2008-08-29

Never use Celebrate Express aka Birthday Express

The moral of everything I am about to say is don't order from Celebrate Express (also known as Birthday Express, Costume Express and 1st Wishes).

MLO's birthday is coming up (she will be three) and I ordered a bunch of theme stuff from them. I decided to get it all shipped 2 Day because I needed the invites to send out.

Package arrives and it has everything, except the invites and thank you notes are for a VERY different theme (ordered Little Einsteins theme package, got Pokeman invites and thank you notes).

I email them and respond saying they will overnight me the correct ones. I am a little bitter because I paid extra for the shipping, but decide if I get the right ones I will be fine, but probably never use them again.

I get the package today and it is the thank you notes. Well I did want those, but the shipping label says invites and there isn't a single invite present.

Okay, now I am annoyed.

I email again, but since it is almost the end of the business day, I decide to go to the live chat. After I forced the issue they might get me what I want, but come on, shouldn't the customer service be a little bit more about the customer service and not answer me with an "ok ok"?

Following is the chat:

May: Hi, my name is May. How may I help you?
Romie: I have had two successive errors in what I shipped which is causing painful delays
Romie: I ordered and paid for 2 day shipping for my package, got the wrong invitations sent and complained. Said they were sending me the correction overnight and I just got them and they are the thank you notes and not the invtations.
Romie: I should have already passed out invitations and want my shipping cost refunded and the correct invitations sent to me
May: I am sorry for the inconvenience that we have caused. I will be happy to look that up for you. May I please have your order confirmation number?
Romie: The second order was #91305349
Romie: Actually that looks like the first one too
Romie: The correction one says also " [Incident: 080826-000126]"
May: Ok ok
May: I can go ahead and waive your shipping and we will send you a ndw set of invites. Is that ok with you ma'am
Romie: waive the initial shipping on the first stuff sent?
May: ok we can go ahead and to that for your
May: Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Romie: Sorry, one of the lines wasn't clear "ok we can go ahead and to that for your"?
Romie: ?
May: We will waive your shipping on your first order and process a resolve order in replacement of the missing invites
Romie: Great! When should I get those invites?
May: after 2 business days
May: that is on 9/3/08
Romie: Ouch. Fine. Not happy, won't use you again...
May: All orders are processed and shipped on business days only.
May: And monday is an official holiday and we do not ship on that day
Romie: Yeah, but this is your mistake, not mine, so now I am being delayed for your mistakes - TWICE. Really not my problem and you should fix it. If it was shipped out today, overnight on Saturday delivery I could get it. That is what I expect after TWO mistakes from your company.
Romie: You should go out of your way to make this right, not make it worse!!
Romie: Still there? Extra note: I hadn't gotten an answer for a good chunk of time and got the impression May was hoping I went away
May: We can go ahead and do that for your ma'am but still we can not guarantee on that
Romie: Fine

So, I am sure there are other places you can buy theme party stuff from (I am about to walk out the door to some stores I know about to see if I can get the right invites now) and I advise you to use someone else.

Update: Put up a small one here, nothing good

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I'd be totally upset. This is a very legitimate rant!

Anonymous said...

Yes, ordered costumes for all of us for Halloween and everyday something is back ordered or sold out. It looks like I may never get my stuff in time. I canceled and am going to Wal-mart. They should do a better job of stocking or placing their orders. They didn't even attempt to ask me why I was canceling.