"Item arrived quickly and as advertised. This web site actually had what I was looking for when I typed in christmas light bulbs. Most other web sites would say they had bulbs but all they had were strings of lights they wanted to sell while some had bulbs they were not the mini bulbs like I purchased here! Thank You for having what I needed!"
"Short version, if you have any other option, DO NOT deal with this company, I did, almost a year ago and am still trying to get a refund for NEW items returned in perfect condition almost 9 months ago.
In highly condensed and edited form, here's my experience.
I placed a phone order for 3 items, 2 fruit grinder/crushers, and a fruit press for juice. . Before placing the order, I talked with their order taker, who checked the shipping charges for the items, which were purported to all be quite heavy. These 2 items are used in conjunction with each other, and both are needed to accomplish the task.
The fruit press was shipped, while neither of the grinders (which have to be used FIRST to grind apples before juicing them), but instead were substituted for with HOPPERS that would normally be mounted on top of the missing fruit grinders.
I attempted to contact Polstein's to no avail for a few days, so I called my credit card company and solicited their advice. they said to file a dispute, which could be cancelled later, which I did. (I've since learned that there are all sorts of nuances to handling a credit card charge with a merchant that I had not suspected before, most of which the credit card companies DO NOT GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO INFORM CUSTOMERS OF.)
After contacting Polstein's to try to clear up their mistake in my order, I was informed that I could only get the original 2 "B" items by paying a grossly increased price from the original offer. (well over $100.00 each vs. $15.00 each as was originally advertised). I declined that offer, as well as a discounted price for the merchandise they had mistakenly sent to me, (which was useless for my purposes without the missing items), electing to return the "A" and "C", using their promised to be sent return labels. At that time, I was ambivalent that I had filed the dispute.
3 MONTHS went by as I tried again and again to get them to send me the labels. Finally they came, and I returned the items the very same day.
After a reasonable amount of time, I called repeatedly to try to find out what was happenning with my refund. I also called my credit card company to see if they could help, and in short after originally issuing a TEMPORARY PROVISIONAL credit, they couldn't do anything else,and then they had to recind that temporary credit (after 3 months), mostly because so much time had passsed since placing the original order.
It is now my opinion that Polstein's DELIBERATELY waited until the period of time had passed during which a dispute for payment with a credit card company would have expired (3 months after the dispute was filed in this case-check YOUR credit card's policy on disputes), before sending me the return labels.
Even if I believed that the original order was simple mistake, besides their unbelieveably long waits for customer service, the ignored or forgotten promises of call backs to me, repeated promise to send labels and the ridiculously long delay, their subsequent actions show a pattern of shady actions including but not limited to: distortions or outright lies to both me and the credit card company in a 3-way conversation in re. "not receiving" notification of the issuance and later recinding of the temporary provisional credit to my account (copies of both of which were sent to me) broken promises by nearly everyone with whom I spoke at Polstein's, no good reasons for their inaction nearly evertime I called, trying to "up-sell" merchandise, GROSSLY overcharging me for the shipping of 2 very lighweight items that were sent instead of the very heavy ones that I had ordered, etc.
How this company remains in business would be a mystery to me if I didn't think that most people are basically honest, so there's no shortage of potential victims out there in web-land, most of whom, don't make a habit of reading these reviews when first doing business with a company outside of their experience. I learned my lesson about not trying to make a habit to do that ahead of time. "
"Product was just what I needed and shipping was as speedy as I expected. Website was very easy to use and very efficient. I would shop this website again."
"Ordered 2 items @ $5.88/ea as fixed minimal shipping was $7.28 bringing cost to $9.52/ea rather than $13.16/ea. Delayed 6 weeks due to back order. Received only 1 item at full $7.28 shipping and note that now out of stock on 2nd. Never got call or email to cancel, which I would have at that cost. Customer service insisted policy stands and no change could be made. Spervisor, after more heated exchange, agreed to refund full shipping under threat of BBB report. Will NEVER buy here again and recommend other's avoid. p.s. Free gift was a non-working cell phone flashlight which supervisor said was just free stuff they throw in so, that's inconsequential. "
"I placed an order with this company on Amazon.com because they offered the best price I could find on a particular product (better than Amazon's low price). After a few days, I received an e-mail from Polsteins Home and Beyond stating that they had canceled my order due to a "pricing error" on their part. Now they want me to pay a significantly higher price for the same product. I wrote them asking that they please honor my purchase since the error was on their end, but they refused. I am very disappointed with this company and still disagree with their decision to take it upon themselves to cancel my order because of a supposed mistake they made. Customer service is clearly not their first priority."
"Very dissatisfied. Angry.
Ordered parts for a wood stove chimney. Parts arrived promptly. However, 4 parts arrived damaged. When I contacted customer service, they told me I'd have to return the parts and wait for them to process a claim on UPS before replacing the parts. In each case, I believe that the damage occured before shipping to me. Why should I have to incur the inconvenience?
I saved a little money in the short run and am now paying the price for it. Never do business with this company. "
"Ordered a hot water heater directly from Polsteins after seeing that they worked with Amazon.com. It stated that the product would take 3-4 days to ship. On the 3rd day it had not shipped, and we called since we had paid extra for "express" shipping. Our card had not been charged and we called them to confirm, and ended up leaving an AMEX card since there had been a problem. Basically the manager "Kleber" lied and said he had run the new card and it would be shipped the next day. We know he lied since we called the AMEX and verified he had not even tried to run the card. We called the next day, today, and they said our order had been cancelled.
I lost a week on a time sensitive home appliance that I needed-I feel cheated and am going to talk driectly to Amazon.com since it was on the basis of the Amazon affiliation that I trusted the site.
Very dissatisfied
How a company like this stays in business is ????
DO NOT BUY or expect to get ripped off and take your chances.
"
"I ordered a remote control doorbell from Polstein's and it worked a few times before quitting. I contacted Polstein's to get a refund, as less than a month had passed. The company totally ignored my email. Do not order from this company!"
"This order was placed online at www.homeandbeyond.com on 6/29 and was originally shipped on 7/2. I received an email with a tracking number. On 7/7 the package was returned to origin by UPS - reason on UPS web site "This package was damaged in transit. UPS will notify the sender with the details / all merchandise is being returned". When I didn't hear from Home and Beyond by 7/16, I called Customer Service and was told it was waiting for management approval and he will get it out ASAP. I didn't hear back and on 7/20 I sent an email to customer service - I received a reply with a ticket code stating someone will contact me. Didn't hear anything and on 7/24 I called Customer Service and asked to speak with a manager. I spoke with a Supervisor who apologized and told me he would ship it out express that day. After 4 days I called Customer Service and asked if my order got shipped yet. I was told it was scheduled to ship that day (the 28th) and I would receive an email as soon as it shipped with a tracking number. On 7/29 when I didn't receive an email, I called Customer Service again fully planning on cancelling the order, and I was told it shipped yesterday. When I got home from work it finally arrived. I would never, ever purchase anything from this reseller again. This company is the worst I've ever dealt with."
"Terrible service. Placed order, items in stock, still didn't ship for 7 days and when the items did finally arrive, they were damaged due to no packaging protection and a thin box. When I called and finally got a hold of some one (many calls) they said they would send me a RMA packing slip. It never came, and I had to call again (took 2 tries to get a person) and they said they would send it in email again. Still didn't arrive and I had to call a 3rd time and threaten to cancel the credit card payment. When the RMA finally arrive in email, I sent the items off. It's been 10 days and I haven't been reimbursed, can't get a hold of them, and I'm feeling like someone stole from me.
Please, save yourself and purchase from amazon. They have home stuff, and they actually know what they are doing. Home and Beyond doesn't have a clue."
"I bought a Vornado Table Fan. It arrived on time, and at a great price.
It is by far the best fan I own.
I am several friends have ordered other items from them, and all were very pleased.
None of us ordered anything that was real heavy, or real fragile, though."
"Worst packaging I've ever seen. They threw a delicate glass item in a plastic bag with absolutely no protection and I've arrived all busted up. I can't believe any company would be so stupid!!"
"Ordered the Zircon 60560 LaserBall 360 because it was too cheap, lol, only 1.24 shipped, got the stuff in 3 days, that stuff worked pretty well."
"Ordered 8 coffee grinders from Polsteins. After a week of no contact (other than the auto-reply email confirming my order), I called in for status. Polsteins PBX was broken, so while on hold, I dropped farther back in line. Additionally, when I chose to have them call me, the phone rang once and hung up. After two experiences like this, I found a back door local number through the company's "Snowjoe" web site (they are the US distributors). The agent that I reached told me that it would be a few more days until shipping (per their "standard" shipping schedule), but could give me no more info.
The following week, I tried again, and got through (PBX had been fixed), and was told that they only had 5 in stock, but would receive the balance and ship by Friday. I called the following Monday, only to find out that none had been received/shipped but, again, they would ship by Friday. This time, I called Thursday, and was told 6 were in stock - I told them to ship them and cancel the rest of my order. They did - I received 5 the next day (fortunately, they only billed me for 5).
Clearly, this company has a poor grasp on inventory management and communication with its customers. I'll go somewhere else in the future."
"Ordered a Vornado humidifier over the phone. Rep said they had it in stock. Received confirmation same day. A day later got an email saying they would mail it soon. Yesterday (1/31) I got another email saying they did not have the humidifier and had to cancel the order. In the meantime I placed an order with a different website for 4 sets of replacement filters. When I complained, they said that their inventory was wrong and there was nothing they could do for me. After much complaining, I did have my money refunded."