Complaint Review: SkinnyMe Chocolates - Scottsdale AZ

I ordered (online) over $100 of chocolate from this company on April 11. I was emailed a shipping notification that same day. And my credit card was also charged on that same day. After waiting over a week for my shipment and seeing no movement when I checked the tracking number they provided, I contacted them. This is when they started with the excuses - we are back ordered, we are moving, we are installing a new system, we are changing our packaging. So I asked when I could expect the order (remember, I already had a shipping "notification" and they already had my money). They said 2-3 weeks. So I waited.

On May 2, I received another shipping notification. The email subject line specifically said "Your Chocolates are on the way!!!" So I checked the tracking number they provided. Again, no movement. Nothing. So after 3 days with no movement per the tracking number (had not even been given to the shipper yet), I started trying to get through to them again.

Their customer service sent me canned messages (same exact wording as the first time I followed up - meaning this is an auto-responder). So after another two days, I went out to their Facebook page and posted a message. They responded asking me to post a private message with the specifics - which I did. Again, no response. However, I did get responses from other people who were having similar difficulties and were struggling with the company to get a refund.

So I posted a message to the company that I was going to report a disputed charge with my credit card company and contact the third party who had promoted their company to me to tell them of my experience and ask them to never promote this company to me again. And I indicated that if they had not shipped my order within 3 business days, I would report them to the Better Business Bureau and other online resources to warn others of their dishonest business practices.

They responded indicating that they could not guarantee when my order would be shipped (after a month and with two false shipping notices in my inbox). That their system updates had slowed down deliveries. And did I want to cancel my order. I said YES, I wanted to cancel my order and I wanted my money returned. They came back and said that they had just heard that they would be restocked "tomorrow" and asked if I still wanted to cancel my order. (Notice that earlier in that conversation the problem was a system upgrade, but then it became about restocking?)

I confirmed my desire to cancel my order - because by now I didn't believe anything they said - and indicated that I was placing a disputed charge with my bank on the money they had collected almost a month previously. They responded indicating that if I disputed the charge, they would be unable to process my refund and would have to refer it to another area of the business. I ignored them as this looked like more stalling tactics to me. So they responded that they had processed the refund and that I should see it in 3-7 days when my credit card company posted it. (My credit card company told me they post those transactions within 1-2 business days of receipt.)

Given all their previous false statements, I still don't believe them. And I am waiting to find out if they have actually refunded my money or not. But this was a full month of hassle - when SkinnyMe had my money, were sending me false shipment notices (twice!), were providing all kinds of excuses and using various stalling techniques to delay me taking action on this. And I am done.

I have documentation of all this - emails, screen shots of message threads on Facebook, etc. So I can back all of this up. The sad part is that this company does have a great product. It really is wonderful chocolate, but if you never get what you order, it is pointless. So if this report saves anyone else from the kind of hassle I went through, then it is worth the time to post it. Do not order from this company. Find someone else who provides a comparable product. Even if they are not out there right now, they will be. Because people like me want this kind of product, but we don't want to be ripped off in trying to buy it.