Have you ever had a shopping experience that really rubs you the wrong way? Thankfully, those are few and far between for me, but I must share my last one as a warning of sorts.
As some of you know by now, I love to buy jewelry and bags at sites like Gilt Groupe, so when I got a note to try Priveporter.com in a promotional marketing email, I signed up right away. And, to make me even happier, I had a $250 off (yes, $250) coupon to use on any item I wanted! I found the perfect piece, which was small but cute, and tried to buy the item. It was sold out.
I visited the site a few times with my coupon code to buy my ring-- I really, really wanted it-- but no luck. I signed on to Prive Porter yesterday, and all of the sudden there were more in stock. Unlike other quality sites that have a wait list, this one did not, so I had been popping back in to see when it was restocked. Finally!
It didn't end there...
I paid for my item, which was a pretty hefty $50 shipping charge for a ring (I live down the street from the place), but was certainly worth it because the coupon and the ring cost evened out. I paid for it straight through PayPal, but later on that day, I received an email that they didn't know what item I bought. I had a receipt for the item with the name of what I purchased at Prive Porter, but something had happened! I described where on the website it was, and didn't hear back for over 12 hours.
The next email I had told me that my coupon code had expired-- what?! I had no idea-- and that despite the fact that my sale went through, I was told that they were not going to honor the coupon. I didn't have a ring, I wasted time describing where the item was on the site, and, to be honest, I was a little disillusioned about the company.
It seemed suspicious that the item I had wanted so badly was "sold out" until the day after the sale. If the ring hadn't been "sold out" when I first wanted to buy it, or there had been a wait list in place, I would have been a happy customer. Or if the coupon had been deactivated, that also would have saved me some trouble when I made that mistake.
To be fair, they did offer me a partial discount after the whole thing, but I felt misled enough about the whole coupon fiasco to be uninterested in striking a deal. My final say? Some deals are too good to be true. Despite the fact that this was a starter purchase that would have led to lots of "hoarding style" jewelry buys, I'm not going back after this. I'm planning on writing a full review, but consider this a warning about Priveporter.com. In my opinion, you should stick to Gilt Groupe if you want a trouble-free purchase!
Have you ever had an experience like this?
Comments