"I wanted to order a framed print for a Christmas present. art.com had the print I was after so I proceeded to order. It was November, but at checkout the print was showing a delivery date of December 21st. A little concerned that this was close to Christmas I had a chat with one of art.com's agents regarding the delivery date and they assured me that a delivery date of the 21st would be met.
Today, December 22nd, one day after the print was due, I receive an email stating that the print 'will be delivered a bit late'. I spoke to another art.com agent today who stated the item is not in stock and has been "re-ordered". Re-ordered? What happened to the original order, and if something did happen why not notify my then rather than leave it until after the due date. This just does not add up.
Checking the website again, the print is showing as in stock with a delivery date of Jan 9th. I asked the agent if this date was accurate (twice), but was given the following brush off
"I am extremely sorry, The holiday time we are not guaranteed the date you are receive the package. "
So despite being assured I would received my order on time (it's not unreasonable to expect given it was ordered 4 weeks prior to due date), and the art.com website still showing stock they cannot tell me when I should expect delivery.
It's clear now they had no stock in the first place and list items as available/for sale on their website regardless of whether they hold stock or not.
Useless.
***UPDATE***
art.com read my review an contacted me, offered a refund on shipping and a further discount off the price of my framed print. They also promised that they would have the item ready to ship to me around the 9th of January.
Yesterday (3rd Jan) I receive an email stating the order has been cancelled as it is no longer available, despite this, it is still available for purchase on their website.
These guys are a joke. I can only advise to look for your prints elsewhere."
"This is a SCAM SITE. They trade under various different names including Allposters.co.uk (check out the reviews for Allposters, not surprising they have to invent new names to trade under). In Europe, they trade from Holland – this information is not easily available on their site; they have co.uk domains for their various trade names, and UK telephone numbers, making you believe you are buying from a UK company. Their ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ returns policy omits to tell you that you have to return and track the item at your own expense to Holland – for large framed posters, this will cost more than you paid for the poster. And why would you want to return the item? The quality is extremely poor. They do not sell proper prints. Rather than buying a ‘print’, I suggest you do this: 1) go onto their site and select a picture; 2) do a screen grab of the picture; 3) open the screen grab in MS paint and select the image; 4) save the selection as a JPEG; 5) print the JPEG on your own printer. The print quality from your home printer will be better than what they supply. The framing is also horrible and a total rip-off.
These guys trade under various names and also through Amazon – so beware. If you are buying prints on the internet check the small print; if the company has ‘International BV’ in tiny print at the bottom of the page, it is these guys. AVOID!
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