It is very clear to me that CMC intentionally withheld the truth about our order delays to prevent…read moreus from canceling our order. They did not inform us of the true status (that the vendor was out of stock) until after it had imposed a high cost to our organization.
We have placed three separate orders with CMC, all of which have gone badly.
1 - Order for 27 embroidered Marmot jackets
2 - Order for 100 branded pens
3 - Order for 180 American Apparel t-shirts
1. JACKETS:
We ordered 27 Marmot jackets on Dec 19. We were initially told they would arrive by Jan 5, and then the expected delivery continued to slip. We were then told we would have them in time for our January 22 holiday party.
If at any point we had been told that the delay would have been months, we'd have ordered a different brand or gone with another vendor. Instead, we were constantly told that everything was in order and delivery would be in 1-2 weeks.
On Feb 27, I told our rep that if the jackets did not arrive soon, we'd need to cancel our order. He replied that they would arrive by March 7. I followed up on Mar 3, and our rep said everything was still on track. On Mar 24, our rep told us the delivery date was still uncertain and we could order different brands. He provided a few options, none of which were name-brand or high quality, so he later offered us Patagonia jackets. We tried on a few jackets and picked the style, and on Apr 12 we sent our new order. On Apr 20, we sent a follow up email since we hadn't heard back from our rep, and a few days later we called.
Our rep NEVER told us that the jackets were out of stock until 3 months later. In fact, he constantly promised us delivery dates 1-2 weeks out. We followed up with him almost weekly, and he continued to assure us the jackets would arrive soon. I don't believe he even mentioned any problems with strikes until February. At that time, he told me that the jackets were DONE and on a boat for delivery. Later we hear they are out of stock - this means he blatantly lied when he said the jackets were ready to go and just delayed at port. It was not until March that he indicated the jackets might never arrive.
2. PENS
Lest you think we're idiots for trusting CMC a second time - the one compensation CMC offered us for the incredible delays was a free order of pens, which we decided to take him up on.
We placed an order about 2 weeks before our conference (for which we needed pens). Five days before the expected delivery date, we were told the vendor was out stock. Rather than find a similar alternative, he suggested a different style pen, in a different color (silver), with a different color logo (black). It wasn't until I called him for 30 minutes, that he found another black, metal pen with silver logo.
Luckily, he was able to expedite the replacement order, and they arrived the day I was leaving for the conference.
Only every pen was empty - no ink cartridges. Yes, 100 pens without ink.
3. T-SHIRTS
While the jackets were processing (and so before we had any idea of the problem), we also placed an order for 180 American Apparel t-shirts on March 16.
This order was also delayed several times and finally arrived on April 21.
During this time, I ended up needing to place a rush order with CustomInk online, and they were able to deliver my shirts to me in less than a week.
As of today, May 1, I still don't have any jackets. I did insist that CMC provide a discount on our next order and include jackets for the new employees who have joined since our original order. (Since these were a holiday gift, we only ordered enough for the current employees, but arriving six months later, we have new employees and it would be awkward for them not to get a jacket.)
I spoke directly to the CEO, who went so far as to blame our organization for a delay in getting the sizes to them. He claims that because of our delay, their vendor ran out of sizes. Rarely does the CEO of a company blame the customer for the problem. But this doesn't explain the complete lack of communication, transparency, and honesty from CMC.
I certainly suggest you avoid doing business with this company.
