I'm steered towards a certain manufacturer in Central Europe (EU member) by an official at that country's Dublin embassy.
I find the company's website, trawl through their products and find a range of them well-designed and keenly priced. I try phoning but it's hard to get through to any of the management - all of whom have the same surname, so it appears to be a family owned factory - and no one there speaks English, I'm told.
The website has an e-shop. So I proceed to register as a customer and order some products giving my Irish address as the delivery address. After an initial email confirmation of my order, I soon get another email saying that my order is cancelled as I do not live in the country of manufacture or its immediate neighbouring country -- these being the only 2 countries that they ship goods to from their e-shop.
I engage a native-speaking interpreter to phone the company management. Repeated calls to various numbers listed in the website contacts page bear no fruit whatever. The interpreter calls the local Mayor's Office in the same small town to check if the main phone number is correct. It is. The Mayor's Office staff have no idea of what may be wrong.
All while this process develops, I'm thinking this reminds me of another company (in USA, this one) which responded to calls and emails but always deferred decision "till Mr X gets back".
This went on for weeks till I began to wonder about Chapter 11. I came to the conclusion that the USA company may have applied for Chapter 11 protection and as such had to
1) Cease actual trading lest they be accused of trading recklessly;
but also
2) Maintain a public facade of "business as usual" so that existing goodwill and trust not be lost during the process of negotiating with their creditors.
This was the only plausible explanation for this company's ridiculous and frustrating behaviour to a new and very willing customer.
Lately I obtained an address in the Central European country and used this for an e-shop order of trial samples. No confirmation as yet but it's just a half-hour since I ordered.
Can anyone with similar experiences (not necessarily in Dracula country) offer me any enlightenment - and possibly emotional comfort - with this situation here ?
I find the company's website, trawl through their products and find a range of them well-designed and keenly priced. I try phoning but it's hard to get through to any of the management - all of whom have the same surname, so it appears to be a family owned factory - and no one there speaks English, I'm told.
The website has an e-shop. So I proceed to register as a customer and order some products giving my Irish address as the delivery address. After an initial email confirmation of my order, I soon get another email saying that my order is cancelled as I do not live in the country of manufacture or its immediate neighbouring country -- these being the only 2 countries that they ship goods to from their e-shop.
I engage a native-speaking interpreter to phone the company management. Repeated calls to various numbers listed in the website contacts page bear no fruit whatever. The interpreter calls the local Mayor's Office in the same small town to check if the main phone number is correct. It is. The Mayor's Office staff have no idea of what may be wrong.
All while this process develops, I'm thinking this reminds me of another company (in USA, this one) which responded to calls and emails but always deferred decision "till Mr X gets back".
This went on for weeks till I began to wonder about Chapter 11. I came to the conclusion that the USA company may have applied for Chapter 11 protection and as such had to
1) Cease actual trading lest they be accused of trading recklessly;
but also
2) Maintain a public facade of "business as usual" so that existing goodwill and trust not be lost during the process of negotiating with their creditors.
This was the only plausible explanation for this company's ridiculous and frustrating behaviour to a new and very willing customer.
Lately I obtained an address in the Central European country and used this for an e-shop order of trial samples. No confirmation as yet but it's just a half-hour since I ordered.
Can anyone with similar experiences (not necessarily in Dracula country) offer me any enlightenment - and possibly emotional comfort - with this situation here ?