12/18/2009 3:00 am

Give us your cautionary tale: What is your worst online shopping experience?

Join Jane Wagner, Julia Reed, Mary Wells, Liz Smith, Candice Bergen and Joan Ganz Cooney in sharing your most horrid e-shopping story.

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Joan Larsen

As one who has a joy of giving gifts, going on-line or using catalogues has made my life so much easier.  With shipping costs going so high, I take advantage of the gift wrap and then the free shipping offered at this time of year - as well as no tax!!  How good is THAT?!? 

I must keep Amazon in business, but I too like the one-of-a-kind specialty shops to surprise and delight friends.  Never have I had a bad experience.  .  . in fact, I cannot understand why those big outfits don’t mess things up!!  And while I cannot believe I am saying this, while ordering by phone, I have lucked out on some extraordinary people on the other end who have made my time so enjoyable!! 

By Joan Larsen on 12/18/2009 3:36 am
EileenAlannah
I can also see how coming across you on the phone could be extraordinary to the salespeople as well, Joan! : ) I love that kind of contact and once made a connection from a wrong number that actually lasted years, until the person’s death, and was a source of great joy to me. 
By EileenAlannah on 12/18/2009 8:59 am
Joan Larsen
Eileen … I so believe that there are people and stories around every corner if we just give a little more of ourselves and take time with others.  I would love to hear the story of that wrong number who turned out to be "the right number" in your own life.  To me, it sounds like that I could make it into a memorable short story!!!   I DO know that in talking — and I will just speak for myself - that just a word, a sentence can draw a conversation with strangers into new and interesting dimensions.  Perhaps that is why I do my orders later in the evening when I am not rushed (except for bed) and willing to give my "all" to the stranger on the order line.  I have gotten names if nothing else, and did a fast note to the head of the company complimenting my "new friend" of the day.  And I do that often as people who do good jobs can never be praised enough, can they??  Joan
By Joan Larsen on 12/18/2009 3:13 pm
EileenAlannah
Joan, I also got a "job" by dialing a wrong number once! (That one was a little spooky. : D) The other story was that I called about Gaelic lessons and this elderly gentleman started talking non-stop that I had the wrong number but that he was so interested about the "origin" of my last name and that he was going to look it up for me, etc. etc. I hung up after awhile but then during the week that followed I kept picturing this man sitting around his house waiting by the phone for me to call so he could give me the full report on my last name that I called him back. Of course he was not waiting and had not done any such research : D but we became telephone friends for years and I never once met him in person but I came to love him almost like a father. This was during the years that I was home with an infant/toddler all day so it was an enormous pleasure for me to have his friendship. He used to make me laugh so much, he was so interested in everything and everybody, he was *younger* than a lot of people I knew at the time. (and, truthfully, a lot more interesting than many to boot).
By EileenAlannah on 12/19/2009 1:10 pm
Joan Larsen
Eileen, From my early years of visiting "old people’s homes" with my mother as something "we did" that I find that selective "older people" have much more wisdom, stories, and things to give than those my age.  I treasure these friends - one man is a lively 100 years old, still living well alone, and happens to be the man that pushed hard until our country mandated public hard-of-hearing phones in public places.  He was deaf, but a lawyer, and a genius go-getter, and always was and still the best of friends.  I feel still that I am with the brightest person in my life — and he challenges me to "live life to the fullest", never retiring or sitting around — but squeezing life for all you can.  So, Eileen, I love your story - understand your story as it is something I would also do.  I believe that we never will know unless we try …and through every experience we learn, don’t we?  And WOW — we have great stories like this to tell.  Thanks!!
By Joan Larsen on 12/19/2009 1:40 pm
GreenTears

Joan, I am your assistant in keeping Amazon afloat. They are always my first thought for shopping and I seldom pay shipping. They are even wonderful for buying excellent gently used textbooks.

Korres is another fabulous online shopping experience (a huge ‘Thank You’ to Kermie for her recommendation). The Greek company has wonderful bath/body/cosmetic products all produced in a environmentally friendly fashion with all natural ingredients. They have a distribution center for the U.S. in New Jersey so when you order and get free shipping it usually arrives in two days. They also provide samples (you choose) with each order and run different specials so you can try new things.

On-line shopping is such a timesaver and it feels good to have so much done while still in your bathrobe drinking your morning cup of tea! I am pleased to say that I haven’t had any bad experiences, my shopping is complete for this year and all of the packages have arrived.

By GreenTears on 12/18/2009 9:33 am
Joan Larsen
Green Tears … many many thanks for the catalogue tip.  I actually would be interested to know of catalogues that are "special" - as Mary Wells also had added today - as I have found on my own some so lovely that it is like reading a magazine!
By Joan Larsen on 12/18/2009 3:06 pm
DeniseannTaylor
Dear Miss Green Tears, I learned a lesson as a young person (centuries ago) that during the course of the year you come across many wonderful sales, buys you’d never thought anyone would appreciate but bought anyway, walks on the streets across from the beaches (as at Virginia Beach, Atlantic Beach, etc’s.) and there are these delightful little shops with so many cute non-describe items you can’t help but buy this or that.  By the Time September rolls around and your going through your treasures of the various walks and trips you realize "YEAH, I’M DONE WITH MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING." (this same practice is helpful when you forget someone’s birthday, there’s sure to be something in your treasures that would work for that as well)  and the rest of the Holiday Season is spent in front of a fireplace or visiting your favorite people or places because you don’t have to worry about shopping at Christmas anymore, you’ve gotten a system that’s almost full proof. :)  Good Tidings and Merry Christmas
By DeniseannTaylor on 12/20/2009 8:03 am
NancyPea

the only problem i had with online is paypal and ebay! i could never get the darn paypal account to work. so i just said bill my visa and get it over with. then ebay isn’t my thing because i will get on there and start out with a reasonable price. then somebody will come along and out bid me. later i find it’s the owner of whatever i was bidding on trying to bid the price to what they really wanted to sell it for. why they just didn’t put that price on their is beyond me. but i’m a haggler, but only for a price i want to pay. so i haven’t bought one thing off ebay and just don’t even want to try.

but amazon always does good by me. especially when it’s old books, videos and games. i have bought a lot from them and usually get special discounts and often free or cheap shipping. i also have shopped at an online bookstore called alibris. they also have books, movies and games pretty cheap. that is about all i get online tho. 

By NancyPea on 12/18/2009 4:20 am
GreenTears
Nancy, with regard to eBay bidding, my price is the absolute highest number I would be willing to pay, with shipping included in that number. I make my bid and then see what happens. I have ‘lost’ many auctions, but have been able to get almost everything I have ever been interested in on eBay because there are rarely any true ‘one of a kind’ items offered on there.
By GreenTears on 12/19/2009 8:43 am
LauriateRoly

Recently I was pleasantly surprised. For years I have purchased a good number of books on line. However, it always bothers me to pay what I consider exorbitant shipping and handling charges. For instance the book costs $25 plus $8 for S&H. I was casually complaining about this to the local bookstore owner who knows me well from years past. He said, “Look, I buy tons of books and I pay shipping and handling charges too, but not on each book I buy. I’ll buy about fifty different books at one time from the same supplier you do, but the S&H is so much less than it relates to what it would be to buying a single book each time”.

So, out of our little discussion he now supplies me with the books I want at just a couple of dollars over the marked price for the book. In other words, the book $25, plus an extra $1 or $2 mark up, to cover my bookstore friend’s efforts to get the book for me. That means a saving for me of about 5 or 6 dollars, per book. Maybe your local bookstore person will work out the same deal for you. Usually the waiting time to receive the book is just about the same as it would be if I ordered the book from the on line supplier myself.

By LauriateRoly on 12/18/2009 5:22 am
AndyC
Barnes and Noble does not charge shipping on items of $25 and over; plus if you go through ebates.com, you get a percentage back; if you’re a member of Barnes and Noble there is a discounted price as well….then, before check out, check online for coupons and there may be an addiitonal percentage or dollar amount in savings.
By AndyC on 12/20/2009 8:59 am
LauriateRoly
Thank you Andy C for the valuable tip. I’m always open to, and I’m always appreciative of, bargain ideas. LR
By LauriateRoly on 12/20/2009 9:12 am
SueFawcett
I’m an avid Amazon user; not only are Amazon’s prices low, but the free shipping offer with a $25 purchase is a huge incentive, plus no sales tax. I also like Overstock.com for many items, for its prices, no sales tax, and $2.95 flat-rate shipping. I don’t have a negative online shopping experience to tell about. Magazine subscription prices can’t be beaten online, from places such as Best Deal Magazines. Apparel is the only area where online shopping is tenuous; I buy brands and sizes that I know will fit, and rarely take chances because of return shipping costs. I monitor a couple of "deals" websites on a daily basis, to take advantage of sales and coupon code discounts. I am not a catalog shopper or aficionado, so online shopping is ideal for my needs.
By SueFawcett on 12/18/2009 9:07 am
EileenAlannah

I am hopeless. I backspace and end up ordering twice the number of things because the computer picks it up as I submitted the order again, I *check* the order but don’t see my mistake. I think that I have checked off all the boxes and recently sent two dresses from a department store to Fla. to two little nieces and when I got my confirmation one of the boxes was going to be gift wrapped and the other was not! I thought I had checked both boxes for this service! I had to call my sister and ask her please get a box for the other dress so that one of the little ones would not get hurt feelings. I am very fussy about that sort of thing so this really bothered me. I get confused with all the info required: coupon codes, gift message boxes, etc. and then the message will say "Hit Continue" and I always think…"But I can’t! I have a question!" : ) I am getting better at it and really online shopping is a blessing for me now especially since at the moment I cannot walk too well so shopping is out. If I think about that too much I would get depressed, because I too, love the theatricality of shopping, like Mary. The hunt! The sights, the smells, the bits of conversation, the whipping wind, the drama of it all. Now, I have six extra Christmas bell lights for an outdoor window and when I called up about it the vendor said: "We don’t have a problem, you have a problem." HO-HO-HO. : )

By EileenAlannah on 12/18/2009 9:26 am
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