I purchased a "headache relieving wrap" from Hammacher Schlemmer. When it arrived I discovered that it was pictured backwards in the catalogue and that the picture therefore concealed a large uncomfortable plastic D-ring incorporated into the closure.

It arrived with a (not prepaid) shipping label to use for returns. The address on this label, for a broker who handles their cross-border shipping, apparently, was slightly different from the one listed on the website. I emailed the same day, October 31, to inquire which address was correct and whether they required a traceable method when shipping returns. No reply.

I sent the same question through their website a few days later. No reply. I sent the item with the label provided and signature required on delivery. I then emailed again on November 8th indicating I was unhappy to have received no reply and asking how long I could expect it to take to process my refund. They replied indicating 7-10 business days.

On November 10th I received delivery confirmation from Canada Post and logged online to view it only to find that in the signature box, someone had written "refused to sign". On November 12th I sent the PDF along with the entire previous chain of emails asking if they could confirm my return was being processed. I received a reply requesting my order number (which was included in the previous email) and stating that "they could not locate my order with the information provided". I replied indicating that the order number and other information had been in the previous email but cut-and-pasted it at the top for their convenience. No reply.

I phoned and talked to someone at their 1-800 number who said that they "must have" gotten it, although it wasn't in the system. I asked if they would be willing to refund the charge I had paid for requesting a signature in view of the fact that I had written asking their shipping preferences before I sent it and that their broker refusing to sign was ludicrous as this was a way of ensuring that the package could be tracked. She stated they would be unable to begin to process a refund until the item showed up in the system but she would "put a note in my file".

I emailed again on November 18th quoting the previous emails, recapping the entire story, and requesting a refund of the signature charge as well as confirmation that they had received the package. No reply.

Do you have any EECB contact information for Hammacher Schlemmer? I will already have to lose all the substantial shipping charges (2/3 the cost of the original item) for having this delivered in the first place, which I accept is a risk from ordering from this kind of outfit. However, when you make your business in dealing with luxury goods, and when you have such steep shipping charges for having a broker who specializes in cross-border deliveries, is it too much to expect to receive responses to inquiries or have someone sign for a return package when a signature is required?

Here's Hammacher Schlemmer's contact info according to Google Finance:

Hammacher Schlemmer & Co., Inc.
9307 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Niles, IL 60714
USA
+1-847-581-8600 (Phone)
847-581-8616 (Fax)

Executives:
Richard (Rich) Tinberg, CEO
Donald Q. (Don) Rogers, VP Operations
Barry Orr, Senior Accounting Director

My advice, however, is that you should consider a chargeback if you paid by credit card.