On March 15, 2021 I purchased a 3D printed trap kit from Ben of Kent Props on Etsy. On March 16th, 2021 I purchased a trap battery metal top from his Etsy shop. The trap kit had a 4 week lead time before shipping. On March 24th, 2021 the battery top was marked as shipped and tracking was provided. I received the battery top within a week, and it was exactly as described in the listing. On April 6th, 2021 the trap kit was marked as shipped. No tracking was provided for the trap kit. I found that odd since the battery top had tracking provided, but no big deal. I patiently waited for my trap kit to arrive.
After waiting 6 weeks and not receiving the trap kit, I contacted Ben and asked if he had a tracking number for the shipment. He responded very quickly, provided me with an update on the tracking status and said that it was due for delivery the following Wednesday. He also shed some light on the shipping situation he was dealing with regularly. He did not, however, give me a tracking number. I thought that too was weird, but I knew his reputation and I trusted him. So I waited.
Three weeks after the day he said the trap kit was due to be delivered, I had still not received anything. So I reached out to him again. He was again very quick to respond, and said that he was waiting on an update and would let me know in the morning.
I didn’t hear from him again. So I waited two weeks and reached out again. He was quick to respond, and said that he was waiting on new tracking information to come through. However, he also said that it was due for delivery the following week. He then said that he would update me in the morning. I found this very odd. If he was tracking the package, why would he not just give me the tracking number? And if the tracking information said it was due for delivery the following week, what update was he waiting on? I remained patient though, and I waited.
A month went by and I had not received the package, nor had I heard back from Ben on the tracking update like he promised. At this point I was having my doubts that this had ever actually been shipped. I had seen a couple of posts on Facebook from people that had gotten the same information that surprisingly lacked any real information. Those posts were swarmed by people that swore Ben was a stand-up guy, and the problems the buyers were having were somehow the fault of the buyers. Those posts always seemed to stay up for only a few hours, and then they vanished. Things were not looking like they were on the up-and-up. So I reached out to Ben again. He again responded very quickly. He blamed the couriers for the hold-ups, and said that he had made the decision to change couriers because he was getting the run around. He then offered to send me a refund or a replacement. I found this response to be a little bit more in line with what I expected from him, and I really wanted the trap kit, so I requested a replacement. I thought maybe I had become suspicious for no reason, and things were going to work out.
Another month went by, and I received a message from Ben. He said there was an issue when the package was relabeled and it had been fixed, and delivery was expected next Friday. Sweet. I still didn’t have a tracking number, and I didn’t know for sure if this was the replacement kit or the original, but I took him at his word.
Eighteen days later, I still hadn’t received the package. I also realized that I failed to respond to Ben’s last message. So I reached out to him again. Yet again, he was quick to respond. He stated that the package had a hold put on it but had been released. He said that he would get an update in the morning and let me know what is going on. He also said that if the package was lost, he would refund me or send with another courier.
I got an update the next morning. He said that he was giving the courier a few days to get things straightened out, or he was sending a (or another?) replacement. After another month, I hadn’t heard any more or received anything. I reached out yet again, and he was again very quick to respond. He said that he would provide me tracking information the following Monday.
Another month of nothing. At this point I was pretty much done. I had been ordering Christmas presents on Etsy and had been receiving packages from the UK as well as other parts of Europe without issue for the better part of a month. I knew that there was no way that he could be so unlucky with shipping, over and over again, but other sellers were able to get products out to customers with little to no issue. And some of the items I received had been larger and heavier than I expected the trap kit to be, so we’re not comparing shipping on a photograph to a 3d printed kit here. I reached out again and asked for the tracking number. He was quick to respond, gave me a delivery date of December 9th, and said he would update me again on Monday. No tracking number was given, and no reason was given as to why he didn’t provide it.
Another month… This time he gives me a story to try to make me feel bad for him in this deal. He says that he resent the package (again?) with Parcelforce and once it arrives in the US he will be able to give me the tracking number for local tracking. I have never had tracking information change once a package was in the US… But admittedly, I know nothing about shipping and couriers overseas. It seemed odd, but I really couldn’t argue with him on this. He also said that he resent the battery top. I’m not sure why, I received it and I told him I received it. I really didn’t have a need for two of those and only one trap kit. But whatever.
Two weeks later, I hadn’t heard anything or received anything. I asked for the tracking number again. He was quick to respond, and said that he would update me, but didn’t say when. He also said he was sending a prototype metal handle for the trap kit. Cool. Now, for transparency, I’m posting the entire conversation I had with Ben, so a couple pics have nothing to do with my order.
Then all was quiet for two months. So I reached out again. He responded quickly and said that the package had cleared customs and was due for delivery the next week, and he would update me in the morning (I assumed with a tracking number). But it turned into a game of me asking and him telling me he would update me the next day.
Sixteen days later, I got a tracking number!! But… it didn’t work.
He said that he would look into it. He then gave me a different tracking number, stating Royal Mail and Parcelforce had both given him the wrong tracking number before (?) and said that it was being handed off to USPS in the next few days. He also said that the tracking could be done on the USPS website as it updates. A little red flag shot up for me here… If the tracking number is a Royal Mail tracking number, it should work on the Royal Mail website as well. I shouldn’t have to wait for USPS to have it in hand to track it. I got the impression that that was the point of his statement. He didn’t want me to see what Royal Mail had to say about the shipment.
I went to the USPS website and entered my tracking number like he wanted me to do. It said the label was created but it wasn’t in the USPS system. Ok then.
So I went to the Royal Mail website and tracked it there. Label created April 20th, 2022… The day he gave me the tracking number…
I gave it five days to see if the package was ever dropped off with the carrier. No change to the tracking information on the Royal Mail or USPS website. I was tired of being strung around. I asked for a refund. He was quick to respond and quick to issue a refund.
Then he told me he spent twice the price of the kit on shipping trying to get this to me. He also sent me snips of two (out of four?) tracking numbers to prove that he had shipped it to me. The first snip was the tracking number from Royal Mail for the shipping label he had just created 5 days before. The other snip… I have no idea what that is. It doesn’t show a carrier, and it’s my first time seeing it. I tried the tracking number on Royal Mail, Parcelforce, and DHL and came up with nothing.
I do not believe the Ben set out to scam me. In the end, I received a refund (minus the exchange rate difference from when I paid to now), so I’m not out anything other than my time. I whole heartedly believe that he fully intends to ship you your order. But I also believe that he gets extremely backed up with orders, and then he picks and chooses which orders to make and ship out and which orders to stall on. I believe that he uses “shipping delays” as a stall tactic to avoid the blame being placed on him for any delays. I just wish that he was straight forward about what was going on. Some people wouldn’t understand, but most would. As a result, he is dealing with more customers asking for refunds because they have been lied to and strung along than he would have if he just said “Dude, I’m all kinds of backed up. The 4 week lead time is actually going to be more like 3 months. Is that ok?”
But… that’s not what he has chosen to do. Instead, he is deceitful and gaslights his customers when he needs more time to get to their order. And when those customers figure out what is going on and request a refund, he cancels their orders on Etsy before issuing a refund so negative feedback can’t be left. He also blocks you from his Facebook page so you can’t say anything there. And when he has several people reporting issues with him on different Facebook groups, he will post about the issue on his page, and paints the customers as being wrong in some way. Then everybody that has ordered from him in the past and received their orders flock to his side and look down their noses at the people that were lied to and taken advantage of. It’s a very strange phenomenon. It’s like a cult, or like they have their retirement plans all rolled up in BoK stock.
All that said… I don’t think Ben is trying to scam anybody out of their money. I believe that he fully intends to fulfill orders placed through him. And from what I hear, he has pretty descent products. But if you place an order with him, and you don’t get a tracking number when your order ships, or the tracking number never works, be aware that you may be going on a very long ride to get your items.
To anybody that wants to try to argue for Ben and say that we are being impatient and shipping is just slow, that’s not the issue and you know it. Time and time again, proof has been given that Ben is not conducting himself professionally and that customers are, in fact, being lied to. Do I think it’s the majority of his customers? No, not at all. Is this an ongoing issue that customers may expect to have to deal with? Yup. Are the issues 100% related to Covid, Brexit, fuel shortages, etc? No. This has been going on for years. I’m not trying to ruin his business. I do wish that he would admit to his wrongdoings and provide the customer care that is expected, even if that means letting some people down and telling them he can’t get to their order in the time originally promised. Just… be aware of what’s going on before you order from his store.
I assume the tracking number(s) he's provided don't work?
I'd be inclined to tell him you either need a working tracking number, or a refund.
- By mrmichaelt
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