Aquabid shipping issues! Need to vent!

I am soooooooooooooo frustrated! I ordered a package of plants off of aquabid 2-3 weeks ago. The seller had great feedback and only one negative comment from a really long time ago. After I purchased the package I emailed him SEVERAL times over the course of the next week and he did not respond. He finally responded after a week and a half. He told me that he would send me an invoice momentarily and it came 2 days later! I paid him via paypal. I asked him to ship my plants out on Monday. He confirmed that Monday would work. I emailed him for shipping information and he emailed me on Tuesday (the day after the plants were supposed to ship) with a very jumbled email that said the plants were shipped and that I would be getting shipping info momentarily. I was confused because he never asked me how I wanted them shipped or where to ship to. I finally got the shipping info on Thursday (he did not ship the plants out until then), and he shipped the plants to the WRONG ADDRESS!!!!! I haven't lived at the old address for over a year. He got it off of paypal and did not use my shipping address that I have posted on my aquabid account. I emailed him a complaint and told him to fix it and now he is saying that somehow it is my fault because my paypal address wasn't current (nobody has ever gone by that address!) I don't think I will get my money back or the plants I am so frustrated because the school that I coach at messed up on their accounting and I am not getting my paycheck this month as expected. I can't afford to order more plants and I had just purchased new light fixtures for my birthday so that I could set up planted tanks. I am so bummed. Sorry to dump this on you guys, but I really needed to vent. I don't think that there is anything I can do to remedy the situation and it just makes me sad that a person would be so careless and irrespondsible to a customer.

 

Ouch. Just not your month, huh?

To be perfectly honest: If you provided him a shipping address in any of your e-mails to him before the shipping date then he should refund you completely. If the new address wasn't provided figuring that he would ask then I could see an arguement for maybe having to swallow half the cost and him take on half of it, but definitely not 100% of it to you.

Sounds like the guy needs more bad feedback, because he obviously is not very disciplined as far as business goes.

 

could you contact your old address and have them forward your package?

 

Ouch. Just not your month, huh?

To be perfectly honest: If you provided him a shipping address in any of your e-mails to him before the shipping date then he should refund you completely. If the new address wasn't provided figuring that he would ask then I could see an arguement for maybe having to swallow half the cost and him take on half of it, but definitely not 100% of it to you.

Sounds like the guy needs more bad feedback, because he obviously is not very disciplined as far as business goes.

I know I should have given him a shipping address up front, but I didn't think to because everyone else I have ordered from on that site has used my aquabid address. I was just so frazzled because the communication was awful

 

could you contact your old address and have them forward your package?

I don't know how I could contact them. I don't have a phone number or anything.

 

that sucks, i'm sorry to hear it. regardless of who is at fault, it really sucks to be anticipating something and get let down. maybe you'll get lucky and the post office will forward it anyway. hope so.

 

I agee with CWC a shipment address should have been supplied to him, and it should have been sent there. if it was not sent to the address supplied, then you should ask for a full refund on all $

 

I agee with CWC a shipment address should have been supplied to him, and it should have been sent there. if it was not sent to the address supplied, then you should ask for a full refund on all $

I did not email him a shipping address because I have one posted on my aquabid account. All of the other sellers that I have bought from have used that one. I just feel like if the addresses were different (which I was not aware of until the package got shipped to the wrong one) he should have emailed me to clarify or at least asked me to confirm what address I wanted it shipped to. I asked him how it was going to be shipped and he did not give me the details until after he had already shipped it. I know that I should have been smart and included my address with the email anyways, but I have never had a problem before, so I just didn't forsee anything going wrong

 

Awww. Its okay Kate, sometimes even the best of us forget the essentials. Since you had no problems before it is reasonable to assume you wouldn't have problems from that transaction in particular, but now that it has happened atleast you are able to fix that one problem and not encounter it again.

(Atleast it was on something like plants and not on fish)

 

Thanks CWC! I needed that. It's true, its way better that it was plants and not fish. Just not my month I guess

 

LoL. Atleast you can look forward to next month being better! I mean, heck, it starts with a day of jokes.

 

lol!

 

Mental note, all orders placed using email or inter-net must have delivery address.
Your loss and post has prompted the rest of us that read this post to make sure we add our delivery address on orders.
ps I get caught on the 1st April each year..

 

Sigh. We who order online need to be so careful never to make assumptions I ordered HikarI Freeze-dried Bloodworms via ebay.. never made it through customs, and was destroyed at quarantine. Didn't get my money back because I should have checked to see if it will come through customs, so it was my assumption that lost me $50 buckaroos.

On an upside - I got my two bottles of Vita-Chem (also through ebay)! I wasn't sure it would make it through customs, but it did! Woot woot!

 

Because the seller didn't bother to verify any of your information, or respond to any of your inquiries in a timely fashion, it's pretty obvious that he didn't care where it went. He just wanted the money. You should have some recourse through whatever site you found him on or through Paypal, as he was intentionally careless. His behavior is fraudulent, so don't just give up and let him get away with it. It may be frustrating, but you have to pursue this and have the situation remedied, then leave DETAILED feedback about his many failings so that people know not to trust him and why.

Sigh. We who order online need to be so careful never to make assumptions I ordered HikarI Freeze-dried Bloodworms via ebay.. never made it through customs, and was destroyed at quarantine. Didn't get my money back because I should have checked to see if it will come through customs, so it was my assumption that lost me $50 buckaroos.

This surprises me...even off of ebay, you shouldn't be held responsible for the actions at customs. Any responsible seller or site would verify that the product being shipped CAN be shipped to a buyer before charging them and shipping the product. That's just common sense...which, unfortunately, isn't all that "common". Did you contact the seller and the site and verify that they're dumping the blame on you, rather than owning up to their own failings in the process?

 

HI Kate
so sorry to hear about your problem. As a seller/buyer and a user of PayPal I can understand your frustration. It seems that your seller used the invoice that is provided by PayPal when you paid him. If your address is not current on that, there lies part of the problem. So many sellers use the 'auto-bill-pay" options, it saves on time that way and if your old address is still there, it shows up on the invoice, hence is why he shipped it to your old address. From what I understand you didnt email him your new/current address in any of your emails, so there was no way for him to know that you had not updated your address at PayPal or that there was a different address at all. It would be a good time to go into your PayPal account and update your address so that it doesn't happen again. It only takes a few minutes. I had to go through the same thing myself, so I can understand your frustration, and I hurried to makes sure my (ebay) and PayPal addresses were current.
Unfortunately, the seller is not liable. It was not up to him to anticipate that you did not have an updated address in the account that you used to pay for the item.
I hope that your Post office still has the address forward and hopefully you will receive the plants asap. keeping my fingers crossed for you. Only good thing is that it was not fish you ordered. :-\
~ kate

 

I hate ordering on line, I had a go round about a pair of boots for at Christmas.
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble.

I don't know how I could contact them. I don't have a phone number or anything.

Since you know your old address, try one of those free search sites, you might be able to find the phone number.
Or try the post office nearest your old residence, the people who receive them might send them back.
Good luck.

 

Luna; unfortunately, depending on the laws of the originating country, there may be little recourse for the actions at customs, unless eBay has policies devoted strictly to that. In my experience with eBay, the shipper has to provide proof of shipment, and he's off the hook. Since he did ship the bloodworms, he's probably off the hook as far as eBay's concerned. Therefore, you're looking at international purchase laws. In the US, I believe that the shipper is responsible for these laws, and therefore, people won't ship certain things to certain countries because they're illegal.

I agree with you on how is should be, but it's kind of like the USPS. They actually have no obligation to do what you have paid them to do, unless you purchase insurance. Think about it. If you go to McDonald's, pay for a Big Mac, and they don't give it to you, they owe you a Big Mac or your money back. If you go to a car dealership, pay for a Spectra, and they don't give it to you, they owe you a Spectra or your money back.
If you go to the post office, order delivery to Kansas, and the package gets lost in the process, too bad. Kinda cheap in my opinion.

Sorry about your shipping woes, newbeefishlover. Hopefully I don't end up going through a similar instance. I ordered a bunch of stuff from a guy on Aquabid/eBay (he didn't have everything I wanted on either site, so I had to split the order up)

 

HI Guys,
Thanks for listening and the great advice. I updated my paypal account last night so hopefully it won't happen again. I am glad that this post and my experience could at least serve as a warning to everyone else about ordering online. Being cautious is so important. Honestly, I have had great experiences from everyone else I have ordered from off of aquabid, but I do not think I will EVER order from this seller again. Oh well, I guess this stuff just happens sometimes.

 

That really stinks and he should ship new plants to you, at least half of the cost. It sounds like he didn't confirm your shipping address with you.