January 29, 2008
Never Shop at Tabletools.com
I just had a bad shopping experience at Tabletools.com that I’d like to share with my readers and the Google spider, thus creating a top-ranked search result for the terms Tabletools.com and awful shopping experience. (Piss off a respected blogger and watch what happens to the search results for your business.)
Tabletools.com recently sent me an email announcing a store-wide 40%-off sale including a coupon code. I visited the site yesterday, browsed around, and then ordered several things after making sure that they were “in stock.” I filled out the shipping address and credit card information forms, and placed the order successfully. The whole operation took maybe half an hour of my very valuable time.
Today I get an email from Tabletools.com saying that my order has been cancelled because nothing I ordered is in stock. What is this, some kind of cheap bait-and-switch thing? What an unprofessional outfit. I urge everyone never to shop at Tabletools.com.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Who is this “respected” blogger to which you refer? ;-)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Mike: You picked up on that bit of haughtiness? :) (and rightly called me on it)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Indeed. I can’t believe I was the first. It’s like a graffiti artist finding an untouched wall to paint.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Mike: My readers expect me to be a pretentious prick and don’t bother to bring me down. :-)
January 30th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I expect Mike was simply the only person to have actualy read the thread.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:39 am
I just had a similar experience while shopping for a Canon camera. The lowest cost websites (specifically 86th Street Photo & Video in my case but I found several others) call you after you complete the purchase and insist that you purchase overpriced and substandard memory cards or other accessories. If you hold firm and insist you just want the camera, you will get an email within minutes informing you that the camera is no longer in stock and is backordered for a month. I ended up buying from Amazon.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Bob: Oh, that’s very low, very scummy. In the age of the Internet, it should be possible to check a merchant’s reputation with a couple of clicks and know whether to steer clear or not. Bloggers who are trusted (though not necessarily respected :) ) will play a huge role in shaping modern business.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Digg
January 30th, 2008 at 10:00 am
sky: It would take more than 12 readers’ Diggs to mean anything, but I appreciate the gesture. :-) Incidentally, I don’t use Digg anymore … I did once upon a time but then felt overwhelmed by it — too many links, not adult enough, too nerdy. I much prefer Reddit, which I visit every day.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:59 am
Chairman,
Places like this really sucks, but they are everywhere. I got a bit curious how did you made it to the top of the search. Is it a robot?
ps: Mike was first, twice. :-)
January 31st, 2008 at 10:12 am
DrFox: Maoxian has a high page rank so any keyword search for specific terms like “tabletools” and “shopping” will get a top-ranked return using Google search. In the improbable event that someone searches for “bowel movement record,” I will of course have the top-ranked result. Thousands of statistically improbable phrases (and a few probable ones) will give this site as the #1 result. :)
January 31st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Tkx
February 26th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I just found your blog entry from 1/29/08 on Google
regarding your order at Tabletools.com. I’m wondering
if you ever figured anything out. I placed 2 orders,
one on the 25th and one on the 29th. I got the same
message as you regarding the order placed on the 29th
– there are a couple of items backordered but they
won’t be getting them again. What to do about the rest
of the order? I cancelled.
I haven’t received the FIRST order either, and the
items from the second that they said they wouldn’t be
getting are still listed on the website. 2 weeks ago I
sent an email, but no response. Today I tried calling
the 888 number on my order. “Disconnected.” I called
the 310 number on their website. “Temporarily
unavailable.” Their “international” number has been
disconnected as well.
I sent an email through the website asking if they
were still in business and got a confirmation that it
was received.
We’ll see what the answer is.
(I had shopped there before and was happy with the
experience — no more!)
February 26th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
PJ: Thanks for the comment… keep us updated about Order #1 when (if) it arrives.