Bad online shopping experience

I have bought things via internet many times and most of them have arrived safely and I was happy with the transactions. There were a couple of times, unfortunately, when I didn't receive the item I had ordered. Usually in a case like this, the seller would give me back my money or send a replacement. There was a case where an eBay seller couldn't be contacted (luckily it was not much, only AU$10) and another case where I waited too long before made the complain so the case had been expired (another US$15 was gone). 

Lately I have had another bad experience. 

On February 4, 2009, I placed an order of 4 DVDs on Alapage.com. The 4 DVDs are (not their real title): 
1. The Black Tulip 
2. The Beautiful Star 
3. The Collector 
4. The Tunnel 

I'd never bought from this shop before, but I'd been searching for The Black Tulip and couldn't find it anywhere. Alapage had it on back order, the availability was 5 - 9 days. I was not happy with the shipping cost, though, so to economize I added 3 more DVDs - for it was the same shipping cost either I ordered 1 or 4 DVDs (flat rate). 

The status was as follows: 
1. The Black Tulip - available in 5 - 9 days 
2. The Beautiful Star - in stock 
3. The Collector - available in 5 - 9 days 
4. The Tunnel - available in 5 - 9 days. 

I chose the option to send them all together. 

The next day, I saw that another shop was selling The Beautiful Star at a cheaper price. I thought I could save €3. I thought I still had 9 days before the order was sent, that it was okay to cancel the order then. On February 5 I went to Alapage.com again and canceled the whole order to make a new one, which in the new one I replaced The Beautiful Star with another title: The Bleeding Mind. I successfully canceled the old order, anyway it was said on the bottom of the order page that I could cancel the order as long as it was not being prepared. I saw all 4 titles were crossed out. The nightmare started an hour later when I got an email from Alapage that I could not cancel The Beautiful Star. I supposed because it was on stock (the other 3 were on back orders). What troubled me was the expensive shipping cost. So instead of saving €3, I lost €30 instead. I emailed them that I was disappointed (it was written on their website that if I wasn't satisfied, they would send me back my money), but they said it was too late and the package was on its way. They suggested me to refuse the package and once they got it back, they would reimburse me. Truly, I cannot see the point until now. Instead of leading both parties into trouble, why not they just granted me the cancellation in the first place? Also, I dislike the fact that I cannot control what are in my shopping basket. 

They said it would take 8 days for the package to arrive. In fact it took 3 weeks (but this was okay. Sometimes I was made to wait until 3 months.). On February 26, I went to the post office after getting a notice to pick up a package. The little box/wrapping from Alapage was not intact, because it had been re-wrapped by the Customs with a plastic bag. I told the clerk in the post office that I refused the package and would like to have it sent back to the sender because it was a 'wrong order'. I thanked him, went home and waited. 

Meanwhile, Alapage could not meet my expectation to send the rest of the order in 9 days. 
1. The Black Tulip - still waiting from supplier 
2. The Bleeding Mind - in stock 
3. The Collector - available after 2 weeks 
4. The Tunnel - available after 1 month I waited weeks after weeks. 

Finally, I saw that Amazon finally had The Black Tulip in stock. That was the movie I wanted the most and the reason why I ordered at Alapage instead of Amazon. I wanted to cancel the order on Alapage then, because: 
1) I was unhappy with the Beautiful Star incident, and 
2) the prices at Amazon were better. 

However, that time I had learn that it was impossible to cancel an order when the items had been in stock. So I didn't try it this time. I waited for 2 more weeks, lost my patience - also was afraid that The Black Tulip on Amazon would be sold out again, and on April 9, I canceled The Black Tulip on Alapage - so that they could ship the other 3, which had been available. So what was promised to be 9 days, could not be realized in 2 months. The 2nd package was sent to me on April 9, 2009. [This package arrived safely in 3.5 weeks.] 

I finally ordered and got The Black Tulip from Amazon. 

What about the 1st package from Apalage? 5 months after I refused the package, I emailed Alapage and asked them why I had not received the reimbursement yet. They told me that they had not received the package back and asked me to be patient. I almost gave up and said to myself that I must forget the €30. For me that amount is big. I was crazy enough to buy DVDs, CDs and books from overseas. Those things empty my pocket every month. So to lose €30 for something I didn't get is very depressing. About 2-3 weeks ago I tried to email Alapage again and this time they asked me to make a statement, with my ID card attached, that I never received the package. 

UPDATE Oct 13,2009 
Alapage had sent me a cheque of €30. I didn't know what to do because all this time, the reimbursement was sent to my credit card. (Note: I paid Alapage with credit card.) I went to the bank to ask for info and at first I was told that it could be cashed with $10 fee. I agreed, since it was better than losing all that money. Later, I was told again that to cash in a cheque from abroad, the minimum amount is $100. I was tired of this matter and decided to drop it and kept the cheque for a bookmark, but a friend of mine advised me to go on. I went to Alapage website but they were moving (it was said so on the website) and that there was no email address [when I hit the reply button in their last email to me, the address didn't work] and the only way to contact them was via telephone or snail mail. So I put the cheque into an envelope, accompanied with an explaining note, and posted it on September 29, 2009. Until today I received no news. 

UPDATE Nov 18, 2009 
I still haven't got my money back. I also still cannot contact them via email. The customer service is only available by phone. If a shop receives orders via website, is it right if it doesn't have any email address? And I will not call them by phone. It will be very expensive. Small shops in Jakarta give better service than Alapage.com. I have even lost "the bookmark". 

A SUGGESTION: I was sure I had read the term & condition carefully on Alapage website. I must have missed the article that they only reimbursed by cheque. Another strange thing, if a shop receives payment by credit card, why not reimburse with the same method? Next time you order from a new seller via internet, make sure you know how they react if there is a problem and how they send you money back. 

 moved from http://my.opera.com/tulipe-noire/blog/2009/08/29/bad-online-shopping-experience