Monday 14 September 2009

Final Post

The money was refunded exactly as Greg said it would be.

The bridge I ordered off of eBay arrived from Texas (JMI Music) within a week.

Saturday 5 September 2009

Sixth Week - Day 4

Dan,

Your order was cancelled and we´ve pay the refund yet.

Please check your account in 2 working days.

Regards,

Greg

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Sixth Week - Day 1 update

Someone else discovered that MercaSystems used to have an eBay store called darwin_parts. No items listed right now. They have a pretty good feedback rating - right up until July, when it went to shit. You can check for yourself here:

The two most recent comments are:

- ni cd,licencia,cargador de red,mandas uno de appel,envio un mes tarde. fuera----


- P. ESTAFADOR!! despues de pagar ni envia, ni contesta, no da señases de vida!!

I don't know exactly what those mean, but they don't look good. My friend from Spain winced when I showed them to him.

Here are some feedback excerpts in English:

"REAL THIEF"

"never got my item"

"Wrong item"

Great. I called the bank up again and asked them to cancel the transaction.

I've ordered the bridge from a vendor in the US.

Sixth Week - Day 1

It's now been over five weeks since I ordered the bridge. I've started a
blog and will be updating it daily until the situation is resolved.

Any news for me today?

Dan

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Fifth Week


I should mention at this point that MercaSystems never refunded the second charge to my bank account. The bank is still working to get that back for me.

Three days after the last email from Greg:
Hi Greg,

Any news about my order?

Thanks,

Dan

I got no reply, so I sent an email threatening to set up a blog. (This blog).

This came right away:

On Aug 28 2009, Jose Luis Arranz wrote:

> Dan,
>
> Our provider sent to us the bridge and we hope we will receive it
> soon. When we have it we can ship to you asap.
>
> We hope we can ship next Tuesday
>
>
> Sorry the inconveniences

So I guess they don't actually keep the things in stock. I kind of doubt they ever did.

Here's my last email:

It's Tuesday. Have you shipped the bridge?

No reply yet.

Fourth Week

Hi Greg,

I'm sorry about the hassle. I'm afraid the order still hasn't arrived.

Thanks,

Dan

On Aug 24 2009, MercaSystems.com wrote:

> Dan,
>
> We will post to you a new order asap with tracking information.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg Swaney
> MercaSystems.com

Thanks Greg.

Third Week

Dear Greg,
Sorry to bother you again but it's been three weeks now since I placed the
order and it still hasn't arrived. Is there any way you could track it for
me?

Thanks,

Dan
On Aug 18 2009, MercaSystems.com wrote:

> Dan,
>
> Your order was posted using an international economy service with no
> tracking information. If you do not receive your order this week, we
> can ship to you another order using a traceable service at no
> additional cost for you.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg Swaney
> MercaSystems.com


That sounds promising, right?

Second Week


I recruited my Spanish coworker to help me fill out the online contact form again - this time in Espanol.

Here's the reply I got:

On Aug 6 2009, MercaSystems.com wrote:

> Dan,
>
> ¿Podría usted facilitarnos su número de pedido para comprobar si el
> cargo a su tarjeta se ha duplicado?
>
> Si es afirmativo le efectuaremos la devolución de inmediato, ha podido
> ser un error en la pasarela de pago.
>
> Espero sus noticias,
>
> Att. Greg Swaney
> MercaSystems.com

I can't read Spanish but I think that just says "Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. Give us your order number and we'll fix it." Not too reassuring, but OK.

Of course I'd never been given an order number. I never got a receipt email either.

I had also asked about the status of the bridge (what's taking it so long?) but that part of my message was ignored.

My Spanish buddy emailed back for me, and very politely told them exactly what I'd ordered and when I'd ordered it. He also wrote that he was writing in Spanish on my behalf.

On Aug 9 2009, Jose Luis Arranz wrote:
> Dan,
>
> We can write in english. Your order was posted on date, and you should
> receive in the Next days. If you still experience problems, we will
> ship to you other order using an international express service with
> tracking information.
>
> Dont worry, you dont lose your money, we are a serious company.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg swaney
I responded:
Hi Greg,

That's great. Thanks for the email.

Dan

I was glad to be able to communicate directly.

...but I wondered how come they never replied the first time I filled out their online form.

First Week

On July 28 I ordered a guitar bridge from MercaSystems. I wanted (want, actually) the bridge for a project guitar I'm putting together. Looked up Schaller Roller Bridge on Google Products and MercaSystems came back with the lowest price. I clicked and found their online ordering form. All set.

First problem: The price was supposed to be something like 41 GBP, but by the time I clicked through to finish the transaction an extra 10 pounds had been added to the price. That was annoying but not a deal breaker.

The money was taken from my account. I just had to sit tight and wait for the bridge to arrive.


A week later the same amount was removed from my bank account by MercaSystems. No bridge yet, but I'd been charged twice. I called my bank to start sorting that out. I looked for contact information from MercaSystems. They have an online contact form that I filled in. No reply. If you dig around the site you can find a phone number. Called that several times over the next few days. Nothing but a generic voice mail reply. (In Spanish - they're based in Spain).