Rating merchant transactions

[Merlin]

If there's already such a thread...feel free to delete/move this and call me a moron.
When I travel, I ALWAYS check tripadvisor.com because I'm big on peoples experience and how they rate things. I thought it would be a good idea for all the Xmarkers as well as the merchants to see how the transactions went and how the merchandise was.

I'll start:

RenShirts.com --
I ordered a Crinkle Bubble Gauze Sleeveless - the payment transaction was fast and smooth...followed up with an immediate email.
I received the shirt in 2 days...unreal fast shipping. The shirt is very nice!
Am I pleased? 100% Note* The sizes confused me because they have 8 sizes ranging from XS to 4XL so after some XMarkers described their sizes and the shirt size they ordered...I opted for the XL. I'm 5'10" and go 187lbs... the shirt fits a bit big but that's what I wanted. I prefer a baggier shirt over one that snugly fits over my turkey-leg-full gut. The shirt seems like it's going to be just what the doctor ordered for those hot festival days.

[Colonel MacNeal]

Ta for the info Merlin.

[triolamj]

Good Cop, Bad Cop: WARNING: Avoid thescotlandkiltcompany on eBay when it comes to sporrans. I bought 2 really nice, really inexpensive sporrans, one Celtic leather front flap and one black rabbit fur targe, from them and both were defective. The sporran straps were identical, nice thick leather and chromed chain, okay chrome buckle, but the leather was too big by millimeters to fit back through the buckle and the tounge was unpolished and flat at the end instead of rounded. The small leather straps with 2 d-rings at the back of both sporrans were riveted on one side and glued on the other: both came undone while I was wearing them, the leather one dropping to the floor, the fur one breaking a tassel chain at the top of the tassel. Then the stitching on the top of the patch on the back of the leather sporran began to pop. I made a temporary repair to the tassel and glued the patch back down with Gorilla glue (blemishing the front by mistake). I replaced all the split rings and I'm looking for the right size buckles with a rounded tounge and Chicago screws all of which are suddenly hard to find to fix the sporran straps. ADVICE: When you buy something on eBay give yourself some time before you provide feedback. I placed mine after the 2 bad straps were found but not before the tassel and the patch tore. thescotlandkiltcompany has a 98% favorable rating which I accidentally contributed to and which it does not deserve.

[Merlin]

Good Cop, Bad Cop: WARNING: Avoid thescotlandkiltcompany on eBay when it comes to sporrans. I bought 2 really nice, really inexpensive sporrans, one Celtic leather front flap and one black rabbit fur targe, from them and both were defective. The sporran straps were identical, nice thick leather and chromed chain, okay chrome buckle, but the leather was too big by millimeters to fit back through the buckle and the tounge was unpolished and flat at the end instead of rounded. The small leather straps with 2 d-rings at the back of both sporrans were riveted on one side and glued on the other: both came undone while I was wearing them, the leather one dropping to the floor, the fur one breaking a tassel chain at the top of the tassel. Then the stitching on the top of the patch on the back of the leather sporran began to pop. I made a temporary repair to the tassel and glued the patch back down with Gorilla glue (blemishing the front by mistake). I replaced all the split rings and I'm looking for the right size buckles with a rounded tounge and Chicago screws all of which are suddenly hard to find to fix the sporran straps. ADVICE: When you buy something on eBay give yourself some time before you provide feedback. I placed mine after the 2 bad straps were found but not before the tassel and the patch tore. thescotlandkiltcompany has a 98% favorable rating which I accidentally contributed to and which it does not deserve.

Excellent. This is the kind of stuff I like to see.
I'm not saying i like to bash merchants, but when something does go wrong it's great to see a detailed explanation rather than "that place sucks".

Q) Did you attempt to resolve it with them? Exchange or refund?

I would think an exchange would not be in order because it sounds like a defect in their product and the same defect would most likely be in the exchanged product

[triolamj]

I did before the patch and the tassle. I had already taken the brad off that held the buckle on to one of the straps, but buckles are ridiculously scarce at all the local sewing and hobby shops along with Chicago screws to replace the brad. I had messaged scotlandkiltcompany via eBay to let them know I was sending both straps back. Then the other defects popped up. I sent them another e-mail and laid out all the problems and told them to just refund me the price of the sporran straps and that I wouldn't be incurring the cost of shipping them to the UK.

Aggravation aside, both sporrans are great for the price, though the leather one is a little blemished thanks to me. If my repairs on the fur tassle don't hold up, I'll have to order a replacement for about $12. If I can find buckles and screws for the straps without spending too much on shipping, I'll still be way ahead of the game, moneywise. I'll have 3 sporrans, 1 plain sporran strap, 1 fancy plaque strap, and an extra leather targe sporran to sell but no strap to go with it.