The great thing about the Internet is that it’s so big…there are literally billions of pages. So this is but one…
In late July, 2008, I ordered 3 items from The Nostalgia Factory. I paid through PayPal. In the process of ordering, I reviewed their site to make sure I understood their process. Their How to Order page says that,
“We will send an email confirmation to you when your package has shipped from The Nostalgia Factory warehouse.”
This did not happen. The only email I received from them was the order confirmation.
Five days after ordering, I both emailed and called asking about my orders’ status: no response. The order was for my girlfriends birthday. She’s a big Gone with the Wind fan, so I ordered the following items:
Product Code Title Qty Price
-------------------- ---------------------------------------- --- ----------
42235 Gone With The Wind, program 1 35.00
53928 LAMBERT, GAVIN: GWTW, the Making of Gone 1 19.75
32259 Gone With the Wind, VIDEO Poster, Style 1 24.75
----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
Subtotal: 79.50
Tax: 0.00
Shipping: 14.00
Insurance: 2.00
Grand Total: 95.50
I guess I should be happy that they delivered two of the three items. I’m not: they’ve stiffed me for the book that I ordered which cost $19.75US.
In the email response (where the above line items were shown) it states:
Please be aware that this is
just a confirmation of receipt of your order. We sell only
original material and some items may not be available.
We will credit your PayPal account if any of your items
are not in stock.
Obviously The Nostalgia Factory doesn’t follow their own policies. So I’m out twenty bucks. The reality, though, is that’s OK. I’ve got a solution: hit them where it hurts.
One, they’ve got a toll-free number–and I’ve got Skype. For $3.00 per month, I can call any phone in the US and Canada as much as I want. I’ll be making a few calls to 1-800-479-8754. Each call will be polite and specific. Each call will cost them that little bit of “toll free” heaven.
Two, there’s the Internet. All kinds of places to post warnings about dealing with unscrupulous vendors. Rudy Franchi, the person responsible for the company, posts little blogs and such all over the Internet. I’m more than happy to comment on his posts. Movie Poster Forum has a very nice site with all types of related memorabilia-related postings. I’m now a member.
Will I “bring down” The Nostalgia Factory? I doubt it. Don’t even care. But if I can keep one buyer from purchasing ANYTHING from them, then that’s good.
Oh, and my policy is as follows: Should The Nostalgia Factory refund my money, I’ll be happy to post an update right here on this page.
DanTech
Wow. I’m shocked. Without ANY response from the folks at nostalgia.com., I received a notification from PayPal today that “You’ve (yeah, me) got a payment”. Shocked.
What’s funny is that although I wanted to call them daily and follow up with more daily emails, I’ve only had the time to send one added email in the last week–and no phone calls. Work has kept me blessedly busy.
So here’s my update: it took persistent, tenacious (but not very consistent) pursuit of this company to get my monies refunded.
Only $19.75…and with the weak US dollar, I’d probably have been better off paying in peso’s, but allowing “them” to keep my hard won funds does little good for me, or anyone else out there. Buyer beware: make sure you do your due diligence when dealing with ANY firm: internet based or not.
Be at peace.