Wholesale & eBay Forum » Scams, Ripoffs, Fraud & Complaints » MidtownCloseout.com nightmare

by: gift-basket
SaleHoo Junior Member
18 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 9:19 am.
I have been in retail for 30 years and have owned my own businesses, three of them including a physical storefront, since 1996. We are a corporation and our company name is trademarked. I am no newbie to selling. I have over 200 vendors I deal with on a monthly basis without any problems. Until now. I placed an order with this company for over 500.00 worth of jewelry. This was on July 3rd. I actually wanted to change my order within minutes after submitting it, as the site provided a link to change the order, but when I clicked on it, it said it was too late as it was in processing already. Highly doubtful at 10:00 pm at night before a holiday. On the 5th the site says item was shipped. Tracking came up as invalid. I emailed them twice, politely asking if this order had shipped as the tracking was dead. No response to two emails asking about the order. On July 11th I felt I was being scammed because no goods, dead tracking and no return emails. I emailed them this note-
by: jm0963
SaleHoo Junior Member
41 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 1:50 pm.
Sounds like fomr the messages 'Steven' has probably been getting inudated with these types of e-mails. Sounds like Stevo should look at the root problem, his crappy customer service as opposed to attacking his customers.
by: jm0963
SaleHoo Junior Member
41 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 2:06 pm.
Here’s a funny story on the same line. My wife and 7 y.o daughter were in a local mall when they stopped at a Claire’s. An item caught my daughter’s eye that was priced at 50 cents. She asked my wife if she could buy it with her own money and my wife agreed. When my daughter put the item on the counter and laid out a one dollar bill, the cashier said “Oh, that’s not the price and actually it was $4.” My wife calmly told the cashier what the price on the rack had said for the items and showed the cashier that all the items on that rack were priced similarly. The cashier walked over and ripped the sale sign down and told my wife “Not anymore it isn’t!” Now remember we are talking about a 7 year old buying a cheap item for 50 cents. My wife kept her cool, which far exceeds the verbal assault the cashier would have gotten from me. My wife explained that in Massachusetts you must sell an item at it’s listed price prior to its correction. Now, in the grand scheme of things, had this cashiers said “I apologize but that is an incorrect price. But I’ll take care of that after this sale.” She would of walked away with a complete understanding and more than likely would have paid the $4 for the item. Instead this cashier looked directly at my daughter and said “I’m not letting you have a $4 item for 50 cents….you just want something for free!” My wife nearly strangled this woman and asked for her manager. This slug walks out from the back with half a sandwich in her mouth and states “I’m the assistant manager and you’re not getting it for free.” My wife asked for her name and her manager. She said “How about you give me your name and I’ll call my boss?” To make a long story short….Claire’s paid 50 cents to lose a customer for life.
by: gift-basket
SaleHoo Junior Member
18 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 3:18 pm.
Yes, I have absolutely noticed this downhill trend when it comes to CS. I feel so badly for your little one I'd have loved to give those employees at that store a piece of my mind. I have so had it with the rudeness of people, especially those who are taking my money in exchange for their goods. The attitude has become among so many vendors and retailers, that the customer should be so grateful to be doing business with them. It's actually laughable. As a store owner, I've run into some awful customers but it takes a lot to push me over the edge, and I mean a lot. I've been screamed at, called nasty deragatory names over UPS screwups, when a customer can't read the big RED print on our site that states if this is a gift please proceed to enter alternate shipping info at the link in red, next to the gift in your cart. They check out and then I get a nasty email that our site never asked for another shipping address. I've been reamed out when a customer shipped back a return 6 MONTHS after purchase and I sent it right back to her. It was a puzzle box that had human HAIR inside it, food crumbs, etc...it was disgusting. She screamed and yelled and I not once lost my cool. I calmly explained that we accept returns with no questions asked within 7 days of receipt and they must call for an RMA number. I had my life threatened. I still didnt lose my cool.
by: gift-basket
SaleHoo Junior Member
18 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 3:22 pm.
Oh and honestly....I could have charged that ten bucks I ate in shipping but didn't as a 'courtesy' to this witch. I have every right to do so as it's posted on our site and on their order confirmations. She makes the mistake, I have to pay DHL an extra ten dollars of my profit (and we make NO money on shipping at ALL) and she's still going at me to get me to refund her the entire shipping fee. People never cease to amaze me.
by: jm0963
SaleHoo Junior Member
41 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 6:01 pm.
Well, as we all know there are crappy customers as there are crappy businesses. Luckily, what you described I have found to be the exception more than the rule. But in regards to rude business people, it seems to be a fundamental flaw in how some people run their organization. From retail to biotech, there are a number of people who lack the basic gumption of how to communicate in a way that will allow for understanding. And lets not forget about how easy it is for some knucklehead hiding behind a keyboard to send off nasty e-mails without the threat of reprisal. I had a number of similar instances though not as nasty as your example in where a customer was berating one of my employee's who was doing everything under the sun to appease him. When she suggested he look at his receipt and notice he was NOT charged for the item as a show of good faith, he freaked!!! He began berating her to the point she was in tears. He screamed for her to get her manager. Now I'm a bit more formiddable at 6' 3' and 230 lbs than the high school junior I have working for me. When approached I spoke to him with both professionalism and with courtesy. What's funny is he was extremely courteous to me and didn't raise his voice once. When we finished the conversation I asked him if he felt the service he received was adequate? He replied 'Yes, indeed.' I than asked him if he felt an apology was owed to the young lady I overheard him berating earlier was in order. I asked him how he would have felt if I spoke with the same intention to his daughter or granddaughter the way he spoke to my employee. He nearly crapped his pants. He apologized. Now when he comes in he always brings something homemade his wife has made like brownies, etc in for her and gave her a very nice card for her graduation.
by: jimmy_huber
SaleHoo Master Member
2868 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 8:27 pm.
I find it interesting how Steve runs at the mouth boasting how big his annual sales are compared to yours. He acts so intelligent yet he makes many grammar mistakes in his emails.Since you are one of those know-it-all people from the northAnd where does he get this info? Sounds to me this idiot is just making excuses. If a message goes undelivered your mail client will message you stating the email was unable to be delivered to recipient.
east you might want to figure out that emails do not get through these
days!
Wholesale Directory by SaleHoo

by: jimmy_huber
SaleHoo Master Member
2868 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 8:39 pm.
And to jm0963, I myself would not have been so considerate.Wholesale Directory by SaleHoo

by: jm0963
SaleHoo Junior Member
41 posts
Posted 18 Jul 07 9:14 pm.
Jimmy,
by: julz77
SaleHoo Junior Member
21 posts
Posted 23 Jul 07 5:24 am.
So Gift-House, do you think that they deliberately damaged the box AFTER you sent the email and they got aggro? or do you think it was already sent that way?
by: kamileris
New SaleHoo Member
8 posts
Posted 25 Jul 07 2:14 am.
I find it interesting how Steve runs at the mouth boasting how big his annual sales are compared to yours. He acts so intelligent yet he makes many grammar mistakes in his emails.kinda out of topic i just wanted to ask, I am just wondering if my english is really important to sell stuff on ebay, personally i know my self as very polite and friendly person to anybody, i dont think i will have any problems with my customers but just like you said how about my customers? will ppl get mad because of my grammar ? it looks like funny question but i just wanted to know your thoughts thank you so much for everything Jimmy
That is the kind of crap that makes me sick. I bend over backwards for my customers on every end of my buisness. Even If I loose money that customer will be happy. There have been several instances where I have lost a bundle. But those customers got excellent service and most have repeated thier transactions with me frequently.
This kind of behavior to a customer is beligerent and completely out of line.Since you are one of those know-it-all people from the northAnd where does he get this info? Sounds to me this idiot is just making excuses. If a message goes undelivered your mail client will message you stating the email was unable to be delivered to recipient.
east you might want to figure out that emails do not get through these
days!

by: jm0963
SaleHoo Junior Member
41 posts
Posted 26 Jul 07 12:37 pm.
My off the cuff answer is yes. I know when I buy from an auction site, I scrutinize it. Your listing will be the electronic version of you. Sorry to say but if you can't write a clear message and presentation of your product, you may want to have someone with good english skills proof it for you.
by: lsenechal
SaleHoo Junior Member
12 posts
Posted 2 Sep 07 8:53 pm.
Hey Jimmy,as to Midtown Closeout, I have done some business with them altho not recently. I received the items on time and in good shape and they were 'as advertised'. I did run into a problem, as a diamond ring I purchased had a stone missing. I Called Steve and he gave me the RMA # and everything was taken care of to my satisfaction. I have purchased from them 3 different times with out a problem. But then I can`t speak for what happened to gift-basket. Leo Senechal
by: heathers-essential
New SaleHoo Member
6 posts
Posted 29 Oct 07 2:49 am.
Well, as we all know there are crappy customers as there are crappy businesses. Luckily, what you described I have found to be the exception more than the rule. But in regards to rude business people, it seems to be a fundamental flaw in how some people run their organization. From retail to biotech, there are a number of people who lack the basic gumption of how to communicate in a way that will allow for understanding. And lets not forget about how easy it is for some knucklehead hiding behind a keyboard to send off nasty e-mails without the threat of reprisal. I had a number of similar instances though not as nasty as your example in where a customer was berating one of my employee's who was doing everything under the sun to appease him. When she suggested he look at his receipt and notice he was NOT charged for the item as a show of good faith, he freaked!!! He began berating her to the point she was in tears. He screamed for her to get her manager. Now I'm a bit more formiddable at 6' 3' and 230 lbs than the high school junior I have working for me. When approached I spoke to him with both professionalism and with courtesy. What's funny is he was extremely courteous to me and didn't raise his voice once. When we finished the conversation I asked him if he felt the service he received was adequate? He replied 'Yes, indeed.' I than asked him if he felt an apology was owed to the young lady I overheard him berating earlier was in order. I asked him how he would have felt if I spoke with the same intention to his daughter or granddaughter the way he spoke to my employee. He nearly crapped his pants. He apologized. Now when he comes in he always brings something homemade his wife has made like brownies, etc in for her and gave her a very nice card for her graduation.(don't think i would eat any of those brownies if i were you!j/k) i have worked in the service industry for the last 13 years all over the country; mostly resorts, national parks, and restaurants locally owned and also corporate and have seen WAY too many grown adults act embarrassingly childish and ridiculously overreact to the slightest situations. it really makes me wonder what these people do in REAL situations that are stressful!! i had a ridiculous woman scream @ me one time for them not recieving silverware before their meal came out when it is delivered by the host & we were so busy, we couldn't get it washed & rolled fast enough. and people on vacation are the worst, i don't know if they are pissed off cuz they are in a pristine environment with awesome scenery & incredible animals everywhere but they have to share with a million other people @ the same time, or if they just get cheap & mad cuz everything is so expensive...., but i have seen so many people get irrate about stupid things or demand crazy stuff!! i also think some people 'get off' on taking out all their frustrations on some person they don't know & will more than likely never see again and like you guys said, the internet is a perfect tool for these assholes!! and they could totally get Claires in trouble for false advertising in the case of the sign hanging advertising a false price and i can't believe the clerk acted that way.....seriously.....is it coming out of her pocket if things are mismarked?? i doubt it.....unless she's a general manager and getting some kind of bonus at the end of the year or something!! you guys are right about the fact that people in general are getting so rude & selfish it is disgusting....people in business & people shopping ALL need to start treating each other with a little respect!!! WE'RE ALL HUMAN!!!

by: heathers-essential
New SaleHoo Member
6 posts
Posted 29 Oct 07 3:14 am.
The problem is, nobody knows you on the internet except for the information you give them, & if you are constantly mispelling words and using bad grammar, people will judge you on that cuz they don't know anything else to judge you on!! from your email, it looks like you are pretty good @ communicating, but just always proof-read your descriptions and correspondence cuz it means alot to people to know they are dealing with a person who cares enough about their business to be as professional as possible!!I find it interesting how Steve runs at the mouth boasting how big his annual sales are compared to yours. He acts so intelligent yet he makes many grammar mistakes in his emails.kinda out of topic i just wanted to ask, I am just wondering if my english is really important to sell stuff on ebay, personally i know my self as very polite and friendly person to anybody, i dont think i will have any problems with my customers but just like you said how about my customers? will ppl get mad because of my grammar ? it looks like funny question but i just wanted to know your thoughts thank you so much for everything Jimmy
That is the kind of crap that makes me sick. I bend over backwards for my customers on every end of my buisness. Even If I loose money that customer will be happy. There have been several instances where I have lost a bundle. But those customers got excellent service and most have repeated thier transactions with me frequently.
This kind of behavior to a customer is beligerent and completely out of line.Since you are one of those know-it-all people from the northAnd where does he get this info? Sounds to me this idiot is just making excuses. If a message goes undelivered your mail client will message you stating the email was unable to be delivered to recipient.
east you might want to figure out that emails do not get through these
days!