Why I am no longer a Vitaglo customer

Hi Mamas:

I have shopped vitaglo.com for years. They have absolutely the best prices on all of the stuff I buy, plus free shipping on orders over $50. Recently I had an experience which has made me decide to support a local, family-owned health food store, even though it will be a strain on my pocketbook.

A month or two ago, I placed an order as usual. It had always taken 10 days for my order to arrive, but this time, right when I was expecting UPS, I instead got an email from vitaglo CS telling me there was a problem with my credit card. I assumed it was because my bank still hadn't updated my billing address, as this had been an ongoing issue with my bank. I emailed vitaglo with the correct billing address, but in return got only another generic email telling me simply that there was a problem with my card. I emailed back explaining that I had been trying to call the CS number, but wasn't getting an answer. I also mentioned how despite the great prices, the lack of communication was forcing me to refrain from future dealings with this company. I then received a rude email saying that "we always answer the phone", and not at all addressing my concern over taking my business elsewhere.

A month or so went by, and we were running out of certain items. My budget was tight, so I went ahead and placed another order, or tried to. Again, after a week I got a generic email telling me there was a problem with my card. I began to wonder if they were simply refusing to process my order, so I decided to try calling yet again. I don't recall how many times I had to call before someone picked up the phone. That leads me to today...

In my experience, a business owner is supposed to make a customer feel valued and appreciated. After all, without customers, there would be no company. My brief phone converstation was horrible. Allow me to expound...

I began explaining the purpose of my call, but was cut off by the person saying, "You wanna hold a minute?" and then putting me on hold before I could answer. When he came back on the line, I was asked in an annoyed tone, "What did you want again?", but as I was explaining, I was once again cut off. This time, the question was, "What do you want me to do about it?"

I gave my name, and the order was looked up. (Apparently, on that first order, I had inadvertantly put in September instead of October for the month of my credit card expiration. If someone had only taken two minutes to explain that to me in the first email, I could have quickly remedied the matter. Instead, even after I provided an alternate billing address (thinking that was my mistake), no one bothered to send an originally composed note...just a canned email saying there "was a problem with my card".)

Back to the phone conversation of a moment ago...I tried to explain how after that first card was denied, I used another one to place a second order. (This card has had zero problems all of the other places, actual and virtual, where I have used it.) Again, I was cut off and asked the point of my call. I thought maybe I could explain how it basically boiled down to me wanting some good old fahioned customer service to remain a customer, but at that point I realized it wasn't going to happen. One pissed-off customer means nothing to an internet store. This man had no reason to placate me...his customers were completely disposable to him. I asked, "Are you the owner of the company?" just to be sure, and he said yes. I told him I realized it wasn't doing me any good talking to him, and he hung up on me.

So, I have decided to post this and email it to him. What are we up to now, mamas...50,000 members? Maybe Vitaglo will pay attention to that, maybe not. Probably not, but it felt good to type this anyway.