The English Shaving Co-Cust. Serv. Non-existent

[ShavenMaven]

Having bought two items from The English Shaving Company (a razor and a traveling shave brush) in October, I thought that I'd give The English Shaving Company some additional business. I wanted to buy a replacement for my shedding AOS shave brush and a replacement razor head (in case I accidentally damaged my existing one).

My new purchase started out with a product inquiry regarding the Edwin Jagger shave brush in early December. They never responded. I should have stopped right then and there.

But, my AOS brush kept shedding at the rate of about one badger hair a day. It was becoming very frustrating. I would have gone for the B&B brush, but it would have been months away from being delivered to me.

Against my better judgment, I went ahead and placed an online order for an Edwin Jagger shave brush and an Edwin Jagger razor head on December 14th. The full payment was taken immediately by RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). The English Shaving Company acknowledged the order and the full payment. But, they never sent me any shipping advice. Despite my repeated efforts by email to ascertain the shipping date of my order, The English Shaving Company has failed to respond. Now I see that they are closed until January 4th. I even tried phoning them and got a recorded message.

Today, The English Shaving Company received an order cancellation message from me and I've filed a dispute with my credit card company. It will be a cold day in Hades before I attempt to deal with The English Shaving Company ever again!

 

[mmack66]

That is unfortunate. I can't recall reading any negative posts about them. Hope everything works out.

 

[biomesh]

From this link:

http://www.theenglishshavingcompany.com/delivery/christmas/

It looks like orders would have to be submitted before Dec 12 to be received by Christmas. The rest of the shipping information in regards to international shipping is a bit confusing.

Contacting the vendor on Christmas Eve is probably not the best course of action since many people take off for the holidays.

I have dealt with the english shaving company a few times and have received great service. It seems unfortunate that your experience was not the same.

 

[faster_than_u]

Wow! That is messed up. Sorry to hear about your bad luck but I hope it all gets worked out.

 

[lsbrodsky]

I have never tried to contact them with questions or changes, but my orders have always been delivered promptly and accurately.
Larry

 

[Bulldawg]

Having bought two items from The English Shaving Company (a razor and a traveling shave brush) in October, I thought that I'd give The English Shaving Company some additional business. I wanted to buy a replacement for my shedding AOS shave brush and a replacement razor head (in case I accidentally damaged my existing one).

My new purchase started out with a product inquiry regarding the Edwin Jagger shave brush in early December. They never responded. I should have stopped right then and there.

But, my AOS brush kept shedding at the rate of about one badger hair a day. It was becoming very frustrating. I would have gone for the B&B brush, but it would have been months away from being delivered to me.

Against my better judgment, I went ahead and placed an online order for an Edwin Jagger shave brush and an Edwin Jagger razor head on December 14th. The full payment was taken immediately by RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). The English Shaving Company acknowledged the order and the full payment. But, they never sent me any shipping advice. Despite my repeated efforts by email to ascertain the shipping date of my order, The English Shaving Company has failed to respond. Now I see that they are closed until January 4th. I even tried phoning them and got a recorded message.

Today, The English Shaving Company received an order cancellation message from me and I've filed a dispute with my credit card company. It will be a cold day in Hades before I attempt to deal with The English Shaving Company ever again!

I'd be a little frustrated too. Although you've already cancelled your order, my suggestion would be to give them a call once they reopen and explain to someone what happened to make sure you have the whole story from their perspective before you make a decision to write them off. I've dealt with them at least a dozen times and each transaction has been top notch...so based on my dealings I think they are a pretty good company. There are a few posts here, here, and here that also describe positive experiences with TESC. I don't intend to discount your situation just suggesting that you speak to someone at TESC first to make sure you have their side of the story. Sorry your transaction didn't go well though. Just my $.02

 

[ShavenMaven]

I've fired off my B&B posting to both Edwin Jagger and The English Shaving Company. I can understand how a manufacturer might close down for the holidays. But, I'm surprised that The English Shaving Company, an online retailer, has closed down completely until January 4th.

I am supposed to be returning my AOS shave brush to AOS for a refund. They were very nice about it and agreed to allow me a two week grace period for the return authorization.

Hopefully, someone at Edwin Jagger will pick up email messages and help to resolve this mess during the next few days. Maybe I should have gone for the B&B brush and simply held on to the AOS brush. I guess it's too late now. Plus, I still don't know the delivery status of The English Shaving Company order. If I knew for certain that it has not shipped, I'm sure that someone at B&B would be helpful in allowing me to join the B&B shave brush 2009 buy-in.

What is most frustrating is that The English Shaving Company has not responded to any of my email messages during this past month. I'm sure that they were received. My questions were not onerous. Any reputable retailer should be sending a shipping notice to its buyer without having to be asked.

 

[ShavenMaven]

I have finally received a communication from The English Shaving Company, which follows. Before placing my order for an Edwin Jagger shaving brush (on December 14th), I had sent TESC an email message in which I asked some questions regarding the Edwin Jagger brush versus the B&B 2009 brush versus the AOS brush that was shedding. That message was sent to TESC by me in early December. They never responded. So, with that background knowledge, here's the message which I just received from TESC:

"Thank you for your email. So sorry you didn't get a response to your
email about the Art of Shaving Brush etc. We couldn't compare the
brushes as we couldn't gain access to Badger and Blade.
Your parcel was sent from Sheffield on December 16th so it should arrive
any day. The order was after the last recommended day for Christmas
delivery but I guess it was for yourself anyway? Please accept our
apologies for the lack of response. We have been so very busy with
Christmas orders and your reply email was dropped into a draught file by
my colleague as she wanted to discuss it with me and then it was
overlooked. Human error. Sorry about that; We do not make a habit of
ignoring customers and have lots of very loyal happy customers to prove
that.

Hope you will enjoy Christmas with your family.

Kind Regards

Tania Fulton
The English Shaving Company"

I'm surprised that TESC does not have anyone on their staff who monitors the goings-on at B&B. As we all know, it costs nothing to be a member. Ms. Fulton claims in her email message to me that "we couldn't gain access to Badger and Blade". Perhaps someone at B&B would care to send Tania Fulton at TESC a message as to how she can become a B&B member. (I'm sending a copy of this B&B posting to Tania Fulton.)

 

[Tha Baron]

I am pretty sure TESC uses Royal Mail, which isn't necessarily trackable. It's unfortunate they couldn't notify you about when it may have shipped, but all of my previous orders (4 or 5) all arrived 7-10 business days from when I paid.

You should realize that the B&B may be central in helping you make purchasing decisions, but you shouldn't always expect that these companies scour these boards for their own benefit. I'm sure they wouldn'y know where to start in comparing a brush they have never seen (i.e. BB LE09) and a retailer they may have limited exposure to (i.e. AoS). Keep in mind that most of these companies/manufacturers have existed long before the B&B.

Sounds like you should receive your package shortly and maybe your opinion of them will change...

Happy Holidays!

 

[ShavenMaven]

Any reputable online retailer should have an automatic protocol which notifies the buyer when the order has been shipped. TESC doesn't do that. This experience could have a positive outcome for them if they're thinking proactively.

 

[DSB]

I'm sorry, but I don't see how the English Shaving Company has done anything wrong, here. It's pretty clear to me that while they suggest placing orders before Dec. 15th, they only state those items should arrive before Christmas. They do not control the mail, and this time of year, packages move much more slowly than usual. I'm sorry you are disappointed that you did not receive a timely email or your package, but I am personally satisfied with the response they sent you. It happens.


From the English Company's Website, posted on their front page, in red and bold:

Christmas Delivery Information!

Delivery to UK

Orders placed up to and including Tuesday December 15th should arrive before Christmas, thereafter you may decide to choose "Special Delivery" to avoid disappointment.
From December 18th and until December 21st, providing the selected items are in stock, orders can only be guaranteed if you select the "Special Delivery" option.

 

[ShavenMaven]

I wasn't necessarily expecting to receive my order by Christmas. The source of my dispute with TESC was the fact that they failed to respond to my product inquiry of early December (see their apology to me, which I posted in this thread). Then, the issue was compounded by TESC's failure to respond to my repeated requests for the shipping date of my order. Was asking for the shipping date of my order expecting too much?

 

[ShavenMaven]

Fortunately, someone at TESC responded to my latest email message in which I canceled my order. Otherwise, I might have been waiting for them to respond until January 4th or later. I learned only this morning that they closed their retail operations at noon on December 23rd with a planned resumption of operations on January 4th. How many retailers (online or otherwise) do you know of that close their operations for almost two weeks? Closing a manufacturing operation for two weeks is one thing. But, closing a retail operation for almost two weeks at this time of year does not make a whole lot of sense to me. I think that TESC's non-responses to my product information request of early December together with their non-responses to my requests for the order shipping date gives me some reason to be frustrated and dissatisfied with the quality of their customer service. Frankly, I prefer the Amazon approach. Amazon charges the credit card when the merchandise has shipped and not before.

 

[DSB]

I prefer the Amazon approach. Amazon charges the credit card when the merchandise has shipped and not before.

I agree with you that a credit card should not be charge until an item ships. I wish all online retailers did this.

 

[thunderball]

Sounds like they've at least apologized and admitted their error. That's more than you get from a lot of companies these days.

 

[ShavenMaven]

With almost 22,000 members, B&B is a wet-shaving forum worth reckoning with. Anyone in the men's grooming (wet shaving area) should always be fully up to speed on what's happening here. To not do so would be akin to shunning free market research (or driving at 70MPH with eyes closed).

You should realize that the B&B may be central in helping you make purchasing decisions, but you shouldn't always expect that these companies scour these boards for their own benefit.

 

[Tha Baron]

I prefer the Amazon approach. Amazon charges the credit card when the merchandise has shipped and not before.

I am a huge fan of Amazon.com myself... just beware their 24/7 customer service is offshored to India and it takes several 'elevated' calls before you are routed to a US-based representative. You'll be sure to get all the email confirmations you could ever care for... What else can you expect from the world's largest online retailer?

Unfortunately, the smaller one-man shops we deal with aren't as formalized... but that's the nature of the business and perhaps for the BETTER? I'm sure they would take your return no questions asked... but I am thinking that your real gripe is the uncertainty surrounding your shedding AoS brush and needing a replacement.

 

[ShavenMaven]

I agree. Acknowledging the oversight and apologizing for it is certainly a step in the right direction. Having owned and operated my own business for many years, I had one over-riding business philosophy, "the customer is always right, right or wrong". Any other attitude is totally counter-productive.

Sounds like they've at least apologized and admitted their error. That's more than you get from a lot of companies these days.

 

[ShavenMaven]

You're absolutely right. Every time my AOS brush loses a hair, I remind myself that I should have a replacement brush soon. And, I count the days left to my two week window for returning that AOS brush for a refund.

.. but I am thinking that your real gripe is the uncertainty surrounding your shedding AoS brush and needing a replacement.

 

[Tha Baron]

Sorry that youre feeling defensive on the issue... I just find it unfortunate that some people feel the need to post a 'sky is falling' post when one thing doesn't go their way from their 'issues' with a vendor, product, etc. Especially when they lead off a post without any questions or thoughtful discussion, but rather just a blasting post with every determination already made up in their mind... and without any consideration given to their side or the fact that several people have referenced more than a few positive experiences with the party you were referencing.

Sorry you feel you got burned, just thought I would participate in the post...