Dale and Thomas....ANGRY!!

[speechteachri]

OK, so I won't be ordering from Dale and Thomas again. Although I love their popcorn, their customer service stinks. I hope anyone else who has had to deal with them has had better luck than I did. I tried calling last night about the orders that I never received, but nothing, just a recording saying to call back during regular business hours. It was regular business hours according to the web site, but given that it was the day after Christmas, I figure that the company was nice and gave their employees an extra day off. Anyway, so I call back this am with all my info ready. I waited on the line 20 minutes for someone to answer. Finally, I get a customet service agen (nice enough lady) I am not rude, I am always curteous on the phone, because I know the operators get a lot of slack. So after explaining that I never got my packages, which stated when I orderd them "guaranteed Christmas delivery", and were due to be here on the 17th, she puts me on hold to check on my orders. so I wait, and wait, and wait another 15 minutes...and man, is their musing irritating. Finally, the lady comes back and says that after researching my order she has discovered that my order is waiting to be picked up by UPS from their warehouse....WHAT!!!!??? My order hasn't even been PICKED UP yet???? What about your guaranteed Christmas delivery, I ask? She says, I'm sorry, but all I can tell you is that the packages are waiting to be picked up by UPS, and here are the tracking numbers. I tell her that I appreciate her researching my orders for me, and to let whomever needs to know that I will NOT be ordering from the company again in the future, as I had ordered the popcorn for Christmas presents, and had to go out and buy replacement gifts. Well, do you want to cancell the orders, she says? No, I want what I paid for, I tell her, but I am very disapppointed that I am paying the full shipping cost when my packages that were ordered on the 12th have not even left the warehouse yet! Nothing. She says "well you have your tracking numbers, so you'll know now when they go out." That's it. I used 2 $20 zcards to place my orders, and got a good deal on the popcorn but I'm thinking that I really don't even need the popcorn now that Christmas is over. I don't even want to eat it now, and I'll be stuck with 24 bags. I am thinking I should have just cancelled the orders and lost the z cards, but I wasn't thinking straight. I am still mad.

So if you ordered popcorn from D&T before the holidays and have not gotten it yet, don't hold your breath!

OK, sorry for my rant, but I hope everyone else has better luck with the company that I did.

[SunshineGirl]

Unfortunately, I had the same thing happen with Gaiam. Only they cancelled my Christmas gift for my sister and didn't even tell me. When I called Christmas Eve looking for the tracking number, they told me that they cancelled it the week before because it was out of stock. I was crushed!! I had to scramble and end up giving my sister an impersonal gift card.

I was disappointed with the customer service at about 6 different merchants this year. It's too bad because I really liked a lot of their products. But it does leave an extra bad taste in your mouth when it impacts gifts you were going to give others.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with them. :( I used them 4 times this Christmas and they were all as promised.

[gpp2001]

I'm so sorry - that really sucks! I've only ordered from D&T once and i received my shipment okay - but that was in November. :hugs:

[sunshinecindy]

OK, so I won't be ordering from Dale and Thomas again. Although I love their popcorn, their customer service stinks. I hope anyone else who has had to deal with them has had better luck than I did. I tried calling last night about the orders that I never received, but nothing, just a recording saying to call back during regular business hours. It was regular business hours according to the web site, but given that it was the day after Christmas, I figure that the company was nice and gave their employees an extra day off. Anyway, so I call back this am with all my info ready. I waited on the line 20 minutes for someone to answer. Finally, I get a customet service agen (nice enough lady) I am not rude, I am always curteous on the phone, because I know the operators get a lot of slack. So after explaining that I never got my packages, which stated when I orderd them "guaranteed Christmas delivery", and were due to be here on the 17th, she puts me on hold to check on my orders. so I wait, and wait, and wait another 15 minutes...and man, is their musing irritating. Finally, the lady comes back and says that after researching my order she has discovered that my order is waiting to be picked up by UPS from their warehouse....WHAT!!!!??? My order hasn't even been PICKED UP yet???? What about your guaranteed Christmas delivery, I ask? She says, I'm sorry, but all I can tell you is that the packages are waiting to be picked up by UPS, and here are the tracking numbers. I tell her that I appreciate her researching my orders for me, and to let whomever needs to know that I will NOT be ordering from the company again in the future, as I had ordered the popcorn for Christmas presents, and had to go out and buy replacement gifts. Well, do you want to cancell the orders, she says? No, I want what I paid for, I tell her, but I am very disapppointed that I am paying the full shipping cost when my packages that were ordered on the 12th have not even left the warehouse yet! Nothing. She says "well you have your tracking numbers, so you'll know now when they go out." That's it. I used 2 $20 zcards to place my orders, and got a good deal on the popcorn but I'm thinking that I really don't even need the popcorn now that Christmas is over. I don't even want to eat it now, and I'll be stuck with 24 bags. I am thinking I should have just cancelled the orders and lost the z cards, but I wasn't thinking straight. I am still mad.

So if you ordered popcorn from D&T before the holidays and have not gotten it yet, don't hold your breath!

OK, sorry for my rant, but I hope everyone else has better luck with the company that I did.

I anxious to know what your tracking numbers say as to UPS was notified to pick them up.

[LuvMyBoys]

How frustrating!! I can't believe that they just let it fall through the cracks and weren't even willing to make it up to you. :( That's not the impression of Dale & Thomas that I had. :confused:

Onlineshoes also promised Christmas delivery so I ordered my DS8 a new pair of shoes, of course they ended up not arriving, no apology from the company, no explanation :computer:

I had to give him a pic of the shoes, luckily he was a good sport. The darn shoes aren't even scheduled to be delivered until 1/2!!! :confused:

I won't order from them again either.

[speechteachri]

I anxious to know what your tracking numbers say as to UPS was notified to pick them up.

I'm willing to bet nothing was even done with my order until the moment that the CS lady checked on it. While I totally understand the busy time of year and all, I am just dissappointed that there was no mention of making things better or even an appology from the CS rep. That's what bugs me the most, even more than having to go out and buy replacement gifts. I didn't have any problem with any other online ordering I did this year. It's too bad too, because while I have always thought D&T products were WAY overpriced to start with, I have always thought them to at least be a reputable company that must be willing to stand behind their products and their customers if they were going to be charging that much in the first place.

Tricia, sorry you had difficulty with the other company too. That is really poor service to not notify you that something was going to be cancelled.

I don't think that companies take the word "guarantee" seriously anymore at all!

That's probably THE THING that I love most about SR, is the awesome customer service! Believe me, you really appreciate it even more when you get "dissed" by those other companies out there!!;)

[Candi]

I placed an order on Nov 13th and requested it to be sent on the 21st. About a week before that, I got an email saying it had be shipped and the arrival date was the 24th. I was so mad. I also had called several weeks before and requested an earlier delivery date but never heard anymore so I didn't worry about that. I called them and after many times of saying how disappointed and upset I was, they are refunding me the shipping cost. What if I was already out of town??? If it is guaranteed to be delivered by a certain date, it better be. Doesn't make sense to me.

[Susianew]

I've heard (on other boards) that A LOT of people have had these kinds of problems with D&T this year, which I find especially bad when you consider how many e-mails they sent in December promising X-mas delivery. I tried them for the first time in November & have placed 3 orders...2 were late and the third was really late- didn't even show up on their website as pending until I e-mailed CS. (But it HAD shown up on my credit card) Plus, now that I am addicted to peanut butter and white chocolate drizzlecorn, they are out of the 2 gallon tins of it :(

I will probably order from them again, but I certainly wouldn't depend on them for an upcoming gift. (And I certainly wouldn't pay full price either!)

Susan

[kimntrent]

I have 5 orders floating out there and no one to get an answer from actually. I have emailed them several times about this with no response. I can't call from work since I do reservations and cant tie up the phone. I am love their popcorn but an disappointed as well.

Kim

[jessd]

I placed my first order with them and it was suppose to be here yesterday. I checked the website, no tracking info was available. I had to call, which took forever because I was on hold. They looked it up and gave me the number, it was delayed becuase of a train derailment (no fault of D&T) and now when I checked, the box was destroyed so they sent it to the shipper. I was really hoping to see if it was really as good as I was hoping, but I guess I won't be able to now! I don't know if they plan on re-shipping it. I hope to hear from them soon.

[schachteles]

WOW...I am glad to know that I am not the only one...and like others say, they DON'T return e-mails to their customer service. I ordered on the 12th with a deliver on or before 12/19...well I had purchased it for a Christmas gift...well it hasn't arrived and like others I paid $7.95 to have delivery BEFORE Christmas. Horrible customer service...especially for company that PUSHED e-mails daily about delivery before Christmas!

I e-mailed them again today to see if I can get an answer, sure would like it for New Years Eve, I am sure that won't happen, they only have 2 more delivery days.

I am sure they overextended themselves with the zCards, got too many orders, but that certainly isn't the consumers fault. I agree that the popcorn is good, but NOT NOT NOT worth $4.00 a bag...and I won't ordered from them again, unless of course they sell it for about a buck a bag like I was able to get.

All in all, not a great experience with them, especially when you needed it for gifts. I had done three orders with them previously and had no issues, always arrived on or before promised...not this time!

[nicnik]

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who had difficulties! The difference with my experience, though, is that I think that UPS was a MAJOR player in the drama. I placed my D&T order on 12/12 and was "guaranteed" to be shipped within one business day & be delivered on or before the 20th. That sounded perfect because we were heading out of town for Christmas that night.

I thought it was strange that I didn't get a shipping update & the website never showed that my order had shipped. I FINALLY got a tracking confirmation from UPS on 12/19 saying that the package would be delivered on the 27th (i.e. today) which leads me to believe that D&T didn't ship my order when they promised they would.

I made a number of phone calls to both UPS & D&T to figure out when the package would actually arrive. I got several answers from several different people at each company. I kept telling them "I am probably the first person to ever ask for slower shipping but since you didn't deliver by the original deadline I cannot risk you delivering any earlier than the revised date or it will sit on my porch while nobody is home". Some people couldn't tell me a thing about when the package would arrive & others swore it would arrive today. I couldn't get a straight answer from ANYONE, even though I explained over & over that I didn't want it sitting at my apartment for days advertising that nobody was home. And wouldn't you know, when we arrived home in the wee hours of the morning on the 26th, the package was there. Ugh! I didn't mind that it was delivered, but I still don't know how long it was there announcing that nobody was home. Since there was no UPS on Christmas Day, it had been sitting there for a MINIMUM of a day and a half.

The fact that I got it after Christmas was no big deal because it was for my husband & since we're always traveling on Christmas, we never exchange gifts on the day. It's always early or late depending on the travel schedule. So that's no biggie. But I DON'T appreciate the run around I got from both D&T and UPS in trying to be sure that the package didn't sit out. Which it did. I'd agree with what someone else said above: if you do order from D&T in the future, don't do it with any timeframe in mind because they seem to operate on their own schedule - regardless of what they promise from the beginning!

[PartiesByCatharine]

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with them. If they had any sort of relationship with UPS, UPS should be there picking up packages EVERYDAY (especially before the holiday), so there should be no reason why the item hasn't shipped yet. The only day that UPS was off was Christmas Day, so there's really no exception!!

Most of the time tracking numbers update at the end of the day, so hopefully you'll be able to track it by tonight.

[spring]

I'm really sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with D&T. I ordered a total of 3 times from them this year without any issues. I guess I got lucky. Now I may rethink my ordering based on your experience.:(

[schachteles]

I just got shipment notification of the order that was to be received on the 19th!! They must have gotten my complaints, though they never responded, because it is being delivered on Monday, they sent it next day on Friday for a Monday delivery.

Horrible service, but at least they are sending it quickly since I told them I needed it for New Years since it wasn't here for Christmas.

I know I shouldn't complain, I did get a good deal on it, but it still doesn't leave you feeling good about D&T.

[mum4jenn]

WOW!! I sure am sorry to hear about all of these bad experiences!!! I placed an order way back in November and scheduled it for delivery the week before Christmas so we could take it on or WDW trip with us. It arrived on the 17th (at 8:30 PM!!!) . It was a great snack to have while away from home and we actually brought a couple of bags home with us that we never even tried. I did also receive emails letting me know it was shipped and all.

Sounds like the best time to have it delivered is at least the week before Christmas and to not depend on anything making it too close to Christmas especially with Christmas Eve being on a Monday this year. Sounds like they were over their heads in popcorn this year and just could not keep up with deliveries so close to Christmas. I think they should not have promised delivery if they were not going to be able to fulfill although it also sounds like UPS had a hand in the slow deliveries.

It IS wonderful popcorn though and I will order from them again but will not have the delivery time less than a week before I need it.

[speechteachri]

I got my popcorn today. I am glad I got it for New Years. It will be a nice addition to a couple of gifts for the few after Christmas exchanges we still have.

But...I will be sending off an e-mail about my dissatisfaction overall, and I doubt very highly I will order again.

Much too expensively priced product for such poor customer service in my opinion!

[3dog2kidmom]

WOW!! I sure am sorry to hear about all of these bad experiences!!! I placed an order way back in November and scheduled it for delivery the week before Christmas so we could take it on or WDW trip with us. It arrived on the 17th (at 8:30 PM!!!) . It was a great snack to have while away from home and we actually brought a couple of bags home with us that we never even tried.

I have 2 bags left and just added them to the goodie bags I'm making to give my kids when we leave on our WDW trip 1/20. Great idea --- thanks!!!

[schachteles]

Well mine got delivered too today...so that is nice.

I am going to drop them a line about their lack of customer srevice and how I shouldn't have to pay the $7.95 for before Christmas shipping to have it arrive a week after! But I am sure it will fall on deaf ears!

[speechteachri]

Well mine got delivered too today...so that is nice.

I am going to drop them a line about their lack of customer srevice and how I shouldn't have to pay the $7.95 for before Christmas shipping to have it arrive a week after! But I am sure it will fall on deaf ears!

I didn't specifically mention this, but I did mention that I expected more of them with "guaranteed Chrismas delivery" plastered all over their pre-Christmas e-mails, and also given the fact that the web-site states that the packages go out "next day."

I explained that the thing that made me the most upset was that there was no apology, nor any explanation offered as to why my package waited so long to be shipped out.

Im still angry about it, but I did get a good deal.

[lenzs4]

Just went to their sight and can not find the popcorn anymore - is it seasonal? I want kettlecorn.

[schachteles]

On Friday I got an e-mail from D&T giving me the tracking number and informing me that he checked it and it was already delivered.

So I e-mailed back that I was very disappointed with their lack of service and that I hope next year they do some analysis of their promotions to ensure that they are living up to their customers expectations that they placed. I also asked for my $7.95 shipping to be refunded...guess we will see if that happens, not going to hold my breath.