Buy Plumbing D/b/a BuyPlumbing.net Deceptive and Unfair Shipping & Return Practices and Policies Sandy Internet

This store is a nightmare and should be avoided. They have deceptive practices regarding product delivery and acceptance. They have poor customer service. Their freight delivery system is poor and they take no responsibility for concealed damage. Their shipping containers are inadequate for both the original delivery and any possible returns. They do not offer replacement parts for their goods. They charge your credit card on the date of the order, not the date of shipment.

The bath furnishings products I ordered, a vanity and linen hamper, are from Fairmont Designs. The products which are very heavy, were delivered in cardboard boxes with light styrofoam plastic foam around the edges and in front of the doors and panels of the vanity and linen hamper. The bottom of each cardboard carton was made up of a makeshift frame of particleboard to reduce the amount of movement forward, backward, and sideways inside the box. The furniture was fully assembled. The panels, doors, drawers, shelves, etc. were all attached, but were left unprotected. The outside of one box was partially shrinkwrapped, the other was not. The boxes were damaged during shipment and had crushed areas and holes.

I live in a condo and the freight company, Watkins Freight, a Fed Ex LTL carrier, refused to bring the box up to my unit. The first item was delivered while I was out and the maintenance man for my building signed for it. I received the second item. Concealed damage was noted upon removing the item from the packaging which necessitated destroying the box and preventing its use for a return if necessary. Upon noting the damage, I contacted both the freight company and buyplumbing.net.

For the past 60 days I have had to constantly prod them for a resolution and when I finally advised them that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and Utah Consumer Protection Division they responded by outright lying to me that I had failed to meet their three day notification of damage requirement and that it was irrelevant that I had not signed for the first package.

My request for redress was a replacement right front door and upper right front panel on the vanity, both of which have damage where the veneer has separated from the wood due to contact made between the pieces during shipment. I have requested a replacement linen tower or credit of 50% of the cost for the dents and damage to the outside front and upper left corner of the linen tower.

Buyplumbing.net has not offered any remedy in writing. They originally advised that they would replace the entire vanity, but I advised that I had no way to pack and ship it since their box was not salvageable. They said that not only was that not their problem, but it would be at my cost. Requiring a customer to pay for return shipment of an item by freight that is only being returned due to negligence on the part of the seller or their shipper is outrageous. I advised that I only wanted the replacement parts, that I had a schedule to keep with my remodeling and could not afford the time it would take to await a new shipment which could take several weeks.

Buyplumbing.net offered to replace the linen tower as well, but would not do so until they had the original returned to them. I again explained the problem with doing this and suggested they send over their shipper to pack it up. They refused. I offered to cover the cost of shipping materials if they would send over a shipper or have them contact me about how to do it. They refused. At that point I still had not heard back from my claim filed with the shipper, Watkins Freight. Apparently the shipper was not accepting responsibility and pointing back to the original packaging as the source of the problem. Seeing this going nowhere I requested a credit for damages. They have not responded despite repeated requests for a resolution.

I have subsequently filed complaints with both the BBB and Utah Consumer Protection Division as well as the FTC. This company has not acted in good faith and people need to be made aware so that they do not suffer the same financial loss and headaches that I have encountered.

I spent almost $3,000 with them and they treated me shabbily. I can only imagine how poorly they will treat customers with smaller purchases.

Avoid this company for any purchases unless you want to spend over 50 times more time dealing with the problems than you did placing the order. There are plenty of other options out there for the items they sell. I only wish that I had seen a review before I purchased from www.buyplumbing.net.

Joe
Baltimore, Maryland
U.S.A.