Reckon is a company that sells silkscreened designs of celebrities on various articles of clothing. Seriously, where else can you get a Morrissey onesie? Dan ordered a custom t-shirt with a design of Larry David on it in April of 2008. He’d like to report on the fit and quality of the shirt, but he can’t, because he hasn’t received it yet.

He sent us a copy of his most recent e-mail to the company, which summarizes their correspondence over the past year.

4/23/2008 – Order placed.

Invoice No.: [redacted] Order No.: [redacted] Date: 04/23/2008

05/20/2008 – E-mail sent to customer service inquiring about delivery date:
As of right now the turnaround time is 6 to 12 weeks. Reckon is primarily a two person team and we’re working as fast as we can to get your order to you. I apologize for any delay or inconvenience. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely, Esther Garcia
Customer Service

08/20/2008 – Follow-up email sent to Reckon for inquiry of delivery date.

08/27/2008 – Response to my 8/20/08 email finally arrives:
…Due to circumstances beyond our control, your shirt will be printed and shipped out shortly. My apologies about the delay and thanks for your patience. Chris

11/15/2008 – E-mail once again sent to Reckon inquiring about delivery of shirt.

12/02/2008 – Response to my 11/15/08 email finally arrives from Reckon:
I’m sorry about the oversight. I’m not sure what happened to it, but will check right away. Hopefully it wasn’t lost en route and is somewhere in-studio. My apologies about the delay in correspondence as well; we’ve been in and out of pocket due to water system repairs that were, to say the least, unexpected. Thanks for your patience. -Chris

12/08/2008 – Email sent to Reckon asking what info you came up with as to why I didn’t have the shirt.

01/26/2009 – Response to my 12/08/08 email finally arrives:
Should just be a few more days before this is in your hands. I’m reprinting as we had it marked as shipped from before holidays were upon us. I’m awaiting the replacement at present, but printing it will just take five minutes or so once it arrives. Thanks again for your patience. -Chris.

04/04/2009 – I email Reckon once again, wondering why I don’t have in my possession the Larry David shirt I paid for.

04/13/2009 – No response from Reckon, so I email yet again.

04/16/2009 – A response from reckon finally arrives!!!
Sorry about the delay. We had a health scare in the family last week and a half or so and I lost time to say the least. Thankfully everything is turning out okay on that end. Your shirt should arrive in a few days, however. Thanks for your patience. Have a great evening, Chris

05/02/2009 – I send out yet another email to Reckon inquiring about when my shirt I paid for over a year ago will finally arrive.

05/04/2009- Response:
Already wrote you about it earlier today. Thanks for your patience. Turnaround times are averages especially when this is a one man show; if you need a link to our TOS please let me know and I’ll send it over. Please stop assuming you are being ignored when in fact you are not.

This e-mail confirmed my suspicions that:

1. The shirt was never made, even after constantly nagging you for it for several months.
2. You’ve stolen $25 from me.
3. Your excuses are laughable at best. Food Poisoning for a week…right. What’s next? The Swine Flu for you and your GF? You constantly update your Twitter and maintain your websites, so you must not be in that poor of health.
4. Your customer service skills are deplorable at best.

I’ve earned every right to judge you and your business etiquette because you accepted my payment and have for over a year made empty promises and excuses as to why I don’t have the shirt in my possession. It takes fifteen minutes to print a shirt and in the time it took you to respond to the last email I sent you, you could have made the shirt and had it in the mail.

Refund me the $25 I paid for the shirt or I will file a police report against you and file suit against you in small claims court for fraud. I have enough email documentation to easily win judgment. You have my credit info on file and I expect to see invoiced refund documentation from you within 48 hours.

Let’s hope that Dan’s epic customer service adventure will be over soon. Check the links for historical perspective on this company.

UPDATE: Reader Patrick wrote in to tell us that the order he placed on February 25, 2008 hasn’t showed up yet, either. He received an e-mail promising that the situation would be sorted out in “only a few days.” Guess how this ends.

Horrible Customer Service [getcrafty.com]
Reckon [Etsy]

(Photo: tanakawho)

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