Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  01/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business is a prep center for Amazon FBA. They receive products for their clients, inspect, package, label, and ship them into Amazon warehouses. Throughout the year, I used the prep center's services. Numerous items / shipments of mine were shown through carrier tracking as received by the prep center, but the contents were either missing, stolen, etc. For some of those items, the prep center owner offered free prep services for 50% of the loss amount, which we initially accepted. Since that time, more items went missing and we were not comfortable using the prep center's services as we believed that items were being mishandled or potentially taken by employees. We have had items mislabled (incorrect sizing), which has caused numerous returns amounting in a loss in shipping fees to and from amazon and of some of the items as well due to them no longer being in new condition. We have had a multipack item mispacked as a much larger multipack causing a separate loss. We ended our relationship with the prep center and are still receiving returns of mislabeld (due to incorrect label by size) shoes creating more losses. The SKUs were traced back to the prep center and the owner was notified twice by e-mail. The owner has not offered any other resolution and has stopped responding to e-mail communications. There is no phone number listed for the prep center. We are looking for a fair resolutions to the situation so that we do not end up paying the entire cost of the carelessness of this business.

  Business response

  01/08/2024

  We had ****** as a client for almost a year. He did not have any complaints with our service until October. He then reached out to ask what happened to a few items that we had not received. Our policy which is communicated to clients is that we will take care of problem items so long as we are notified within 30 days of the issue. We were not notified within 30 days communicated this to him and still then we offered to give him a credit for 1/2 the purchase price of his missing items. We charge singular dollars per unit so to refund a client over $100 is a lot considering we had not received any prior notice that there were problems. We do not have access to customer email accounts so we have no way to know if the company simply cancelled the order for the client and we rely on them to accurately fill in their sheet or notify us if something is missing and we look into it. ****** agreed to the refund in the form of credit then almost a month later (now 2 months after the items were missing) decided to change his mind. Our accounting software only allows us to issue refunds directly to cards if there is an invoice within the last 30 days. After 30 days we have no way to directly send them money. Paying $20 fees for a $114 wire on items that we didn't receive and were only refunding simply to offer as a good faith gesture to a long time client is just something that our small business cannot do. ****** even stated that he did not wish to leave a negative review then now is doing this.

  Customer response

  01/08/2024

   
  Complaint: 21030647
  
  I am rejecting this response because it does not tell the entire story. I initially agreed to half of the value of the lost/missing/misapproriated items to be reimbursed in prep services, but e-mailed the Oregon Prep Center [***] back to let them know of additional problems with the lack of prep and/or incorrect prep of additional items which were now causing returns and additional losses to my business. It is not an acceptable resolution to use a business that is creating losses for my business in an attempt to recoup losses that are most fairly attributable to that business in the first place. 

  In terms of proof of delivery, see the attached e-mails explaining that all these items were double checked and confirmed as delivered. I can offer all proof of delivery to the prep center. Unsurprisingly, I am having all of my orders delivered to my home and not experiencing the same lost and/or missing shipments as the prep center was. When proof of delivery of a shipment exists for multiple shipments and/or items, it is hard to blame different retailers as the ones who are at fault for the losses. 

  Additional emails are attached showing further losses and concerns due to incorrect prep (misbundling) and missed prep (failing to remove price tags showing much lower prices on shoes). This is not acceptable for a businesses that exists to prepare items. 

  In terms of reimbursement for any items (again we can offer proof of delivery for the missing shipments so the good faith argument is simply a distraction) we can certainly accept a check, an electronic form of payment, or split any kind of payment fee. Utilzing the explanation that the *** is a small business and cannot afford a wire fee is both misleading (different forms of payment available) and also hits at the entire point here. We are an even smaller business that is being told to shoulder the entire loss for something that we had no way to affect and were in no position to remedy. 

  We have not shared negative feedback as stated in my email. We reached out to the BBB for help in mediation because the owner stopped responding to e-mails. Again, see attached e-mails. If the *** believes that an even smaller business should be treated this way for issues that occurred there, we will certainly share the experience with their business in each group we belong to. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  01/19/2024

  Most of the items that were not delivered here we were not informed there was a problem with them for months. If it was too late to request a refund from a retailer that is difficult for us to refund them for. If we have not received an item and our fee is under $2 per unit how would it make sense for us to refund you for items that cost tens to hundreds that we weren't notified about a problem with for months. Since we do not have access to the customers retailer accounts we do not know if an item has not been delivered, if it has been cancelled, or if we need to look on cameras for these items to see what happened to them. He was a customer for closing on a year with no reported errors then out of nowhere started reporting errors months after they happened and closed their account with us. We prepped **** units for the client while they were with us and they are complaining about a fractional % both by dollar and by volume. 

   

  For the items that were prepped incorrectly our policy has always been to refund for the prep fee on these items and reprep them for free. But the client no longer wants to work with us so we have no way of fixing this problem. 

  Customer response

  01/23/2024

   
  Complaint: 21030647
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Oregon Prep Center continues to skirt responsibilities for losses that occurred while items were in their custody. Upon checking my inventory tracking sheet (their ****** Sheet), it shows the updates I made with tracking information for the lost, misplaced, or stolen items. This situation has nothing to do with being late to request a refund from retailers. The retailers reimbursed me for any items that were not shipped by them as shown in the inventory tracking sheet. The retailers were very *********************************. There were no issues with time to notify a retailer. 

  Oregon Prep Center is resting its argument on the time it takes a client to notify them of missing inventory instead of looking at its internal processes to determine why these losses are occuring. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, that our inventory would be found in their warehouse because they attributed other client's inventory to my inventory on more than one occassion, which I had to help them sort out. Oregon Prep Center makes claims they are a small business that cannot afford to reimburse a client or pay a fee to make an electronic payment and then turns around and makes a statement that the losses to their clients business are fractional by % and dollar amount as if the dollar amount does not matter to the other small business. 

  It is comical that a prep center's remedy for mis-prepped items is a refund for the prep fees, when the mis-prepping costs their clients shipping fees inbound and outbound, return fees from the marketplace, and losses due to items and boxes damaged during the return. It appears that Oregon Prep Center is concerned about how to protect their profits and not about their client's business or the losses to the client's business. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩