Okay so going to try and keep this as concise as I possibly can.
Ordered a personalised gift from what appears to be a reputable company on Instagram.
As a bit of a backstory, and because it's relevant, someone I know on my Instagram posted on their story about this company a few weeks ago along the lines of "has anybody used this company before?". Let's call her Jane.
So I'm in communication with this company and service initially was fine. Speedy responses, happy to create what I was after. Asked for bank transfer and I paid for the goods. She explained that she wouldn't be able to work on examples of the gift until payment has been made and the order placed.
Since placing the order and making payment, communication dwindled. She promised to send over two examples of my order within 72 hours. A week passed and she finally sent them over, blaming it on the quality of the image and having to adjust the quality etc.
In the meantime, I message Jane and ask her what her experience was like with this company. Well Jane tells me that weeks ago, she placed an order and she is yet to receive it or have her money back. The company blamed Royal Mail for losing the products. Jane also told me that the company will eventually use the death of a close relative as a reason for delays in fulfilling the order.
Anyway, the company tell me that my order will be dispatched on Wednesday this week. I contacted them on Wednesday, asking if the item has been dispatched and if I can get a tracking number.
No response. Messaged again Thursday, no response. Messaged today and hours later I get a response to say that the woman who's company it is, her grandparent has passed away and as such, she won't be dispatching anything until Monday...
I immediately feel suspicious. I then search for the business name on Twitter and can see multiple tweets from 2020 from angry customers stating that they never received their goods or they waited 3 months for them to arrive. Customers stating that they were always chasing up their orders and responses were few and far between and lots of blaming on the Royal Mail.
Now I wish I had looked up this company on Twitter sooner.
She seems, on the surface, a reputable company. Lots of posts of her work, genuine customer reviews, she's registered on companies house too.
I haven't responded back to her last message about her grandmother passing away, but I just don't believe her in the slightest and not sure how best to respond or if there's anything I can do to report this woman.
What would you do in this situation?