Awful experience with inkfilling.com- stay away!

topvar

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I had such an unusually awful experience with inkfilling.com, I felt compelled to post about it.

I decided to purchase their 60ml bulk inks for Canon CLI-221/ PGI-220 cartridges (Unikit). I submitted the order for the ink and a syringe kit online and then less than an hour later heard from my coworker that we already had another brand of kit in the office (Image Specialists 100ml). I immediately sent an email (as the preferred method of communication they indicated in the invoice email to me) to the vendor to cancel the order, noting the reason and asking for a response on how to proceed. No response given for one and a half days. Then I receive a notice that the item has shipped. As soon as I got the notice, I decided to call in and try to cancel the shipment to save a return cost. Tremendous hassle. They pestered me over the reason behind the cancellation, saying I would eventually need the ink, etc. Really, it was like being chastised over the phone by some guy I don't know for making this simple mistake. So the guy said I would need an RMA number to make a return because the thing shipped out already. I ask him for one. He won't give me an RMA until I try to refuse the shipment. Really. So of course I am not around when the thing is delivered and have to call again to get an RMA. (Note that I never tried to get the RMA through email because of the lack of response to my initial request. Perhaps I should have tried though, given what happened my second time with them on the phone.) When I call to get another RMA, I get a second dressing down from another fellow who asks me why I made the initial order when..., blah, blah, blah. Now I am getting tired of this and just want the RMA to get my refund. He notes that a 15% restocking charge would be levied in cases of customer error. I knew the guarantee agreement contained a provision on this fee, but that it may be waived. I tell him that I think it should be waived, given that I tried to cancel the order before it was shipped and that they made no response to my request. He says they always try to work with the customers and make them happy, etc. No direct answer to my request that the fee be waived. So I get the RMA, send back the package on my own dime, and wait for five days to get the refund applied to my credit card. Guess what? They levied the 15% fee.

I have quite a bit of experience making purchases online, and this experience was light years beyond bad for me. No friendliness, no ease of return, no response to my requests. Caveat emptor if you decide to do business with this vendor.
 

ghwellsjr

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Sounds like a great company to order from if you really want something.

Think about it from their point of view:

Awful experience with a customer--he orders something and we ship it out but he changed his mind and wanted to recover all his costs but didn't want us to recover any of our costs. Then to top it off, he bad-mouthed us on a popular website, even though we did everything we said we would do.
 

topvar

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I would hardly label a customer who changes his mind about a purchase as awful. Refund policies are in place for that kind of inevitability as well as to address defective products.

In e-commerce just as much as with brick and mortar stores with live people, the notion of service requires that a vendor do more than just meet their basic responsibilities of delivering a product and doing what they say they will do. That is because the vendor is always in a better position to address difficulties with orders. What is to be said of responsiveness, courtesy, and ease of use? Not addressing a request to cancel an order that is placed before the order is processed, taking a combative tone with the customer, and complicating the return process embodies none of those aspects of customer service. I stand by my review. It was spot on and well-deserved.
 

irvweiner

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If ghwellsjr is truly being satirical in his reply, I find it hilarious. If not......................

irvweiner
 

ghwellsjr

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I did not label a customer as "awful", I was merely repeating your words of "awful experience with..." to help you see it from their point of view, not because you changed your mind and wanted to return the item, but because you expected them to waive their stated restocking fee of 15% and then you published their name in the title of a public forum with a warning to "stay away". How do you think that makes them feel?

Also, the vendor requested you to refuse shipment which you did not do. You do not have to be present when a package arrives, you can always write on it, "return to sender", and put it back in the mail. That way, you would not have to pay return shipping fees.
 

fotofreek

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There are unreasonable vendors, and there are unreasonable customers. Since I wasn't the proverbial "fly on the wall" I don't feel comfortable seeing a first time participant complain this way about a vendor without knowing from the vendor how this customer dealt with them. Everyone who uses Hobicolors and bought formulabs ink from alotofthings reports that they have been dealt with fairly. Nonetheless, there was a participant on a printer newsgroup who claimed they were unprofessional and blasted them on the newsgroup. Since he was well known on that newsgroup as a malcontent and troll, the longterm participants knew to disregard his diatribes. Newbies, however, tended to believe him as they had no point of reference as to his usual behavior. I did contact both firms and found out that he had harrassed them and tried to tell them how to better run their businesses!

I do not mean to imply that Topvar is such a person or that he was complicit in this unhappy situation. I would only say that, without having a track record on this Forum, it would be unfair for us to perpetuate this warning from him. If anyone else who has done business with inkfilling.com might wish to comment I would like to hear from them. Absent considerable corroberation I think it only fair that we delete this thread.
 

fish

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I have purchased refill toner for my Brother laser from inkfilling.com and have not had a problem. Any company as bad as has been described would not be in business for very long - bad news travels fast on the web.
For what it's worth, I had a bad experience with alot of things at the end of their existance, but good before.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3013&p=31
Just my 2 cents.
 

d1hamby

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Even though I've never done business with inkfilling.com I would still likely do business with them because the original post did seem unreasonable. How do the rest of you feel?
 

The Hat

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d1hamby


I would agree the comments were over the top.

ghwellsjr wrote:- Also, the vendor requested you to refuse shipment which you did not do. You do not have to be present when a package arrives, you can always write on it, "return to sender", and put it back in the mail. That way, you would not have to pay return shipping fees.
fotofreek has a point maybe (removal)..:(
 

embguy

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People are allowed to their opinion - good or bad. The OP expressed her/his point of view and did not violate the rules of this forum.

Let the new member to be the judge after reading the whole thread.
 
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