I've been using this site for online shopping for years now. I've bought all kinds of things there, starting with craft supplies. I moved around, checking out various vendors, and finally decided my favorite, as well as the one I most wished to support, was Oliverstar, workers in small hand crafted glass beads. I was drawn mostly to their roses, though there are other flowers and other beads there. I made an effort to keep supporting them, since they are in the Ukraine, once Putin invaded. I never had any kind of issue - except a change in my finances - and patiently waited the extra time to receive my packages. They usually popped an extra something in their packages. I only wish I were still in need of their products, though I've gotten more into gardening in our new home.
I haven't visited Etsy much recently, though I do look at my daughter's site there, called SkuldsStitches, for those who love scandinavian needlework, every so often. I'm not a customer because she gifts me directly, and I merely have to look in the right direction to see her work.
Birthdays in the family are coming up again - everybody's a fall baby - and I just placed a couple orders for presents, their nature not to be disclosed in this post. But going back there hit a nerve I'd been trying to forget about.
Weeks ago I'd ordered a pair of daylilies, Earlybird Cardinals, red with a thin white rim on the petals. They were expensive, but unique, and appealed to me. I'm pulling the iris out of the daylily bed to a new location, and there will be vacancies to fill. I checked other sources for the plants and only found that name one other place. The picture on the Etsy site was prettier with more clear white rims. I decided to order through Etsy.
The reply was prompt, just over a week to get what were supposed to be my two bare root plants. Instead it was a small bag of red asiatic lily bulbs. The receipt with them informed me they cost under $15, a small fraction of what I'd paid the vendor. I immediately contacted them, a semi-polite version of WTF? I offered to return the bulbs since I had no place for them. My asiatec lily bed is full and making more bulbs as you read this. The only thing the order got right aside from my address was the color red. I just don't want red except in tulips (done!) and daylilies (waiting). I asked what they wanted to do to make it right, and should I send the bulbs back?
I was informed I could keep the bulbs. Well, I found a willing neighbor who would plant them in her yard. Then they informed me they were working on getting the right plants to me. In a week or so I got a notice that they'd fixed my issue. Seriously? Nothing was in the mail coming my way - I get a notice from the Post Office with a tracking number, and pay strict attention since living plants need TLC as soon as they get here. I sent comments correcting their misinformation. After two of those I got a reply acknowledging I was still owed my two plants, and I should have patience.
Is three weeks enough patience? I looked in at their Etsy website which listed the plant as out of stock. I hoped that meant their last plants had been set aside for me. I tried for patience. No further communication came, and I need to get back to the gardens now that it's cooler and I have the proper hose nozzle to spray our gardens to keep things alive. (120 feet of total hose does the job.)
Today I was again shopping on Etsy for something else and decided to pop over to see if anything was happening. Most of the previous discussions had been erased. I noted the "tab" to hit to contact Etsy directly, and did so. It warned me I had just a few days left if I wished to make a complaint about this order. Boy did I! I was allowed 300 characters, so practiced being very brief but to the point. My preferred resolution had been the plants, but after this time I changed it to a full refund. I got a quick note that if it were approved, which could take days, a refund should be issued and could take 5 days to reach where it was initially paid from. Etsy had those records. I didn't need to go dig them out.
By the time I logged off Etsy and went over to my email, I noticed 4 new communications from Etsy. I'd expected one, an acknowledgment that they had noticed my complaint and were starting to investigate it. I continued reading the successive ones, an acknowledgment that I was wronged, an acknowledgment I would be paid as requested, and confirmation of where they were sending it. It could take up to 5 days to land in that account. In total, it took them about five minutes to send all that information to me!
Anybody aside from me think that Etsy has had issues with these guys before? What they showed me is they do stick behind their shoppers and do it well.
Of course I'd still like those daylilies of that particular variety. I might check for some next spring. Or by then find new colors to please me. Or find something else somewhere. Who can tell by then?
Anyway, thanks, Etsy!
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