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View Full Version : MarteModena Auctions - Questionable Business Practices



Onionartz
September 25th, 2017, 05:52 AM
I would like to bring my experience with MareModena and their business practice to other members here.

I won an auction of Visconti Desert Spring fountain pen at MarteModena at their website on Aug 15 2017. I paid immediately. They have not shipped out the pen to date, they have no shipping estimate and also they are dragging their feet on my re-fund request. I don't want to make this a rant, but rather highlight some of the wrong business practice they adopt in their auctions.

1. Show Pen in Stock when it is not: The pen was shown as "In Stock" at the auctions. But they did not have the pen in stock clearly and they knew that Visconti is on holidays during August, so they have no chance to acquire the pen for a month or so clearly. yet, they did not mention this detail in the auction, but outright lied by showing the pen as "In Stock".

2. Mislead customer as much as possible: When i asked about shipping estimate - They said pen will ship within 15 Working days policy. That means it should have shipped until Sep 6th. When i asked for more details later, one customer support engineer said, there is delay due to Visconti management change. Another customer support engineering said, Visconti will be back on Sep 1 and they will ship out the pen to me in 4 working days. I followed up on Sep 7th, and they said please wait for 4 more days and if the pens will not ship out they will refund me. It is been another 18 days since then and no shipment nor refund was done. Then i started daily follow up on refund and the customer support said that the delay can be with Paypal, which i checked and clearly that is not the case.

3. Cancellation of auctions without asking customer: While i was waiting for the above pen to be shipped I won auction of Divina Elegance for 1Euro. I paid promptly, but they cancelled the payment immediately and refunded within minutes saying there is a technical error with the auction. That i can accept since that pen is worth way more than that. Then 2 days later i won auction of Delta Rollerball pen for 1 euro. This time i wrote to them before payment asking if they will honor the deal? 5mins later, the auction dis-apeared from my account. I haven't heard from customer support on a reason after multiple follow up and then i gave up.

Please be aware if you planning to deal with them in future.

SIR
September 25th, 2017, 11:10 AM
Thanks for the warning; if I lived in Italy and they tried that with me, I'd consider legal action :p.

Could be worth moving or duplicating post in Market Feedback (https://fpgeeks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/30-Market-Feedback) forum.

Chrissy
September 25th, 2017, 02:45 PM
This seems fairly par for the course from what I've seen posted about this seller before.

If the auction was on eBay then you never needed to wait. If the due delivery date has passed, then open a case confirming item not delivered, and you will get a full refund. You might need to be quick as it's over a month ago.

grainweevil
September 25th, 2017, 05:03 PM
Only ever dealt with them once, via Ebay, and they were actually very helpful with a problem, but they do seem inherently inclined to be a bit... slippery. As to the annoyance of showing pens as in stock when they're not, I wish MM was the only culprit. But I'd be all over Paypal claiming for a refund by now, if I was you.

fqgouvea
September 25th, 2017, 05:54 PM
I particularly dislike the business of cancelling an auction when the bids are too low. MarteModena are far from the only ones to do it, alas. There's usually some excuse like an inaccuracy in the listing... Still doesn't seem like fair play.


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Onionartz
September 26th, 2017, 06:49 AM
Unfortunately i have won the auction directly from their website and not at ebay. I have raised a dispute with Paypal 3 day ago. I will escalate it soon.

jar
September 26th, 2017, 07:43 AM
I'm not at all sure that I see any questionable business processes, particularly with MartModena. I could see a case made for poor customer service but that's about it. Visconti has had a reputation for supply and QC issues and is in the midst of a well publicized management shake up.

You were looking for cheap and in many cases that means poor service. It is the reason it is cheap.

When price becomes the driving criteria quality suffers.

Them's the facts.

mulrich
September 26th, 2017, 08:32 AM
I agree with the OP and think MM's practice in this situation were very questionable. I also agree with Jar, that the cheapest products are often accompanied with questionable practices. This is sometimes the price of finding exceptionable deals.

I made a purchase from a different online retailer who doesn't have a stellar reputation, knowing there would likely be problems. I ignored the stated shipping estimate entirely (2 weeks) and set my own deadline of two months. I think the pen ended up shipping about six weeks after my purchase and arrived a week later. When you deal with these type of retailers you just need to be very patient and forgiving, knowing that getting angry won't do much good and until the product actually ships there's no guarantee. If you're in a hurry to get a pen it's best to use a reputable dealer.

Onionartz
September 26th, 2017, 01:17 PM
Bad business practices are bad no matter the cost. Showing pen in stock when it is not is a lie no matter the cost. I wanted to share the experience so some one else can make a calculated choice if to accept these because they are getting good deal. My main problem with them is not refunding the money after multiple request after it is clear that they have no line of sight to honor the deal.

Chrissy
September 26th, 2017, 01:40 PM
I would never risk buying anything from a seller that I had heard so many negative comments about. :(

s_t_e_v_e
September 26th, 2017, 10:42 PM
MM is fully capable of providing stellar service. They have the resources to do so. I’ve bought from them a couple of times and they shipped quickly. Pens from them have reached me within a week of shipment (Italy to US free shipping).

It is beyond me why MM would do what the OP has experienced. I do believe that it is true since I’ve been watching some of their auctions, many of which are too good to be true. But I always remember to look at their shipping rates. MM’s shipping rates are quite high, sometimes disproportionately so, and are assigned so as to seemingly offset the price of the item if it sells for an unreal, low price. Sneaky but not uncommon. We as buyers have to watch out for such things.

I’m not defending MM at all. What happened to the OP isn’t saying anything in MM’s favor. Just because the price is low doesn’t always mean poor service/product especially from a reasonably reputable seller. For context, Chatterley Luxuries recently lowered the price of a Montegrappa that retails for $850 to $160. Seems almost unreal but it’s true. A couple of people I know bought it and got excellent service as usual from Chatterley.

I guess it’s downhill for MM from now on. Despite having no negative experience with them before, it makes me nervous to buy from them again after seeing several such complaints about them.


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Onionartz
October 7th, 2017, 03:59 PM
Finally i got my money back via paypal dispute. Paypal closed the transaction in my favor and refunded me my money. I encourage every one to be careful with Martemodena. There are people who have used their credit card and may have to go through CC dispute. Not sure how well that works.

fountainpagan
August 27th, 2018, 06:26 AM
STOP POLLUTING THE POSTS WITH S.... PEN!

Chrissy
August 27th, 2018, 07:36 AM
STOP POLLUTING THE POSTS WITH S.... PEN!

Well said. :applause: