So in the run up to Christmas/Hanukah, things have been pretty hectic – I didn’t have a lot of time to shop for gifts so I decided to “let my fingers do the walking” and go online. Playing it safe (and considering I’m an amateur epicure) I decided to get something for the kitchen.

I checked out Milly’s site and was sold on there special offer leading up to Christmas:

millys

Cool – I’m a real fan of Microplane graters (exciting chap that I am) so I thought I’d partake of their Microplane box grater gift set – a bargain considering it was reduced from $148.50 to $111.50. I selected their free giftwrap option (yeah, lazy I know – but I’m time constrained OK?) and went to checkout where, after a lengthy process, I was greeted by the following screen:

 freight

WTF? But I thought freight was free? This was asking me to authorise a credit card transaction with freight added to the cost of the goods. My scary-meter started buzzing. Some sleuthing through the site (why is fine print always buried many layers deep or at the bottom of a page?) found the following information:

When placing an order online, freight is still added to the order, but will be removed
and gift added when processed at dispatch

Sorry? You want me to accept a charge via a payment gateway, only to have you manually remove the freight component later? Shonky! And surely in breach of their credit card merchant’s agreement…

Anyway – I made the order on the 15th of December – to give me plenty of time to get the goods – it’s only Auckland to Christchurch after all. Yesterday (the 21st) having not received the goods, I called Milly’s up who told me that:

The order was dispatched on the 17th and should take 4 or 5 days to get there

Excuse me? A premium mail order store using couriers that take a week between main centres? That’s abysmal. I went and checked my bank statement and sure enough my credit card was charged (without the freight component) on the 15th of December. So it took them two days between charging my card and actually dispatching the item – that’s really crap service.

cc

When I pointed out the two days between charging and dispatch, and the (at that stage) four days with no sign of the goods, the woman told me that:

Oh it’s alright, you can always send it back if you don’t like it

What? This is a present – I’m not here for three weeks. I want what you sold and charged me for a week ago and I want it now.

It’s now Tuesday – an entire week after I transacted this deal and fully five days since their crap order fulfillment system kicked into gear – and I’m yet to see my present.

Unacceptable Milly’s.

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

1 Comment
  • You should have just pinged me. They are only a 5 min walk down the street from me 😉 Their online commerce is pretty weak and their gift registry service is just as bad but on the plus size they do have good stuff (if a tad overpriced)

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