sonystyle.com Shipping Terms
On Thursday 4/20/06 I ordered a few 10 packs of DVD-R’s from sonystyle.com. I was in need of these in a hurry and wasn’t paying attention. These were out of stock items. Not seeing this, I continued to place the order and order via 2 day shipping.
Today being 4/25/06 and my product had not arrived yet, I called customer service to find out where the product was. I was able to get through the telephone robots rather quickly to a human being. The phone operator, who was very pleasant by the way indicated to me that the product was backordered and thats why they hadn’t arrived yet. Though I did need them, I understood that in my haste I didn’t check to see if they were in stock. I did, however ask the operator to discount the 2 day shipping fee, as the product had not arrived in 2 days.
The operator explained to me that the item will be shipped in 2 days, after the product is in house. This struck a nerve in me, so I had to ask her what the deal was about paying for 2 day shipping yet not receiving it in 2 days. She explained to me that it states clearly in the delivery terms that backordered items still ship 2 day, AFTER they arrive in house. I complained to her that the terms were not very evident at the time and place of order. She told me that they are on there, and I may not have seen them. Because of the err on my part of not checking to see if they were in stock I did beleive her that I must have over looked them. Sure enough – in VERY small print, was a link to the terms:
And sure enough, in the terms window of small print, it states:
Estimated Delivery Date – Express Shipping
In Stock items are typically placed with a carrier for shipment the business day following the Order Date; please anticipate In Stock items ordered with Express Shipping will arrive in 2 Business Days. Items that are Currently Out of Stock are typically placed with a carrier for shipment on the business day following that the day the item becomes available for shipment; please anticipate Out of Stock items ordered with Express Shipping will arrive 2 Business Day after the item becomes available for shipment. No weekend delivery. No P.O. boxes or APO/FPO addresses.
I’m still a bit miffed about this, but considering the hurry I was in I wonder if I would have seen this had it been not soo small to begin with. I think this should have been mre clear at the time of order. Anyone else have a similar ‘delivery issue’ with other online purchases?