What would you do?

I ordered something last month through an individual making custom products, May 2nd is when I paid through Paypal. Since then I haven't heard anything from the person. Some generic Facebook updates have been posted and it's just things like "Delayed, things will go out soon! Oh I've had delays, things will go out soon! Delays, whoopsie, things will go out soon!" Apparently the individual has now been swamped with orders and it seems hardly anybody has received their orders. They're running a sale and instead of getting orders out to people who already ordered, they kept extending the sale and extending the sale and apparently getting more and more behind and more and more swamped with orders.

The repeated extending the sale when an apparent flood of orders has been coming in makes me really uncomfortable and makes me think the individual in question is probably financially underwater... which makes me wonder if they even have the supplies or money to make and send out my item. I worked for a company years ago who was constantly taking money from future jobs to pay off old jobs and you CANNOT run a business that way, you will never get caught up and eventually you go under... which is how I ended up with bounced paychecks and out of a job, and a bunch of people never got their finished products from that company either. So alarm bells are going off in my head.

Plus no contact at all... I don't consider a generic post on a Facebook page to be "contact with customers," especially since I had to provide an e-mail address when I ordered (including paying through Paypal so there's an e-mail address there too.) I've seen Facebook posts from other customers asking for updates, saying they've e-mailed and Facebook messaged and can't get any response.

I feel some sympathy for this individual since they ARE an individual and things do happen, but at the same time, so am I... I'm one person who has done art for other people on commission for many years, and I find this to be unacceptable business practice. I would never do this to my customers. If I were getting swamped with orders, I would STOP TAKING orders... not keep extending a sale and raking in more and more and getting further and further behind... so the whole thing just makes me really uncomfortable.


My 45 days to file a Paypal dispute is approaching quickly - Sunday would be 45 days. I still WANT the product I ordered, and as far as I know there's not another company who can make exactly what I was hoping for, but I'm seriously worried I'm not going to get it at this point. This person has been doing business for a little while but it's of course not unheard of for a company or person who has been great in the past to suddenly vanish off the face of the earth and a bunch of people are without money.

What would you do? Should I file a Paypal dispute? Or should I just cross my fingers and hope I eventually get what I ordered?

If it's the same company I'm thinking of, I would just file the dispute with paypal. They keep extending the sale but are so back ordered. If they can't fulfill orders placed over a month ago, they need to end the sale and work harder to get everything out.

The product they are making isn't a difficult nor time consuming one, since the main object is already made for them. To me, it's unacceptable to wait that long for that product.

Yes... file the paypal dispute. The seller will get the option to get the item out to you within a deadline or paypal will force the refund. that may light a fire under their butt.

No idea what company it is but Id file.

I'd file the dispute while you still have the option to. It sounds like you may never get your order and you may not get your money back if you don't file it. If your gut is telling you there is something wrong, then there probably is, even though you still really want to item, which you may never receive.

I'd file the dispute, too, especially since it sounds like it won't automatically mean no product if they *can* fulfill the order but just haven't yet.

If it's the company I'm thinking of, another friend of mine has had a similar issue and got some response by making a stink on fb, but I don't know if she's actually gotten the item yet - she had already gotten a shipping notice so knows that it was at least finished.

Well, I filed the dispute... I feel kinda bad about it, I don't know why, but I guess as one small business owner to another I feel like I should be nicer and more supportive... I dunno. Urgh. =/

It probably is the same company you're thinking of, Erin. =P

I would file a dispute. Small businesses get a bad rap for this kind of crap. If there an issue, tell me BEFORE I place an order for my item or better yet, email me personally telling me when the ETA is/giving me the option to cancel my order.

I hate hate hate HATE when I make the effort to order from a small business.. only to run into this kind of crap and end up wishing I just ordered from amazon lol

Just an fyi - my friend I mentioned above STILL hasn't gotten her stuff. Apparently they were "lost" and remade and shipped on Monday, so we'll see. She said she got no response until she got nasty on fb.

Does your friend have a doberman by any chance? If so, I actually almost messaged her this morning to ask her if she had gotten anywhere... but felt kind of like a creeper messaging a total stranger and decided to post here instead LOL.

I would've file the dispute too. Totally unacceptable, 45 days is a looooong time to delay orders without taking the time to personally email customers and explain the situation.

If it's the company I'm thinking of (and the person with the very cute Dobes who hasn't received her stuff), I'd file a dispute. It's just starting to sound shady. And not even sounding that embarrassed about such an issue kind of reinforces that. Getting behind is one thing..but you think you'd be falling all over yourself keeping in contact with people whose orders are a month late. When you don't respond until there's a snarky email note, something is wrong

Well, as of this morning, the person has posted on their Facebook page - but has not responded to my Paypal dispute.
And "fan posts" are no longer allowed on the Facebook page, presumably to stop people from continuing to post and ask where their stuff is.


I'm quite unhappy. But at least I filed my dispute already. I'll give it a week and if I still don't have a response I'm going to escalate it to a claim and just get my money back.

Yeah, she's conveniently out of town for the weekend and won't respond to anyone until next week

I know of another comparable company that has much better reviews.

If you can get your refunds I would try them.

Yep my friend has dobes Beanie - gotta love how small the dog world is!

you could ppost on your own wall and tag them init so you have control of what is deleted.

i dont have a clue to whom this is but shady is shady and i would so out them.

to quote big worm ~" Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions, Smokey"

lol hope it works out for you.

Can you link me to the other company, Adrianne? I've used Fetching Tags plenty and I love them, but this time I needed somebody who can also stamp smaller letters, so that's why I strayed at all. =P

Well now I'm curious.

I'd file. I've had a fewissues. A collar maker on etsy I'd ordered from and things had been fine. I made another order.. Immediately after people started posting negatives on her etsy about stuff not arriving. I made a dispute before the 45 day mark.. I finally got my stuff a few months later. Many people apparently never did.

Made an etsy order for earrings some like your dilemma. Had a sale, and another... behind, made promises. I ran out of time to make a dispute. I got my earrings like 10 months later.. but it was endless asking and no replies..

Now I don't wait. I make contact at three weeks when I order something and file at about 40 days. As otherwise 45 hits and I have no recourse.