RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Sorry for this rant on customer service....okay....I'm really not....

8 months ago we moved from Wisconsin to Florida. We haven't regretted the move at all....okay that's not the rant.

I changed all our addresses...even on PayPal. Apparently I was supposed to get a verification email for them to verify the new address from PayPay, which I never got. Yet the only address on file with them was our Florida address.

Whenever I ordered something and used PayPal to pay for it, the item got shipped to Wisconsin, even though I put down our Florida address for the orders. I never put it all together until I ordered some things from Adorama and used PayPal for payment. When I called Adorama to ask why my items were getting sent to Wisconsin even though the only address they have is my Florida address....they told me it was because when I use PayPal the address they have overrides they shipping address.

When I contacted PayPal they had no explanation, thought they got the address change verified on the phone.

Okay....now the good part...or better part...

I've been going on with Adorama and USPS for nearly a month to coordinate getting the items that I ordered reshipped to where I actually live.

I've about had it with the customer service at Adorama. They can't seem to process the returns in less than a week even with my prodding and telling them that the item(s) have been delivered to them. The last straw was last night. I get an email from Adorama telling me that they were finally shipping my items to me. When I run the UPS tracking number....guess what? Yeah...they're shipping the items back to my old Wisconsin address...the same address that they just got it returned from.

When I contacted Adorama....I got asked where I wanted it shipped to. I told them the address but added that it's the only address that you have on file. When I asked why they were shipping it back to Wisconsin....no explanation.

I understand that in shipping some mistakes happen and initially this was not Adorama's fault, but they've hindered or messed up this whenever they've gotten the chance. I'm loyal to a company/retailer when they take care of me or provide good customer service when I need them to fix the mistake.

Adorama is not doing much to make me want to use them again.

Rant over...resume your normal activities.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

So much for coordination of information.......

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Exactly….I’m doing more coordination than they are.

MrBossHK Loc: The West Valley of Phoenix metro area

About 4 years ago, I abandoned the PayPal ship after going through a similar scenario. The outcome was that PayPal froze my account and no one from PayPal could give me a reason for that action. I was actually shocked that I was able to even get someone from PayPal on the telephone to discuss the situation even if was to no avail. It is my opinion that PayPal is totally F.U.B.A.R., and I am elated since the divorce. Life is too short to waste it on worthless pursuits.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Yeah....I still might use them for services, but I'm not using them for anything physical that needs to be shipped.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The addressing is done by computer, and somewhere in either Adorama or PayPal's computers the old address is still there and listed as #1. It could even be in their backup files. Many commercial operations do a periodic reload from verified backups to overwrite any malware etc. that has gotten into the system. Since the verification is done by humans checking one item at a time, they are often few and far between on huge file groups.
And sometimes the file groups are maintained by specialist contractors, not Adorama or PayPal, in this case. Thus, it is easy for a change or update to take a long time to become the default.

And those service people you communicate with may not have the first clue who actually maintains the files since they are not part of the tech side.

I have all my online account settings arranged so that each order, I have to actually click on the payment and address* I want used with that order. Takes a little longer but I have mostly avoided problems like this. A few years back, I did have a $69 item that went to the wrong address. Right house # and street but "East" instead of "West". Post office tried to recover it, but the people there claimed to have never seen it "We were out of town that week." And the seller had "confirmation" of delivery so I had to buy the item again. A Chinese company with a small CA office that handled US sales. I found the same brand of software on another site and use them ever since.

I have multiple bank accounts at two banks, one is my wife's main account for shopping, one is the one I use for house payments etc. and one is my "Mad Money" account. Two addresses because I often buy things for our daughter who lives near the hospital where she is a Pediatric Resident and her name is also on the account to buy things.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Except they manage to get right on an earlier re-ship.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Very true!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I quit using Paypal a couple decades ago. Don't think I used it more than 3-4 times. Never found it valuable enough to keep it up.
Of course now I do a lot more ordering online than I did two decades ago. Amazon keeps track of multiple addresses well. I have had 3 over the last few years, plus I send things to my sister or my stepdaughter in different states. They never had any problem with addresses.

The only problem I had recently was when I ordered some cat food from Chewy. Just as soon as I hit the send key I found that although this was about the third thing I had ordered from them, their default address was my last address in a different state. I just called customer service and in 30 seconds the address got changed. I got the cat food 2 days later.

Sounds like Paypal is still in the last millenium.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Currently...the problem with using PayPal, when they "appear" to have another address, is that your order from the vendor/store has the current address...so you think you're having it sent to the correct place, but if PayPay has another it apparently overrides the address the vendor/store has. That's what was happening to me. All along I thought that PayPay was just a vehicle to pay the vendor/store. Apparently, I was wrong.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

But current practice includes ordering from one address, shipping to another address, and paying from a third address. If PayPal can't handle something like that, it's time to find someone who will.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

Totally agree. I apparently learned that the hard way.

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Very similar history and experience . . . except for the cat food.

RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

UPDATE - Adorama did manage to change the delivery destination while in transit. So, it looks like I might actually get the item that was reshipped.