Pet Hates - Excuses & Instagram Shopping
This I’m afraid is one of my rambling thought vomit blog posts. We were just talking in the office about our shipping over Christmas which this year in our opinion actually went very well. An Post performing brilliantly, last year was a disaster but this year we have only a couple of chasers and An Post really pulled out all the stops.
That got us talking about how our own Christmas Shopping went. Generally this year it seems it was disaster. We either had Holyhead port as an excuse why that Christmas purchase was 3 weeks late or they just never turned up. Personally I had two Black Friday parcels that turned up in January, too late for Christmas and two Instagram purchases in November that just never turned up.
We know the laws and rules and we should be totally covered but for the Instagram purchases the websites have just ignored us, no response, no follow up nothing. Their plan is obviously to just stonewall all issues in the assumption that 95% will just give up. Then for the Holyhead delayed orders my problem is one of them was an Irish website which supposedly had the product in the warehouse, in Ireland, in stock so what has Holyhead got to do with it? Just an excuse for crappy service.
Problems Shopping Internationally
The main issue with buying from Instagram is you generally have no idea where you are ordering from and generally it is China. So you have no protections on returns or deliveries or support or anything really. You just order and literally hope for the best. If that pink Nike hoodie does turn up it’ll probably be green and be a cheap counterfeit. You also generally have no way except email to contact them. If they then ignore the emails you are banjaxed.
The other one that annoys me is Irish drop shippers. These are websites in Ireland supposedly shipping from Ireland but in reality they hold no stock. When you order it is shipped from God knows where by God knows who. It is literally pot luck what or if you get anything.
The Solution
The advent of simple online website systems like Shopify and Instacart with literally thousands of drop shipping companies means this is a problem that is going to get worse and worse as there is no barrier to creating a drop ship website.
The only solution is to shop with brands you know and trust. Use the brands websites directly so you know you are getting original products from suppliers that have a proven track record of delivery with product in stock, in Ireland (or the EU). More importantly if there is a problem you know you are covered. If you are browsing Instagram and see a top you love from Patagonia don’t buy it there. Go to the Patagonia website. It’ll be 100% original and you’ll get all the choice and protections.
Obviously when sex toy shopping all the same applies. If you go to Temu and buy a 8 Inch Silicone Dildo for €5 you must surely know what you get (if it turns up) is going to be junk and potentially a dangerous toxic toy you should never use. They can’t be selling high quality at that price and then shipping it half way around the world, you must know this. Shop with a local sex shop brand you can trust and who you know deals only in original brands with a 13 year track record selling sex toys in Ireland.