be careful when you make purchases online

recently, my friend chanced upon this online blogshop at mygirliedesire.livejournal.com. I emailed her on 17 Sep 2007 to make enquiries about this black tote, and she was very prompt in her replies. Excellent, right? I asked her for the price cos it was not stated in her blog. This was her reply:

It's actually $37 mailed. I don't do meet-ups due to my busy schedule. Bags are heavier, hence the pricier postage, hmm no more pics. It will fit A4 nicely, definitely not too big! Hee

Need my account details for payment?

So I responded with another email:

hello,

is it possible to negotiate the price abit? I find it a bit steep, I saw a same one for a lower price at 32 with postage, but it was in brown.

Her reply was:

How about waiving postage for you then? $34 mailed?

I replied very happily, thinking i saved 3 dollars on postage:

hello!

34 with postage is a deal! (: thanks. just to confirm, it is this bag in the picture. http://pics.livejournal.com/mygirliedesire/pic/000p1pwe/

So she replied with her account details:

Please make SGD $34.00, inclusive of postage and handling fees, payable to
UOB Savings
139/1X1/X3X/1

Do update me with e following details upon successful transfer
Name
Mailing address
Item(s) purchased (attach pic pls and state the color and size if applicable!)
Amount transferred
Transaction reference
Time
Date

By the way, when can u make payment? time?

--
http://mygirliedesire.livejournal.com/

Regards,
♥My Girlie Desire♥

All these took place in A DAY. on 17th Sep. She didnt reply to confirm if she got payment. I sent a chaser, she confirmed that she has received payment and has sent out the item on 18 Sep and said that I should receive by the end of the week. But obviously my bag didn't come in the mail, and I emailed her on 24 Sep asking if she knows when the bag might be arriving.

She replied by saying,

Hi,

It usually take s 3 to 5 working days. Hmm, what do you propose now?

So I waited to see if it will arrive on the FIFTH day, but it did not. So i sent another email on 25 Sep cos I heard from a friend about how another blogshop's shoppers has been defrauded by mygirliedesire.livejournal.com:

Hi,

It has been more than 3-5 days, and I've been buying stuff online for the longest time and have not come across any case of lost mail/package. By the way, I've seen your email appearing on theladieshouse.livejournal.com 's warning post. Is this another case of your "lost package"? I would appreciate if you could send out what you promised to send out since i've already made payment PROMPTLY, if I don't receive it by this weekend, I will not hesitate to take actions to inform others about my experience. Do know that operating an online business requires having a good reputation and I think you would not want to spoil that. =)

She replied me with much anger.

Hi,

I sent out your item promptly as well, but you CANT POSSIBLY BLAME ME IF IT GOT LOST SINCE YOU OPTED FOR NORMAL MAIL? and fyi, sellers are NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST MAILS. i can only offer u another bag from my lj, but this time round, pls topup for reg mail so I CANT BE ACCUSED OF NOT SENDING OUT UR BAG AT ALL. should both parcels end up at ur side, pls return one of them to me, thank you

Actually, everyone who shops online knows that once the goods leave the hands of the seller, if it gets lost, the buyer has to bear the risk. even she said that herself in her email. But i guess because mygirliedesire was caught off guard about the fraud mentioned in my earlier email on theladieshouse, she decided to send me another item, maybe to shut me up. so i sent another long email explaining myself on the registered post thing. I really didn't know that her "postage" did not mean registered post. even if she did mean it to be normal mail, then she should have told me that too bad, you didn't ask for registered mail. but in the first place, shouldn't the seller ask what sort of postage I want? since she was willing to waive postage, i assumed that it was for registered post. It was also my fault that I did not clarify. So i take the blame partially.

this was my reply:

Hi

When i told told you i saw a same bag at another lj, it was 32 WITH REG mail. perhaps i wasnt clear that that price included REG mail, so you assumed that it was normal post. If that is the case, then i apologize, because i tot you were ready to waive the charges for REG mail, especially with all the excellent reviews about how great a seller you are and how you were ready to be understanding when ppl were tight on budget.

i will top up for registered mail. how much would that be? actually i only like that bag from your lj. do you have stock still?

i would also like to clarify that i am NOT blaming you for the lost mail, because really, what are the chances of mails getting lost, and so coincidentally i also see bad reviews of your blogshop on other blogshops. you cant really blame me for being paranoid here that i am never going to get my bag, because its been more than a week since i paid, and theres bad stuff going ard. I trusted that you will be an honest seller despite the reviews cos i read abt all the comments on your blog abt how efficient and nice a seller you are thats why i placed an order with you.

i dont think i will have 2 parcels ending up at my place, lets wait for another day, i.e. tuesday to see if it comes. if it does, then the matter is closed and i offer my apologies for being impatient. if it doesnt, please resend another one.

thanks.

she replied me to say that the bag is out of stock, for both the black and the brown.

but i do not have another bag in the same design, its sild (typo: sold) out for both colors, kindly choose another one and topup for reg mail, thank you

Upon seeing that theres no more tote, i replied:

if thats the case, can i have a refund? i looked thru your site and am really not interested in any other designs. and this will prevent another repeat of the lost mail as well, and we can just close the matter.

she replied with this email:

hope u understand this, im already being very nice by offering u another bag, totally foc and all i did was ask u to pay for reg mail, so IT WON'T GO MISSING AGAIN AND I CAN'T BE ACCUSED OF NOT SENDING THE ITEM OUT. AS FOR THE REFUND, I'M SORRY BUT I WON'T BE ABLE TO DO THAT. seek your understanding in this. thank you

she is obviously getting very worked up and is starting to scream at me in CAPS. i must, of course, defend myself.

i am not accusing you of not sending the item out. i was just suggesting that a refund will ensure that none of this will happen again. pls dont caps your emails and tell me off like this. honestly, there is no need for you to be so worked up. i am just asking for a refund to save u the trouble of having to send another bag over and running the risk that there will be any lost mail due to the postal system. besides, i really dont like any other designs on your blog. if i do i really dont mind getting another bag, i am sure you shop for your items and you will only pay for things that you like. how can you force me to accept something that i totally am not interested in??

i appreciate that you are willing to send another bag over, but i really dont fancy your other beautiful designs as they dont suit me, or my style. i am willing to accept a refund of just 30 dollars, for what its worth. i hope u understand my frustrations as well.

she was extremely frustrated. i was prepared to take a loss of 4 dollars, for what its worth, but she was still so adamant. Even if she don't do refunds, the least she could do was to send me another tote since she offered to send another item.

sorry but pls understand e fact that i dun do refunds, the most i can do is send another item, be it a bag or dress or apparel. simple as that.

i replied her, asking for a refund because it doesnt make any sense for me to get something from her that i totally am not interested in.

you are really making things very difficult for me. i know that you dont do refunds, you said it many times. but why cant u make an exception, in view of the special circumstances now? even if u give me a refund, i am not going to go around telling ppl, oh you can ask for a refund if you dont get your things on mygirliedesire blogshop. i cannot be bothered to do such things, and it wont affect you in any case. sending another item will only be wasting your time and my time, and honestly, tell me wad shd i do with something i totally do not like? its not that i am trying to be funny rejecting everything on your blog, but the truth is i really dont seem to like anything else on your blog. if i did, i would already have placed an order with you.

i had a reply:

its either u take it or leave it, i made an offer and u wanted otherwise. then be it. im truly sorry

and another before i had any chance to respond:

in the 1st place, i shldnt be REFUNDING YOU EVEN. HELLO, U OPTED FOR NORMAL MAIL AND NOW THAT UR ITEM WENT MISSING, YOU ASKED ME TO REFUND YOU. WHERE ON EARTH DO YOU GET SUCH DEALS? IM SERIOSULY PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW

and i was really angry over the entire thing. i replied:

in the first place, you DIDNT ask me what kind of post i am opting for. you agreed to waive that postage, and you yourself didnt tell me that the free postage you are giving me is only normal. if i knew i would have topped it up for registered mail. i NEVER use normal post, initially u said 37 mailed, but waived postage later on. 3 dollars to me, is enough for reg post. thats is what i paid to another seller for reg mail of a bag. How would i know that your reg post would cost more than 3 dollars, without you telling me that you charge more than the market price for reg mail?

you might think that i am wasting your time here, but honestly. this is not all about the money. its abt business ethics. you are pushing the blame on me that the item went missing, although you didnt even ask me whether i want to top up for reg mail, when you know better than anyone that 3 dollars is not enough for you to post by reg mail.

and in another email:

anyway, i dont think that i am the one at fault. is there any way to prove that u sent out my item? no. all buyers and sellers online know that the seller's liability ends when the item is posted out. if indeed you had posted out my item on tues, you would have stood your ground and told me that the loss is for me to bear. but i guess you were taken aback by my email saying ive heard of your misdeeds, which is why u were readily offering another bag. im not sure how many times you've done this, and how many ppl you've misled by using this same tactic. but they sure do square with what other blogshop owners are saying about you and your blog. dont think that you will win by raising your voice. i am talking reason here. you are the one who is being unreasonable.

i can forget about the money and take it as a lesson learnt. but let me remind you that this is absolutely poor business ethics. you are rude, dishonest and unhelpful. i wont hesitate to alert the other blogshop owners about what happened so that they can alert their shoppers, and this is indeed what im going to do. i wont embellish the truth, but the truth is, my bag never came, and i will tell the truth. if i feel happy enough, i will go to the police. not that i will be able to get my money back. i know that the money is lost, and i take it as i did some charity work. but i shd do my part as a good citizen to prevent the same thing from happening to others, if i can. you might think that the police cannot do anything to you, but if they want to, trust me, they can.

you think that you are the only one who is pissed off. but i am too. i have been trying to keep calm and be nice, but time and again you think that i owe you something and keep raising your voice at me. sure looks like a guilty conscience kinda behaviour. also, i want you to know that im not stupid. you might have been able to lead me into thinking that i will get my bag, but i wont let you mislead me into thinking that it is my fault that the mail got lost.

if you really think that you are innocent and that i am being unreasonable by demanding a refund, then dont delete the feedback i am going to leave on your blogshop. i am just going to make a truthful feedback about how YOU didnt ask me what kind of postage i want, and how my bag never arrived. i think your shoppers have a right to know. however, if that comment is taken off, then perhaps we all know why.

i wish you success in your business.

I have not heard from her ever since. NOTHING. i didn't really believe the bags were OOS, BOTH colours, so I got a friend Annabelle to help me check if the bags were really OOS.

Annabelle really did chance upon her blog at sgsale, she was the one who directed me to mygirliedesire. She sent her this email on 26 Sep.

Hello!

I chanced upon your selling journal via sgsale! Am interested in getting the "Clutch in White" and "Tote in brown" under the Clearance Sales. May i know how much they are cuz the prices are not stated there, only stated that bags are between $20-$35. =)

Do let me know! thanks!

regards,

annabelle

Mygirliedesire replied:

hi annabelle,

cluch at 24, tote in brown at 34, keen?

Goodness! There is still stock for the brown tote! She told me BOTH colours were OOS! She was obviously not going to send me the tote, that was why she lied about it being OOS. So the offer to pick something else on her blog was also her plan to get me off her back, since i will most probably not be interested in any of her items, and she can pocket my 34 dollars safely. So she asked whether the price included postage, if not how much is it for registered post. and here's her reply:

it will be additional 2.24 for reg.
so total is 24+34+2+2+2.24=$64.24

POSB SAVINGS
0X0-75XXX-3

when can u make payment hunn?

Annabelle replied on 2 Oct:

sorry for the late reply. do you still have the bag/clutch? if you do, I will make payment later tonight.

To which mygirliedesire replied that she still has stock for both items:

yes annabelle, i do.
update me when payment is made
thanks

So, having exposed her lies, I emailed her on 2 Oct, shortly after mygirliedesire replied annabelle:

Hi,

I am sure you remember me, and the bag I paid for which got lost along the way. You offered to send another bag, or rather, ANYTHING else on your blog other than the bag i asked for, cos you said both the brown and the black bags were out of stock. You insisted that I pick other things on your blog, or risk not getting anything else. But, because I refuse to believe that you ran out of stock for my bag (nothing can be THIS conincidental, lady), my friend, Annabelle Lim asked for the brown bag, which according to you, is still in stock. I don't know what explanation you have for this, but it is obvious to me that you wanted me to think that there was no stock for the bag that I wanted so that I will be forced to pick something else on your blogshop. Fortunately for you, I didnt like anything else on your blog, which I believe is according to your plan to cheat my money. I have every single email correspondence between yourself and me, as well as every email between yourself and annabelle.

I have said before that this is not about the money or the bag anymore, but rather your ethics as a seller and businesswoman. maybe you'd like to give some explanation for your actions, or I am going to spread the word about what you did, and how unethical a seller you are.

She replied that annabelle is purchasing ONLY the clutch.

and so i responded by saying:

i dont know whether you have a short memory span or if you think that we are fools. you obviously know that she asked for 2 items, one of which is the brown tote. you even told her to pay 2 dollars PER BAG for postage, and another i cant remember how much EACH for reg mail.

maybe there is no way you can explain yourself because you obviously lied about the availability of the bags so that you wont even have to send me anything at all.

She, knowing that her lies are exposed, pretended that annabelle DID NOT order the brown tote from her, and she DID NOT have the brown tote anymore. She even said that I denied getting another item. I did not. I wanted the brown or black tote, she was the one who denied me the bags and now she is claiming that they are OOS, because Annabelle did not even place such an order with her.

its seriously up to u to believe. i offered another item, but u denied. there's nothing i can do. if ure making things so difficult, might as well get annabelle not to purchase it from me, i dun need customers like both of you, thank you

Well, this is the whole long story. I of course, replied her with a last email:

you dont have to worry about that. annabelle is NOT going to spend her precious money purchasing items from you. she has better uses for them, especially if they are at an extremely high risk of getting lost. and i am going to blog this down to make sure that i commemorate this extremely deceitful shopping experience, and i hope the whole world gets to read it and judge for themselves if im the one being difficult or if i am a victim of your unethical business methods.

for the record, i asked for that tote bag either in brown or black when you offered, and you denied having it. but now annabelle asked, you said you had stock. i really dont know who is making things difficult for who.

but in any case, dont worry. you will definitely not have myself or annabelle as customers ever (again).

Honestly, I am not trying to do anything bad here. It might seem that I am trying to tarnish her reputation as a blogshop owner or whatever, but everything i said here is true. I did not make anything up, I copied and pasted word for word our email exchanges. I did not add anything that was not in our email correspondence. It is up to you to believe whether my experience with mygirliedesire is real or not. There were other bad feedback about this same seller in other blogshops as well.

My money is obviously gone, but I will just take it as a lesson learnt, never to trust such people again. I learnt that sellers who are over-enthusiastic in getting you to purchase from them or to make payments to their accounts should be treated with caution. Honestly, this is Singapore. What are the chances of things getting lost in the mail, especially with someone who has such bad track records, i find it rather unbelievable.

Also, try not to shop at blogshops with no pictures of the owners. If you look at the more famours blogshops with extremely good reputation and customer base, they are all proud owners of their blogshops, ethical and helpful. I am sure you know who I am referring to, to name a few. People who cannot even be seen, should be treated with caution. There has to be a reason why they are hiding behind the internet, remaining anonymous.

I am quite sure I am not the first person to be a victim of mygirliedesire.livejournal.com. Although I know setting up this blog will not get me my money back, I want other online shoppers who may chance upon this to inform their friends not to fall prey, and be extremely careful when making purchases from her. There is no reason why she should be allowed to conduct her business like this. Shops owners in the real world get prosecuted for defrauding customers. Just because she is hiding behind the anonymity of the internet does not mean that she should get her way.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

BEWARE OF MYGIRLIEDESIRE.LIVEJOURNAL.COM!

be careful when you make purchases online

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