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I placed an order with Altenew last week. I was notified that they received my order and would be contacted when the order shipped, usually in 5 to 7 days. This week I received an email that my order had shipped along with a tracking number. The problem is that the tracking number lists the order as being delivered to my correct address (which it was not) and to an unknown individual in New York (I live half a country away from NY).
Being concerned there was a problem I went to the contact section of their website. There is a very small window of time when they have customer service in call in and the site suggested emailing to be a quicker option. I have emailed them twice and have not heard back from them. On their web site I now am reading that first class USPS shipping does not come with any kind of guarantee.
I am concerned that this package was mishandled and now I am going to be out close to $50. Please share what your experiences are with this company. Hopefully you will be able to put my mind at ease. Thanks in advance.
One reason I tend not to buy from their site is because of the extremely small CS window, and when I've called it, no one answered, though you can leave a message. I also had trouble getting email responses - but eventually did get friendly responses and think you will too - just keep at it.
The name of an unknown individual being on the tracking receipt is evidence you did not receive it, and it may be their mix-up they have a record of. I'm guessing they will honor that, but if not, you can dispute the charge on your credit card - just call your credit card bank.
(I like some of their stamps so in the future would purchase them through companies that are wonderful to deal with, like Ellen Hutson.)
Yikes, that doesn't sound so good! I was hoping that I was just an exception. I could have asked my local stamp store to order them and send them to me. I say local but they are really 90 miles away, so I thought I would order directly. That might end up having been a stupid idea! I also had them in my Ellen Hutson cart, but the shipping was less through Altenew. I will keep trying and hope I can have the same buyer protection from Paypal, if this proves to be a big mistake on my part. Thanks for the reply.
I bet it will work out - someone recently posted about a problem and Altenew did come through. And PayPal does have buyer protection as a back-up. But this is no fun for you. : ( Let us know how it turns out!
Now that is very weird. Two addresses on one tracking number? If that is the PO I would call into their national CS-put the phone on speaker and do something else-takes about 30 mins for them to pick up-but they have always been super nice once i got them and have resolved several things for me-like when a package was sitting in a hub for a month. They should be able to see what you do in the system.
Print out that wonky confirmation so if you have to you can send it to Paypal if it suddenly poofs online.
As I recall from the Crafty Chat with Altenew-they are not a big company. I am sure she is over at CHA now since she said she was going. That might cause response delay.
Sorry to hear about your delivery issues. I know it can be frustrating since I've been down that road as well. I will only purchase from companies that accept Paypal as a payment option in addition to credit cards. Plus Google offers buyer protection for online purchases if you use Chrome.
Let us know how and when it is resolved.
Now that is very weird. Two addresses on one tracking number? If that is the PO I would call into their national CS-put the phone on speaker and do something else-takes about 30 mins for them to pick up-but they have always been super nice once i got them and have resolved several things for me-like when a package was sitting in a hub for a month. They should be able to see what you do in the system.
Print out that wonky confirmation so if you have to you can send it to Paypal if it suddenly poofs online.
As I recall from the Crafty Chat with Altenew-they are not a big company. I am sure she is over at CHA now since she said she was going. That might cause response delay.
The whole thing is weird. I thought the email was just telling me the package had shipped but then it provided a tracking link. When I followed the link at had the little progression line complete with the mail truck that I am used to seeing and delivery completed to my address. If I put the number in the USPS tracking spot it showed it as delivered to someone in NY.
I think I will wait a couple of days before I go searching and filing claims etc as she could be at CHA as mentioned. The weird thing there, is that I received email from them this week. This is all very strange.
I have ordered from Altenew a number of times, and have always been happy with my orders. I know they were at CHA because I saw a pic of the owner there.
I feel sure they will make this right for you.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
the stamp i received was faulty. They did replace it. Although they sent it to my daughter who purchased it for me and she lives out of town, so I am still waiting to play with my xmas treasure. they do have a pretty limited window of customer service opportunities. not sure why that is. i am i guessing it will work out. keep us posted.
__________________ lori b. my gallery
"if you judge people, you have no time to love them."
The whole thing is weird. I thought the email was just telling me the package had shipped but then it provided a tracking link. When I followed the link at had the little progression line complete with the mail truck that I am used to seeing and delivery completed to my address. If I put the number in the USPS tracking spot it showed it as delivered to someone in NY.
I think I will wait a couple of days before I go searching and filing claims etc as she could be at CHA as mentioned. The weird thing there, is that I received email from them this week. This is all very strange.
I would wait a few days, too, because I suspect you may have a recycled shipping number. What delivery date does the USPS site give you for the delivery in New York?
Their mailing app (with the little mail truck) probably only knows that there was a delivery registering, not when or, officially, where.
I received an email from Altenew.Your order is actually still in transit and you should receive it today or tomorrow. When USPS picked up the shipments from us, he marked all of them as delivered which caused many customers to be confused! They were not able to fix it so it is still showing the incorrectly update. We apologize for any inconvenience. You should receive your order soon. Than you!
This is great news for me, and what a headache for Altenew. Hopefully my order will arrive today.
I've had nothing but good service from Altenew, but I can relate on the tracking number issue. I ordered a Christmas present from Amazon for my mom...the tracking number said it had been delivered but we couldn't find it anywhere in our vicinity. Finally called Amazon and they explained that the UPS drivers sometimes check their packages as being delivered ahead of time. They don't like it when the drivers do this and it is certainly frustrating, but the package was delivered the next day.
Thanks for posting the follow up from Altenew. Hope you get to play soon
The stamps I ordered from Altenew arrived today. They look like great stamps! Hopefully the company will not have problems with the USPS shipping confirmations in the future.
This just happened to me with an eBay order. I only ordered once from Altenew but was very pleased with the whole process.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annie*
I received an email from Altenew.Your order is actually still in transit and you should receive it today or tomorrow. When USPS picked up the shipments from us, he marked all of them as delivered which caused many customers to be confused! They were not able to fix it so it is still showing the incorrectly update. We apologize for any inconvenience. You should receive your order soon. Than you!
This is great news for me, and what a headache for Altenew. Hopefully my order will arrive today.
I agree, Diane. What a pain for the company and customer when USPS doesn't get it right! It would be better to have no tracking than incorrect tracking.
Our local PO lost a $50 item, but processed it as having been delivered to the front desk(????). When we went looking for it our Postmaster admitted it had fallen down between the seats of the mail truck. I never could understand why she listed it as delivered to the front desk. It should never have been upgraded from out for delivery. I am sure that it is difficult to get everything correct but we live in a very small community and there doesn't seem to be a lot of reason for these kind of mistakes.
I like their products but tend to order from their resellers. I have purchased directly from them a few times.
I only had a problem once. They messed up and sent my order to another customer and hers to me. I guess I was first to bring it to their attention; I got the distinct impression they doubted my claim.
So they let the issue sit for well over a week before getting back to me; I think they were verifying my claim and explanation of what I expected happened. It was no big deal; things happen. But the waiting without any acknowledgment or update - that was irritating (especially when they were in the wrong).
Please share your Altenew experiences
