A few weeks ago, I placed an order for some math supplies — geoboards, a drawing/geometry reflector, and some little accessories.  These are for use with Pomme’s RightStart Math, and are available from RightStart.  However, I decided to see if I could find similar enough products from a Canadian site and save some shipping fees.

I was very happy to find the Learning Tree website.   Their Canadian brick-and-mortar store is in Burlington, Ontario, and I remember driving past it when we lived in Hamilton.  They ship throughout Canada, had all the items I was looking for, and reasonable shipping prices.  It was perfect!

When I placed the order, I noticed that the checkout page stated “if you have requested delivery outside of the continental US, you will incur additional shipping charges than those that appear here.”  This seemed curious, considering that the shop was supposedly Canadian, and the shipping charges and all other costs were indicated in Canadian dollars.  So I included a note in the comments box with the order inquiring about this.

I received an email reply 3 days later:

This website is made in USA and it is common to most of stores in USA. Our store is located in Canada and all merchandise will be shipped out of this location in Canada. You will be charged in Canadian dollars and shipping will be charged according to the actuals of Canada Post, which we first calculate through the interactive website of Canada Post. I can assure you that the shipping charges of $7.44 is not the exact one, it is just an approximate.

So it’s a remnant of a US-made website.  How hard would it be to mention this somewhere in the ordering process?  Or in their shipping FAQ’s?

And it’s also a somewhat unusual usage of “assure”.  Usually, you “assure” someone of something that they thought might be a negative but will actually be a positive.  In other words, it means “don’t worry.”  In this case, however, they’re “assuring” me that the shipping charges I’ve been quoted are just approximate and might change.    This is a common occurrence with online shops, but it’s an odd turn of phrase.  They might have said “I can assure you that the shipping charges are in Canadian funds and there will be no surcharges for being outside the US”.  Or they might have said “I can inform you that the shipping charges are approximate.”

As it is, I’m hardly assured of anything at all.  Because with that reply, my order was set to “status: pending.”  As the weeks went by, I realized I had not yet received my order.  Checking my account online, I see the same thing… “Order status: Pending.” So I sent them an email reply.

Why is my order still “pending”?  It was placed almost 3 weeks ago.

That was three days ago, and I’ve received no reply.

All web retailers are busy, and mistakes happen.  But this is getting ridiculous.  How hard is it to send a quick reply right away saying “thanks, we’ve received your inquiry, someone will respond soon” ?

If I do not hear back from them soon, I will cancel the order and take the extra shipping charges to order straight from RightStart.  It’s a shame too, because the Geoboard I found through Learning Tree is a nice wooden one, and RightStart only has the plastic ones.

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