Amazon

Full review
I ordered a 32 piece set of Pfaltzgraff Rio dinnerware from Amazon, at an excellent price. I returned it the same day I received it.

First problem - UPS showed it was delivered (even though it wasn't). My call to Amazon was answered by someone with minimal English and nearly unintelligible accent, but the gist of it was that their computers were undergoing system upgrade and she couldn't help me. Told me to call back in an hour. A company the size of Amazon  needs to have representatives who can at the least communicate.

Magically, the dishes appeared on my doorstep that morning. They were, to put it mildly, a great disappointment. There was no original Pfaltzgraff box. The set was loosely and poorly packed in two cardboard shipping boxes, with two mugs broken. The dishes were full of flaws. Some had major glaze runs. The colors were not even close to matching; many of the plates' colors were so pale the plates were almost white instead of blue. It was obvious these were low quality seconds that had been patched together to make a complete 'set'.

Here's the real kicker - the outer box had a label from the 'Amazon Returns Department' - meaning these dishes had already been returned once by a dissatisfied customer and Amazon attempted to pass them along to another - me. So I had to take the trouble to pack them back up and take them to the post office to return.

When I emailed Amazon's Customer Service they assured me that all their merchandise is first quality, sealed in the original manufacturer's package. Given that there was no manufacturer's packaging, the dishes were glaringly obvious seconds, and the box came from the Returns Department, I guess Amazon has no problem lying to their customers.