""Scarily enough, customer satisfaction is our #1 priority. And make no bones about it - we want to know when you're happy, as well as the areas in which we need improvement. " That is right from their own website. But let me tell you their customer service is the scariest part of their entire company. Here is my ordeal that I had to go through with this company and why I will never order anything from frightcatalog.com ever again and advise you to go to one of their competitors.
I had recently been searching for a scary looking Halloween mask for an upcoming photo shoot. On November 28th 2012 I had ordered it and was told on the 29th of November I got notice that it had shipped.
A few days later we got a knock on our door from a security officer that our neighbor had reported someone running off with a package from our front porch. On Dec 8th 2012 I checked with the UPS tracking number that had been provided a few days later when I realized my mask had not shown up yet and saw that the package was left on my front porch with no signature required because Frightcatalog.com does not specify require it and does not even offer it as an option for shipping. Mind you that another package was taken from our front porch a week later and since then have left a note stating no deliveries to be made without signature.
I contacted Frightcatalog.com via their website because all phone calls were just going to voicemail over and over and over again so I used their online contact form. The no answer via their phone number should have been my first clue that this was going to be a big problem.
A woman named Alyssa emailed me back stating they would need proof that it was stolen because according to their tracking it was delivered. And that was a fair enough request because anyone could make that claim. So I filed a police report on Dec 10th and sent them a screen shot of the information that I had filed online since a police officer wasn't going to be coming to investigate the claim. On December 11th I got an email saying that it was just a "pending" claim and they wouldn't acknowledge it. I emailed back saying I would send them the form as soon as I got it but that it shouldn't matter because the only thing they would send me back is a statement saying it was logged into their system and send me a case number. On December 20th I got my approved claim and sent them all the information that I was given.
On December 28th I emailed them back again after not hearing from them in regards to the claim. On Dec 31st I got an email back stating that wasn't enough and that I had no hard evidence that it was actually stolen. They were still claiming that I didn't have an actual claim with the police and I needed to prove it to them before they would do anything.
On January 8th, early in the morning, I emailed back stating that I was getting pretty upset about not getting any answers from them and being treated like a scam artist trying to get free stuff. I said they had till the end of the day to come back with a response of how they would fix the issue or I would be filing claims. Still no response for two days.
On January 10th I called frightcatalog.com and got voicemail after voicemail and finally a few hours later I got Alyssa on the phone who had been answering my emails. I asked to speak to a manager because I knew she would be no help and she said she was the one in charge. So, I told her the who I was and the situation and immediately she got on the defensive and treating me like I was just trying to get something for free and my money back. I had told them all along I don't want a refund I just wanted my mask that I had ordered because I had very specific needs for it. Mind you all this time I am having to push my photo shoot back further and further because I don't have anything to work with or even start planning with.
After a few minutes of going over the situation with her and how ridiculous all this is and that I'm not to blame for them not requiring signatures on packages (which is a minuscule charge that I would have gladly paid for) and someone stealing the package off my steps she said that she would let me talk to the manager. I am pretty sure that is the person I wanted to talk to the second she answered the phone.
Nina got on the phone and I explained the situation to her again and after the entire thing she says she can't give me a refund because it's not their policy. She can't get me another mask because that one is sold out (even though the website said it wasn't) and the best thing she could do was a 20% discount on my next order.
I told her that what she was basically saying was that I had to spend MORE money with them on a product I wasn't needing to make up for their problem and horrible customer service. She realized this wasn't gonna make me happy so she told me to call UPS and make a claim with them because they aren't required to give refunds. I called UPS and the first thing they told me was to contact the company because they are responsible for the refunds and that UPS reimburses them.
As I was on the phone with them Nina emails me back saying "good news.... I was able to track down another mask" and that she had shipped me another one. Well that came as finally some good news to me from this company that had given me nothing but frustration up till this point. She told me I could contact UPS and have them change it to a signature required package. That was also not true when I called UPS back.
What she didn't know is that I was able to track down another mask from costumse4less.com which was cheaper than frightcatalog.com. I had ordered it because I thought I wasn't going to be able to get the mask from frightcatalog.com and really needed it for my project. When Nina told me that they shipped another one I decided to keep that one as a back up just in case during the photo shoot.
I got the tracking number for both and sat around and waited for the UPS man the day it was supposed to be delivered making sure not to leave the house. I got both masks from both companies on the same day. And here is the real kicker. BOTH MASKS ARE FROM THE EXACT SAME PLACE. Meaning both mask companies are run by the same warehouse and just have separate websites to reach a broader market. That also means that it meant Nina was flat out lying to me about them being sold out so they wouldn't have to send me another one and she just sent it when she realized what a nuisance I would be about this and not give up until things were set straight.
She was right about that because even though I got my mask I ended up having to pay for two of them. I had to wait six weeks of going back and forth with them to resolve this issue. If you look up frightcatalog.com on the Better Business Bureau you will see the have an F rating. Not surprising at all. Here is a link http://www.bbb.org/central-western-massachusetts/business-reviews/costumes-masquerade-and-theatrical/fright-catalog-in-worcester-ma-206186
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH FRIGHTCATALOG.COM "