Instawares, LLC

Full review
We ordered a Vollrath wok from Instawares on 2/21/07, and the total of $38.14 was immediately charged to our credit card. The website said the item would be shipped within 1 to 2 business days.

However, we changed our mind and called Instawares' 800 number on 2/23/07 and tried to cancel the order. We were told we couldn't cancel because the item had been shipped, but that we could return it and pay for shipping plus a 25% restocking fee.

The item had not arrived by 3/21/07, so we called again. This time we were told it had NOT been shipped and Instawares agreed to cancel the order and refund the charge to our credit card.

On 3/22/07, we received an e-mail from Instawares, stating that the item had been shipped! Checking the UPS tracking number, I saw that it was shipped several hours AFTER they had agreed to cancel the order entirely.

We called Instawares on 3/22/07 and spoke with several people, including "Alex" in the main office. He said "too bad, it's already been shipped, so you can return it but you'll still have to pay shipping charges." When we challenged that as unfair, he claimed that the wok was a special order and said that the website states that it usually doesn't ship for 20 to 25 days. That was a lie -- we later checked the site and verified that it plainly states, "Usually Ships in 1 to 2 Business Days" -- we certainly would not have ordered it if we had been told otherwise. Nevertheless, Alex refused to acknowledged that Instawares was in any way responsible for the problem. When I told him I would challenge the order through my credit card company, he said "I can't stop you, but we're going to charge you anyway."

Immediately after hanging up on Alex, I called my credit card company. After I explained the problem, MasterCard agreed to reverse the charges.