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It never ceases to amaze me how a company that operates completely online can be so bad at handling orders placed "online."

On December 18th we placed an order with MacMall at 8am for a drive that was marked on their web site as "In-Stock and Ships the Same Day." Seems pretty clear to me. Not really a lot of interpretation necessary. However, eight days later (Dec 26th) the order still has not shipped.

We placed a phone call today to inquire about the order. We waited 35 minutes to speak to someone and were promptly greeted by someone with a monotone voice who said two simple words only: "Order number?" Right off the bat, we see this may not go well. Next we're told the order should ship today. When we ask why it took 8 days to ship they say, "This item was backordered and we had to get it from our other warehouse."

Politely, we ask why it was shown as In-Stock and ready to ship on their site. They simply reply, "Oh, it shouldn't have said that." Nice. We then ask if there's anything they can do. Maybe upgrade the shipping option to Next Day air or something to make up for their blunder. The answer? "We'd have to cancel your order and place it again to change the shipping options. But then it wouldn't arrive until Jan 8th." With overnight shipping? "It's backordered." At this point we had to flat out laugh.

They have our item ready to ship today. Yet, to get it here faster they'd have to cancel the order and send it back to their "other" warehouse, then bring it back again (an 8 day process) and ship it next day. I understand that this is how they're setup, but my point is simply; they shouldn't be. And if they want people to shop with them again, they should offer some kind of credit or make some gesture to the customer for the mistake. Did they? No. Did we ask? Yes. Their attitude was, "So what do you want to do, cancel or what?" Word for word.

Yes, I understand it's the holidays, but does that mean that starting 7 days prior they start making that an excuse? This is a problem that we ran into with at least 4 online retailers. We've been trying to get this item since early December and they all use the "holidays" as an excuse. Even as early as Dec 2nd. I didn't realize the holidays lasted for 2 months.

The funny thing is, MacMall still show this item as in-stock and shipping next day on their site even though they now know it isn't and won't. You can see it as a mistake or as a way to trick consumers into buying. I prefer the latter. I mean think about it. Would you buy from a retailer saying "Ships in 8 to 10 days?" No. And would you really want to cancel an order that's been holding for 8 days once you find out they tricked you only to deal with the same delay from another retailer? Of course not.

This is why people still pay a premium to go into stores. If you need something fast, online is still unreliable at best. If you need something cheap, then sure.

Our suggestion is, stay away from MacMall - at least during the holiday season, which apparently stretches from early December to Valentine's Day?

Do you have a good or bad online experience to share? Leave a comment or send us an email. We might feature your story in our next show.