Received EMPTY BOX from Deep Discount in mail....

Thought some might be interested in this.

I just received an empty box from Deep Discount that was supposed to have a $50 boxset in it!



(I blacked out my name/addy/delivery conf # etc on purpose above)

The post office put 2 stickers on it - the green one and the white one shown above - which are supposed to be checked off to indicate the status (Received Unsealed, or Received Damaged, or Received Without Contents, and initialed by them) yet left them all blank.

In addition, the delivery status on-line has been updated as "DELIVERED"!!! Great....so now the vendor (Deep Discount) can just say that I got it & deny me a refund or replacement & say it was "delivered"!!!!! Goddam post office!!!

I tried calling Deep Discount but they are closed for the day. Will try them again tomorrow but from past dealings with them their customer service is not that great.

Am going to try to go to the local post office tomorrow as well, perhaps I can make them fill out the stickers above or even return this empty box to Deep Discount, or if I can "refuse" delivery on this (even though they already delivered it).

Am wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and what they did about it, especially if in dealings with the same vendor (Deep Discount).

 

nothing that ridiculous, but i once received a box from DirectToU (can't remember which site) for a very large order that was missing an entire 10lb box set. not sure how that happens. after a few e-mails they eventually refunded me, but they were definitely not pleasant about it.

 

if you paid by CC you are covered. File a CC dispute if they screw you out of a refund...paypal will cover you as well.

 

Whatever you do keep the packaging as it will be evidence.

 

Thanks.

I didn't pay by paypal but did use a CC because DeepDiscount is a TERRIBLE place to use paypal. When paying by paypal your money is taken right away instead of when something ships & this was a preorder I placed months ago. Additionally in the past I have had something sent to me from them in damaged condition which I had to return b4 they would give me a refund. And it took over 2 months after I sent it back to get the refund, which I only did get after calling them multiple times b4 they even "processed" it because the status seemed to have gotten completely lost in their "system", & was given conflicting information from different reps in their customer service, some of whom insisted I was already credited when I was not...long story.

If it comes down to it I will have to file a dispute for a refund with the CC and buy it somewhere else, but am afraid item could go out of print in the meantime if it takes months for DD to do anything.

But maybe they will do the right thing and fix this when I talk to them tomorrow. Am hoping for the best but expecting the worst...

 

Yes, I will definitely do that & have photos of it etc, but concerns me that the post office did not check off the boxes nor did they initial it, and that they just marked it as "delivered" in their tracking system.

I wonder if delivery confirmation even includes a status of "delivered but damaged" or "delivered with no contents" etc.

 

You'll be fine. The PO clearly put the stickers on the package. Whether it is their fault or DD's, I'm pretty confident DD will make it right.

 

you cannot lose so buy it again if you are afraid of a price raise.

 

Am hoping so.

This reminds me to say - looks to me like it is the fault of both. Unlike most shipments there is NO TAPE on the box to hold it together. Even though it has that part that fits into the top to "close it" without the tape on it it can easily open up in transit and let the contents fall out. Somewhere in a post office and/or a mail truck there is the DD shipping invoice and a CD boxset just sitting around, probably not even together in the same place.

 

yeah they definitely pack poorly if you order more than a 1-3 items. surely they must know this.

 

No tape. Blown out of the package.

 

Well I spoke to a woman there and she agreed to send me a replacement but that was an ordeal in itself.

I explained what the problem was, that I had received an empty box, that the box was not taped so the contents had fallen out, that the post office put two stickers on it saying it was received damaged/unsealed/without contents, told her the order # for what should have been inside from matching up their delivery conf # with their shipping email etc. She put me on hold for several minutes and when she came back she told me to send it back and then they would send a replacement.

I asked her to clarify - she wanted the empty shipping box back? This led to utter confusion as she said no just send the item back. I had to explain it all over again. At one point she seemed to indicate that she finally understood. Then put me on hold for several more minutes (these holds weren't the horrible kind where you suffer through endless loops of bad music, no this was an interesting hold where I guess they just put the phone down on their desk and walk over to talk to somebody else, or somebody else comes over, and you can hear parts of conversations in the background)....anyways after a couple minutes she came back & said she would send me out an another one. I asked if she wanted me to send a photo of the box or anything but she said no.

I'm hoping this gets done, but have little faith. Had a similar instance happen b4 with them where one support person told me they would do something which was not done then had to follow up again a month later with different person saying it was done and going round in circles etc b4 could get a refund for something damaged that I returned to them.

 

remember you only have a certain amount of time to make a claim on your CC after that you are screwed...don't let them stall.

 

Thx, yeah I know, & have run into this sort of thing b4 where companies either do nothing or lie/stall. Hoping that does not happen here. Think I have 4 months (120 days) for CC but not sure when that countdown starts. If I don't get a replacement or hear more in 30 days I will contact them again, see what happens & go to CC for help as last resort if continues to drag out.

 

good luck... hope you do well.

 

I've never had a problem with their packing b4 (Amazon however is another story where they usually just throw items in a box with a few air pillows and everything bounces around en route hitting into everything else). And this shipping box was perfect size, one of those clamshell type things that folds over/around the boxset like an LP mailer. Just that they did not secure it with tape to make sure it stayed closed. Really weird. Never saw this b4.

 

Is it possible a PO employee stripped the box of its contents and resealed the box with those stickers?

 

Yes someone along the way could have opened it and stolen the contents then put those stickers on it, I have no way of knowing that. I would like to talk to my mailman about it if I see him around to see if he put the stickers on or if they were on already when he got it along with all the stuff for his route.

It definitely was not sealed at any point from what I can see, I think they 4got to put any tape on it to keep it closed b4 they even mailed it therefore the insides fell out innocently along the way instead of being theft. I doubt it ever had any tape on it because from experience DD usually uses heavy/thick paper tape on packages I get from them that does not pull off cleanly (I usually cut it down the middle and from the edges of the boxes to open things). I don't see any evidence of tape having been pulled off anywhere.

The box in my mailbox did NOT even have the top lid part tucked into the opening at bottom of the picture btw it was like half opened. I opened it all the way when I took it out of the mailbox to see if there was at least a shipping notice in there but there was nothing, then I tucked that part in partially when carrying pile of stuff from the mailbox and then took the photo when I got back inside.

 

Thought some people might get entertainment value out of this.

It is proceeding exactly as I feared based on prior experience with DD's customer service a few years ago. Left hand right hand. Conflicting info from them. That other mess lasted over a month b4 that got sorted out and I fear this one might be headed in the same direction.

Since I had not received any sort of followup email from them, no usual shipping email or anything similar to show that they were sending out a replacement for my missing box set, I replied to their original shipping notification email and said that I was just touching base regarding the item in the shipping email, that I never received the item because it fell out of the shipping box which was unsealed, that I had already spoken to one of their customer reps who said she would send me out a replacement, THANKED them very much for taking care of this, and asked that they let me know when the replacement was going to ship.

In response I received this:

Thank you for contacting DeepDiscount.com!

Hello,

Please reply this email with some pictures of what you have received for further assistance.

Again, thank you for writing DeepDiscount.com. We appreciate your business.


Best regards,


IC – DeepDiscount.com Customer Service Support

cs@deepdiscount.com

http://www.deepdiscount.com ​

So I responded to that, sent them photos of the empty shipping box (something I already discussed with the rep on the phone who told me that would not be necessary), explained the whole situation yet again, asked them to give me an updated status etc....heard nothing back but today in the mail I received from them a return shipping label!! Sheesh.

I've asked them to please clarify what is going on, do they actually want that empty box back??? If that is what it takes then I will box up the box and send it. But once again like with prior experience with them, the whole thing is a PITA....

 

That's the corporate name for ImportCDs.

 

... and deep discount. and popmarket.

 

Yeah all of those wonderful on-line places. Filled with joy.

I just had a 3 day FCM sale with importCDs. Went well. They must not do Media Mail anymore.

 

Man dealing with DD now is such a hassle. Cannot get a straight answer on anything. They did not answer my question directly as to whether they want the empty shipping box back from me using their return label which they were not supposed to send in the first place. And last I heard from them was a form letter saying the item was backordered and will be canceled if they don't get it in stock in next 60 days or whatever it was, implying but not saying that they were going to send me another copy (if they can get one). And zero response to my followup asking them to just refund my $ so I can buy this somewhere else b4 it goes out of stock.

Both DD and ImportCDs can have great bargains especially with their sales but their lack of customer service skills and endless hassles in dealing with them should there be any issues leads me to believe now it is just not worth buying from them anymore. Have gone through similar things in the past with both of them, sending me an LP when I ordered a CD, trying to get a refund on damaged items etc, or this one when they 4get to tape the shipping box closed so that I receive an empty box.

 

In case anyone is interested further in this mess I had to complain to my credit card company because DD had still done nothing as of about a week ago in relation to my telling them to just refund my $ like 6 WEEKS ago. The CC has refunded my $$ and opened a dispute with them (whatever that means).

EDIT: 4got to say that when I first spoke to the CC they told me to call DD and give them another chance to fix this situation. So I did that. Once again was a totally confusing misdirection of a conversation. The woman I spoke to sounded like the original one I spoke with (slight asian accent?). Told me it was on backorder and that there was nothing to refund because it was "free". WTF? I deciphered that as meaning that they had placed a backorder for me (despite my telling them to just give me a refund) however there was NOTHING in my account that showed that on my end. I told her that I would wait to see what happens to the backorder for one month more if she/someone at DD sends me an email acknowledging that this is their fault and that I am 100% covered by them for a refund if they cannot send me a replacement, but she refused! I told her that without that acknowledgement by them I cannot simply "trust" that they will do the right thing whilst in the meantime the window to get a refund from my CC could close and then they have no accountability. Again she refused to send me anything in writing to protect me in such a situation. OK, then, I waited one more week, still nothing, and called the CC again to initiate the dispute.

 

I'm in a similar kind of "customer care" hell with UMG, and sympathize deeply.