Felf808

This review is not on the product itself, but on the service I received. I apologize in advance if anything is hard to follow.

March 18, 2012

I placed an order for 2x rootmedic complete and 2x prosand capsules. Immediately after, I sent the payment via paypal which came out to $56.98 with shipping and handling. A little while later, I received a few emails with the order confirmation, notification that the item was shipped, and lastly one that said the shipment was canceled.

March 20, 2012

I was not sure what to make of the canceled shipment notice, so I contacted Justin at Rootmedic to see what was up. "Yes. It was a duplicate label." he replied. All seemed well as I eagerly awaited the arrival of the much needed root fertilizer for my newly planted 125 gallon tank.

April 12, 2012

At this point I still did not receive the shipment nor was the tracking info updated on the USPS website. I contacted Justin again and politely reminded him that I still did not receive anything. Almost instantly, I received an email saying, "I'm really not sure what happened here, brad. I'm very sorry. I'll reship them saturday with extras." I thanked him for the quick response.

April 19, 2012

An update on the rootmedic twitter page mentioned that there was an unexpected death in the family and Justin openly apologized for possible delays on the forum, which is understandable. I continued to wait for the much needed fertilizer.

April 27, 2012

Sent another email after noticing that Justin let other people know their shipments were sent out on the forum. This went unanswered, which was unusual considering he always responded quickly in the past. It wasn't until I filed a dispute on paypal with the following that I received a response.

"Ok, I still have not received any order confirmations or shipping
status updates for the original order of 2 x rootmedic complete and 2
x prosand originally ordered on 3-18-2012. I contacted you the second
time on 4-12 and you said you'd mail out my order plus extras that
coming saturday (4-14) but I still have not received any goods or
emails from you since then. If you have a lot going on I understand,
but at least keep me up to date so I'm not left in the dark.

Thanks,
Brad"

May 8, 2012

"Brad, I'm sorry I missed this email. I see that you disputed this transaction. I can either refund it or reship it. I'm going to the post office in the morning and have everything in stock. Just let me know what you'd like me to do.

Thanks,
Justin"

"I'd be happy to add two extra packs of complete if you want to get the product. Otherwise I can refund tomorrow evening."~Justin

"I'd honestly rather have the product but if you cannot promise that I'll get it, the refund will be fine. I'm normally patient and I saw that you had some family issues to deal with however we were having shipping issues ever since I first made the order. I'm sure it was just bad timing since I have only read good things about you."~Me

We agree to have the items shipped out instead of a refund.

May 9, 2012

I receive another order confirmation and tracking number, which again never gets updated.

May 29, 2012

A few days after emailing Justin via the website I send him this PM on the forum incase he checks his PM inbox more frequently.

"I sent you another email a few days ago about still not receiving my order. This has all gone too far, therefore I am requesting my money back so that we can both forget about this incident and move on.

Thanks,
Brad"

I receive this message back on the same day...

"Ok. I will process tomorrow. My apologies."

June 19, 2012

Sent a money request via paypal with the note, "Refund for purchase not received."

June 29, 2012

I send my last PM to him on this day. A few more PM exchanges occurred before this date with me repeatedly asking when I would receive a refund and him repeatedly saying that he'll look into it.

July 3, 2012

PM and Email sent

“This is not a threat
I have been very patient these last few months regarding the order I placed back in March. I obviously have not received any products nor have I received any refund of $56.98 or else I would have stopped bothering you a long time ago. I have drafted a review of my experience with you that I will be posting on this forum incase I do not receive my refund by July 18, 2012 (5 months from the start date of this transaction.). I will be sending a duplicate copy of this message to your website just incase. You seem like a very nice guy and are very good at customer service, (which I also do at my own job) but your recent actions say otherwise. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt by telling you this before I take action. Please send my refund of 56.98.

Thanks,
Brad”


So, once again...this was a review of my customer service experience with Justin@Rootmedic, which was exemplary at first then non-existent at the end. He was always quick to respond and very apologetic until finally he simply stopped responding altogether. This whole ordeal spanned almost 4 months from March 18-July 3. I am not saying that you should not buy from him, I'm just telling everyone my experience. It is no longer possible to get my refund back via paypal because it is past the 45 day dispute period, so I basicaly got screwed out of $56.98 and I never received any fertilizer. A lot of things came up and I had to postpone posting this review which actually gave him an additional month to rectify the error (which of course never happened). If I am being unreasonable please let me know.

Klaus07

I empathize with you. I think people who order things like ferts are looking for a very quick turn-around. When the product doesn't arrive on a timely basis it puts the customer in an uncomfortable position.

Felf808

Thanks for understanding, I work in customer service so this really bothers me. At work, we always use the term, "Set the right expectation." even if it may not be what the customer wants to hear. If you tell someone you're going to do something just do it or else explain to them that it may/will not be done to begin with so you don't get their hopes up, waste their time, and waste their money. It really doesn't matter what you're selling...This concept is universal.

n00dl3

I had the same problem... except I got finally got my order after 3-4 months. He always had prompt reply to emails and PMs and lots of promises but never deliver. It is not worth all the trouble.

Felf808

Thank you for the response and I'm sorry that you also had a bad experience