This might be a bit lengthy post. So please bear with me. I’m also writing this in English so that non-German speakers can understand and be aware of this seller.
On Monday July 10, 2023, I placed an order for a cattleya (Cattleya rex) plant on www.lotusland.de and I promptly paid for my order via bank transfer. That is the only payment method available.
The seller confirmed the receipt of the payment on Saturday, July 15, and informed me that the plant would be shipped. However, he didn’t specify the exact date.
Since I had not heard from him for the whole week in the following week, I decided to email him and asked him when my order would be shipped on Thursday, July 20.
The seller wrote me back on Friday, July 21, and told me that the order would be shipped in the following week and the tracking number would be provided.
I waited for my order to arrive but nothing came (not even a tracking number). So, I emailed the seller again on Thursday, July 27, and asked when it would be shipped. This time I was really infuriated and frustrated. I also told him in my email that I would file a complaint on ec.europa.eu if I hadn’t received my order.
The seller replied on Friday, July 28, and told me that the order has been shipped in the beginning of that week. At this point, no tracking number had been provided to me. Therefore, I wasn’t able to check whether the seller had already shipped since the beginning of the week as claimed.
I waited until Saturday, July 30 for my order to arrive. I checked the tracking number on the package; he shipped it on Friday, July 28 — not in the beginning of the week at claimed.
Upon opening the package, I found 2 plants; one was the cattleya rex that I ordered and the other was a cattleya lueddemaniana, which was a bonus plant. The plant that I actually order arrived to me in very poor condition — with fungus infestation. So, I contacted the seller immediately on Saturday, July 30 and showed him the picture of the plant I ordered. The seller didn’t answer to my email.
So, I decided to email him again on Friday August 4 and told him that I was dissatisfied with the quality of the plant and with how he handled the situation: no solution was given, no answer from him at all. Again, I told him that I would file a complaint on the said platform above.
He then replied to me on Sunday, August 6, and told me to send back both plants. And he would refund me in full (176.99 EUR). So, I sent him back the plants on Saturday, August 12, and provided him the tracking number as well as my bank information for the refund.
I checked on DHL website and found out that the shipment was successfully delivered to the seller on Monday, August 14.
I gave the seller a lead time but he didn’t even email me to acknowledge the receipt of the shipment. So, I emailed him again on Thursday, August 17 with a screenshot of the shipment from DHL. In this email, I told him that I expected my refund. No answer from him.
On Monday, August 21, I emailed him again and told him that I would file a complaint against him again. No answer from him again this time. I tried to contact him on the phone. He never answered the phone either. I also wrote him messages on WhatsApp. He read them, but he never answered.
So, yesterday, I finally filed a complaint against him on ec.europa.eu and provided all the evidence of my email correspondence between me and him.
**Question**: what can I expect from this platform? Will they really do anything at all? Should I report him to the police?
I know that I was impatient but that was a lot of money. And he was being unprofessional. In all emails that he wrote to me, he never capitalized any word. Not even my name.
Sorry for the lengthy post and thank you for keeping on reading. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
by Dan_in_Munich