Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/06/2023

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I placed an order for inserts back on 9/15 and was supposed to have received the inserts by now. We're 6 days past the deadline. Indow has not delivered the order and provided me a tracking link that does not work. When I reached out to get an update on the order status, I was told that I had to contact their supplier who was having some sort of issue with their IT system. I again asked Indow to provide an update on where my order was and when I could expect it to arrive. I also asked about how long a replacement order would take since it was looking pretty clear that neither Indow nor its supplier had any clue where my order was. Indow refused to provide this information and told me to be patient. Indow seems to think they are running a charity, not a business.Update: They are now refusing to provide me a refund, despite their rep saying yes when I asked about a refund yesterday. This company seems to be a complete scam. I am out $2,400+ and have received no window inserts.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/09/2023

  The customer's order was paid and finalized on 9/18. We have communicated 3-5 week lead times for production and 1-2 weeks for freight delivery. The order was completed early and shipped on 9/29. *****, our shipper, fell victim to a cyber-attack, rendering their tracking portal and the majority of their electronic communications inoperable. This prevented the customer or us from acquiring status of the shipment. We communicated this to the customer and worked with them to help understand the situation and to move forward with the required patience. This morning (10/9) , we were alerted that certain systems from ***** had returned to operation. We reached out to the destination service hub and was able to get a status update. The shipment is now scheduled to arrive at the hub today. From there, an ***** representative will call the customer to schedule the last leg of the delivery. This morning, we sent an email to the customer with this update and provided the customer with the hub phone number in case she wanted to verify the status. 

  We feel we have done everything in our power to assist the customer in understanding the situation and communicating the available information regarding their shipment. In addition, despite what the customer reported, we have exceeded the lead production times, going from paid order to production in 11 days. The current days from shipment until today is 10 calendar / 6  business days. While this is approaching the longer of our shipping estimate, the shipping duration is certainly reasonable considering the affects of the cyber attack on ***** systems and associated processes. 

  We have continued to provide information regarding the order, including information regarding timelines for replacement, should the order be lost or damaged. We have communicated via the terms of sale that these custom made products do not allow for refunds. However, we have repeatedly assured the customer and kept them abreast of the our commitment to support, should she have issues once the order is delivered. In addition to submission of this BBB claim, this customer has published a negative review of our business that has included the misinformation regarding the situation and our response. The customer has also threated to challenge the payment. All of these actions are the result of basic misunderstandings by the customer regarding lead times, shipping realities, and terms regarding the purchase. Despite this, we remain open to further assistance to the customer and will continue to monitor the shipment until it is successfully scheduled and delivered. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/09/2023

  As of 10/9, I have not received my order and I have not received any communication from Indows shipping supplier. 
  

  Contrary to Indows response, my order was *paid for and placed* on 9/15. I am enclosing a copy of the relevant transactions from my CC company as proof. 

  Given that Indow refused to provide any information to me about the timeline for a replacement order last week after I had inquired multiple times (see email correspondence attached of the many times I tried to get an actual update on where my order was and what the timeframe for a replacement would be) and given that Indow by Indows own admission they no idea of the status or location of my order, I exercised my rights as a consumer and left an accurate review as to my poor experience with Indow.
  

  Again it is 10/9 and I have not received my order or any timeframe for an actual delivery. 

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/09/2023

   
  Complaint: 20705953
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 10/20/2023

  First, the payment was indeed made by the customer on 9/15. However, this was a Friday and due to time zone difference, the order did not get placed into the queue until Monday 9/18. This had no impact on our ability to meet the lead times shared with the customer at the point of order of 3-5 weeks. We, in fact beat the three week lead time by 11 days and shipped the order on 9/29.

  We have continued to work with the customer to clear up confusion caused by the systems outage at *****. Once their systems were reinstated, we have provided updates and assistance to assist with the delivery. The shipping arrangement agreed to was a curbside delivery. We were informed that a scheduled delivery appointment was missed by *****. We offered to work with the customer to determine a concession for the impact of the missed delivery, once the delivery  was competed.  

  The customer then informed us that here expectation was that it would be delivered to her 2nd floor apartment. As this was not part of the initial shipping arrangement, we stated we needed inquire about the availability of our carrier to provide such service. Among our offers of concession was an offer to pay the bill for the white glove service necessary to have the order delivered to her second floor apartment (Note: This would normally be at customer cost.)

  We were then informed that the customer had challenged her payment. We have reached out multiple times to continue the scheduling and to finalize final delivery, but we have received no reply. Until the payment dispute is cleared up, we are reluctant to continue pursuing further communication. We are also reluctant, as there has been a great deal of misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and damaging/misleading public reviews submitted by the customer since this issue began. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/30/2023

   
  Complaint: 20705953
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  (1) In its response, Indows representative has lied about the terms of the original invoice/delivery. Indow stated that I agreed to ``curbside delivery and that delivery to the 2nd floor was not part of the initial agreement. However, as detailed below and supported by the written documentation, both of these claims are entirely false. 
  
  I have attached to my response a copy of the invoice, which I fully paid on 9/15 and which specifies the shipping/delivery address provided for this order. It should be carefully noted that the Ship To address on the invoice provided by Indow specifically includes Unit F, which is located on the second floor of the building. Furthermore, nowhere on the invoice does it specify that the order will be delivered to a different address, or that delivery does not include delivery to units located on floors above the ground floor. As per the terms of the original invoice, my order should have been  delivered to Ship To address indicated on the invoice, which included **************** to a different address on the ground floor, or curbside, or any other location does not satisfy the terms of the original invoice.
  
  Contrary to what was represented by Indows employee ************************* in the attached email dated Oct 18, 2023 at 9:06AM, ``curbside delivery was not included as part of the terms of the original invoice and was in fact only first mentioned by Indow ~2 weeks after I placed and fully paid for my order, in a tracking email they sent on 9/29. I never agreed to any such curbside delivery terms for my order when I placed and paid for my order on 9/15 and I never accepted any additional terms. Additionally, Indows attempts to unilaterally modify the original terms of the invoice and unilaterally impose additional terms are illegal and wholly unenforceable. 
  
  In short, Indows claims that The shipping arrangement agreed to was a curbside delivery and delivered to her 2nd floor apartmentwas not part of the initial shipping arrangement are completely false as evidenced by the attached invoice. 

  (2) Indows claim that they received no reply from me when reaching out multiple times to continue scheduling is also false. 
  
  In the attached email from Indow dated Oct 18, 2023 at 9:06?AM, Indows employee ************************* illegally imposes additional conditions on delivery for my order and illegally restricts my ability to review Indow online. My response email rejecting their illegal attempts was promptly sent to Indow on Oct 23, 2023 at 12:52?PM before they posted their last response on BBB, which once again shows misrepresentation of the facts on Indows part. 
  
  In summary: (1) Indow has repeatedly failed to deliver my order; (2) Indow subjected my order to multiple delivery delays without my consent in violation of applicable laws and regulations; (3) Indows delivery carrier scheduled two different delivery appointments with me and Indow has failed to ensure delivery of the order during each of these scheduled delivery appointments (each time at great expense and inconvenience to me); (4) when delivery was repeatedly delayed, Indow denied my request for a refund (despite the fact that I never agreed to any such delivery delays); (5) Indow illegally imposed additional costs and conditions, which as shown by the original invoice were not disclosed to me at the time of purchase and in fact, only disclosed to me several weeks after I placed and fully paid for my order (and I never accepted any such additional terms or costs at any point in time); (6) Indow illegally attempted to restricted my ability to review Indow online by stating that Indow could deliver the items to the delivery address as originally promised, but only if I removed the negative 1 star review I had posted and if I accepted their additional settlement agreement; and (7) as the attached documents show, Indow continues engaging in deceptive practices, including lying in their responses throughout this BBB complaint process about the facts of the agreements and interactions with me.
  
  Per the instructions of my credit card company, I have ceased all direct communication with Indow. The only acceptable resolution is a full and immediate refund.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 11/02/2023

  We feel the best response and rebuttal would be to use a timeline, clarifying things along the way: 
  7/11: first contact with customer regarding potential order
  7/11 thru 9/18:  Sales calls, measurement support up until final invoicing and payment. 3-5 week lead time discussed. The sales calls include a discussion of curbside freight shipping.
  9/13:  Invoice provided. Invoice has links to terms of sale for review. The terms of sale includes a link to a receiving guide, which specifies what to expect for delivery. Here is that link: **************************************************************************************************** (ATTACHED)
  9/18:  Payment processed. Our records show that two payments on two credit cards were processed on 9/18. Those were for $1043.69 and $1218.69 which is equal to the amount due shown on the invoice she provided. Order added to queue (7:08am). 3-5 week production lead time reiterated to customers via email.
  9/28:  Order complete, moved into packaging. Email sent. Receiving guide links / delivery info included in email. (ATTACHED) This completion date represents 11 days in advance of the 3- week production lead time and 25 days in advance of the 5-day production lead time. 
  9/29: Tracking email sent. (ATTACHED)
  10/5: Customer contacted us via email and phone about tracking links being inactive. We informed her of the reported cyber-attack affecting tracking and other systems of our shipping partner. We, and all other customers of ***** could not provide status updates on orders. We provided the information we had received from ***** regarding this cyber attack.
  10/6: Customer posted ****** review, containing multiple factual inaccuracies regarding, among other things, shipping timelines communicated & refunds promised. In this review, she implied that our business was a scam and that others should beware.
  10/6: BBB complaint filed by customer.
  10/9: ***** system regained semi-complete functionality. We emailed the customer with a status update, stating her shipment was to arrive at the San **** hub that afternoon. We also provided the contact number to the ***** hub and confirmed that the customer would be called to schedule the delivery.
  10/14: Paypal dispute filed by customer. We were not notified of this until 10/19.
  10/16: Customer reported that ***** had missed a scheduled appointment on Saturday 10/14. We followed up with ***** about this and told the customer that once we got the shipment delivered, we could discuss any further concession for the missed appointment.
  10/17: We were informed that the unit was on the second floor when *****, our shipping partner, stated that the customer had said they needed it delivered to the second floor and could not accept curbside.
  10/17: We reached out to the customer, explaining that second floor delivery was outside the curbside agreement. We also presented the option of arranging white glove delivery as well as providing the receiving instructions/guide again regarding curbside delivery. White glove delivery lies outside the curbside delivery agreement and requires a quote and additional payment.
  10/17: Customer called to state that she did not necessarily need second floor or Saturday  delivery and just wanted us to reach out and work as a liaison with ***** on possible delivery dates. She mentioned for weekday deliveries, she would need to arrange for her boyfriend to be there to sign and accept, so there would have to be flexibility of delivery times to allow her to schedule. In later emails, she stated that she did need second floor delivery after all.
  10/18: We reached out via email with three choices: 1. Schedule delivery curbside (as per agreement) and have the customer follow receiving guidelines to get them up to her unit. 2. Schedule white glove delivery. We offered to cover the cost of this service as a way to make up for the missed appointment. We also mentioned that this concession would be dependent on removal of the 1-star review and would involve signing a standard settlement agreement. 3. Customer could arrange pickup at the San **** facility. We offered a concession to offset any pickup expenses for this pickup. This concession also had the same dependencies.
  10/19: We received notice of the payment dispute on the order. We reached out to the customer acknowledging that we had received notice of the dispute. We asked again for some site specifics in order to secure the white glove delivery, which we assumed was the best option for her.
  10/23: The customer sent the email she provided to ******************** entitled (Last reply to Business). In this, the customer reported a second missed delivery appointment on 10/19. They also said that they had filed  complaints to the ************************* ********** ************************* and the ********** ********** of ******** Affairs.
  10/24: We reached out about the second missed delivery appointment, stating that once we got it delivered we could discuss further concessions for the missed deliveries. We also stated that we had secured white glove delivery at no expense to her, despite it being outside the curbside agreement. We informed the customer that she would be contacted by the white glove delivery service and confirmed the customer's contact information with *****. We also included some rebuttal to some of the inaccuracies in her 10/23 email, mostly clarifications about claims of deceptive business practices, concessions, and settlement agreement usage.
  10/27: We reached out to the customer via email, as we had been told that multiple attempts had been made via call, text and email to contact the customer to schedule delivery. We relayed that the white glove supplier said that the customer's voicemail was full. We suggested she check her email, call, and text records. We suggested that perhaps they had been missed or had been blocked for some reason. The customer did not respond.
  10/31: We reached out to the customer again, stating that because the white glove service had been unable to contact the customer to schedule delivery due to the customer being unresponsive, we were shipping the order back to our warehouse. It is expected back shortly. It will remain in our warehouse to await redelivery to the customer.
  11/2: We received notification of her updated BBB response and have responded today. 
  We have attached some pertinent documentation, but are willing to provide any further information or documentation necessary. We may feel discouraged as we navigate this process, but feel we have done our best throughout to provide the necessary information and follow up to get this issue clarified and the order delivered to the customer. The large majority of the issues brought up by the customer stem from misunderstandings and misinterpretations about the terms of sale, timelines, and delivery arrangements included.  We have done our best to clarify things and offer assistance along the way. Once the order is returned to us and inspected, we will stand ready to redeliver it. We will need to wait until the payment dispute is settled and a complete understanding by the customer is confirmed about any such delivery. 
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/14/2023

   
  Complaint: 20705953
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  In their response, Indow continues to lie that I agreed to ``curbside delivery and that  delivery to my address on the 2nd floor was not part of the initial agreement. In the response, Indow attempts to obfuscate by attaching numerous documents that do NOT support their position. Furthermore, their claims about ``curbside delivery contradict the documentation I provided both here and in my previous response. 

  NOWHERE in the order form/invoice, the Terms of Sale, or the Receiving & Handling Guide is there any statement to support Indows position that delivery was limited to curbside or  that the order would not be delivered to the shipping address I provided or that deliveries to floors located above the ground floor would be subject to additional fees/charges. 

  I had previously attached to my response a copy of the invoice, which I fully paid on 9/15 and which clearly specifies the shipping/delivery address provided for this order. It should be carefully noted that the Ship To address on the invoice provided by Indow specifically includes Unit F, which is located on the second floor of the building. Furthermore, nowhere on the invoice does it specify that the order will be delivered to a different address, or that delivery does not include delivery to units located on floors above the ground floor. As per the terms of the original invoice/order form, my order should have been  delivered to Ship To address indicated on the invoice, which included **************** to a different address on the ground floor, or curbside, or any other location does not satisfy the terms of the original invoice.

  Additionally the attached email dated Oct 18, 2023 at 9:06AM from Indow representative ************************* shows that the limitation of ``curbside delivery was not included as part of the original terms of the invoice/order form and the first mentioned of this curbside delivery by Indow came in a tracking email Indow sent on 9/29 weeks after I placed and fully paid for my order. I never agreed to any such curbside delivery terms for my order when I placed and paid for my order on 9/15 and I never accepted any additional terms at any point thereafter. Indows attempts to unilaterally modify the original terms of the order and unilaterally impose additional terms via a tracking email that was sent after the order had been fully paid for are illegal and unenforceable. Indows claims that The shipping arrangement agreed to was a curbside delivery and delivered to her 2nd floor apartmentwas not part of the initial shipping arrangement are false as evidenced by the invoice provided by Indow on 9/15.

  Indows reply contains multiple other factual inaccuracies, including but not limited to: (i) Indows false claims that they had a discussion with me regarding curbside freight shipping on 7/11 on a call; (ii) Indows false claim that they were not notified about the payment dispute until 10/19, however as shown by my attached email dated 10/6, I notified Indow of this via email on 10/6, (iii) Indows false claim that Customer stated that she did not need second floor or Saturday delivery and just wanted us to reach out and work as a liaison with ***** on possible delivery dates, however, I never said this. I repeatedly stated that I wasnt expecting anything beyond what was included in my invoice/order: i.e, shipment would be to the delivery address provided on the Indow invoice/order form, which included the Unit #. In an email response shortly after this call, the Indow representative once again tried to lie and say that I had told him on the phone that the package did not need to be delivered to the second floor, which to be clear, I never said. I immediately corrected the Indow representative in my email reply and once again restated my expectation (shipment would be to the delivery address provided on the Indow invoice/order form, which included the Unit #). See attached emails dated 10/17 correcting Indows false statements.

  In summary: (1) Indow has repeatedly failed to deliver my order; (2) Indow subjected my order to multiple delivery delays without my consent in violation of applicable laws and regulations; (3) Indows delivery carrier scheduled two different delivery appointments with me and Indow failed to ensure delivery of the order during each of these scheduled delivery appointments (each time at great expense and inconvenience to me); (4) when delivery was repeatedly delayed, Indow denied my request for a refund (despite the fact that I never agreed to any such delivery delays); (5) several weeks after I placed and paid for the order, Indow illegally imposed additional costs and conditions, which I never accepted (6) Indows attempts to unilaterally modify the original terms of the order and unilaterally impose additional terms are illegal and entirely unenforceable; (7) Indow illegally restricted my ability to review Indow online by making delivery to the address specified on the invoice contingent on me removing the 1 star review I had posted and entering into an additional settlement agreement with them; and (8) Indow continues engaging in deceptive practices, including lying in their responses throughout this BBB complaint process about the facts of the agreements and interactions with me. All of these points are shown by the attached documentation.

  As previously stated, the only acceptable resolution is a full and immediate refund.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************