I LOVE LAMP
Guys - I'm feeling morally conflicted. On one hand, I believe in the language of the Universe and listening to the signs of what it is trying to tell me. On the other hand - I also believe in straight up vengeance (a la John Wick). What is a girl to do?!
Here's the situation:
So LONG before Kensi ever arrived, I've been obsessed with this lamp. I know this is bizarre but yes, I've been obsessed with this lamp below - it's called the Miffy lamp.
I saw it years ago and REALLY wanted it since then - but it's ridiculously expensive for a lamp to justify. It's also meant to be for a child's room...so I vowed that I would get one if I ever had a kid for their room. It comes in 2 sizes - the original size, which retails for $260+tax or the XL, which is $370+tax. Both are unnecessarily expensive for a lamp.
But ya know what? Now that I'm a grown ass woman with a child, house, job, responsibilities, etc, I've come to realize something: I can do whatever I want!
I really want this lamp and seeing it brings me joy. Did you hear that? It SPARKS JOY, so that means that Marie Kondo WANTS me to get this lamp - for myself, and for Kensi!
Side note: Why the hell are the only two sizes available for this lamp, "original" and "XL"? The XL seems obscenely large to me, but there isn't an inbetweenie size between the small and XL.
XL pic for reference below. WAY TOO BIG:
VERSUS the small size. Super cute but like... could also be a smidge bigger.
Yo where my mediums at?
Anyways so with Kensi's 1 year birthday coming up, I decided to bite the bullet and splurge - I'm getting that lamp for her room!
This lamp isn't easily available, and I was finally able to source it from West Coast Kids. Bonus - there was a promotion going on and the lamp was 15% off, which is RARE. Like I said - I've been stalking this lamp for awhile and I had never seen it go on sale before.
While I was on the WCK website, I also saw a playmat that I really liked as well. Kensi already has a play mat but it's in our living room, and I wanted to get another one to put in a different area for her to play on (i.e. her bedroom or the basement). The issue was the one I wanted was on back order, but I decided to select it anyways - so both those items went into the shopping cart!
Fast forward a week later:
I realized that I got a confirmation that the order had been made, but I didn't get a confirmation that the order was processed or that shipment was going out. I knew the mat was on back order so thought maybe that was the delay, so decided to check the account status online. When I looked on the status of it, it had this weird message that said "PICKED."
I tried to call WKC several times but ALWAYS got their "we are too busy right now" message, and it directed me to their customer service email. So I finally just sent an email to their customer service email to ask them WHAT UP homie, what does "PICKED" mean and when are my items available to be shipped?
Several days after sending the email, I got a response from them. There was a mistake.
There was an error in their online system so it somehow got stuck and never processed what I had ordered. They apologized and said they would have the order processed immediately.
Cool cool cool.
I responded back and asked them "Ok great, but can you let me know if the mat is finally available and when the items would be available to be shipped out?"
The person emailed back and said the mat was back in stock later that week, and then would be shipped out shortly after.
Great!
Another week goes by:
UPS guy shows up to my door and delivers ONE item. I open it up and it's the play mat!
But wait? WHERE'S MY BELOVED MIFFY?!
I check my credit card statement - they charged me fully for the mat and lamp.
GODDAMMIT IT! I have to combo call/email them AGAIN.
Another week goes by:
I email them but don't get a response back for a couple of days, so I attempt to call them all morning until I FINALLY get through to someone.
I explained the issue I originally had with my order being delayed because it wasn't processed and wasn't rectified until I chased them about it. Now I asked them, "Hey, the lamp is coming right? Because it's weird that the mat came when I assumed that because it was on back order that was what was holding the shipment of both items."
Their representative essentially said, "Yeah..... umm... seems like when we reprocessed your order and then you asked about when the mat was coming, they just processed the mat."
HUH?
Representative: "Yeah this is our bad, let me go check our stock right now to see if we have the lamp and I'll make sure that it gets shipped directly to you!"
Me: "Ok but that makes NO sense. I'm SOOO confused and now I'm super super annoyed by this explanation. Why am I the one constantly emailing and calling you guys to ask about what is going on with my orders! If I'm not chasing you guys, I'll actually never get my items... that you have already charged me for! The lamp is the one I cared about and was excited about the most!"
Representative gave me the run around and said he realizes how frustrating it is, and he was going to the stock room immediately to make sure they have it in stock and then it will get shipped.
Me: FINE! But this experience has REALLY sucked...TWICE!
Fast forward later that evening:
UPS man shows up to our door and drops off a package. I open up the box because I'm shocked. IT'S THE MIFFY LAMP!
I was floored. I couldn't understand HOW they got this lamp to me SO fast (i.e. SAME DAY) but somehow it took WEEKS of chasing them down to have them ship it to me.
But WHATEVER! I was done spending any more time chasing them - MIFFY WAS HOME!
So at this point you would think it would be the end of the story - BUT IT'S NOT!
A FEW DAYS LATER - customer service emails me back.
Good afternoon Katy,
Thank you for contacting Westcoast Kids, we hope you are doing well.
We are working hard to get your order out as soon as possible. Due to our very popular recent sales/promotions, we are experiencing a higher volume of orders than anticipated. WCK appreciates your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.
I have checked with our warehouses and they have confirmed that unfortunately your order was misplaced. We do sincerely apologize for this error, we have retrieved a new copy of your order and we will be shipping this order out as soon as possible.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience in regards to this order.
WAIT WHAT?!
Then I realized what happened - the person on the phone (who is also the person who had been emailing me back before), must not have connected the dots. When he spoke with me on the phone, he didn't realize he had resolved my issue.
I assumed though that when he looked up my account after reading my email, he would figure out that the lamp had been already delivered, case closed.
But no - because the next day, the UPS man shows up at my door again.
ANOTHER MIFFY ARRIVES!!!
At this point, I am very very confused as to what is going on with WCK - with their e-commerce, their customer service, their tracking and delivery system, EVERYTHING. First they lose my items to ship, now they are sending me the same item TWICE?
By now - a month has gone by since I had placed the order. I had spent more time than necessary emailing and calling customer service to chase them down. 2 MIFFYS later, and I feel VERY conflicted.
Should I tell them they sent me an additional MIFFY by mistake?
But then I pause and think back about all the time that has been dedicated to this lamp, and I get angry. I'm on mat leave. I'm trying to keep a human alive. My job isn't to chase down a company (repeatedly) to find out where my items are that I had ordered. Nor is it my job to chase them down AGAIN to tell them about the mistake they made, and go out of my way to try to return the item back.
Plus - I DO think it would be so cute if Kensi had a Miffy in her room and if I had a Miffy in my room (TWINSIES!).
WHAT SHOULD I DO? THIS IS TRULY A MORAL DILEMMA.
