Extremely disappointed with supplier

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi,

I just have to let this out of my system. I have a supplier from whom
I buy ready-made toggle sets - silvercharmsinc.com. One company I
totally do not recommend using in any case, after what happened to
me.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I placed a considerable order
(+$65 UPS shipping), hoping to receive them before Christmas, as the
jewelry made with these is very popular. One weeks has gone -
nothing, I emailed them - no reply, emailed them again - no reply.
On the second week I decided to ring them and received a reply that
they are out of stock and they did receive my emails, but never
bothered replying to them. On 23 Dec I received the package, but the
quality was absolutely horrible. So, I emailed them asking whether I
can send them back for a refund as first of all they were of poor
quality and secondly, they arrived two days before Christmas, which
was too late for the purpose. They emailed back admitting that they
knew the quality wasn’t good, but that they cannot refund shipping. I
am absolutely disgusted by the way they treat their customers. Any
other company would not even consider sending faulty goods or happily
refund all the postage costs - this happened before with Rio and
other companies. But this one just doesn’t want to know, there is
not a tiny bit of respect left for their customers. Companies like
this think they won it this time and can keep their money, but they
should think how much money they are actually going to lose, because
their customers are not going to come back. Fortunately, there are
many other companies that would not want their reputation ruined.

Lilia

2

Lilia,

I can certainly understand your being upset about the treatment you
received from silvercharmsinc.

One of the reasons I stay with Rio even though in some cases their
prices may be slightlyly higher than that of other companies, is that
they they really care about their customers. They maintain a high
quality of merchandise, and will do everything possible to assure
customer satisfaction.

Alma Rands.

3

Lilia - I took a look at silvercharmsinc.com just to see what they
sold in general because I use to usea lot of toggle clasps myself. I
don’t use that many any more however I have two differentsuppliers
and from what I looked at they seem to be much less expensive then
silvercharmsinc.Both suppliers customer service is great too.

The first one is bali-bead-shop.com and the second is
timewellcorp.com. Timewellcorp you need to fill out a wholesalers
license agreement and send it to them to create an account.
Bali-bead-shop.com does not need a wholesalers account because they
ship directly from Thailand. They only shipinsured Fed Ex so I make
sure when I order from them it is a considerable order because
shipping is more expensive. Both excellent service and excellent
quality with a good price. Take Care - Joy

4

Lilia,

If you paid by credit card dispute the charge with your credit card
company. That usually gets these type things resolved quickly.

Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
rockymountainwonders.com

5

Lilia:

We have tried so hard to get products for you since you ordered so
close to Christmas, asking our supplier to do us a favor to rush
order for you, and you don’t appreciate us and the supplier efforts
for doing this. Our Customers appreciate our efforts and they know
they can count on us to deliver them the goods they ask for in a
timely manner, but they also know they need to order in advance
around the holidays. We had offered you Return merchandise by USPS
mail. When the products arrives in, we will ship back to you without
shipping charge but you would have to wait 3 months for making the
items. This still can’t make you happy so Please send merchandise
back and we will refund your product cost, also we will not be able
to refund your shipping cost do to you selecting this as the method
(UPS Expediate) of your shipment also because of the slandering that
you are doing.

You are slandering us on message board and we have tried to work with
you because you seem to have problems with products not just ours but
with other companies, which you have stated below on the message
board… This tells us that the companies and suppliers are very
difficult to meet your expectations and your time frame according to
what is below. We think you are being unfair that you are asking all
this back but are slandering us and our efforts in trying to resolve
this.

Thank you
Lloyd Overbee
silvercharmsinc

6

a m e n, i think those who slander without first checking out all
the facts are very unkind, unfair and perhaps may not be able also,
to appease their customers in the future. the message boards are
meant for and thought and surely not meant to be a base
for blasting another company which can affect their future business
which they probably, do not know in this case, have spent years in
building.

kindly, everyone, please thing before you post serious negative
remarks about any company, you cannot take them back, they stick in
the mind of the reader evem though sometimes recalled.

i wish you and your company the best lloyd, take the high road.
dee, a female in business since the 80’s so you know that i know what
i am talking about.

7

I Also looked at both sides: Lila, first - a 65 dollar order is not
sizable and does not indicate the large scale business that implied.
Secondly, if one orders a non standard shipping method the buyer is
responsible for the difference in costs as the merchant Must pay
their bills also. As for quality without knowing all that was
ordered it is hard to speculate but the inventory on
Silvercharmsinc’s’ site looks the same as most others.

I did not see any admission of poor quality goods being sent in Mr.
Overby’s reply nor the dates of all the back-and-forth
communications. But as the business owner says “ordering so close to
Christmas” and your poor planning in light of that and his efforts to
have a rush sent from the supplier that you received…sounds like he
proved due diligence in trying to appease you. As you stated you have
had similar problems. sounds like you need to review your inventory
practices and develop a reliable system that keeps you in the items
and consumables necessary to meet your production goals or orders. A
last minute order for say, 100 pieces of a beaded necklace with a
specific toggle clasp that you do not have the inventory on hand to
produce in a matter of days indicates that you are not able to accept
the order and perhaps should have considered that before committing
to your client- if there was one…if you wanted to have the pieces
made up for say, a holiday bazaar to make a booth look stocked is
another matter altogether in pre-planning.

The real issue here seems to be your slandering Silvercharmsinc. com
all over the internet…That is certainly no way to establish or
maintain good relations with any vendor.

In all fairness, you are quite lucky he is not turning the incident
into a litigious matter. He could- easily- bring a suit against your
business, or worse, you personally. It is not legal to post negative
and personally directed vindictive articles about a business on the
internet. After all he delivered the goods to you in an expedited
fashion- fulfilling his responsibility to you and it sounds like
going that extra mile for customer service. It sounds like nothing
would have satisfied you but to let you keep the merchandise and get
a refund to boot! Business isn’t free nor does it run like that in
the real world…I think this is a case of buyers remorse…you
ordered cheap findings and got exactly what you ordered, not a
substitute- so you were aware of what you were ordering and paid for
it and had it set expedited post- what I ask, did Mr. Overby fail to
fulfill as a retailer? It is not legal to take your message of
accusations and post it to as many sites as you can find- in fact
that compounds his ability to seek damages in terms of not only lost
sales, but slander, defamation and projected damages in addition to
serving you with a cease and desist order that usually has a civilly
imposed fine attached anywhere from $250. 00per posting to $10, 000.
00 per posting depending on the state or territory in which you
reside and his business is located and the district attorney’s
willingness to enforce any civil penalties, and the FTC’s ability to
exercise their authority as well !!

I would seriously consider getting some personal liability insurance
if this is how you deal with vendors. It would protect you from
having to personally be responsible for slanderous messages you post
at will whilst believing you are exercising your right to free
speech…free speech does not equal slander or personal attacks. I can
assure you you are lucky that you received the treatment you did from
Silvercharmsinc. com and Mr. Overby’s willingness to let it go so
easily…In the future you should consider customer complaints as
personal and confidential and when there is some real issue like the
vendor closing after you have paid for and not received an item, or
the website folding after the holidays and your having no option to
return anything but through a chargeback on your credit card (in your
businesses name so you are personally not responsible for the loss
and can write it off should this type of thing occur)…which affects
your credit history negatively…so think before defaming a business
and plan ahead if you run a business…and request samples if you
order a large quantity provided you are a legitimate business (you
have an IRS generated wholesale privledge carrying EIN number or
other taxed entity!)…rer

8

Dear Lloyd,

As I said in my personal email to you, this is not slandering. It
would be slandering if half of the things I said were made up, but
none of them are untrue. You should take more care of your customers,
because if you don’t they would not be happy, like in this case. I
had my trust in you and put my money with you. Although you offered a
free exchange eventually, I still feel let down.

Dear Dee,

Yes, forums are for and discussions. In this is case
this is about a supplier.

Regards,
Lilia

9 
i think those who slander without first checking out all the facts
are very unkind, unfair and [snip]

Then, do you have “facts” about this case that neither Lilia nor
Lloyd have presented? Remember that truth is an absolute defense to
charges of slander.

Lloyd did not deny the quality issue. In fact he acknowledged that
the good merchandise would be available later. He confirmed the other
facts that Lilia presented. Are you sure it isn’t you who are
treading close to slander?

Let’s not discourage people from honestly reporting bad experiences
with suppliers.

Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

10

My two cents. good bad or indifferent.

2 weeks before Xmas is a late to order anything, that’s hit or miss
time, inventory sells out. If there is some imperative, its not
unknown to check with supplier to see if it can be done in the time
constraint required, rather than just “hoping”. I’m guessing these
are imported goods. One should have a pretty good idea from where
goods come, it helps avoid situations like this.

I’ve found email to not be the best way to contact suppliers.
They’re busy, and frankly a phone call gets more attention.If one
needs an answer NOW, drop the dime. I’ve got 603 emails in my box and
I just cleaned it out last week. Its so easy for emails to get
missed.

No one is going out of business over a single distraught client.
Each of us who runs a business is responsible for how that business
is run and the ramifications thereof. That means everything…what
you know, what you don’t know, what you’ve accounted for and what you
haven’t. Its not good to allow oneself to become overly dependant on
a source and its not good to air resultant dirty laundry in public if
you’re dependant on that source. Maybe they won’t fill your next
order. However its also not good to substitute merchandise without a
phone call first.

The supplier’s policy is clearly stated on their website, expect
longer processing during the holidays.

My suggestion to each is to chalk it up to Holiday Madness, kiss and
make up. Both of you have mutual interests that go beyond hurt
feelings.

11

Having worked for a jeweler supply company, I can tell you that the
customer is always right no matter how right you as the supplier
think you are. It is truly a small victory to be correct when it
causes you to lose a customer.

It is hard for me to decipher Lloyd’s side of the story, but one
message came through loud and clear, Lilia will not have her shipping
returned because she chose to bring her situation to the group. There
is no excuse for not answering her initial email inquiry, even if it
was only to let her know the bad news of the situation. At that time
you give the customer a chance to cancel their order instead of
paying rush shipping on a known inferior product. This whole
unfortunate exchange may very well have been avoided.

I personally would prefer to hear about these situations. $65 is not
a small amount to be out.

Also I believe that the word slander has been misused in this case.
Liable may be a more appropriate term, but only if Lilia is making a
false statement. It sounds more like you were not able to come to an
agreement.

Elizabeth

12

I wonder why the customer was not CALLED and told that the
merchandise that was available was of lesser quality before it was
shipped. That way she could have made the decision to not have the
poorer quality items shipped at her expense of $65. If my customer
wanted expedited shipping that was to cost $65 on top of the cost of
the products, I would be ABSOLUTELY sure what I was sending her is
what she ordered (and what she was expecting to receive. Not a poor
substitute).

Laney

13 
Let's not discourage people from honestly reporting bad
experiences >with suppliers.

While I agree there can be a purpose to posting a bad experience with
a supplier, I question someone posting that experience on the
internet without the knowledge of the other party and both sides
being heard.

From what I understand the supplier substituted an item for
something they were out of and there was an issue about the quality.
There are companies I have dealt with that do substitute and it has
never been okay with me, but my experience is that it is a common
practice, and there are situations where I have to state no
substitutions because of prior experiences with a company. If I was
the supplier I would call the customer and ask if they wanted a
substitution, hopefully I would mention the difference in quality,
especially if it was lower than what they might expect, but=

if I shipped without calling I would take responsibility and return
shipping if the customer was not happy with the product I sent as
substitute.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

14

The $65.00 was for the shipping, not the total of the order. One
respondent mentioned that they didn’t feel like a $65.00 order was a
lot, and I wanted to clarify that Lilia said that the shipping alone
was $65.00.

Personally, I would have called the company to check stock at such a
late date, emails get lost and sometimes put on the back burner. You
often get a better response from someone on the phone and can
possibly expedite the process if you make that personal contact.

I guess my questions are this: did the supplier tell Lilia that they
were out of stock and would ship when they got them in? If so, was
there a cancel date discussed? Or, was it left that it’s out of
stock and that was it and then the items shipped without a call?
Sounds like there was breakdown in communication on both sides if
these things weren’t discussed.

In my business, I did lots of rush for holiday. I was very clear on
what I could do and what I couldn’t. I got “drop dead” dates on all
rush orders. I did not want to be sending inventory too close to the
holiday to be useful. As a “supplier” of sorts I make sure my
customers are getting what they want within the required time frame.
It does no good for my customers to have inventory sitting behind
the counter because they haven’t had the time to put it out before
the rush started.

Regardless of timing, if the quality was substandard- not up to
their normal quality I would have liked my shipping refunded- or if
that didn’t work I’d be happy with a credit to be used in the future
for the amount of the shipping. That shows good faith on the part of
you the customer that you will be using them again. And a good
gesture on their part.

I think this is the perfect venue for discussing such issues. I hope
it gets resolved.

Just my two cents.

Amery Carriere
Romantic Jewelry with an Edge.
www.amerycarriere.com

15

Dear All,

To those who sent messages in my support I would like to say a big
thank you. It is good to know that I am not alone in my thoughts and
what I requested from the supplier is fair.

To those who sent messages in support of the supplier - thank you as
well, I hope you treat your own customers better and that situations
like do not arise in your company, because you wouldn’t knowingly
send faulty goods and then not refund shipping.

My two pence the email of R.E. Rourke:

It is the shipping that was $65 not the order, the order was much
bigger. There was not “any admission of poor quality sent by Mr
Lloyd”, because that was said in the personal e-mail. My planning is
fine and I had a large inventory of these in the beginning of Dec,
but by 7 Dec. I realised I am going to run out very soon, and better
order some more. I understand that ordering on 7 December is a bit
late for Christmas, but still not too late (as UPS only takes 3-4
days to arrive). I was hoping for Christmas delivery, but just a
quick note from the supplier saying the items are out of stock and
would be back in in 3 months would have been fine (I would have just
marked that particular necklace as out of stock), especially as my
order received such a big attention as to order a special stock from
their supplier. If the items I ordered were of the same level of
quality as in previous orders, I would have been happy even if they
arrived after Christmas. No one would settle for faulty goods,
doesn’t matter whether they were ordered specially or not. Those
goods should have been sent back to their supplier for finishing and
not forwarded to me.

As you stated you have had similar problems

only happened a couple of times and they were tools, which arrived
damaged.

The real issue here seems to be your slandering
Silvercharmsinc.com all over the internet. That is certainly no way
to establish or maintain good relations with any vendor.

this is not slandering as said so many times before, this is sharing
knowledge and experience about a supplier.

In all fairness, you are quite lucky he is not turning the incident
into a litigious matter

nothing I said is untrue, It would be an unlawful matter if I was
making things up and posting them everywhere. > After all he
delivered the goods to you in an expedited fashion- fulfilling his
responsibility to you and it sounds like going that extra mile for
customer service.

Yes, he did go an extra mile of ordering the goods specially, and as
I said in the personal email to Lloyd, I appreciate it very much,
however the goods were unfinished and they said so themselves, the
goods simply shouldn’t have been sent, but returned to their
supplier.

I think this is a case of buyers remorse.you ordered cheap findings
and got exactly what you ordered, not a substitute- so you were
aware of what you were ordering and paid for it and had it set
expedited post- what I ask, did Mr. Overby fail to fulfill as a
retailer?

I ordered the same findings many, many times before from them and the
quality wasn’t anywhere near to what these are. They might be cheap
to you, but this is not the price we are talking about here. We are
talking about quality. The reason the package was sent expedited is
because I paid for it to be sent that way, not because the supplier
kindly decided to do so.

Best wishes and Happy new year to all,
Lilia

16

I know that I don’t say a whole lot here yet, but I feel that I must
add “2 cents” whether needed or not. I can’t seem to keep passing
this by without saying something. You will eventually find that I am
that type of person who can’t help but defend another when I feel
it’s needed.

First, I also recently had an order in which I was very disappointed
in. The description was totally different than the product I
received. What I received was not worth a dime, much less what I
spent. Being over the Holidays, I ordered expedited shipping. So,
when I inquired about returning the item I was told I would not be
refunded my shipping. I would also have to pay to ship it back
myself. This is not a jewelry item. I have had this happen before. It
is a standard policy that most businesses have, and usually have
clearly stated somewhere on their website. Yes, I’m upset at the
loss of money because I was clearly mislead. But, I bought my items
fully knowing how most businesses set up their returns policies, and
so I am responsible for my actions. Sometimes you win, sometimes you
lose.

Now…

Lilia will not have her shipping returned because she chose to
bring her situation to the group.

Mr. Overbee said this only as an afterthought. If you will go back
and read you will see that he says…they will not be able to refund
Lilia’s shipping due to her chosing “expidited shipping” as her
shipping method, then he adds also because she brought this
situation to the group.

As I said, I’ve seen this many times as part of a returns policy. I
can also understand his being upset and adding the other statement.

In fact he acknowledged that the good merchandise would be
available later.

I did not see this anywhere in Mr. Overbee’s reply! What I saw, was
that he will have more of the products she ordered available later.
Meaning, he is out of stock at the moment, and he is expecting a
supply in 3 months. He even generously offered to pay for her to ship
them back to him, and ship the products back again in that 3 months!
This is an unbelievably generous offer!

He confirmed the other facts that Lilia presented.

I did not see any of this either. In fact, what I saw was a very
generous, extremely helpful offer from a business owner trying
really hard to please his customer. Then, I saw the customer turn
every offer down.

I don’t agree with a person going in public and in such very
specific words bad mouthing another. I am not sure on the laws of
slander, but it is definitely morally wrong. Mr. Overbee, in my
opinion, has every right to be upset. And, Lilia, you may want to
make a practice of reading all of “the fine print” before making
purchases from now on. It will save you not only money but time and
headaches. Then, maybe think about NOT saying some things in public,
or to the public. (however you want to put it) Because, like someone
else, I think, R.E.Rourke stated, you may find yourself in a
lawsuit.

I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I can see the initial upset on both
sides, but upset or not, there’s just no reason to take things to a
certain level.

Shae :slight_smile:

17

There are business transactions I’ve had with a company I’ve bought
from for a few years & spent $200-$500 on each transaction where they
have completely dropped the ball on 1 or 2 orders. 100% their fault.
Didn’t answer one of the five emails I sent. Time, money & a lot of
effort on my part to rectify their screw up. Do I call them on the
phone & throw a hissy fit? You betcha. Do I demand to speak to a
supervisor? Yup. Do I consider writing them a really scathing letter?
Yes, but I don’t… & I would never post a negative letter naming
that company on the Internet. I’m sorry I read this post as no matter
how open minded I feel I am, it influences me… negatively. Though I
doubt I would have ever bought items from Silvercharmsinc as I make
all my findings, I will NOT buy from them now. I don’t have enough
money to take chances on a company I’ve heard bad things about. Even
if I believe (as I do) that Lilia overreacted. The correct protocol
for complaining against the company would have been to contact them.
There are venues (Yahoo! Yelp) where you can rate the company & voice
your complaints & compliments. Random posting seems unethical &
basically tacky. Be well & do good work, CMcC

18 
There was not "any admission of poor quality sent by Mr Lloyd",
because that was said in the personal e-mail.

It was also said in the email here from Mr. Lloyd, when he
acknowledged that the good stuff would be available in three months.

Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

19 
I did not see this anywhere in Mr. Overbee's reply! What I saw,
was that he will have more of the products she ordered available
later. Meaning, he is out of stock at the moment, and he is
expecting a supply in 3 months

Meaning that he shipped her the wrong merchandise. Being out of
stock of the items ordered is not a reason to ship something else.

Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ

20

Although it is useful to know, I think this particular thread is
quite possibly libel (slander is speaking falsely of another while
libel is written). I think to correct this in the future, you should
not actually state the name of the company that wronged you in public
forum. The reason it would be libel is because it can harm the
reputation of another.

Melissa Stenstrom