On Thursday, 4/7/2016, I placed an order online at hardwareonlinestore.com (also doing business as Hanna Paint and Hardware [an Ace Hardware], 4343 N Andrews Ave. Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309) for a 32 oz. bottle of Schultz All-Purpose Plant Food Liquid. That same day I received from them an email confirmation of my order (no. 251098). The confirmation indicated the order status as "Confirmed" and the shipment method as "UPS - Standard 3-9 Business Days".
By Thursday, 4/21/2016, (2 full weeks or 10 business days after order placement) I had not received my order nor any notification of shipment or tracking number as is customary so I emailed HOS - HardwareOnlineStore inquiring as to the status of my order and requested a UPS shipment tracking number.
By the next day, 4/22/2016, I had not receive a response so I emailed them again.
On 4/23/2016 I received an email from HOS - HardwareOnlineStore indicating that the order was shipped that day via USPS Priority and included a tracking number. No explanation or apology as to the cause for the two week delay.
On 4/25/2016 I received my order. I was not at all pleased that the bottle had leaked drastically and had completely saturated the packing slip taped around the bottle and had turned it completely green from the liquid plant food's dye. The outside of the bottle and the inside of the shipping envelope were wet and sticky with liquid plant food. The leak was readily apparent even before opening the shipping envelope. The address label was smeared from being wet and there was a smell of ammonia from the fertilizer. After examining the level of remaining contents in the bottle I estimate that approximately 20% of the 32 ounces of liquid fertilizer had leaked out.
The cause of the leak was apparently due to their decision to ship it via 2 day USPS Priority Mail which required shipment in an unpressurized cargo hold of an airplane (Florida to California). The low pressure at high altitude caused the higher internal pressure of the bottle to expand, rupture the seal, and leak extensively. Not a wise decision. The original order stated and I paid for UPS ground delivery ($13.77) not expedited air delivery. Even if they had shipped it UPS Ground as they were supposed to it was not a wise decision to package a quart bottle in only a padded envelope.
That same day, 4/25/2016, I sent them another email describing the condition of the order I received. After a full week, 5/2/2016, still no response.
I have found HOS - HardwareOnlineStore to be the antithesis of customer satisfaction. They ignored my order for two weeks and only shipped it after my emails. They offered no explanation or apology. They used extremely poor judgement in selecting a shipping method that caused the leak. They are ignoring my email describing the unsatisfactory condition of my order received. read more