Web of Mistakes Snares Some Online Buyers

More people than ever bought gifts online during the past holiday season. So, on the theory that complaints--and how companies deal with them--play a critical role in our consumer economy, here are the experiences of two readers who ordered from eToys.com and KBkids.com.

It would take an idiot, of course, not to realize that, when it comes to online ordering, we are at the beginning of a whole age of innovation.

In this vein, spokesmen for the firm EDS, experts in constructing and administering Web sites, outlined the progress expected over the next year with regard to real-time inventory and same-day delivery. Both are pertinent to these particular complaints.

Marilyn Beck of Beverly Hills, a well-known columnist, e-mailed me a copy of a letter she sent eToys CEO Toby Lenk about a bad experience she had after ordering from eToys a Stargazer Lego watch as a Christmas present for her 8-year-old grandson, Daniel, on Nov. 26.

“On Dec. 18 my daughter phoned to tell me that the watch had never arrived,” she told Lenk. “I spent hours trying to reach one of your representatives by phone. When I finally did, only then did I learn that the watch had not been available when your firm initially took the order.

“The young man . . . said he would phone the warehouse and see if there wasn’t a stray watch available [and] would phone me back Dec. 20 to give me a progress report. No phone call came.”

Beck wrote her grandson to tell him that his gift would not be there by Christmas, but that eToys had told her it would arrive eventually.

But Dec. 28, when she called to check, startling words came from another customer rep: “Didn’t you receive an e-mail that the order had been canceled? All the back orders were canceled on Christmas.”

“I certainly had not received any e-mail informing me of such,” she said. “So here I am, on Dec. 28, realizing that I have lied to my grandson.”

I asked eToys’ public relations man Jonathan Cutler for comment, and got back something general, but not specific to this case.

“It’s true that some customers experienced some frustrations,” he said. “We’re genuinely sorry about that and we are doing everything we can to help them. . . .

“Our business accelerated significantly this holiday season and our performance was quite strong. . . . Our customer satisfaction numbers were well over 90%.”

I pressed Cutler for more details, but it was Beck, the victim, who told me the end of this story, and it did show that eToys was trying.

On Jan. 7, she said, an eToys employee notified her that the company, while reversing the original charge of $50 when the order was canceled, still had sent Beck’s grandson a $50 gift certificate.

EToys personnel also provided Beck a list of stores where she could buy the Stargazer watch offline, and she went to one of them and purchased it for $40, $10 less than eToys’ pre-Christmas price.

So I think this complaint had a fairly good outcome, although Beck was frustrated and inconvenienced.

At EDS, Robert Folaron, executive director of e-tailing for that company, emphasized, however, that good first impressions are vital for online companies.

“That woman is probably not going back to eToys,” he said. But, he added, real-time inventory will enable eToys and other companies to inform a customer immediately if something is not in stock, and same-day delivery, resulting from pre-positioning of items in urban centers, will get it there right away.

“Also, there are technologies that will set up a virtual dialogue, a system where the consumer can type in questions to be answered immediately. That will take customer service to a whole new level. The theme is instant gratification. I’m confident it will improve dramatically year by year,” he said.

The second complaint came from Jennifer Zuniga, of Redondo Beach, who now lives in Egypt. She vacationed over the holidays in Arizona, where her drama with KBkids.com played out.

Zuniga placed a $201 Lego order Oct. 31 and was informed she would get an e-mail with the shipment date and tracking number.

On Nov. 24, the firm told her the order had been shipped on Nov. 6. No tracking number was provided.

Nothing arrived and on Nov. 26, according to documents Zuniga provided me, KBkids informed her that a credit had been issued after a conversation with her and the return of her order.

Zuniga said she had not returned anything or asked for a credit.

The trouble continued. Even after repeated attempts to secure delivery of her order, and assurances from KBkids that it had been shipped, Zuniga did not receive it by the time she returned to Egypt.

Indeed, there were a series of contradictory messages from KBkids saying the order had been made and shipped at varying times.

On Dec. 10, Joe Beauprez, a marketing manager at KBkids, sent her profuse regrets.

“Let me extend my most sincere apologies for the way you were treated by KBkids.com,” he said. “I am truly sorry that your experience with us was so unpleasant. There is absolutely no excuse for that type of service, or lack thereof.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. But why didn’t KBkids rectify matters in the next two weeks?

Actually, it did try, sending Zuniga two gift items. But the Legos she ordered never arrived and she finally sent the gifts back.

Cecilia Atkinson, the firm’s vice president of marketing, says that KBkids delivered 98% to 99% of all its orders before Christmas in its first year online, but still experienced a problem with post office diversions.

In the toy business, she said, “There are very, very hot products that are very difficult to keep in stock. They go in and out in one day. . . . Certainly, getting closer to real-time inventory will help in the future. Customer service is extremely important to us.”

This has to be the case for online ordering as a whole, if it is to have the success nearly everyone is predicting.

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Ken Reich can be contacted with your accounts of true consumer adventures at (213) 237-7060 or by e-mail at ken.reich@latimes.com.