Lousy communications, Lying Website, CANNOT BE TRUSTED
Written: Sep 21 '05 (Updated Sep 26 '05)
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Do Not Trust this "Trusted Store"
Epinions has Caplink listed as a 'trusted store' and i foolishly ordered a gadget from them without carefully reading the other reviews.
The Caplink site seemed ok, like most modern ecommerce sites, the shipped price was competitive, and they showed a 'ship from' location of Rhode Island, and that the 'free' UPS ground delivery to NYC would happen in 1-2 business days.
So entering the order was easy.
They sent out an order acknowledgment email and an online status showing my order shipped the next business day.
Thats where the trouble started.
When I logged into the Caplink site again the next business day, I saw my order had a status of 'shipped' but the
'click here for tracking info' gave me a 'try again in 24 hours' message.
The click-on invoice showed a shipped date of that current day.
Ok.
I tried again the next day.
I saw my order had a status of 'shipped' but the
'click here for tracking info' gave me a 'try again in 24 hours' message, still.
The click-on invoice showed a shipped date of the current day.
hmmmm. when did it ship?
I called the sales phone number, and got a person after a few minutes of holding.
I gave him my order number, and was told it was shipped from a fulfillment house in Nashville and they did not supply tracking info.
And that it was shipped fedex (not ups) ground.
The next business day: Same Same Same, no tracking info, and the shipped date had changed again to the current day.
I called again, after multiple retries I finally got the same person and was told 'it is shipping from nashville via fedex and the fufillment warehouse doesnt respond to our requests for tracking numbers. But it really did ship. Honest. And it would be arriving 'tomorrow'.
So 'tomorrow' one week after my order was placed comes and.... wait for it:
No package. No tracking Data.
Don't act so surprised.
Finally....
8 days after the order was placed, a battered, crushed box arrives via FedEx Ground. When I placed the order I specified UPS ground. "FedEx Ground", formerly Roadway Package Express, is better suited for bulky or heavy cargo that has to get there eventually; They are OK for ordering anvils, but not fragile electronic gadgets.
Outside: A mailing label that shows the order was shipped 4 business days after order was placed, not 'next business day'.
Inside: the packaging was not sufficient to protect the contents... the display box for my new gadget was partially crushed. Happily the manufacturer had done a good job in packaging, and no harm came to the gadget.
Bottom Line Summary
These guys are LYING SACKS OF (MANURE) and CANNOT BE TRUSTED:
Apparently they have managed to 'game' the Epinions ratings to show a 'trusted' status. It looks like the trick is a flood of 'shopper experience' "reviews" that did not come from Epinions members, and a handful of Epinions reviews from people who have not written many other reviews ('straw man' reviews? or paid shills?)
My advice is to ignore 'trusted store' status and only rely on reviews that have been entered by people who have been long-term members with more than one or two reviews online.
(Like this review)
I made the mistake of buying from Caplink based on their claimed delivery date. This has turned out to be a mistake.
Avoid them like a Nigerian 411 scheme.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Garmin Quest GPS
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Epinions.com ID:
fritz_t_coyote
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Member: Fritz Coyote
Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Computer tech. Gearhead. SF 'fan'.
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