Let me begin this review by saying I frequently shop online, and this is the most awful experience I've ever had shopping online before. I urge anyone who is even thinking of buying anything at all from The Digital Dog (http://www.thedigitaldog.com/) to quickly rethink your choice. I'm still seething over this experience, especially since I received a response from a letter of complaint that I sent them.

Let me back up a bit. On January 22, I ordered a digital camera from The Digital Dog through their online storefront. In their policy, it states that they must verbally verify your credit card information to prevent fraud, and being the safe person that I am, thought this was no problem. On their site it states that one of their customer service representatives will call you within 24 hours of purchase to verify your card or you may call them to verify. Wanting to get this transaction complete, I called them myself and verified my credit card information after having to listen to several sales pitches about what I needed and why. I politely told the salesman I had everything I needed, as I thoroughly research a product before I purchase it. He then tersely told me that I would receive my camera by February 8. I thought this was a bit of a long time to wait, but for the price, which was the best on Dealtime.com at that time, I figured it was no problem. Oh, was I wrong.

Over the next few weeks, I began to worry about this purchase. I noticed that my account had never been charged for the purchase and though, that maybe they just hadn't put it through yet and told myself not to worry. Well, February 6 got here (2 days before the final date) and I decided to email The Digital Dog's sales department to find out the status of my order.

I received a response the very next day asking me to call their customer service department. When I called, I find that their customer service hours have been changed to 10am - 5pm EST. Being that I'm in the central time zone, of course, after getting home from work, I was too late. I decided to try to speak to someone in sales to see what was going on.

Upon getting a sales representative on the line, I can hardly understand what he says because he's eating and I can't hear anything but his chewing over the phone! I finally explain my situation and he tersely asks for my order number which I quickly provide. He then transfers me to another sales representative who again asks for my order number and then proceeds to tell me the reason why my order has been delayed is that my credit card hadn't been verified. Excuse me? I called that in myself over two and a half weeks ago! He tells me that they've been really busy after I quickly remind him of his company policy of verifying within 24 hours which really sent me over the top. He continued to make excuses and I finally told him, just cancel my order, that I would take my business elsewhere. He was very rude at that point saying sure he'll "gladly" cancel my order.

I decided to go to PlanetFeedback.com and send the owner of the company a letter. Below is what I sent to The Digital Dog. I was a bit harsh, but after my experience, I felt they needed to hear it.

To Whom It May Concern
The Digital Dog


FROM:
Jennifer Jackson
*address removed

RE: PLANETFEEDBACK INCIDENT NUMBER ######
Dear To Whom It May Concern,

I'd like to bring to your attention a problem I encountered recently with the overall experience at The Digital Dog. Frankly, I'm not surprised because I've been very dissatisfied with my business dealings with you in the past.

On January 22, 2001, I placed an order for a Fuji Finepix 2400 using your website. I called about an hour later to confirm my credit card and was told my camera would be delivered by February 8, 2001.

Since UPS never takes the maximum amount of days to deliver any goods that I purchase online, by February 6, I began to worry about this purchase. I emailed your customer service about this order and got an email today to call.

Well, problem number one is that your customer service is open too few hours. I'm at work while your customer service is open, so I called sales. I was then informed that my credit card had NOT been verified! I was totally furious about this since I called myself and endured the sales pitch for other items that I did not want during that call.

On your website, it specifically states that all orders will be verified within 24 hours by a call from customer service or that we are welcome to call ourselves to verify. Well, I did just that and still showed as unverified. Not only that, but if my order still showed as unverified, I should have been called long before now. It's been two and one half weeks since I placed this order and I was told by one of your sales staff that it's been busy (that was the excuse I was given). I canceled this order immediately upon hearing this farce of an excuse and I took my business elsewhere.

I will be sure to tell as many people as possible about this horrible experience. You lost a $313 sale because of incompetence and I will surely remember it and let everyone else know about it too. Needless to say, I was quite upset as a result of this.

Here's what I'd like to see happen: There is absolutely nothing you can do for me because I have already taken my business elsewhere. I'm writing this complaint so you'll know what an incompetent staff you have working for you and maybe get them to straighten up their act.

For your information, I rarely use The Digital Dog. I rely on it because I usually get good deals when I visit it.

Because of this, I will avoid clicking through to The Digital Dog at all costs in the future, and I definitely will urge others to avoid it at all costs.

I hope you are willing to address my concerns. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.



Sincerely,
*email removed


Now, the most shocking part of this entire experience was the response I received today regarding this letter. It's posted below.

Dear Mrs. Jackson,

We apologize for the apparent breakdown in communication that caused this response from you. We are currently understaffed in certain areas in the company. We are currently training a new staff. The error that occurred was obviously a human error. That is something that every company has, no matter how big or small. I truly don't believe that a human error warrants a response of this fashion. I'm sure Mrs. Jackson you've made errors at work before, especially when you first started. Did you ever receive a response like this for one of those errors? And you work at the phone company, where customers are quite capable of being irate. My employees do an excellent job and don't deserve responses like this. Sorry we couldn't do business. Thank you for your inquiry.

Sincerely,
Richard Louis
Customer Service
Manager.


Is this the kind of letter you expect in response to a complaint? It certainly was not very professional. I'm not sure where he got that I work for the telephone company since I don't!

I immediately responded to this letter with the following:

Mr. Alexander,

I wouldn't be so upset over _one_ human error, but this was a series of errors that should have never occurred. Yes, I have every right to be as upset as I am because I needed that camera for this coming weekend and your company has completely ruined this. I was promised a camera by February 8, only to call and find out several people did _not_ do their jobs.

The way I was patronized when I called about this situation was abhorrent. The phone was answered by someone EATING! I'm sorry, but you don't run a first rate business, and my experience, as confirmed by your rating with the BBB, I will certainly tell everyone not to do business with your company.

This response to my letter was the final confirmation of the abhorrent way The Digital Dog is run. Any company worth it's salt doesn't email an upset customer with a load of excuses.

This letter is posted on PlanetFeedBack.com and I will be writing a review of your store on Epinions.com. My suggestion is to be more customer oriented and maybe a few of these complaints can be avoided.

Jennifer Jackson

As of now, I've received no response to this latest email. I will update this epinion when I get that response, if I ever do.

Unfortunately, I checked out the BBB too late. I found that The Digital Dog has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB. I will certainly be more diligent in the future.

My final warning to everyone about the Digital Dog is this ... Beware of Dog!!!

Recommended: No