Reasonable?

[adhoc]

I bought 2 HHKBs through candykeys and I've been waiting for 3 months, but it still hasn't showed up. What would you say is reasonable time to wait for a purchased good to arrive? Am I being unreasonable if I'm thinking about requesting a refund?

Both candykeys and me are in Europe, the shipping takes like...2 days. So that's not what is taking so long.

[scottc]

That's ridiculous. Were they meant to be in stock?

I'd ask for an immediate refund and if they complain, send a chargeback. Fuck that.

[Tias]

3 months?? Thats sound way to long. What model(s) was it, Pro2 or Type-S?
Was it pre-order?

I bought a Type-S in the beginning of December (which I ended selling in February as the layout was sadly not for me) and the Type-S arrived at the end of January without to much of a delay.

I myself haven't had any trouble with my orders from Candykeys and they've always had good customer service, but two HHKBs sums up to quite a lot of money so maybe ask for a refund a find the boards elsewhere. Especially if you have them on pre-order.

Edit: The board I ordered was a pre-order.
Edited typo.

[adhoc]

Thanks for the answers. I ordered it as "in stock", I sent an e-mail before hand "are they really in stock???" to which I got a reply "yes", but was notified after ordering that "oops, we actually don't have one, well we do, but we have to give it to someone else for RMA". Which didn't sit too well with me to be honest, but I thought oh well, I'll wait. How long? "2 weeks max" I was told. That was 4th of December. 2 and a half months ago.

Now I have to be honest, my patience is running out, if nothing else because my legibility for Paypal refund request is running also out. Every 2-3 weeks I ask for an update and I'm told "just a little longer".

[matt3o]

option 1: request a refund, tell them you will open a dispute if they don't give your money back or ship the keyboards right away

option 2: ask for a fixed date and tell them you'll open a dispute if the keyboards are not shipped by that date

Honestly they should have suggested a refund as soon as they realized they didn't have any HHKB left.

[andrewjoy]

I would at this point just cancel the order and get your money back before your paypal protection runs out.

[Tias]

As Matteo pointed out, they should have offered to refund you when they realized the boards you ordered wasn't in stock. You purchased the boards based on the information that they where immediately available. If one takes that into account then waiting close to 3 months for something thats supposed to be in stock then this is not reasonable at all.

Hope that you'll get your money back or get the board delivered to you soon.

[adhoc]

Thanks guys. Just wanted to check if I’m being unreasonable.

EDIT: I did what matt3o suggested, asked for a fixed date and if he can't give it to me I request a refund.

[Muirium]

What a con!

[adhoc]

Soooo...where I’m from, standard business practice is allowing 3 workdays to allow for an email response. It’s been 1 week since I wrote to the owner of candykeys and asked him if he can give me a date when he will be able to ship the boards and I still haven’t gotten an answer.

I will just ask for a refund now. It’s been more than three months since I ordered. If he doesn’t give me a refund within 1 week I will escalate via Paypal.

Sounds good?

[scottc]

I’d just escalate via PayPal now. It’s been months. What a joke.

[matt3o]

did you get the keyboard @adhoc?

[adhoc]

did you get the keyboard @adhoc?

Nah, I didn’t even get an answer when I can expect him to ship it...

I’d just escalate via PayPal now. It’s been months. What a joke.

Ugh I really want to avoid escalating to Paypal if I can...

[Wodan]

Opening a PayPal dispute isn't such a bad thing. The seller still has several days (14?) to reply or fill the order but he is obligated to pay attention to your case. It can still all end well (delivery, refund ...) but you are taking a stronger position which seems to be necessary to enforce a well deserved reply.

I don't understand people playing business/vendor and then act like a crappy GB runner when things go bad.

[matt3o]

yeah if you didn't get a reply, it's time for a dispute.

[Menuhin]

For good ordering from Japan directly, it probably can arrive Europe within 3-4 weeks...

[AJM]

I've bought from Candykeys twice.
The first time it was a preorder and after the preorder date was reached, there where several delays. I got answers to every e-mail within 1 or 2 days, but they were of the stalling kind: "One week", "next Friday", "soon"
In the end I got it with a few weeks delay.
The second time the keyboard was in stock and I got it within a week.
2 other "quirks":
- When a keyboard is ready to ship, you get an automated e-mail, telling you that you will get a shipping confirmation within 24 hours and if not - you shall send an e-mail to candykeys. I had to do this in both cases.
- The first time I paid 6 € extra for shipping with DHL instead of DPD. The package arrived by DPD. I have asked for a refund of the 6 €, but didn't get a reaction to that.
(DPD seems to have become a lot better, than I remember, and are very good with status update e-mails, so I don't mind that much.)

But your case is obviously extreme. At that point I would definitely – at least threaten to - escalate via PayPal, if you haven't done already.

[matt3o]

they look like good kids, just a bit unprofessional

[adhoc]

Yeah, I don't just hate candy keys now or something. I think what they're doing is great, but the whole reason why I bought from them was because they seemingly had the boards in stock and already in Europe, which means I would be getting my grubby hands on them as soon as possible. It was actually a Christmas gift to myself; replace the current HHKBs with brand new ones. Well, I honestly don't have a good reason why I would want to exchange one of them, but the other was an exchange from type s to non type s, which after several years of deciding I came to the conclusion I prefer the non type s.

Silly me, I even ordered a whole month before Christmas, so they would 100% reach me until that date...

Anyway, I wrote to the owner that I would like to request a refund now. 3 months is a long time. I would probably not be as patient if I didn't already have 2 extra HHKBs at home.

[adhoc]

I would like to update this topic in case some wanderer from the future comes here via Google and gets the wrong impression; candy keys has returned my money and that was no issue at all. Like someone else mentioned, the guys over there are good and have good intention, but perhaps lack some experience in retail. I agreed with the owner of the shop that he will e-mail me when he gets the board in stock and I will order again then.

[matt3o]

just to sum up

— hey guys, I'm going to order a couple of HHKBs, do you have them?
— SURE! Go ahead!
— Great! Here, take my money
[2 seconds later]
— oops sorry we don't have them
— [sad panda]... when then?
— few days
— okay I'll wait
[3 months later]
— I'd like my money back
— ooookay

[adhoc]

just to sum up

— hey guys, I'm going to order a couple of HHKBs, do you have them?
— SURE! Go ahead!
— Great! Here, take my money
[2 seconds later]
— oops sorry we don't have them
— [sad panda]... when then?
— few days
— okay I'll wait
[3 months later]
— I'd like my money back
— ooookay

Yes, sounds about right. Unfortunately.

[CandyKeys]

just to sum up

— hey guys, I'm going to order a couple of HHKBs, do you have them?
— SURE! Go ahead!
— Great! Here, take my money
[2 seconds later]
— oops sorry we don't have them
— [sad panda]... when then?
— few days
— okay I'll wait
[3 months later]
— I'd like my money back
— ooookay

Hey all,

Just wanted to apologize for this. It was a bit of a mess after another customer demanded a direct replacement, communication with HHKB got a bit confusing as our order qnts. are not so high. The boards eventually came in but yeah, now it is too late. We are aware of this screw up, just wanted to point out however that we are humans of the community too, charging on PayPal is not required etc. etc. If one says refund, then we will do it regardless if there is some insurance or not, it would be a terrible thing to do as a store to take peoples money and refuse refunds, especially when they have signed terms and conditions that state that a refund on a pre-order is possible at any time until 14 days of arrival

[adhoc]

Yes, I did say CandyKeys refunded me without any fuss whatsoever. CandyKeys, I STILL want the board, so if you have it, I would still like to buy it.