Not Impressed with jetpens.

[tommyd]

Made an order with jet pens last Friday with scheduled expected delivery of last Wednesday. USPS fumbled the ball and doesn't know where the package is. They suspect its still in San Jose. No biggie it happens. USPS told me to contact the sender and have them investigate it. Since Jetpens has no phone, I sent them an email letting them know the situation. No reply three days later.
I have no problem with not having customer service phone, but if thats you business model, you really need to answer your emails.
Needless to say, I filed an RMA for the order and plan on returning it. It was a gift and It won't make it here in time. Everything I ordered can be had off Amazon at the same price. So I will give them the business. I try to support the small business but its highly unlikely I will buy from jetpens again.

[carlos.q]

Made an order with jet pens last Friday with scheduled expected delivery of last Wednesday. USPS fumbled the ball and doesn't know where the package is. They suspect its still in San Jose. No biggie it happens. USPS told me to contact the sender and have them investigate it.

Maybe the title of this thread should be "Not impressed with USPS"

[writingrav]

Made an order with jet pens last Friday with scheduled expected delivery of last Wednesday. USPS fumbled the ball and doesn't know where the package is. They suspect its still in San Jose. No biggie it happens. USPS told me to contact the sender and have them investigate it.

Maybe the title of this thread should be "Not impressed with USPS"

Agreed, in light of the fact that I ordered a pen through an Amazon seller last week. A delivery attempt was purportedly made on Monday, no slip was left to inform me. Only by checking the tracking number did I find this out and on Wednesday I went to the Post Office. No package, "must be still on the truck." Thursday I went and they searched the station from top to bottom. NO package after an hour's wait. "We'll have to check with the carrier when he comes in." Friday, after another half hour (times do not include waiting for service) it was located "downstairs." Then a slip had to be filled out so that i could sign for it. An original "tried to deliver" slip that was never left. The tracking number system is flawless except in the post offices themselves where, as far as I can tell, there is no system for storing the system according to tracking numbers.

None of this takes away from the fact that the delivery of so much mail so often flawlessly for so little (What can you buy for 49 cents?) is remarkable and laudatory.

None of this is meant to get Jetpens off the hook for not responding. I've had grey success ordering from them in the past, but have not had to try to deal with them after the fact of a sale. Sounds like they need to work on that aspect of their business.

[ethernautrix]

Oops. My misunderstanding.

Still... I believe their e-mail page says it might take up to five business days to respond.



P.S. You would HATE dealing with my local B&M. I bought a Delta Vintage with an F nib back in January. Only it was an M, not an F. So I went back and was told it would be a few weeks before a Delta shipment arrived. Several visits and a few months later, I'm still being told that it will be another week, another week. I haven't minded so much - and it's become a kind of joke. I believe I will eventually get the F nib.

Or I might give up and request my money back. (I think about this when I'm not looking at the pen. Stupid pretty pen.)

[sharmon202]

5 days to respond, really? I will have to go read that. That is ridiculous to have one way of communicating and it be stated to be that long.

Oops. My misunderstanding.

Still... I believe their e-mail page says it might take up to five business days to respond.



P.S. You would HATE dealing with my local B&M. I bought a Delta Vintage with an F nib back in January. Only it was an M, not an F. So I went back and was told it would be a few weeks before a Delta shipment arrived. Several visits and a few months later, I'm still being told that it will be another week, another week. I haven't minded so much - and it's become a kind of joke. I believe I will eventually get the F nib.

Or I might give up and request my money back. (I think about this when I'm not looking at the pen. Stupid pretty pen.)

[mhosea]

5 days to respond, really? I will have to go read that. That is ridiculous to have one way of communicating and it be stated to be that long.

Personally, I don't think such a written policy would be anything but a negative indication to me. It's as if, instead of making the institutional changes to respond in a reasonable time, which is what you should do, you just document how much you suck at responding. You don't really "get" 5 days with the customer just because you say so.

Note that this is a comment on the idea of such a policy. I haven't read the policy, and it may not actually be their policy for all I know. I have had only good experiences with Jetpens myself, but I have not had any contact, nor reason to have any contact with their customer service.

[sixbynineis42]

Made an order with jet pens last Friday with scheduled expected delivery of last Wednesday. USPS fumbled the ball and doesn't know where the package is. They suspect its still in San Jose. No biggie it happens. USPS told me to contact the sender and have them investigate it. Since Jetpens has no phone, I sent them an email letting them know the situation. No reply three days later.
I have no problem with not having customer service phone, but if thats you business model, you really need to answer your emails.
Needless to say, I filed an RMA for the order and plan on returning it. It was a gift and It won't make it here in time. Everything I ordered can be had off Amazon at the same price. So I will give them the business. I try to support the small business but its highly unlikely I will buy from jetpens again.

I hate to break this to you, but Amazon often uses USPS, too. If you're going to fly off the handle and blame the seller, when the shipper causes a slight delay--2 DAYS--then maybe you should fork over the cash for a better shipping method.

I'm all for calling a company out when it's deserved, but your beef is with USPS, not JetPens.

[kia]

Made an order with jet pens last Friday with scheduled expected delivery of last Wednesday. USPS fumbled the ball and doesn't know where the package is. They suspect its still in San Jose. No biggie it happens. USPS told me to contact the sender and have them investigate it. Since Jetpens has no phone, I sent them an email letting them know the situation. No reply three days later.
I have no problem with not having customer service phone, but if thats you business model, you really need to answer your emails.
Needless to say, I filed an RMA for the order and plan on returning it. It was a gift and It won't make it here in time. Everything I ordered can be had off Amazon at the same price. So I will give them the business. I try to support the small business but its highly unlikely I will buy from jetpens again.

I hate to break this to you, but Amazon often uses USPS, too. If you're going to fly off the handle and blame the seller, when the shipper causes a slight delay--2 DAYS--then maybe you should fork over the cash for a better shipping method.

I'm all for calling a company out when it's deserved, but your beef is with USPS, not JetPens.

Well, he can't call them, even if he wished to, as they do not have a contact phone number. JetPens only has email, which may take anywhere from 2 to 5 business days for a response, if there is one (statement based on site information and others' reported experiences). So, I think "calling a company out" - though this is actually just a report of a not so good experience - is something that does need to done in a situation like this. If nothing else, it may draw the company's attention to what I would consider a serious issue with their communications policy.

Although he had a bad experience with USPS, too, but though it was too late for the intended purpose, they can work with him. USPS delivers a volume of billions, a package is going to go astray once in a while, we just get upset when it happens to us. I'm not immune, I get upset when I don't get what has been promised, too.

The problem here (as I view it) is a seller who has a communications policy which only compounds a difficult situation, and this is very frustrating.

A large entity like Amazon is similarly frustrating to contact where there is a problem. Now, I almost expect poor customer service from a large, nearly full automated company like Amazon, and so I do a lot of finger crossing, even though they too are a volume business. More recently, however, Amazon has been making an effort to ensure things improve with their ways.

The USPS can have a good run around show, but I can at least talk to and/or actually go in to their local branch to talk with someone and get help. I cross my fingers occasionally when I have a very important document or package coming, but they've been fairly reliable for many decades.

However, when dealing with small business, I do expect to be able to communicate with them and receive the best in customer service. This is how small business survives to become established and grow. They have a little more power as a sender of mail with tracking than I do as the receiver, and why the USPS would say contact the seller. You also have to put in a claim with the seller if the package isn't received, no matter the delivery system.

Now, I have been able to contact and personally talk with the proprietors of several small pen related businesses: Todd Nussbaum of ISellPens, Brian Goulet of Goulet Pen Company, Brian Gray of Edison Pen Company, Sam and Frank Fiorella of Pendemonium, Nathan Tardif of Noodler's Ink (!), and even a very well established and foreign company (UK) like Dexter Rings and Seals in which I've spoken directly with Simon Wright, and I purchased a Nakaya pen directly from Nakaya in Japan through a series of emails and language barriers. Sam Fiorella of Pendemonium even wrote to me once to make sure I was ok after a brush with a small tornado. Now that was truly unexpected, but it certainly cemented my business loyalty.

So, being able to communicate effectively for a service gone awry for whatever reason is something I expect from any retailer with whom I hope to do business. I don't expect personal friendships with them, but I do expect to be able to communicate with them within a reasonable time frame, if needed.

There are a lot of loyal fans for JetPens. That's ok. But there are some who have had rough experiences, too. Both need to be covered for informed decision making for future business. Weigh one vs another, and make up our own minds whether any particular business is worth our own, hard-to-come-by disposable income. Good, bad, or indifferent, regardless of the company, knowing any experience is helpful to us when we make our own decisions for business - on either side of the transaction. It can help businesses improve their own practices, too, for the future.

[ethernautrix]

Roops! I misspoke. I read JetPens' policy, and there is no stated time-frame to expect a response, only that "the JetPens Customer Service Email Team answers your emails Monday through Friday from 9 am - 4 pm PST, excluding recognized holidays." https://www.jetpens.com/index.php/contact

Sorry if I've added to the confusion or outrage.

[sixbynineis42]

I hate to break this to you, but Amazon often uses USPS, too. If you're going to fly off the handle and blame the seller, when the shipper causes a slight delay--2 DAYS--then maybe you should fork over the cash for a better shipping method.

I'm all for calling a company out when it's deserved, but your beef is with USPS, not JetPens.

Well, he can't call them, even if he wished to, as they do not have a contact phone number. JetPens only has email, which may take anywhere from 2 to 5 business days for a response, if there is one (statement based on site information and others' reported experiences). So, I think "calling a company out" - though this is actually just a report of a not so good experience - is something that does need to done in a situation like this. If nothing else, it may draw the company's attention to what I would consider a serious issue with their communications policy.

However in this case the company is being "called out" for providing service EXACTLY IN-LINE with what they say they provide. If the buyer has a problem with their phone policy it's not hard to look for a phone number before you hit "Submit Order". Seems to me that the buyer appreciated the reduced costs and prices of not having to pay for a staffed phone but still wants the service.

I've contacted JetPens customer service by email in the past and I've gotten my reply in less that 1 business day--something I can't say for several companies who have published phone numbers.

I stand by my statement. The OP has called out JetPens for USPS' problems.

[Jon Szanto]

Not to get too picky, but it would be nice if people paid more attention to the original post before responding as below.

If the buyer has a problem with their phone policy it's not hard to look for a phone number before you hit "Submit Order". Seems to me that the buyer appreciated the reduced costs and prices of not having to pay for a staffed phone but still wants the service.

The buyer specifically said that they did not have a problem with the no-phone policy, and is simply expecting timely email response.

I've contacted JetPens customer service by email in the past and I've gotten my reply in less that 1 business day--something I can't say for several companies who have published phone numbers.

And, oddly enough, something that can't be said for JetPens in this instance*.

I stand by my statement. The OP has called out JetPens for USPS' problems.

Both parties have some fault: USPS for non-delivery, and JP for slow communication. The sender needs to work with USPS, and the buyer needs the senders assistance in the matter. I don't think it is too much to ask for them to respond.

*The one caveat is that the OP said they had not received a response in three days. One has no clue when the first email was sent: if it was late on a Friday, well, that may account for something; if it was sent sometime during the M-F period that they state they attend to emails, I consider 3 days too long in this day and age to at least *respond* to a customer service email contact.

[sixbynineis42]

Not to get too picky, but it would be nice if people paid more attention to the original post before responding as below.

Since we're going to lecture each other about reading before posting, I feel it's fair to point out that while I did read the original post before responding, the 3 quotes you used were not in response to the original post, but to a subsequent response.

Not to get too picky, but it would be nice if people paid more attention to the response posts before lecturing others.

[Jon Szanto]

Since we're going to lecture each other about reading before posting, I feel it's fair to point out that while I did read the original post before responding, the 3 quotes you used were not in response to the original post, but to a subsequent response.

Please.

I realize you were responding to Kia, and not to tommyd, but the points you were making referred to the situation as described in the OP. Does "the buyer" in your statement not refer to the OP, tommyd? Does your final statement (that I quoted) not directly refer to the OP?

Wasn't a lecture.

[mhosea]

FWIW, I think...

1. The OP made it crystal clear that the issue that annoyed them was not the lost package, rather the fact that Jetpens was not responsive.

2. Jetpens should have been more responsive. The OP is justified in being annoyed at not receiving a response within a day or two. Even a quick message that they're looking into it and will get back to them a few days hence would be better.

3. Jetpens is unlikely to be able to offer any insight about the package, unfortunately. Either they shipped it or they didn't. If it was, in fact, shipped, which is likely, then Jetpens doesn't know jack about what happened to it.

4. I don't really think starting a thread over something like this is a very good way to blow off steam. Threads complaining about vendors tend to get contentious quickly, this being no exception.

[Lady Onogaro]

5 days to respond, really? I will have to go read that. That is ridiculous to have one way of communicating and it be stated to be that long.

Personally, I don't think such a written policy would be anything but a negative indication to me. It's as if, instead of making the institutional changes to respond in a reasonable time, which is what you should do, you just document how much you suck at responding. You don't really "get" 5 days with the customer just because you say so.

Note that this is a comment on the idea of such a policy. I haven't read the policy, and it may not actually be their policy for all I know. I have had only good experiences with Jetpens myself, but I have not had any contact, nor reason to have any contact with their customer service.

The only time I had to contact them over an order was because a notebook arrived crushed. I emailed them as soon as I received the package, and they contacted me within 24 hours with an offer to send me a new notebook (which I happily accepted). I got the new notebook within a couple days. Other than that one time, I have never had a problem with them. I have had problems with the post office, however. But considering how much mail they deliver, I try to be patient.

[kia]

FWIW, I think...

4. I don't really think starting a thread over something like this is a very good way to blow off steam. Threads complaining about vendors tend to get contentious quickly, this being no exception.

Then I guess I'm in the wrong forum.

Or, the forum is incorrectly titled "feedback."

Can't be the second, so must be the first.

I admit to emotions and not logic. So, I have to be hit over the head with the proverbial baseball bat to drive it home. We should only ever post positive feedback and suck up everything else, right/wrong/indifferent.

I get it, now.

Thanks.

[Jon Szanto]

FWIW, I think...

4. I don't really think starting a thread over something like this is a very good way to blow off steam. Threads complaining about vendors tend to get contentious quickly, this being no exception.

Then I guess I'm in the wrong forum.

Or, the forum is incorrectly titled "feedback."

Can't be the second, so must be the first.

I admit to emotions and not logic. So, I have to be hit over the head with the proverbial baseball bat to drive it home. We should only ever post positive feedback and suck up everything else, right/wrong/indifferent.

I get it, now.

Thanks.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take a breath.

I think Mike had a point to make, which is that starting a thread regarding problems with vendors is not an easy task when you want to get results. He is addressing people doing this simply to vent, and how - and I agree with him - the thread can (and often does) devolve into rancorous side-taking: those who had great times with a business, and those whose experience sucked.

I've been wrong before, but I would be gigantically surprised if Mike was espousing what you, in a sarcastic manner, suggest: only positive feedback. No, I don't think he would want that at all, nor would I. If you want to see that in action, check out the CS forum at FPN. Legendary.

Breathe. We'll get through this. There is still room for feedback, criticism, and praise here on FPG.

[mhosea]

Well first of all, people can do what they want. I was offering friendly advice, not citing rules, regulations, scriptures, or anything else. Certainly I wasn't suggesting only positive feedback. That would be stupid. And besides, most the time I have no idea what forum I'm in. Having said that...

If you want to review a play or a movie, it is best not to leave 25% of the way through and file your review from the bathroom of the theater. Market feedback should be delivered after the play is over, regardless of whether it is ultimately positive or negative. While the package was ostensibly shipped some time ago, this particular issue is not even a week old. That's too quick! Give good people a chance to show you that they're good people before you cut into them in public. You don't know what's going on in their lives. Give them the benefit of the doubt for a week or two. That's more friendly advice, BTW, not scriptures, rules, etc.

But people give early "feedback" for one of two reasons, I think.

1. They are angry, frustrated, and stressed, and are looking for some release and support. I can empathize with this, and I was specifically addressing this possibility and pointing out that this often doesn't work out so well.
2. They want to influence the vendor. I hadn't guessed this was what the OP was trying to do, but here again, I think it's better to wait until the issue has reached either impasse or displeasing closure.

[jetpens]

I am a customer service representatives at JetPens.

To the original poster, I'm sorry to hear that you have not received your order. We would like to work with you to make sure that you receive your order.

Our policy is to respond to all emails from customers within 1 business day. Our goal is to respond sooner than that, but one business day is as long as it should ever take. For example, if a customer writes to us on Friday at 10AM, it may take until Monday at 10AM for us to respond since weekends are not business days for us. We have updated the text on our Contact Us page to make our response time explicit.

If you have yet to receive a response from us, it's possible that we did not receive your email due to a technical issue. For example, it's possible that we did not receive your email, or that we did receive your email, but our response was sent into your spam folder. We're not sure which of the two is the case since we do not have your email address or order number.

Since email did not work the 1st time around, if you could post the last 4 digits of your Order Number in this forum, we can try to reach out to you by email directly.

If you'd prefer not to post your order number on this forum, you can either:
- Email us at jetpens@jetpens.com
or
- Submit your order information and issue at the following web page:
https://www.jetpens.com/contact

We again apologize for the delay in the delivery of your package and thank you for your patience as we work to get this issue resolved.

[Jon Szanto]

Well done.