Disclaimer: I hate badmouthing places for the most part, because I believe they provide a valuable service to myself and others, but this stuff aint right.
On the 6th, I saw where paylesspipes.com had some Esoterica stuff in, so I decided to grab a bag and 2 tins of Penzance. People who know me will know I don't care for lat blends, but I pick this stuff up as either trade fodder or gift it away. I don't sell it on eBay and crap like that.
After not seeing a shipment notification yesterday (the 8th), I decided to call. The guy on the other end let me know that they did not ship my order, but it was still there, because they were not able to verify me (first time customer). They didn't call or email me all day on the 6th, 7th, or 8th to let me know where my $80 was. I asked how I could prove who I was: various licenses, etc..., and he later(on the 9th) let me know they use a third party company named Veritas that uses public records to verify people. I go by my middle name, which will never show up on public records. He assured me my shipment was still there. He told me he would contact his manager to go forward with the appropriate steps, and verified my email to let me know.
I hear nothing all day, so I decided to call. The guy tells me they need my full legal name to verify who I am. I ask again if they are sending it to a third party, and he says no, then relents and says it is done in-house by veritas. I ask if they own veritas, to which he replied, no. Yup, third party. All of a sudden he "gets an email" from his boss saying that my shipment is no longer there. Poof. 3 minutes and it disappears, apparently.
Only once did he apologize, and only to say: "I hope to hear from you again." Nah, man, I think you already know the answer to that, I replied.
Do I understand that companies need to protect themselves? Absolutely. Should I have been notified somewhere that they were going to send my information elsewhere? Legally, I don't know, but morally, I think so. I've been the victim of a "public records check" fubar before(job related). Should I have been notified at least sometime during the day on the 7th or 8th? I think so. Is this likely a few and far between thing that happened at this place? I don't know and I won't find out. They didn't give enough of a damn to call/email me to let me know what was going on, so I don't give enough of a damn to try again.
On the 6th, I saw where paylesspipes.com had some Esoterica stuff in, so I decided to grab a bag and 2 tins of Penzance. People who know me will know I don't care for lat blends, but I pick this stuff up as either trade fodder or gift it away. I don't sell it on eBay and crap like that.
After not seeing a shipment notification yesterday (the 8th), I decided to call. The guy on the other end let me know that they did not ship my order, but it was still there, because they were not able to verify me (first time customer). They didn't call or email me all day on the 6th, 7th, or 8th to let me know where my $80 was. I asked how I could prove who I was: various licenses, etc..., and he later(on the 9th) let me know they use a third party company named Veritas that uses public records to verify people. I go by my middle name, which will never show up on public records. He assured me my shipment was still there. He told me he would contact his manager to go forward with the appropriate steps, and verified my email to let me know.
I hear nothing all day, so I decided to call. The guy tells me they need my full legal name to verify who I am. I ask again if they are sending it to a third party, and he says no, then relents and says it is done in-house by veritas. I ask if they own veritas, to which he replied, no. Yup, third party. All of a sudden he "gets an email" from his boss saying that my shipment is no longer there. Poof. 3 minutes and it disappears, apparently.
Only once did he apologize, and only to say: "I hope to hear from you again." Nah, man, I think you already know the answer to that, I replied.
Do I understand that companies need to protect themselves? Absolutely. Should I have been notified somewhere that they were going to send my information elsewhere? Legally, I don't know, but morally, I think so. I've been the victim of a "public records check" fubar before(job related). Should I have been notified at least sometime during the day on the 7th or 8th? I think so. Is this likely a few and far between thing that happened at this place? I don't know and I won't find out. They didn't give enough of a damn to call/email me to let me know what was going on, so I don't give enough of a damn to try again.