Overstock ruined my Christmas

[Der Blaue Engel]

I ordered a holiday gift basket last week that was guaranteed to arrive before Christmas. It was kind of pricey for what it was (~$50), but I wanted us to have something nice under our tree. It's been a tight couple of months due to some stupid spending decisions on my part, unexpected dental and optometry bills, giving my last few hundred dollars worth of credit to Democratic senate candidates, and my partner's being unemployed for nearly six months. I remembered I had a revolving line of credit on Overstock, so I decided to splurge on this little gift for the family.

Neither of our birth families speak to us (much), and we knew we'd get nothing from them, not even for my son. I joked with my partner that we'd get this gift basket in the mail and pretend we had relatives who loved us. Gallows humor is our favorite. ;)

So the day after I placed the order, I checked the tracking only to find out that it was scheduled to be delivered on December 26. I spoke with an online customer rep, who claimed it would arrive on the 23rd (after first saying, "It will be delivered on time...December 26"), then to UPS to confirm it was actually scheduled for the 26th, and again with an Overstock rep by phone who essentially said "too bad for you," and outright LIED about the item not being guaranteed to arrive by December 23, even though I had specifically chosen it from among their guaranteed items.

So I was already furious. Then the item showed up this afternoon. (They had apparently tried to deliver yesterday, but I'd never heard the buzzer.) It was a cheap cardboard "treasure chest" that was only half full of inferior quality treats packaged in cheap store packaging, and not the pretty little cellophane bags with bows on them featured on the website. One of the items was chocolate-covered pretzels, and they were all stuck together and discolored from having been stored somewhere warm (the cocoa butter rises to the top...that's the sort of grey fuzzy-looking stuff you may have seen on chocolate and worried was mold; it wasn't, but it still doesn't taste quite right once this happens).

In the end, they didn't truly ruin my Christmas, because Christmas is much more than that to this atheistic pagan. All I need is my loved ones and some pretty lights and shiny things, and I had that in abundance. :)

But Overstock's appalling customer service and this poor quality merchandise is unacceptable and they should be ashamed.

Just thought I'd share that with a few thousand people, as I promised Overstock I would. :rant:

[Kali]

1. My father was praising them and the tv he bought.

I was immediatly suspicious. (he uses AOL)

[Der Blaue Engel]

3. Lol

To be honest, I've bought a number of things from them that were just fine, but this just got my goat. :)

[NMDemDist2]

2. noted

and I have visited the O a few times and never thought their stuff was any kind of bargin

sorry about the hassle though :hug:

[Der Blaue Engel]

5. Thanks, AZDem

:hug:

[leftofthedial]

4. they give money to repukes too

[Der Blaue Engel]

6. Do they?

Ooooh, I should have known...that big red O! :D

[Lex]

10. They mostly give money to Democrats

according to buyblue.org

http://www.buyblue.org/node/1629/view/summary

$25,000 to Democrats
$4,500 to Republicans
$0 to Others
$29,500 in Total Contributions

[leftofthedial]

14. the founder, Patrick Byrne

was the largest political donor in Utah in 2004, all of it given in opposition to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, especially against Edwards.

He also was a big donor to the Swift Boat Vets

I thought I had read somewhere that he was a bush pioneer ($100,000-plus donor)

[Generic Brad]

7. It sounds as if they might be understocked

Ironic, isn't it?

[Lex]

8. .

[TankLV]

9. Gee - a site called "overstock" and now you're disappointed it isn't all it's cracked up to be...

I think the name of the company should have been the first clue...

I fell sorry for your "luck", but you get what you pay for...

Next time, 50 bucks spent in a reputable proven store would be my recommendation...

At least you didn't waste twenty thousand bucks on a friend to install a roof like I did!

Hope you have a better new year...

[Der Blaue Engel]

11. Well, yeah...being lied to and screwed with generally upsets me

whether it's from Neiman-Marcus or the Quick-E-Mart. :shrug:

Sorry you lost money on your roof; sometimes doing business with friends isn't the best, cuz if it goes wrong, it goes really wrong.

A better new year to you as well. :toast:

[Auggie]

12. Won't buy anything from them because I despise their television commercial.

Bad, bad creative...

[Momgonepostal]

13. That stinks

I'm sorry you had that experience with them. I've been lucky with them. I've just bought things from them 2 or 3 times, and they've always shipped quickly and were nice items, as described.

I do a certain amount of mail order from various places every Christmas and almost every year something is either late, or comes in at the very last minute, even if I place my order in November. It's just the nature of the beast.

I also see Overstock is doing a free shipping deal now. I wonder if that means they're paying their carrier some super cheapy rate for slow service?