Seller from "The Pearl Collector" disappeared...

[bluelotus777]

On Monday I bought a strand of natural Pteria sterna pearls from "The Pearl Collector"...I made my payment and received an automatic confirmation email from the website. I sent the seller an email with a question as well...we had already been communicating per email a few days before I made the purchase. However, ever since I made the purchase, the seller seems to have completely disappeared. I never received a reply to my emails and my order has not been processed in any way. The phone number that was on my PayPal receipt is not working. I am kind of lost with this. It seems a few people here have made good experiences with this website, so I don't understand why this is happening. I am not sure how much longer I should wait before trying to get my money back from Paypal...is anyone here able to contact this seller?

 

[pearlescence]

I don't know this site. That it provides no mail address or phone number would stop me doing business, or at least make me very wary. I don't even know which country it is in

Send a final email saying that unless you have a confirmation of shipping with a tracking number within 24 or 48 hours, depending on how concerned you are, you will refer the matter to paypal.

 

[bluelotus777]

I was just able to talk to someone who knows them...apparently they have been out of the country the last week and are supposed to come back sometime this weekend...I just don't understand why they would disappear without warning and just leave their website open for business while they are gone, and without any opportunity to contact them. Not a very positive experience to buy something expensive like a natural pearl necklace and pay a good amount for international shipping with FedEx as well and then having to wait around not knowing what is happening...

 

[MSC]

I have to say that I do this myself from time to time when I am away doing field work. Why should I shut my shop down for business just because I am not immediately available? That would be seriously poor business practice. Though I will say that I put up a notice on my shop site alerting potential buyers that purchases will not be processed until a specified date. I also think that people have lost the value of patience, in general. It's a terrible trend.

 

[GemGeek]

Good for you, Andrea. A notice is important. I would be very unhappy if I thought I was getting overnight shipping and then was left hanging.

 

[bluelotus777]

I have to admit I do have a tendency to be impatient... These days it is also normal that goods are dispatched within 1-2 days after purchase, so if that doesn't happen I get quite irritated. In this case I was also worried because they just suddenly stopped communicating with me, and this right after I had submitted a payment to them. It just did not look good to me. Honestly I would have been ok with waiting as long as they would've let me known what is going on. A simple note to say that they are out of town and currently not processing orders would've put my mind to rest. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

 

[MSC]

I think you're absolutely right on the point that they should have left you a notice, at the very least they could have set up an auto reply for all email inquiries. Customer service is as important as being knowledgeable! Hopefully, they will use your honest feedback to help their customer service practices

 

[pearlescence]

With smart phones, laptops etc etc there isn't really any excuse for not being in touch by email. I still think it's not good that there is no address on the website.

 

[MSC]

I'll just say that I find myself in areas without any sort of hot spots or cellular signal when doing field work, not everywhere in the world has access to these resources. And not everyone is a slave to the smartphone. In fact until very recently, I didn't bother to even have a phone in general. Just stirring the pot a little...

 

[bluelotus777]

It seems hard to imagine that being anywhere and not having access to email does exist but I guess it does. But as mentioned before, they should have said something. The whole website is not very professional, but it doesn't mean they are dishonest people...maybe they just need to change some things about their business practice. I must say though, after this experience, even if I should receive my pearls in the end, I will be a bit hesitant about buying with them...

 

[pattye]

There was a previous discussion of this business and their pearls here: Whatever has caused this break in communication will hopefully be resolved soon. The principals involved in THE PEARL COLLECTOR are of the highest integrity in the natural pearl field. The address is on the website and located in CA.

 

[bluelotus777]

Thanks pattye, those who have done business with them all seem to say positive things about them so I can probably stop worrying about it. This forum is really great for situations like that where otherwise you wouldn't know who to ask. Will keep you updated about this.

 

[pearlescence]

That's fiar enough Madsciencechik...if you don't also have a web shop. If you had a bricks and mortar and just pushed off for a week or so, while expecting customers to shove money through the letter box....
Where is the address Pattye, I poked around and could not find it. So it isn't obvious at any rate

 

[pattye]

Here in Portland as in many other cities peeps selling loose diamonds & gemstones, gold findings, coins and such valuables often have an office in a secured building, not a b&m store front; just a guess that might be the case here. I found the address on the website when researching because of the postings on the other thread I linked to. Now I don't recall what page it was on, Wendy.

I absolutely agree that informing clients of shipping delays, etc is just part of good customer service and an expectation these days.

 

[Bodecia]

In outlying areas there can be severe problems with receiving even when one is on a satellite setup like wifi. Recently I had these problems and had to wait for ages to receive better equipment.

After that my business email account was hacked and I did not receive emails for a week. I didn't realise at first and just thought business was slow. Once I discovered something was wrong with my email account it took a couple of days to clear it all up. In that time my emails were not going through although I didn't realise and I wasn't receiving any.

My account was hacked by spammers so they could send out thousands of emails trying to scam people. There was nine other phoney accounts set up sending out all kinds of rubbish. They had changed my password and I lost all emails for that time. Coming and going.

If something like that has happened to "The Pearl Collector" he would not realise immediately. May not even know you have bought and paid for something.

For me it was a real pain and I did lose business. Felt terrible when I realised it looked like I had been ignoring customers.

I would advise emailing everyday but remember he may not be getting them. Spammers just destroy everything coming in.

Just a thought.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.

 

[whicker]

Another sadder possibility is one that has happened to me. My wonderful husband has a website and another business address, He just died.. I don't know how to access the passwords and directions to put up the notice of his death. And I do want to keep the them going.

 

[MSC]

Oh my goodness, whicker! my condolences, no one should have to deal with that

 

[GemGeek]

Whicker, that is terrible. Maybe the web hosting company can help you reset the passwords. Hugs.

 

[pearlescence]

My condolences Whcker.
You may have tried this but if not, it is worth trying. (or even better, get a computer technically literate person to do it) go on his computer. There is a chance that the passwords are just saved and come up when you go on the correct pages.
And for the rest of us - make sure that someone else has the passwords to everything, or knows where to look to get them.

 

[Bodecia]

Ah whicker, I am so sorry for you. Was he ill i.e. health problems? Just ignore if you want.

Computers do store passwords but the user (your husband) would have had to okay them in places. I feel so bad for you.

Wendy you are so right. Barry would be so lost if I died suddenly. I have always kept passwords in my head apart from those few I allow my computer to know. I should type them all out and there are so many. Same as bank account numbers and passwords, just in my head.

Once again whicker feel so bad for you.

Dawn - Bodecia
http://www.ebay.com/sch/dawncee333/m.html
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 Natural pearl collector & seller. And all round pearl lover.