ComplaintsforThe Bus Depot

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I ordered parts from the bus depot and they drop shipped half my order, which was not noted in the product listing. The half that was drop shipped arrived in 1 week without any notice of the order being in two shipments. I called the company to assure that my order was fully processed. They informed me of half being drop shipped and said the other half was on the way and gave me the tracking. Tracking showed the package being delayed with no tracking updates. After waiting another week for the other parts with no tracking updates I called the company and asked if I could return them when/if they did arrive as I was going to order elsewhere. They said I would pay $10 re-stock fee. I asked if they parts didn't show up for over a month if they would still charge this and the answer was "yes". I ended up ordering the parts else where and they arrived from that company in 2 days. Finally 3 weeks after ordering a package arrived from the bus depot, the box was in a USPS bag and with a lost item note, the box was smashed flat and contained nothing. I emailed photos of the box and the USPS letter instructing the sender to inquire with USPS for reimbursement. In the email I asked bus depot to please just refund my cost of the parts that were missing and the associated shipping costs. Bus depot responded that they would be unable to refund any shipping charges and that I would have to wait to see if USPS refunded them first before I saw any refund. I don't see how I am responsible for these shipping costs as I never received anything, in addition, this issue is now between the bus depot and USPS. I don't feel like I should have any involvement from this point on. I would like for them to refund my shipping charges and price of parts not received. Bus depot has another address: ** * *** **, East Greenville, PA *****

  Business response

  03/03/2022

  We just received the above noted complaint by *********************.  The issue was already resolved in the manner that ****************** requested on February 7,
  long before we received your correspondence. Please see the attached proof of refund.
  
  ****************** placed an order at the close of business on Thursday, January 13, and chose Economy Shipping, our slowest option, which estimates delivery
  in 3-10 business days. His order shipped in two packages. The first was delivered and received in two business days (****** tracking number
  ************). The second package shipped on the second business day by Priority Mail and should have arrived a couple of days after that (still on
  the short side of the ETA range), but the post office lost it. On Sunday night the 30th ****************** emailed saying he wanted to cancel the items in
  the missing package. That Friday had been the 10th working day, so it had just reached the far end of our delivery estimate. Our employee *******
  replied by email within one business day and said that according to the tracking number (**********************) the package was actually on the
  mail truck out for delivery that day. She provided a link to track the package, and offered to refund the purchase price if he refused it, with no
  mention of a restock fee. (See attached.) 
  
  Unfortunately, what the post office delivered that day was a mutilated empty box, inside a plastic bag, with a form letter stating that the contents had
  been lost in transit. (See picture.) ****************** informed us of this by email on the 2nd. That evening ******* replied, offering to refund for the
  product but not part of the shipping charge. This was poor customer service, as it was perfectly reasonable for ****************** to expect a refund for the
  portion of the shipping cost related to items the post office had lost. **. ******* pushed back (understandably) and on the 4th ******* replied to **.
  ******* that she had checked with Management (myself) and that we would refund that portion of the shipping charge as well. I gather that in the
  meantime he filed this complaint, unbeknownst to us. By the time you addressed his complaint, the refund was already in process.
  
  As a side note regarding the order shipping in more than one box, as I'm sure you're aware that is commonplace these days. Most online retailers
  split-ship orders, from small ones like us all the way up to ******* and ******. This is done is to improve delivery speed by shipping items from a
  warehouse closest to the customer if possible. And in fact, it worked. The dropshipped items were the ones that got there in two business days (ahead
  of schedule) - it was the ones shipped from our warehouse that the post office unfortunately lost. ****************** states that he was unaware that the
  order might ship in more than one box, but clearly he overlooked it as we do note it repeatedly. Both our web checkout page and the order confirmation
  email sent immediately upon checkout state that orders may arrive in more than one package. Printouts of both are attached. (See the pop up box on the
  checkout page, and the top of the order confirmation email.)  It is also on our customer service page at https://www.busdepot.com/delivery-times.
  
  To summarize, this was largely an issue of a lost/damaged package, something completely out of our control. ******* was wrong in saying that part of the
  shipping cost would not be refunded, and we owe ****************** a sincere apology for that error, but it had already been corrected (and the refund
  issued) long before this complaint even reached us. After receiving this complaint we attempted four times to reach ****************** to confirm that
  everything was resolved to his satisfaction (this Monday at 3:43 pm, and 6:37 pm, Tuesday at 5:15, and Wednesday at 2:39) and left two voicemails,
  but so far he has not returned our calls. Since we already refunded him weeks ago, I would assume that his failure to call back falls into the "no
  news is good news" category.  However if he does have any other concerns related to this order (or any future Bus Depot order), I would encourage him
  to either call and ask for a manager, or send an email to my attention. 
  
  Please let me know if there is any more information I can provide about this issue.
  

*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. ↩