Dec 07 2008
I Want What I Want (And I Want It Now)
“Hello. The more I research your company over the internet, the more suspicious I become. It seems you have a horrible approach to shipping your items and your customer service is non-existent. I should have purchased my order from a reputable seller with which I am familiar, but I decided to give your company a chance–only to find out that there have been an incredible number of incidences that begin like mine (with a lack of contact) and then descend into red tape. I will be contacting Mercantila by phone on Monday (tomorrow). If I do not receive satisfactory information regarding the status of my order I will be contacting Google, Paypal, Bill Me Later, and all of these other services you use to seem legitimate. I will ask them why they are tarnishing their records by working with a fraudulent and misleading company. I will then send a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. I will then write yet another scathing review of your company on any site that will take it. Please, send me information regarding the status of my order.”
…And that is the threatening message I sent to Mercantila this morning. Contrary to any kind of logic whatsoever, I’ve been spending inordinate amounts of money on accessories for my apartment. This is not to say that these things are not needed, but I could very well have waited another month or so for the next semester to come around before spending money. I was just so desperate to improve my state of mind that I began buying posters, tapestries, a spaceheater, an exercise ab wheel, a toaster oven and most likely something else I can’t remember. Lastly, I bought (or at least I am currently attempting to buy) a kitchen cart for my room upon which I can rent the toaster oven and make decent meals in the comfort of such room.
Mercantila’s website is overloaded with guarantees regarding their customer testimonials, how safe and guaranteed their shipping is, and yet when I Googled the company, I came up with a plethora of complaints against them–all of which are beginning to become my reality. In order to attempt to avoid a lengthy process of nonsense and red tape, as stated above, I have decided that a simple, threatening message may do the trick. I don’t want to have to deal with them for too long, and I want to be able to get my toaster oven from off of the floor. Their refund and return policies leaves a great deal to be desired. I should have just gone for a more familiar company.
The problem is that Amazon and a couple other sellers had some really great kitchen carts that were a lot more expensive, and Mercantila’s prices were just right. Not to mention that I bought the cart via Google Checkout and received $10 off the final cost of the item. That’s not a bad deal, unless you’re dealing with a company that deliberately misleads its customers. Anyway, we’ll see if that message will get them to pay attention, and maybe they’ll actually attempt to improve their services. The interesting thing is, like Amazon and other online merchants, they have a section of the site for writing reviews, but none of the reviews I read were for any of the products were especially bad, so I figured the company must be doing something right. Gah. It would have made more sense to do research before letting them withdraw money from my account.
Anyway, next semester I’m going to focus on buying more clothing. I don’t have anything professional, and since I’m going to be looking for a summer job (that will hopefully pay a decent amount of money) I’ll need professional clothing for interviews and possibly for the job itself. I also need to buy summer clothing while they are still cheap. Some shorts/capris, tank tops, sandals, etc. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to dress better than I did last summer. I didn’t (and still don’t) have much of anything, and I was walking around in a shambles. Once the spring semester comes I’m going to try to fix myself up. I’m sure the boyfriend would like that. He said he has noticed that I haven’t been “taking care” of myself lately. If I didn’t look like a bum, I wouldn’t feel like a bum and vice versa.
