KlinQ.com

Full review
If only Klinq.com’s service were as nice as its merchandise. The company offers beautiful dishes, barware, and other entertaining accoutrements; their prices are pretty good; and their website is fairly easy to navigate and use. Unfortunately, after three sour experiences, I know personally that the inside isn’t as shiny and nice as the outside. Expedited shipping isn’t. Order accuracy isn’t. Customer service isn’t. They manage the problems fairly well, with a keen eye towards appeasement of the irritated buyer, but that’s apparently because they have a great deal of practice. I won’t be ordering from them again, and I caution others to consider the details below!

In total, I have been responsible for three Klinq.com orders. In total, three of three Klinq.com orders have gone awry. I am not quick to judge; if something goes wrong once, I usually assume it is a fluke. But for me, three experiences represents a pretty decisive sample set – especially when Klinq.com has delivered 100 percent failure.

Here is my story.

Shortly before Christmas 2005 I ordered some lovely small wine glasses. They were a great price and unique in their smallness (a teetotalling 6 ounces in a world of Big-Gulp wine glasses). I was delighted to find Klinq.com, and I decided to splurge for the expedited shipping since I was ordering them a scant two weeks before Christmas. But alas, despite the promise of three-day shipping, the glasses sat idle in the Klinq warehouse and didn’t ship when planned, then made their leisurely way across the country and stalled out a mere 100 miles from my parents’ house on Christmas eve. Too bad. Merry Christmas. The glasses arrived after the festivities, making them a less timely gift, but the merchandise was beautiful and well worth the price. I forgave Klinq, particularly when they reimbursed the cost of the expedited shipping (with modest grumbling that they should not be held responsible for UPS’s inadequacy. Whatever). My Dad absolutely loved the glasses, so it was worth the minor nuisance of haggling over the shipping refund.

The glasses were such a hit that I decided to order two more boxes of the identical little glasses this year for Christmas. I also recommended them to a friend, who also ordered a set. I’m a quick learner sometimes, so I placed my order in late November, and the package arrived promptly in early December. Mom wrapped the box and stuck it under the tree. Unfortunately, when we opened the box, we discovered that Klinq had sent 11 ounce water goblets instead of the wine glasses, and when I called to ask about it, they said my glasses had been discontinued. It struck me as odd that they substituted the wrong glass rather than notifying me of the discontinued item, particularly since it wasn’t a rush order. It struck me as even more peculiar when I found out that my friend’s order, placed a month and a half later, received the same odd treatment: 11 ounce water goblets. For both of us, Klinq was very gracious solving the problem and provided free return shipping (as they should).

I used online customer service, and they certainly endeavored to be helpful. My assistant even suggested an alternative for my 6 ounce, discontinued glasses: a very similar, only slightly larger 8 ounce glass set. I accepted that alternative as long as I could have them for the same price as the original, and she said they’d send me two boxes. But weeks passed, and nothing came. When I contacted customer service, they had no obvious knowledge of the planned exchange, so I told them to cancel any order that might be in the system under my name and to give me a full refund. The refund came through, and I was glad of that. Having received the refund, I was all the more perplexed when the replacement glasses also arrived.

I suppose I should be grateful; perhaps they were hoping to ingratiate themselves by offering me free glasses. But I'm afraid the free glasses were another inadvertent demonstration of ineptitude. It turned out well for us, but it didn't persuade me to offer them another chance.

Sadly, our relationship is now over. I really did think they had nice merchandise, but the hassle is absolutely not worth it. The problems were not mere inconveniences, they were full-on e-business catastrophes. So now, in keeping with the requirements of our e-relationship, I am summarily deleting, de-favoritizing, and unsubscribing to their services. Oh yeah, and I’m filing an E-opinion so others are duly warned.