Plow and Hearth

Full review
I ordered a sale accessory long before Christmas as a Christmas gift. It was in their sale area and was a good price as their original price was much too high. I received a confirmation of order acceptance and waited for the product to arrive.

They charged the card and then failed to ship and failed to ship and failed to ship.

I finally called and they said they were simply out of the product, would never get it in and they had refunded my money. They never called, they never bothered to send an email, they never apologized for falsely advertising an item for sale on their website that they did not have at the time and would never have again.

Apparently, it is a toss up as to whether you will ever see the product they have on the web. Since they don't bother to inform you of their lack of product, you will never know unless you call.

This has happened time and again on Plow and Hearth and other big merchants. It is false advertising and horrible customer service. Why do they do this? This makes the buying experience annoying and risky. Why should anyone bother to buy from Plow and Hearth if they blithely refuse to deliver AND refuse to inform you of their inability to deliver?

What is the point of their store? If they were a small company and this happened once in awhile and they immediately told you about the situation it is one thing. This is not a small store and they never inform you.

It is pointless to buy from Plow and Hearth as it is nothing but solid aggravation.

-------------
In regards to the comment, this appears to be happening more frequently. This could be just bad luck because it just happened again at West Elm. I also had this happen at an online clothing store. They just kept sending postcards giving new delivery dates and then, after about 6 months, they just gave up and said the product would never be delivered. I also had this happen this month at an online toy store. They took the order, charged the card and the had to provide a refund when they discovered they really did not have the item in stock and had no idea when they would get it.

The problem I have with Plow and Hearth is that I had to call them to ask where the product was. They hadn't even sent an email notice and didn't seem particularly concerned about any of it.

I realize that companies make mistakes from time to time (who doesn't?) but the attitude appears to be that of utter indifference. I don't get it. These companies work hard to get customers and then will not put in the effort to make sure they actually have items in stock when those customers are willing to fork over money to buy.