Sunday, November 23, 2008

In Search of Tea

Ooooh, I'm sooo annoyed right now!
Actually, I've been annoyed since last night, so I really need to get this out of my system.
Ok, last week I ordered some tea from an online store where I have shopped before.
I don't drink coffee. I like tea. And not grocery store tea, I like loose leaf varieties. English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Ceylon.
My favorite brand was Jacksons of Piccadilly, but they were bought by Twining (which I was never fond of) and they discontinued all the Jacksons teas except some white and flavored teas. So I buy single estate blends online now.
Anyway.

Disaster Strikes
Somewhere between me entering my address on the order form—correctly, I might add, I know my own address—and my address being given to a well known delivery service with a five letter name, the last two digits were transposed.
On Friday I received a tracking e-mail stating the package couldn't be delivered because the address is incorrect.
eh?
So I called and gave them the correct house number. Dude said it would be delivered Saturday. yipee.
Hubby was home all day Saturday and reports that no one came to the door.
sob.
So I check my e-mail to see a note that the package was "left at the front door."
eh?
I call the delivery service. I ask the Dude where they left it and he tells me the incorrect address. excuse me? Dude says something like the shipper is the one who has to correct the address. Dude says the local branch doesn't reopen until Tuesday.
I give him slight attitude and manage not to say "thanks for nothing" at the end of the call.

It Gets Better
I go downstairs and throw a hissy fit. Hubby says we'll look after dinner (which was very tasty, sauted pork chops, brussel sprouts, polenta, and mixed veggies).
We drive up the street.
The house number my tea was supposedly delivered to doesn't exist.
Let me repeat that. The house numbers skip that number entirely.
Hubby says he suspected as much because how else did the driver on Friday know it was the wrong address? I say I assumed someone answered the door and was turned away.

It Still Doesn't Exist
Just now I walked up the street and confirmed the house number doesn't exist. I asked at one of the houses with a number in the general vicinity. The nice man said they didn't get my package.
So I came home and gave the delivery company major attitude. Chick reopened the ticket and put a trace on it. She pointed out the local branch is closed until Tuesday.
Then I e-mailed a very controlled message to the online store about what was going on.

Other Reasons This Sucks
Aside from the fact that I don't have my tea, this is $40 worth of product we're talking about. (Seriously, I don't mess around when it comes to tea. But it is also about a pound of tea over three types and this will last me quite a while.)
Now, think about it. I'm on a yarn diet. So if I can't spend $40 on yarn, I shouldn't be spending it on other stuff. However, tea counts as food and food is a necessity (and we spend at least that much every 6 weeks on his coffee. Yeah, maybe our priorities are strange).
Also, as far as I know, the package is uninsured.
To top it all off, since I've ordered from this place before without a problem, I just used my bank debit card to pay. So I don't know if I can dispute it if the tea is never found. I knew I should have used the PayPal option, or some other payment method. I think they would have given me dispute rights.
Which all means I'm top to bottom furious at a number of different people, including myself.
However, there is nothing else to be done until Tuesday. When, hopefully, the tea will turn up safe and sound in the local office of the delivery company. Hopefully the driver just hit the wrong button on Saturday.
Ok, I'm going to go use a mop to take my aggression out on the kitchen floor. Then I'll go grocery shopping.
It's all very exciting.

1 comment:

  1. Believe it or not, Ann. This same thing happened to me. The house did not exist either. I ended up getting it, albeit a few days late. They had no excuse other than they delivered it to the non-existing house, and that's all they could tell me. Keep you fingers crossed. So sorry you missed on your tea!

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