Global Sugar Art (GSA) ruined my Birthday Gift

The last few weeks I've been really upset and though I got my package a few days ago I decided to wait before I write this post. Just so I don't say the wrong thing.

Let me ask you a question?

What if someone ordered a cake from you but the delivery person who you appointed was delayed in delivering your cake. Then the customer calls you asking for the cake.
What would you do?

1.      Wash your hands off saying it's not your fault; the delivery guy should be blamed? Or 

2.      Would you just ignore the message until the problem is solved? Or

3.      Would you not bother because it is a small order? Or

4.      Would you make haste to find out where the cake is and do everything possible to make sure your customer is well taken care of.

Did you pick number 4 like me?

This is good customer service right? No matter what your business, cakes or otherwise it is one of the most important aspects of business.

You guys remember my birthday? It was last month on the 8th of March. My husband wanted to buy me a gift but I choose to buy some cake decorating supplies instead of jewelry.
Yeah... crazy I know; but those to me are like toys to little kids, I can never have enough.

So all excited I decided to buy my birthday gift. Some of the ladies on one of my Facebook groups recommended GSA.

I did place an order with GSA and it was the worst customer experience that I had with online shopping ever. I wanted to share it with you.

I placed the order on the 10^th of March. I was hoping to use some of the ordered material for my cake on the 30^th of March but despite all the items being in stock the order was shipped only on the 15^th of March. Since I do not know much about the shipping companies in the US I used the default recommendation by GSA who uses Direct Link for these international shipments.

The cost of shipment was one third of my total order so I presumed it was a courier company. But they did not have any tracking information except that the order was shipped on the 15^th March.

After fifteen days of no tracking information regarding my shipment I called the Israel post to see if they had my package because it usually never takes this long. But they did not.

Finally on the 8^th of April almost one month later I decided to send GSA and Direct Link an email. I was terribly disappointed with how they responded and handled the situation.

When I called Direct Link, I had to call a couple of times. Before I finally I spoke to someone. He told me – “your shipment was delivered to the Israel Post on the 17^th March. We do not know what happens after that. We are not a shipping company. We are a mailing service. We are not a courier service”.
I was shocked to get such a reply. I asked the gentleman who he was and what was his name? He very proudly told me his name was John and he was the President and he is sorry but there is nothing he could do for me. He suggested I call the Israel post, so I told him what they told me. But all he said was he can’t do anything more for me.

After that I sent two more emails to GSA, explaining what had happened and the response I got from both Israel Post as well as Direct Link but I got an automated message. The first came without any information so I wrote again. This time the message said they have forwarded my information to Direct Link. So I wrote again but nothing.

Finally on the 15 of April I saw my tracking number in the Israel Postal system. It said my package had reached them on the 15^th of April via Sweden. It has now been transferred to the Israel postal service for delivery. So I went to the post office myself. After telling them all there was about my package, they decided to help and found my package for me. Officially I would get a note from them on the 16^thor 17^th of April, which would have been almost 37 days.

I don’t think I was so upset about not receiving my package. I was concerned but not worried or upset. I know these things happen and I knew that we had Passover in between. All I wanted was information as to where my package was, that it was not lost or that someone has some information about it.  I think what I was most upset was the response I got from both the companies.

Actually, GSA just chose to ignore my emails. And when they did respond they didn’t really respond to my problem but just shut me up with an automatic email.

The worst was Direct Link. They actually told me that there is nothing they can do for me. Showed no compassion or sympathy towards what had happened and just washed their hands off the problem completely.
Personally I think since I placed the order with GSA they were responsible for my order. I did not choose a company like Direct Link. I did not pay Direct Link for my shipment. I made payment to GSA. I think it is their responsibility to make sure their customers are well taken care of.

When I finally received my package I was so relieved but I had lost that excitement about my birthday gift. I opened the package and stored all the items like I do the rest of my cake supplies. It didn’t feel the same. That is why I named this post. GSA ruined my birthday gift. That's how I feltl.

I will never do business with GSA again and definitely not recommend a company like Direct Link to anyone.

Thanks for reading this post. Until next time.