Friday, January 10, 2014

If You're Thinking About Buying from NoMoreRack.com and Asking Yourself if the Site is a Scam...

I haven't used the "Sadie Frown" in a while...
but this time a company
so deserved it that I needed to bring
it out of retirement.
I'd suggest only reading this post if you're considering ordering from No More Rack, the discount website.  I wrote this and hopefully it will save one or two other people from a lot of headaches and hassles... because this is one deal that just isn't worth trying to get:

I've seen a lot of shares from friends about No More Rack on social media.  I've also seen other people assure friends that it's a great site and they got stuff from them and it was all good.

Let me say that as someone who took those assurances and ordered Christmas presents for my family (thankfully really early) my experience was not good.  In fact it was pretty horrible and I suspect would have been worse if I hadn't been able to send a final email (after many, many others) saying, "if you don't credit my account for the broken stuff you sent me I'm going to blog about how awful you are."

The day that I sent that email, I finally got a credit (they don't do refunds).  But, in a nutshell, here is my NoMoreRack.com experience.

It started with a Nook.  Now let me say, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is.  And a $70 Nook is too good to be true (if you're not buying it from Barnes and Nobles).  But it was at a time in the year when things were going well and an order for $70 had just come in and it seemed perfect. It can be my anniversary present and Christmas present, I told Paul.  We don't usually do Christmas presents for the grownups here, but it seemed so great, and with my computer dying a slow inevitable death, I thought at least I'd have a way to access the internet.

It arrived and worked for about ten minutes.  And then it stopped working.  I restored it to its factory settings.  Nothing.  Tried again.  No luck.  It still froze every minute or so, wouldn't play videos and wouldn't load apps.

So I wrote NoMoreRack.  I received this response:
I would be more than happy to contact our vendor to arrange a reshipment of this item. However, as per our policy we do require you send a picture of the broken item to customercare@nomorerack.com. Upon confirming receipt of the picture, if the item is still in stock a replacement will be sent out to you as quickly as possible. Please allow up to 5 business days for Nomorerack to receive feedback from our vendor.
I thought that sounded a bit strange (because how would they be able to tell if an electronic device wasn't working from a picture), but I did it and waited for a credit.  The next email however, said this:
Hello Cam,
Thank you for writing in. Always here to help.
Kindly send your return to the following address:
Attn: NoMoreRack Returns
1449-37th St.
Basement
Brooklyn, NY, 11218
For the return shipping, please send the item via USPS standard post. Once shipped, please send a copy of the receipt and tracking number to customercare@nomorerack.com. We will then issue a Nomorerack store credit in the amount of the return shipping to your account. Please note that if an item is shipped in a method other than USPS standard post your account will be credited the cost of shipping the item via USPS stand post.
If there is anything further I can do to assist you please let me know. At Nomorerack, customer satisfaction is our main goal.
Regards,

I was annoyed that they were changing what they'd promised to do (refund after a picture) midway through the process but went with it.  I sent them the tracking number and asked if they needed anything else for the refund (again thinking it was odd that they would promise to do so before receiving the item).  Again the story changed:

Good day from Nomorerack! Always here to help.
Thank you for providing the tracking number for your return. Please understand that all returned items must be sorted and processed before a refund can be issued. Please monitor the tracking number from its corresponding tracking site (See below).
Tracking Website: https://tools.usps.com/goAs soon as the tracking status shows "Delivered," please respond to this email at once so we may confirm receipt with our warehouse and process any applicable credits.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We're here to help, and want to ensure you are over satisfied with your shopping experience.

My annoyance was growing.  I didn't mind sending the item back.  I wouldn't have minded waiting until they received it, if that's what they'd said I needed to do in the beginning.

However I did mind the fact that they were constantly changing what they told me was going to happen.  Still, I figured, once it got there I'd get a refund and that would be that... although after reading reviews about them I was hesitant to order anything else from them.

A week later I contacted them again and said that the status showed that the item had been delivered several days earlier and asking where my credit was.

They responded:

Hello Cam,
Thank you for writing in. Always here to help.
I do apologize for the inconvenience. Please understand that all returned items must be sorted and processed before a refund can be issued. I have escalated this concern to our product suppliers to confirm if they already received the item. Kindly allow 3-5 business days for the vendor's feedback.If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We're here to help, and want to ensure you are over satisfied with your shopping experience.
Regards,

Over the course of ten days I wrote them several more times pointing out that the item had been received and asking when the credit would be applied.  Finally after ten days I wrote a note saying that I would be reviewing their site and inconsistencies on my blog.  At this point, because their "policy" on returns had changed so many times and because of the reviews online that I'd found, I was seriously doubting that I would ever receive a credit.  They responded with this:

Hello Cam,
Thank you for writing in. Always here to help.
I apologize for the inconvenience it caused you. We have coordinated this issue to our vendor and still waiting for their response and will notify you once I have received any update. Hoping for your patience and kind understanding.
If there is anything further I can do to assist you please let me know. At Nomorerack, customer satisfaction is our main goal.
Regards,

A short while later I received an email stating that credit had been applied to my account.

I sighed, knowing that I'd have to order again from them since they don't do refunds.  They did not refund any of my shipping costs, but at that point, I was done trying to convince them to issue credits and make good on their word.

Out of the four items I ordered with the credit I did receive, one was a watch that arrived with a non-working clasp and another was a wallet that broke in two about ten minutes after Paul started using it.

That basically means that out of the five items that I ordered from Nomorerack, three broke within the first few minutes of use or arrived not working.

At that point though I called it a day, a lesson learned, knowing that to ship them back for a credit would just cost more in shipping than I could imagine paying and would only result in more credits for more worthless items.

Hopefully someone can learn something from this and avoid the hassle and waste that I experienced while dealing with this company.  I cannot say how strongly I would not recommend shopping with them.

I say this as someone who's saved a lot using coupons and sales: Sometimes a deal is too good to be true, and this is one of those times.  

Or if you do decide to order from them, go in with our eyes open, knowing that your taking a risk!

2 comments:

  1. I've never ordered from them, but I loved how every email back to you said, "Always here to help." Apparently not. :-) ~ Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have ordered and wanted to send a small order back. Thanks for your info. I think I will keep it and try to gift it instead. It will be a nice gift. You saved me a lot of trouble!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and I read every single comment that comes in (and I try to respond when the little ones aren't distracting me to the point that it's impossible!). Please show kindness to each other and our family in the comment box. After all, we're all real people on the other side of the screen!