An ebay story

[Andreas]

Here's a little tale of when I ordered from gad-zooks on ebay. I know that store has good feedback both on there and is in good standing on this forum, but personally I've had a lot of - let's call it bad luck - that I wanted to share the story and let people make up their own mind.

On August 23 I ordered a Squirt S4 as a BD gift to myself from gad-zooks on ebay, planning on EDCing it. Their auction pages state they normally ship out within 3 days and since they have tens of thousands of positive feedback ratings on ebay I figured it was a safe bet. I knew they overcharged for shipping - over $8 for shipping the same sized item I know costs about $4 to ship using that shipping method, but that's a price I was willing to pay as eBay sellers often operate with "shipping and handling" instead of just shipping.

After ordering I realized that eBay use their own address system instead of getting it from PayPal, which meant the address sent to the seller was the one for my moms house not my college apartment. No biggie really, but to save a couple of days off the shipping time I sent them a question askign if they could change the shipping address. I got a quick and polite reply that it was no problem whatsoever and they'd ship it to my new address.

On August 27 I ordered another identical S4 from them because my plans was to use one for a mod project that in the end I didn't go with.

On September 1 I got automated eBay messages saying both S4s had shipped. This puzzled me as I had assumed they had been shipped a week earlier as the auction specified. It also worried me that they were shipped at the same time: the customs limit in Norway means that either Leatherman would be legally imported without paying VAT on its own, but if they combined it in one package to save on shipping I'd have to pay customs. I didn't think it would be a problem though as I paid for shipping separately.

On September 6 my mom IMs me and says a package arrived. I told her to check what it was and it was the S4. I was a bit annoyed it was shipped to the old address anyways, but it was really my fault. I contacted them however saying that I was a bit disappointed with the service both with shipping the first S4 a week later than advertised and forgetting our deal. I also mentioned I accepted but didn't much like the high shipping cost.

I got a reply saying that some staff was out sick and that was the reason for the delay and the mixup with the address. I follwed up saying they should probably have let people know about that considering they advertise 3 day shipping, but they said there was no way of knowing who was affected. I understand that sickness can delay things but I do think they should have used the automated message systems on eBay to let people know there MIGHT be a delay, that way they could send it to every buyer int he last X days. However, not a big deal.

They also informed me they checked my claims for the shipping charge, and actually had discovered a fault in the shippign calculator that charged a bit over $3 extra (rest of the difference was from handling fees). They refunded for the first auction without me even asking for it, which was good (the one I was contacting them about, as at that point I thought the other one would dump into my mailbox the same or next day since I'd chaged the address on the eBay side for that one). They didn't refund for the other even thoguh I mentioned I'd ordered two, but I didn't ask for it since I really didn't care about $3 so I won't fault them for that. I do however think it's wrong that they still haven't fixed the calculator and anyone else ordering internationally will be charged the extra $3.some. I haven't mentioned this to them because 1) I don't plan to order from them again, 2) I already have messages them about enough issues for my taste and 3) it's their responsibility to be that awake when it's brought to their attention.

Two weeks later and no second S4 had showed up. Seeing both were shipping at the same time I messaged them about the problem, asking if perhaps an error was made since they shipped two identical items (though to different addresses boguht on different dates) to the same person. I got a reply saying they would look into it and they might have made a mistake. This was September 16. Today I message them again asking if they found out anything, and got a reply saying they'd made a mistake and had shipped out a replacement. I', not sure I got what happened correctly, but I think they had meant to combine the items in one shipment (which I was afraid of with the customs thing) but had actually just shipped one and marked both as shipped. I am of course glad they've shipped a new one and will be waiting for it to arrive.

That's the facts as objectively as I can convey them. With 99.8% positive feedback and 56469 ratings given they're obviously not bad guys, and I just happened to get bad luck to go with my other bad luck. Still I think it's a lot of mess to make and two things in particular made me anxious about using them again: the fact they didn't fix the shipping calculator, and the fact they (tried to) combine shipping without my permission in the first place when I had paid for individual shipping.

[parmenides]

Well, I don't know about bad luck.  I also have an order in to gad-zooks that I'm having problems with.  Ordered 9/10, automated email says shipped USPS priority.  USPS tracking posted the standard "We've received info expecting your package for shipping" (which only means that the seller printed a shipping label) but that's it.  Finally, 11 days after shipment USPS tracking is today updated with information that the package was received at the originating PO in Vermont.

I've sent multiple emails to them inquiring on the package status with no response.  Today I received a reply where the seller claimed that this is just the way the PO works where she is...    I replied that's nonsense.  She then replied that she's been very ill and that her assistant has had trouble keeping up with orders.  Hmmmmmm.

I don't know what to believe but I paid for USPS priority which implied a timeliness that hasn't occurred.  I asked for a refund on shipping which she posted to my Paypal account immediately.  Meanwhile I'm still waiting for my package.

So, maybe a trend is developing.  I won't be purchasing from them again.

[John]

Both of you have said you got emails stating someone was ill correct? let me for a moment check my employment laws...done yes it's valid reason for not meeting your work targets 

[Vladimir]

Gad-zooks have one shop at Ebay and one for online shopping.
There is no Paypal in Serbia so we can't use ebay and I was looking for some online retailer of Victorinox & LM and I emailed and asked them if they would ship to Serbia and I told them that I could only pay via credit card-they replied promptly assuring me that there wouldn't be any problems and that they ship worldwide.
3 or 4 weeks after, fellow mt.o member from Serbia asked me if I could help him and order Vic Spirit with ratchet from them in his behalf.
The price was really good for him, so I went to Gad-zooks online shop, and when I tried to finalize my order, website kept crushing down;
I tried for several times but without success.
I emailed them immediately explaining the problem and 2 days later they email me back saying that there is no problem with them and that I'm doing something wrong?!
I tried emailing them couple more times but without reply, and I tried ordering again but no luck.
I finally ordered Vic Spirit from Marc@edcdepot but unfortunately without the ratchet.
I'm not satisfied with their customer support and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

[Andreas]

Both of you have said you got emails stating someone was ill correct? let me for a moment check my employment laws...done yes it's valid reason for not meeting your work targets  

Neither of us stated that being ill is not allowed. We just stated exactly what happened, and in both cases they did what they could to clean up their "mess".

Persinally I am not satisfied with the fact they did nothing to let me know. They have a website and ebay's messaging system at their disposal. I am also not saitisfied with them not fixing their shipping cost system. Personal opinions and other people are of course allowed to come to other conclusions

[John]

Both of you have said you got emails stating someone was ill correct? let me for a moment check my employment laws...done yes it's valid reason for not meeting your work targets  

Neither of us stated that being ill is not allowed. We just stated exactly what happened, and in both cases they did what they could to clean up their "mess".

No but it implies your right and they're wrong,like they're making excuses  I agree with everything you guys have said,myself i used them many time but that was when they were just starting out 

[parmenides]

It's a shame because I certainly would forgive being late for illness, etc.  However - the communication here was rotten and they claimed illness only when I caught them in telling a tall tale.

My impression is that when things go as according to plan, no problems.  However, when an order gets a little tricky (for whatever reason) they can't adjust and it gets dropped on the floor.  Maybe they have more business than they can handle...

No big deal - there are plenty of places to source knives and tools.

[John]

I'm the worlds worst customer  if my item hasn't shipped one minute after ordering I send emails,dogs or soldiers  with a note where is my item 

[Andreas]

I think it's an excellent point of too much business. They have had 14300 feedback ratings in the last year, which doesn't include those who don't leave feedback. That is at least 1200 per month, which is 40 per day (not compensating for weekends off), and then add orders through the website. From what I can gather there is the main person and an assistant. To me that seems low for such traffic, which is probably why everything got messed up when one of them got sick.

As the customer, my item was shipped 6 days late while the other wasn't shipped at all until I contacted them. While I understand and symphatize with them, it doesn't change the fact I got a bad experience.

The same thing happened to DealExtreme. I have been using them since they were called something else. Back then, "Kyle" and "Melissa" (prob americanized names) were the ones who were always around, they started the place and ran it and were involved in every step of the process from talking to customers in the forum and on email to shipping out. As it got more popular, the customer service dropped dramatically to what it is today.

[edcgear]

Gad-zooks have one shop at Ebay and one for online shopping.
There is no Paypal in Serbia so we can't use ebay and I was looking for some online retailer of Victorinox & LM and I emailed and asked them if they would ship to Serbia and I told them that I could only pay via credit card-they replied promptly assuring me that there wouldn't be any problems and that they ship worldwide.
3 or 4 weeks after, fellow mt.o member from Serbia asked me if I could help him and order Vic Spirit with ratchet from them in his behalf.
The price was really good for him, so I went to Gad-zooks online shop, and when I tried to finalize my order, website kept crushing down;
I tried for several times but without success.
I emailed them immediately explaining the problem and 2 days later they email me back saying that there is no problem with them and that I'm doing something wrong?!
I tried emailing them couple more times but without reply, and I tried ordering again but no luck.
I finally ordered Vic Spirit from Marc@edcdepot but unfortunately without the ratchet.
I'm not satisfied with their customer support and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

Yup I'm the fellow MT.O member....

[John]

@Andreas your sounding like someone I met over on CPF   do you have an account there? 

[Andreas]

Yes but I've never posted anything about this ebay seller ont here, or much at all really

[John]

Yes but I've never posted anything about this ebay seller ont here, or much at all really

I thought so     FERRARI    nice to have you here  but really this is a much light hearted site not so much of the seriousness IMO 

[Andreas]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

[John]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari? 

[Andreas]

Absolutely not. I couldn't care less about cars

[nuphoria]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari? 

Don't be silly John, he probably wasn't old enough to drive one then. Is there an Andreas Bicycle there?

[Andreas]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari?  

Don't be silly John, he probably wasn't old enough to drive one then. Is there an Andreas Bicycle there?

Just because someone has "ferrari" in their names doesn't mean they have a ferrari or can drive... If I change my nick to Andreas Astronaut I'm still not going to space 

[John]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari?  

Don't be silly John, he probably wasn't old enough to drive one then. Is there an Andreas Bicycle there?

Just because someone has "ferrari" in their names doesn't mean they have a ferrari or can drive... If I change my nick to Andreas Astronaut I'm still not going to space 

But you can still be a spaceman without the machine 

[Medic82]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari? 

Don't be silly John, he probably wasn't old enough to drive one then. Is there an Andreas Bicycle there?

Just because someone has "ferrari" in their names doesn't mean they have a ferrari or can drive... If I change my nick to Andreas Astronaut I'm still not going to space 

But you can still be a spaceman without the machine 

Or own a Spacepen....

[nuphoria]

Mm... spacepens 

[AHB]

But you can still be a spaceman without the machine 

 

[Andreas]

Local store has the spacepen for 269 NOK, $45, so I ordered an Inka Pen from eBay instead. Bloody norwegian prices

[cerbera147]

I don't know what "ferrari" means but I think you have me confused with someone else

so your're NOT Andreas ferrari? 

Lolo Ferrari??   

[John]

Dan   

[Chako]

Hmmm.

I have a Gad-Zook's package that I paid for on August 27 and shipped August 30th which I haven't received yet. I hope I get it now. 

The tracking info tells me nothing either as usual when dealing with US tracking services.

[sawman]

Same here... I bought an item off Ebay from Gad-Zooks that supposedly shipped on the 13th and it's still not here.  I contacted the seller with no response    I'll give them a couple more days then I'll have to file a dispute...

[nuphoria]

I hope this turns out to be a legitimate and temporary crisis for the seller.

With any luck you'll all get your stuff, but if not, the paypal dispute thing usually works in the buyers favour without asking much.

[Andreas]

Good to see I'm not alone at least. I'm guessing it's only a temporary thing but it might permanently damage their reputation - and IMO it should if it turns out that their system can't handle such a slight problem as sickness (slight when it's a business that has so many roders going through)

[sawman]

There's too much competition to chance repeat bad service like this.  I don't care how good their prices are