from ATD on Dec. 3, 2011, and posted a check on that same day. I believed that I was giving plenty of time for the check to clear (check cleared my bank on Dec. 8, 2011) and the order to be filled and shipped by Christmas. I was wrong. The order was not processed until Dec 27 or 28, and that was after I had made two telephone calls and sent four emails trying to find out what was being done. When the order finally arrived on Jan. 7, 2012, it was incorrect; I had ordered blue stones in the earrings and they shipped clear ones. I was less than pleased that a simple order had taken over one month to be filled, and then was wrong. Interestingly, the package had a Canadian Customs declaration on it valuing the contents at $19.00. I immediately returned the package, and what followed was an eleven day email saga which I will try to summarize here.
I fired off an email asking for a refund and an explanation as to why something that I had paid $50.00 for was valued at $19.00. The response that I got was that the stated value was to expedite shipping of the package. That seems like a stupid excuse; what postal service would take longer to ship a $50 item than a $19 one? They could have said they use the wholesale price for customs valuation; that seems like a more reasonable explanation.
ATD stated they would ship a corrected order for free and give me $50 credit toward further purchases from them. I replied that I thought their service had been terrible, and that I wanted nothing from them except my money back. At this point I submitted an online review that had an error. Fortunately the review was never posted. Thinking that the review was online, I told ATD that I would correct the error that I had made, but my new review would still be negative. I restated that I only wanted my money back. I did not want their products or their credit.
This is where things got interesting. I have had poor service before, but this is the first time I have had a company threaten me. The following are exact quotes from emails from ATD (italics added by me).
First there was this: As the (I am sure) the proud owner of Archer Bicycle Repair Shop I am sure that if a client or a supplier were to smear your personal or business name by spreading half truths you would not respect the move. Would you if we were to do so? --Of course not and we do not blame you.
The next email spelled out the threat in a more blatant fashion: We were entertaining the notion (brought by the Webmaster) of plastering bad reviews regarding the lack of integrity of the owner of the Archer Bicycle Repair Shop, and he even came up with a list of forums to do so. After all, you spread misleading half-truths about us. Still, we rejected the idea as we find it simply too easy and unfair to torpedo businesses through such web, malicious reviews.
Their last contact with me contained this gem: We will be following up on your reviews and decide how to react.
ATD did offer to refund my money, under the condition that I never comment about their company. Here is the exact quote from ATDs email: Remove all negative reviews of us by you and confirm the same to us with a word of honor not to do so afterwards.
We will accept the mailed package and refund your $50 by check once in receipt of it, thereby bending our Public Warranty's terms
All of this could have been avoided had ATD not tried to make everything the fault of the customer. They complained that I ordered in December (their busiest time). If ATD can not fill orders in December it should inform its customers. They complained that I paid by check (payment by check is the only way to get free shipping). They complained that they are a manufacturer not a reseller so they keep a nonrefundable down payment on every order ($50 minimum). It seems that if ATD makes mistakes in production, the customer is the one who is punished. When everything goes correctly, Im sure that ATDs customers are happy, but when they go wrong the blame is turned on the customer.
My experience with Absolute Titanium Design has been one giant pain in the back side.
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