My frustrations with online boutiques

http://redangeldevil.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/my-frustrations-with-online-boutiques/

Here is another rant against blogshops, by a Singaporean buyer who resides in Perth, WA.

My frustrations with online boutiquesThe
 

January 27, 2011, 3:22 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized

 

I am very tempted to name. But I will not. I think I have harassed them to a point where I just gave up and paid extra postage fees to avoid anymore correspondence. Its not a bad case of bad customer service, its just a case of lack of communication. I guess that really frustrates me because everything could have been avoided had I been told and well informed of the situation.

I know I don’t make much sense at the moment. Let me summarise:

Before I went home for Christmas last year, I bought some items online and paid for local Singaporea postage because I thought the items would have arrived in time for me to bring them back to Perth. I mean local delivery times isn’t long at all right? So I got my parcel, with only 2 items (I bought 5) and so of course I sent off an email asking after my other 3 items, but they don’t quite respond because it was sent with the email that I bought the items with and it was work email. There was no response over 1 week plus, I guess yes festivities. It got down to a point where I was leaving for Perth that I still didn’t get a reply. So I came back to Perth, sent off a couple more enquiries about it. Finally, I had a response saying that the parcel was sent back unclaimed. And that if I wanted those items, I have to re-pay for postage or I could cancel my order (but wait for it, there’s a 15% charge for packing fees.)

I admit I’m griping a little, in the end I gave up arguing and just paid the extra postage to re send it. But surely, back of my mind, I’m thinking online boutiques are just as much liable to their customers as normal retail boutiques are. Its not just a matter of waiting for order, packing them and sending them out. Maybe its just unfortunate that I faced this situation. Oh wells.

This is why, shopping should be done traditionally, in the shops with the option to try them on and feel the material and see how it looks on you before the purchase is done. Conveniences in the end may just end up creating more hassles in the end.

*breathes*

CASE on Blogshops Complaints in Singapore

This article on Safeblogshopper reinforces the idea that maintaining law and order in the blogshopsphere is main a task done by the participants as the authorities do not generally get involved.

From: http://www.safeblogshopper.com/2011/01/05/announcements/news-updates-blogshop-complaints-on-case.html


I saw this newspaper report yesterday on ShinMin regarding on CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore) receiving 41 cases of blogshops complaints. Let me do the translation on this article for you.

*Translation*:

Yellow Title: The rising trend of purchasing online

Purple Title: CASE received 41 cases of complaints against online sellers.

As more Singaporeans are shopping online, CASE received 41 cases of complaints against online sellers. The number reported is twice the number reported in 2009!

The complaints were mostly on sellers who did not deliver the items to the consumer or delay in item deliveries. Some of the consumers complained that they have received fake brands or damaged goods without any compensation.

One of the consumers bought a skirt costed $28 from an online shop last year June. After making the payment, the seller mentioned that the skirt is out of stock and requested her to chose another item. Despite that the other item that she chose was also out of stock after a month, the seller did not make any refunds.
The seller finally mailed the skirt to her after CASE was involved.

Currently CASE is resolving another similar case. As for the rest of the 39 cases, the consumers did approach CASE for advice, but decided to resolve it themselves.

The Secretary of CASE, Mr. Seah Seng Choon believed that there were even more people with these unhappy experiences. But they did not report to CASE as the money involved is not huge. "They may take this as a learning lesson and stop shopping from the online shops or websites."

Mr.Seah Seng Choon also said that it was difficult to resolve such cases as consumers did not have the contact name and address of the online shops. Some websites were even from overseas countries.

Advice from CASE: CASE advised consumers to meet the seller when purchasing items that are of high worth. Also, they must beware of websites which did not reveal any contact address or contact number.
Consumers should report to the police once they find anything amiss.

According to one of the marketing companies survey, Singaporeans spent $6,890,000 on online purchases last year. This amount is 15 times more than the amount reported in 1999. The most popular online items are apparels, shoes and electronic appliances.  ~ End of article

Note from Editorial:

I have personally called CASE before the report was out last month asking if they deal with complaints against blogshops. The customer service told me they do not deal with blogshops, except registered companies.

We all know the difficulties of nabbing online blogshops because of the lack of contact information. Therefore we need all the cooperation from the public to work together and form a strong community in defending our consumers' rights and pockets.

SafeBlogShopper already helped resolved over 7 cases and reported over 36 complaints and scam blogshops. We will continue with what we are doing even if is not easy to attain a perfect score.
We hope all shoppers will feel safe when shopping, knowing that we are always here to help. =)

Happy 2011!

With many loves,

Irish

Problem with bogshops

Here is a blogshopper ranting about the problems with blogshops.

From: http://oh-puhleez.blogspot.com/2010/11/boom-boom-boom-even-brighter-than-moon.html

Boom boom boom, Even brighter than the moon moon moon

So... Uniqlo is in KL now. I don't really know what the fuss is all about because I went to their Singaporean outlet and didn't find anything I liked. Maybe it's because the clothes paled in comparison to the colourful, patterny, interesting and CHEAP ones I found in Bugis and that... other... mall. Takashimaya? Forgot. But yeah. Uniqlo. Hwat's the deal.

But then again I am attracted to hype so I'm going to check it out after exams. Who's coming with me.

In other news, before starting my rant, I am not personally targeting any particular blogshops with this, because this happened to me multiple times so quite a number of blogshops are to blame.

The thing is.

Why the deuce do blogshops have to put my full name on their website when I place an order for a restock? What's even worse is when they show I'm buying it in size L. Damn sad wei. All XS XS XS XS S S S M M M M M M then L. Geez.

Or like... even when I merely reserve an item and then BOW CHICKA WOW WOW my name is on the site.

Skimpy Floral Lace Dress Romper With Crochet Peter Pan collar, Beaded Mesh Waist and Wide Thigh Opening -Leeza Foo (RESERVE TEEHEE) 

I googled ugly dress.

LAST PIECE IN NEON GREEN GRAB IT NOW!!!
*steal*

Hwat the deuce.

(err no I have never ordered, reserved or bought an article of clothing bearing that description.)

Why do you have to put my name there? It's not like you're that slipshod and like, forget who placed an order on what. That's what email history is for. Don't bloody delete the emails la. Keep tabs off line, instead of putting it up on your site for the world to see. Invasion of privacy, that is.

Cos there was once Clarissa (I think) and I were talking about online shopping and then she said "Oh yeahhh you bought that _____ dress right? Yeahhh I saw your name there."

That blogshop should have put a spoiler alert uhuk uhuk :(


That's why I don't like to shop at blogshops I'm not familiar with (although some of them do offer really good deals). The best blogshop that I have come across is Clothes For Fun. There, I've said it. Jane is the best seller I've dealt with so far, and that's not just because we are acquaintances. She is very professional with each transaction, and she's prompt. The site layout is easy to load (even on my mobile), the pictures show the clothes well (also cos she has good body proportions) and the clothes are generally not that expensive. And when I place an order for a restock she doesn't chuck my name on the site.

And like. She doesn't lie about sending out my parcel. Gosh. How many times have blogshops lied to me about sending out my parcel... If I have a dime for every time they do that.. I will have... a lot of dimes. Even famous blogshops do that okay! I mean. I may have sent out my customers' parcels two or three days late back when Tasty Cherry Chapstick was in operation, but I never lied about it. I told them my reason for the delay and thank goodness they were all very gracious about it (except one girl who had very unreasonable requirements. :/ )

CFF is one of the first two blogshops I've started shopping with, the other one is Shopaholics Unite. Ahhh memories.

I'm not being paid to say that ok. That was my personal opinion.

ANYWAY BOTTOM LINE IS don't ever put your customers' names on your site. It's just... weird.

Which brings me to another weird thing blogshops do.

Every time they write a price for some piece of clothing, they will write this:

RM58 *steal!*

or like

RM38 *super steal! crazy! insane! I'm so totally not making any profit from this because I'm such a nice person and I think you are a charity case!*

okay that last one was totally made up.

I admit, I've done that before with TCC *shy* but I don't put it for EVERY SINGLE ITEM on the site! I know your clothes are affordable, I don't need to be constantly reminded that I'm robbing you from whatever it is even though I'm paying my hard earned money for it! Or DO you want me to steal it from you? What do you want from me!?! *wails*

Steal. Peh.

Oh yes! Another thing.

I recently came across this blog that labelled ALL the dresses on their blog with this size.

UK4 - UK10

With people unfamiliar with the Topshoppy sizing, a UK4 is size XS, UK6 is S, UK8 is M, UK10 is L and so on.

Ok let me Kanye up my next sentence.

HOW IN THE WORLD CAN A DRESS FIT AN XS PERSON AND AN L PERSON?!?!?!?!


Don't give me bullshit that it's Free Size. Free Size is a UK6 - UK8. UK4 girls will have it baggy, and us UK10 girls will be under a demented illusion that we can fit into a Free Size dress *cue bursting of seams*

No matter how lycrafied a dress is, no matter how much elastic you put in that combination of polyester and cotton, a dress CANNOT fit a UK4 - UK10.

Even if the clouds part and that dress so happens to fit, the length will be different. A UK4 is usually someone who is petite.MelodyDancer is a UK4-6. I am a UK10. Even if I so happen to be skinny and can fit into her dresses, I will have to pair it with leggings.

So yeah. Don't try to do mass segmentation with this ridonkulous sizing. It pisses me off to great measure because that's how I end up with tiny dresses that look like tunics. :(

Ok next.

So today is Deepavali. Happy Deepavali all my Indian friends! If you are not Indian but are eating muruku given to you by your neighbour then Happy Deepavali to you too!! (Err yea I got super a lot of yummy muruku from my neighbour haha I so happeh)

So since everyone wants in on the firework thing (ohai Katy Perry) they're now BOOM BOOM BOOM EVEN BRIGHTER THAN THE MOON MOON MOONing now.

I know this scene made a lot of boys happy.

And Ernie, my dog, is shivering. Shiv-freaking-ering. And lately he has developed this weird habit where when he's scared, his nose starts running. Like. It starts dripping like a leaky faucet. I'm not sure if that is related to him getting older, but it's very uncomforting to see him in this kind of situation la.

Not that I'm against people celebrating their holidays with fireworks. It's just that. I hate having to stay up so late just to wait for Ernie to fall asleep, because if I sleep before him he will scratch me to wake up and hug him. It's crazy annoying, especially when he jumps on my bed and climbs over my head. Stupid dog.

But then again there's only 6 more years of this left, give or take. That's if Ernie dies of old age.


Ok enough stupid ranting. I'll go sleep now. I have a Deepavali lunch to attend tomorrow, super happy!

Blogshop Dispute

This is a very interesting spate between 2 Singaporean blogshop owners.

It is interesting because of the following reasons:

1.  This spate involves two teens who are still in school and are running blogshop businesses on the side.  Each party has made claims that are contradictory to the other's.

2.  It brings into question the legal standing of blogshops.  If either party brings this case to the authorities, will it be entertained?  Will these blogshops be considered legitimate business entities?  In this case, they are resorting to police reports!

3. The spate is brought to the attention of the public via social networks.  It has been posted on a forum and at least one blog has even reviewed it (although its authenticity is hard to determine).

4.  Since the owners are teens, their family members, especially their parents, have been pulled into it as well.

This is the seller's blogshop, called Shopping-Oh, run by Steffi, Sherlyn and their mom.  They are teens, one being about 16-18 years old and the other younger.  They buy direct from wholesalers in Taiwan and probably have other blogshops as customers.  It is claimed to be a family business.  The mom works at Republic Polytechnic where they run a family-owned food stall.

http://shopping-oh.blogspot.com/2008/09/hihi-d.html

The owners have opted to use their blogshop to tell their side of the story.  Not sure if this is a good PR move at all.

This is the buyer's blogshop called PeekaBoOo.

http://www.peekkabooo.blogspot.com/ .

 The owner is Angela Lee, and it seems they are buying from  other blogshops (like Shopping-Oh) and reselling it.

The buyer has posted this spate on a popular Singaporean forum called SG Club.  The whole thread is here:

http://forums.sgclub.com/singapore/mother_blogshop_owner_286922.html

Here is a blog that has incidentally made a review of Shopping-Oh:

http://www.passion2serve-sg.com/ 


I am not sure if it is a real blog or something that the buyer has set up just to tell her side of the story.  Note that the blog is NEW, and has one post.

Hope to see how this plays out.