ErinsAnimals

So by now most of you will know of my recent experiences with well known online pet-suppliers Viovet but I wanted to delve into a little more detail here and really explain the situation and how the company responded.

So I first made an order with them near to Christmas 2012, it was a small order of just 7 items and at the time I lived in the UK where their warehouse is located. It was, I have to say, on of the best uses of money I have ever experienced. Not only were the products top notch and wonderfully cheap but delivery was prompt and the way they packed it would have made any other company feel the tug of guilt at their collars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUZJ2-YM-Og

Though only a small order it arrived in a larger-than-needed box wrapped in fragile tape and inside it was like and old game of lucky dip. The box had been filled with packing foam so the items were protected from being bashed around and from knocking against each other. There was not a dent of damage to any of them.

When I moved home to Cyprus in May 2013 I discovered almost immediately how difficult it was going to be to get my pet supplies. Weeks of searching for a pet care company who would post to the island lead me to dead end after dead end until I post by a friend reminded me of the company Viovet and prompted me to take a look at their delivery options - well I was thrilled to bits, they delivered to Cyprus! Though postage would be €11 for a 1.5kg parcel I'm not one to complain and quickly filled up my shopping cart with everything I wanted. I spent several days trying to get as much as possible for the weight allowance and eventually placed my order happy and excited for its arrival.

A few weeks later it arrived (Cyprus isn't great for time keeping even with post!) and I was overjoyed. The only problem I had was that I knew from the moment I saw the box that this wasn't going to be as well packed as last time. Boy was I right!

On the box it read "Fragile - Handle With Care" but this is as far as packaging went. I opened up the tiny box to find all of the items loose and packed in together. No bubble wrap, no packing foam not even any brown paper between the items! They had traveled over 2000 miles passed through Royal Mail, Air Mail and Cyprus Mail hands and the whole time they had been allowed to freely roll and bash around in the little box. In fact when I picked up the parcel at the post office I found it upside-down under several other boxes where it had clearly just be tipped out of the bag by the post man - well that Cyprus Mail for you!

This bad packaging had actually caused damage to a box of Pedigree milk bones leaving a large hole in the back of the box. Thankfully as far as I know nothing else was damaged!

This then lead me to my next problem. I had been sent the wrong item instead of something I needed!
I had ordered a special drip free, spring-loaded water bottle as the heat here causes normal water bottle spouts to expand and leak so I hoped this new bottle would be better suited to the climate. Unfortunately, what they sent me instead was some kind of Crittertrail bottle designed to go on a specific cage. It lacked an actually spout and instead was just a useless lump of flimsy plastic with a hole in the bottom for drinking from. I would highly expect this kind of bottle to leak more than a little as there was no kind of system for keeping water inside... it was just a hole. Useless is an understatement.

So I had paid €11 on post and packaging only to get no packaging and €1.50 on a bottle I never received.
Needless to say I was not happy.

I proceeded to write a long letter of complaint to the company stating my dissatisfaction, a day later I received the following reply from a staff member:

Dear Erin *****,

Thank you for your message we received via Facebook. We really appreciate your kind comments and we strive to maintain a good name for our company.

We are sorry to hear that you have received the wrong item and sadly, as a company we do sometimes make mistakes when dispatching and packing orders. We have looked into this for you and we regret to say it was a mistake on our behalf. We would be more than happy to refund you in full for the Superpet Critter Deluxe Water Bottle » 118ml Bottle, and we do apologise for the inconvenience caused.

We are so grateful that you brought this to our attention, and we are now looking into new and improved ways to be able to deliver overseas. For you and other customers in the future. In regards to future orders you may place with us, we would more than happy to fulfil any requests you have to the future orders and how they are packed to be sent over to Cyprus, such as bubble wrap around the items or fragile tape on the outside of the box, we are more than happy to fulfil your instructions to the best of our ability as we can assure you we do not take damage to our orders lightly.

Please do not hesitate to add a short note into the 'notes to VioVet staff' box at the checkout this will stop the process of dispatch so I can double check the order before we do dispatch it. I will ensure that our warehouse team are given this message at the time your order is packaged. I will make sure that this is done to the best of my ability, to prevent further issues regarding future delivering overseas.

We would not expect you to return the bottle to ourselves, as this was a mistake on our behalf. As stated previously we will refund you £1.11 for the bottle and we hope you will be able to make use of the one you received.

Once again, please accept our apologies on this matter and we can assure you we are taking all possible precautions to ensure this doesn't occur again.

Kind Regards,

So I read the email reply several times before deciding how I felt about it. In the end I was happy with their response, it seemed genuine at least and they did seem very willing to make changes in order to prevent it happening again. I am still however unhappy that it took a letter of complaint to make them realise how unacceptable it was to send a parcel overseas with no protection at all. I know from friends in the UK that they still receive well-packaged parcels from Viovet so why do those living abroad have to ask for a service they already paid from via P&P?

Regardless I have decided to forgive Viovet on this occasion and have ordered from them again. The order should be arriving around the first week of October so watch this space for information on whether or not they have learned from their mistakes! Until then don't let my review put you off ordering from Viovet.co.uk most people have good experiences with them and I am really hoping mine was just a one off!

If you are particularly concerned with items not being packaged properly do make use of their 'notes to viovet staff' box that can be found at the bottom of the page when you are checking out on their website. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want, you have paid for that service and you have every right to get it!

Until next time, take care everyone!
Erin xxx