DO NOT buy anything from Hot British Deals - Shipped from the UK on Amazon

Where do I begin? After receiving an Amazon gift certificate from one of my relatives, I went browsing around on Amazon for a few things. I ordered a gently used copy of Eat the Rich by P.J. O'Rourke which I've been told is an excellent book for understanding economics and how economies work.

After that  I browsed around for some Vegemite which I've tasted previously and liked. I found a very decently priced deal from Hot British Deals - Shipped from the UK on Amazon, and added it to my cart, along with some other British foods.

After I had checked out however, I checked their feedback (Should have checked it BEFORE I checked out) and realized all their recent feed back was 60% or so negative with comments such as "seller said item was lost by the royal mail, it's been 3 months and have still not received items! Never ordering from them again!"

At this point I thought "Oh shit..." and promptly and frantically emailed the seller demanding that they cancel my order, and contacted customer support. After about six of my own messages, the seller finally and most importantly ONLY contacted me back after the customer support representative messaged them, which they responded to with this:

Hi,

We are very sorry you have still not received your items, after a few lengthy phone calls with Royal Mail they are now telling me this item is 'lost', we are very sorry about this and we have let them know how feel about this, please understand issues like this are out of our control but we will resolve this issue for you please bare with us.

We will reship this order for you.

Many Thanks
   
Top Brand Discounts 4 u

At this point I realized I was in too deep, keep in mind at this point, the seller hadn't marked the shipment as shipped, I had ordered no less than 24 hours ago and the order status was "Preparing for shipment" set to go out on the 3rd.

Several more messages were sent to the seller with no response asking them to cancel my order. I contacted customer service once more and they filed a report, as well as noted that the seller claims the Royal Mail lost the package before it even entered their hands.

After the claim was filed, and another message was sent to the seller, I received this:

Hi,

This order was already shipped before your request.

Thanks

At this point it's up to Amazon to fix. Amazon's customer support so far has been excellent at handling it. I have a claim filed and within the month, it should be cleared up.





Be warned, if you're reading this after coming across their Amazon store or any other e-commerce presence they hold, DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THEM as you will receive nothing.