late ship/damaged goods

Haband, Eatonton, Georgia/mail order company.

Ordered some good a good four weeks before I needed them, did not come, advised them order is not needed, it will be too late, four weeks is plenty of time to fill and ship an order. Get a response order was shipped.........when it arrived there where to "goods damage" marked on the box by USPS and DHL. Box was crushed, box was split open on two corners and top was open (tape had failed). Upon opening the carton found one luggage piece damaged, and only part of the order. Since there was not packing list I was unable to know if goods had been shipped complete.............in fact the only packing material in this box was flyers with other ads! I contacted them as well as my credit card company. Haband e-mailed a response "return the material in its original carton". I went to the post office and they stated they would not accept the carton for shipment, it was destroyed. I contacted Haband and told them and also advised them that since this damage was a result of their improper packing, they need to arrange to have order returned at their cost. They informed me they have no way of doing this. I contacted them told them I had contacted my credit card company and will deduct the item and provide them with all the information. Get a return prepaid label in the mail asking me to affix it to the original carton and return. I again advised them that the post office is not going to accept this original carton and they need to arrange to have this material picked up and returned.......it is not my responsibility to handle this claim that should not have been a claim if they would have packaged the good properly! Correspondence continued, they obvious have to yardstick for "costs" let alone common sense and I have to say at this point they probably have close to $100 invested to address a $50 order which with the damaged item that cannot be sold as new makes you wonder..................what are these people thinking! Well, today I get a phone call from the customer service department (no phone number shows on the screen so if I had to call this person back I am out of luck) and this women tells me this...."put the goods in a shopping bag and place it in a trash bag and use the return label and take it to the post office and they will accept it. I had to laugh.....but, I needed to try this one on for size! I took the goods down as instructed and told the clerk that this is how the supplier instructed me to pack the goods.............she said "your kidding of course". I cannot take a trash bag as a shipping vehicle, there is no protection for the goods and USPS is not going to be responsible! She suggested that I speak with the Postmaster, which I did................if a look could kill, he could not believe what I was telling him. "Cannot and will not accept goods in a trash bag, these people have to be kidding." I have decided that under the circumstances and all that has happened and all the irresponsibility they have shown and are asking others to be involved in, I need to file a formal complain with the Attorney Generals Office in the state of Georgia............which I intend to do. I have advised Haband of my feelings and told them outright they should be ashamed of themselves. No common sense and the fact they are asking a customer to place themselves in a situation to try and correct this companies problems, let alone a company that apparently feels that good business and good cost control is investing $100 in time to address a $50 order! They need their head examined. This will be a fine story to share as the year goes on, a good learning lesson to say the least.

Dave Doran

Churchville, New York

David Doran