Evike.com == eTheif

[Private_BIGG]

So last month I ordered a side arm pistol from Evike.com

Their website was friendly, they have customer reviews of products (which help me out when researching a new purchase) and ordering was easy. I signed up, placed my order and even received a confirmation, here is a copy of that email (private info blocked out).

Evike.com Inc.
------------------------------------------------------
Order Number: #####
Detailed Invoice: https://www.airsoftpost.com/account_history_info.php?order_id=######
Date Ordered: Friday 03 April, 2009

Your order has been updated to the following status.

New status: (B)Processing

Please reply to this email if you have any questions.

Everything seemed OK right? Well I get this the next day (again with prive info):

Evike.com Inc.
------------------------------------------------------
Order Number: #####
Detailed Invoice: https://www.airsoftpost.com/account_history_info.php?order_id=#####
Date Ordered: Friday 03 April, 2009

The comments for your order are

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your business. We are sorry to inform you that one or more of your item(s) on the order is on back order.
Please rest assures that our team is working hard to complete your order in the next few business days.

The item(s) back ordered on your order is:

1)Marui M84A M9 AEP Airsoft Electric Pistol with Rechargable Battery.

Here are a few reasons for back orders situations to occur:

Delay occurred from transferring inventory back to the main warehouse for order processing from one of our remote locations.
The last piece of the item in inventory was found defective or not eligible for shipping.
The item was over sold within 24 hours, due to our multiple store locations the update failed to complete before your order was placed.
Due to the nature of Air soft product, the U.S. custom often need to inspect our shipment and this normally takes 7~14 days.

We want your shopping experience with Evike.com to be superb and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

Feel free to contact us with any concerns, due to our large selection of products, let us know if there are other items you might like instead.

Sincerely,


Order Processing Manager
Evike.com
Your Ultimate Shop

Curious as to what the hold up might be i responded back and asked if they have an estimated date of delivery. To which this is what I received:

Dear Customer,

We should be receiving this item in stock around mid April. Once we have this item in stock, We well be shipping it out to you.

Please feel free to email me back if you have any further questions.
Thank you and have a nice day!

"Your one stop shop for all your airsoft needs!"

Sincerely,
#####
Sales Rep
Customer Service

Email: sales@evike.com


Ok, well at least the sales guy was friendly right? So I wait.... Mid April rolls around and I haven't heard anything from anybody. So on the 22nd I write back with:

Dear Evike,

I am requesting an update regarding my order. As you can see by the text below, i was told that shipments should be in by mid April. I am just curious as to the status of this order.

Please respond as soon as possible.

Thanks,

The next day Mr. Friendly writes back:

Dear Customer,

I well check with the processing department and we well let you know.

Please feel free to email me back if you have any further questions.
Thank you and have a nice day!

"Your one stop shop for all your airsoft needs!"

Sincerely,
#######
Sales Rep
Customer Service

Email: sales@evike.com

Aside from a couple of grammatical errors, the rep is still pretty friendly and seems genuinely willing to help. The next day a female representative from their office calls my wife at home and tells her that there was a processing error and that my product should arrive on Monday May 4th (31 days after I ordered it). Well, May 4th rolled around and low and behold nothing. So at 11pm I emailed them asking why I haven't received my product. I asked that someone contact me by the end of the business day on the 5th or I will cancel my order and demand a refund. Hoping that Mr. Friendly would get back with me and tell me what the hold up is, I wait. It is now 7pm after their office hours and I didn't even get a phone call. I sent them another email today and told them to cancel the order and refund my money.

A delay in shipping because of importation issues I can buy, these are replica weapons after all. But making a customer wait a month and then ignore them? Needless to say not only will I not be buying from them again, I will call them tomorrow during business hours and if I don't get a refund for my order then someone is going to be getting an earful.

[Bremner]

[QUOTE=Hoping that Mr. Friendly would get back with me and tell me what the hold up is, I wait. It is now 7pm after their office hours and I didn't even get a phone call. I sent them another email today and told them to cancel the order and refund my money.[/QUOTE]

You have to remember about time zones.

[Eagle Eye]

I've spent around $400 on evike and back orders have became a part of my life lol I waited 1 and a half months for my M4 and theif? come on what did they steal from you?

[Private_BIGG]

Ok, I am probably jumping the gun on the thief bit. As long as I am refunded there won't be a problem other than just bad follow up on their service. But if i am not refunded, then they will have stolen money... perhaps I am not having the best outlook on things as this past weekend was probably the worst birthday i can remember...

[Firefox]

I've honestly had no problem with evike in the past although situations do occur like yours. But guns have been stuck in customs for a while and for example I've heard ptws and such are also stuck there so guns are not coming in like they were and you cannot be pushy with customs. I don't think evike is just forgetting you but it's probably just that they are having a lot of trouble getting guns in right now and that's what they are most concerned with.

[BDMK]

You wanna know what they stole, They stole his money, he paid them for an item off there website and they never shipped it to him that in my eyes is stealing. Look at it this way when you buy a car do take the car of the lot for a month or so without paying anything and ignoring all the calls from the car dealer while you have the car I think not you would be in F!@#in jail. Sorry that happened to you good luck.

[Texx]

You wanna know what they stole, They stole his money, he paid them for an item off there website and they never shipped it to him that in my eyes is stealing. Look at it this way when you buy a car do take the car of the lot for a month or so without paying anything and ignoring all the calls from the car dealer while you have the car I think not you would be in F!@#in jail. Sorry that happened to you good luck.

OK drama queen. Since you can get your money back, they haven't stolen anything.

You guys think retailer can make things magically appear overnight?

I've had back ordered items take 3-4 months to recieve.

Take the refund.

Nothing was stolen. Thread closed.

[Texx]

I'm gonna share this because quite frankly, this needs to come out here.

Closing the thread was a little hasty don't you think? It's not like i was being unreasonable or nasty.

I don’t feel it is hasty. There is a sticky'ed thread in this section that deals with this exact sort of thing.

http://www.airsoftohio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17676

You should probably read it and the other sticky'ed threads on this forum because they pertain to how the things you post will be dealt with.

Although the personal attack from you wasn't exactly pleasant.
You were called a drama queen for posting a slanderous and overzealous accusation in what turns out to be little more than an emotional response from someone behaving like a spoiled and immature child. I believe I was right on the mark with that. If you take offense at being labeled a “drama queen,” I’m not at all surprised.
I know you want to keep threads from getting out of hand, but really? Was i THAT nasty?

Yes, I believe your unwarranted accusations are out of hand and nasty. I don’t have a high opinion of Evike, but accusing them of stealing your money simply due to your item being out of stock is way out of bounds. I would interject logic in this same sense into any other thread where a person accused another retailer of this, even in light of the person admitting the actual facts.

I mean, look at it this way, if you went to Wendy's and ordered a double combo, and when you check the bag it only had fries in it. So you tell them, and then they hand you another bag, but for some reason it feels light, so you look in it and it just has a few napkins, no burger. Only this time when you try to tell them, they shut the window and ignore you. So have to go in and ask for a refund but you have to wait until the manager gets back... tomorrow... Is this acceptable customer service to you? Because it isn't to me.

There is a very big difference with your example here. You are ordering food at a fast food restaurant. As this is food service, if your items were not available, you would be told immediately. The Fast Food industry revolves around transactions that take 5-10 minutes to complete in which the customer leaves with his items at the end of the transaction. I understand this concept because I have worked in the food service industry.

I also understand that humans are flawed and capable of making mistakes and in the end, getting ketchup instead of mayonnaise is not that big of a deal. It certainly isn’t enough of an issue that I would over-exaggerate and demean an entire franchise, simply over one mistake on one order. I don’t insist the manager kiss my butt and lick it clean. I simply ask them to correct the mistake. If they can’t or won’t I go elsewhere.

And you seemed awful defensive of their position by closing the thread and then calling me names. I'm not being a "Drama Queen", i'm a customer, with standards. And i expect those standards to be met.

As I said before, I called you a drama queen because that is how you were presenting yourself and your problem.

Accusing a retailer of being a thief because the item you ordered was on back order is totally out of line. It’s this exact kind of behavior that makes it difficult for people to find a good retailer and that makes it difficult for retailers to provide services.

Airsofters already have to sift through shaky advice and information from people who make stuff up, exaggerate, or flat out are completely wrong. Reviews from people trying to keep sponsors happy, retailers who post bad information to sell product, and people who post 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th hand information off as their own God’s honest truth. Even if they don’t read your thread, they see your title and will have that thought on their minds.

I have worked both sides of this equation as a customer and as a retailer. I also work in customer service as a technical support technician. I deal with outrageous claims, exaggeration, and bold-faced lies from customers who don’t want to look stupid. All that behavior does is make my job difficult and fixing problems. I have to fish information out of people until I figure out what they actually did and then try to help them fix it. You know how much easier it would be if they would leave out that step?

What exactly have they done to you to deserve you accusing them of stealing your money?

You’ve had to wait a month to get an item that was back ordered. Is this Mr. Friendly’s fault for the time it takes a shipment of items to be loaded into container, put on a ship, travel across the ocean, sit in customs for god knows how long, put on a truck to their warehouse, and finally processed and shipped out to you.

There isn’t a way a retailer can magically speed all of that up just for one order and especially if he intends to stay in business. That is the reality of things.

Your thread was closed because you are making outrageous and slanderous claims which your own words contradict. There is already guideline in this section for complaints and advice on how to resolve problems in a civil manner.

You were called a drama queen because you are over-exaggerating and dramatizing a trivial and commonplace occurrence which is equally likely to happen with any other online retailer.
You don’t have to like it, but you do have to accept it so that you can move on.

That's called maturity.