Francis tells Consumerist that his online order from Levi’s went slightly wrong. They sent him the wrong order. Simple enough: especially when the item was intended as a holiday gift, most retailers would immediately put a replacement order in the mail. Not Levi’s. Francis says that they were much more concerned with getting the other customer’s order back than with making sure that he received his original order in a timely fashion. Update: Francis’s situation was fixed even before we posted his story on the site. Hooray!

I am Never Ever Ever Ever Shopping at Levis.com again! and am encouraging others not to order from them as well! Worst e-commerce experience ever!

Placed an order last Thursday, received a properly addressed to me order from Levis today, opened the package up and found it had a different persons order and packing slip inside. Although not happy I called Levis customer service at 1-866-860-8907 hoping to quickly rectify the situation.

I talked with a perky [redacted] who the first thing out of her mouth was to enquire if there was a return packing slip in my bag. I stopped her and said I would be more than happy to return someone elses merchandise but that I was more concerned with my current order at the moment than with “their” merchandise. She said of course, but we will need to have the other merchandise returned. I told her I would be happy to stand in a long holiday line at the post office on my only day off to return her package and asked her when I would expect to receive a re-shipment of mine. At that point she told me my order would be resent after 15days. UNACCEPTABLE! I asked to speak with her supervisor.

Supervisor [redacted] although pleasant was also concerned with me returning the other persons merchandise and told me my order was probably lost in the system and had a different tracking number than the one I was sent and that I would probably receive it by the 7th…. So I said [redacted] you will then re-ship my order at that point if I dont receive it by the 7th and he said NO we wait 15 days and then if you havent received it it is considered lost and then we will re-ship.

I am not holding my breath as this order had the correct tracking number on the front that matches up with the one they sent me on my order confirmation. Also since at that point won’t Levis customer service be able to say I signed for my order because it had the tracking number they sent me on the front? Levis has a serious problem with its product fulfillment as well as its customer service and the vast disconnect between the two.

For all my trouble [redacted] offered me 10% and free shipping off my next Levis.com order….both things Levis regularly sends out in email blasts. I told him I didnt want anything other than my order. He asked if there was anything else he could help me with. Um no.

I’ll let you know how this turns out but I doubt I will ever order anything from Levis.com again, tis a shame as its a local San Francisco company. Please warn everyone on Consumerists what to expect if ordering from Levis.com especially if they are trying to order something for the holidays and they want a guarantee it will arrive before the day they need it.

Hmm, I could have sworn there was some kind of law that states that Francis isn’t actually obligated to send the misrouted package back. Oh, yes: it’s called the “Mail Order or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule.”

Unordered Merchandise

Whether or not the Rule is involved, in any approval or other sale you must obtain the customer’s prior express agreement to receive the merchandise. Otherwise the merchandise may be treated as unordered merchandise. It is unlawful to:

1. Send any merchandise by any means without the express request of the recipient (unless the merchandise is clearly identified as a gift, free sample, or the like); or,

2. Try to obtain payment for or the return of the unordered merchandise.

Merchants who ship unordered merchandise with knowledge that it is unlawful to do so can be subject to civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. Moreover, customers who receive unordered merchandise are legally entitled to treat the merchandise as a gift. Using the U.S. mails to ship unordered merchandise also violates the Postal laws.

Update: Even before we posted his story on the site, the wheels were in motion at Levi’s to fix Francis’s situation. He reports that he e-mailed every media relations address he could find for Levi’s, and executive customer service intervened for him within the hour. Hooray!

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