Online Christmas Shopping – The aftermath

If you did some of your Christmas shopping online, chances are that it arrived with a ridiculous delay or that it never actually got anywhere near you – except from a lonely sorting office in the middle of nowhere, where more than “being sorted”, packages seem to evaporate into thin air.

Personally, of all my online purchases did arrive in time. I did order some back in early November so that helped. However, presents destined for me – how annoying is that – got completely lost. My mother is still waiting for her Christmas presents to arrive to family members in the UK, and my brother is wondering whether the gift he got for his wife will arrive soon.

With regards to the ones that were intended for me, this is how the story goes. One was from my boyfriend who had ordered something truly special from Mockinghorse. The other, from my brother with a lovely gift from Amazon. Both guys with a lot of good intentions but nothing to offer me on Christmas day. Even though they had placed their orders around 10 days before Christmas, both parcels were never delivered. They were both forced to tell me what it was they wanted to get me, and how sad they were that these parcels had gone MIA.

Yet pretty, snow makes our world collapse in all manner of ways

My boyfriend soon began investigating the location of his purchase, so he contacted the guys at Mockinghorse, who were unbelievably kind, helpful and understanding. They had a tracking number and the parcel “appeared” to be delivered on the 22nd of December. This never happened. The postal service in Spain, it’s destination at the time, kept repeating it had been delivered, while a local postal worker told us that Madrid was flooded with parcels that were being held or delayed. Funnily enough, all of these parcels and letters have addresses on them, and payed postage, yet they seem unable to go anywhere.

Finally Mockinghorse kindly re-sent us the order, and they even went so far as to offer their apologies with a lovely gesture and a note. As I look at the precious things my boyfriend bought me, I can’t help but feel a bit bad. This is an independent online store, with gorgeous products made in the UK. The lack of the delivery wasn’t really their fault. I wondered how much control they have over orders once they leave their HQ. It’s out of their hands, really.

I follow several independent business owners on Twitter, and both their run up to Christmas and the weeks after, seemed full of comments about refunds, customers complaints, some even got abuse. While I understand how disappointing it is to buy something and never get it, some customers were more than complaining, bullying repeatedly, certain retailers, even after they had been offered refunds or alternative compensation.

 Mockinghorse order arrived today – Call me the “sausage dog lady” but these brooches are too beautiful

Some of these independent retailers have lost a lot of money, because, they are independent. Which means there is no strong, gigantic corporation seeking to make zillions behind them. It’s just regular people like anyone who would read this, trying to make a living, with great quality products, and getting on the one side, very little explanations from postal services, and some strong language from angry customers.

As customers, we feel like we threw money down the drain. As retailers, it feels like Christmas instead of been a season of great profit, becomes a time of repeated dispatches and returns. This means a great money loss.

Maybe we should all order our Christmas shopping in November, or avoid it altogether during periods of bad weather. However that is unrealistic, as the magic of online shopping is to be able to buy whenever one feels like it, no matter the weather, the time of the day, or location.

Maybe more online retailers should offer free tracked delivery like AccesoriesOnline, that may not be as fast, but it does sound a tad re-assuring. And we should also consider opting for more than the “free-delivery” unsafe deals, and pay extra for a signed service.

As online shopping grows, there are still many reasons for us to make our purchases in actual physical stores – nothing can justify unrealistic bigger retailers like Jaeger charging £20 (€25 approx) for international delivery (???)

Have a look around you, there is more than the high street. There are small independent business full of wonderful and unique products in the streets of your town or city. Independent business need our support, and the world would be a truly sad place if said places didn’t exist. The best stores I’ve ever come accross are independent (online and physical).

With online retailers, be realistic. If the delivery looks troubled seek for ways to secure its arrival. Communicate politely, and if your problem gets solved, make everyone know this. Word of mouth is power, and it’s great to use it to denounce bad customer service, but it’s better to utilize it to promote a good online store.

Mockinghorse not only have a beautiful catalogue of unique jewelry. Their customer service is impeccable. I will be ordering from them again, will recommend them to anyone, and if the original parcel does arrive I will send it back to them and cover all costs so it gets to their hands safely, if the guys at the delivery services allow it.

What is your take? is online shopping still trust-worthy and what customer-services have you encountered?


Pictures: Fashion Limbo