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View Full Version : Avoid Chadwicks.com (LONG rant)



himom
03-21-2005, 06:45 AM
These people have been driving me crazy.

It took me almost an hour to place an order because

1) Many of the things I tried to add to my basket were out of stock. If it's out of stock, why don't they just take it down instead of leaving up the item???

2) The checkout page kept giving me error messages in some sort of Chadwicks-only language and I could never figure out what they expected me to change. I had to randomly take things in and out of my shopping basket until I finally created a combination they found acceptable. Why couldn't they just have said "item X not available" or "coupon code X invalid" or anything like that? I kept having to guess at what "Error 12" "Error 7" etc was supposed to mean.

Finally my order goes through. March 3 my CC is billed and I receive an email saying my items will arrive in 6-10 business days.

March 16 I receive a postcard informing me my entire order has been canceled. My credit card is not refunded.

I can't get on their website (another gripe), so I call on March 17. Automated voicemail tells me my order has already arrived at my home. Hmm, you'd think I would have noticed that.

After calling back and pushing different buttons 6 times trying to find a human being, I finally manage to escape the voicemail circle of hell and get a customer service rep. They can't find my order at all. When they finally manage to track it down, they inform me it's out of stock. When I ask how 6 different items can be out of stock and complain that they billed me for it already, they put me on hold. Finally they come back and tell me I misread the postcard, and only one of my orders is canceled. I tell them I only made one order. They tell me I ordered twice. No, I ordered ONCE. Believe me, I wasn't about to go through that ridiculous order process twice. Hold again. Evidently one item in the order is out of stock, so they split the order in two, canceled the one item and shipped the rest. The customer service person continues to argue with me and tell me I ordered it separately.

Then I ask, "Where is it?" and am told it should arrive in a week and a half. WTH? It was supposed to be there that day. Oh, they said, it's because you're not in the continental United States. Well, they why the heck did they email me when it shipped and tell me it would arrive in 6-10 business days? Oh, they answer, it's because we didn't know you were in Hawaii. What the hell? Then how did you mail the dang package???? I am put on hold again and told it might be there the next day. I ask if I can cancel the order. They say no, it's already shipped.

I should note that I can get a package from the east coast in 4 days. Why it takes these people more than two weeks is beyond my imagination.

It is now 5 days later and no package.

During this entire time I have occasionally tried to log on and check my order status but most of the time I keep receiving "page errors" or a continuously spinning hourglass. I have only managed to log on once in all the times I've tried.

Run, don't walk, away from this site.

psophia17
04-15-2005, 12:05 PM
The only thing I've ever ordered from Chadwicks with any success was bridesmaid dresses, which are inexpensive and fairly tasteful.

They are pretty good if you order by phone, though - next time you have an issue with an order, don't call their customer service number, call the order to place an order, you should get someone alive right away.

Canna
04-15-2005, 09:41 PM
In late summer/early fall I ordered a bunch of maternity clothes (who knew Chadicks even HAD maternity clothes!?) that were on clearance. The quality and prices were excellent, and my order arrived with no problems. They were some of my favorite maternity things!