The Selig Effect — The End

Quick follow up to my original post.* Refund is now complete and displays correctly on the credit card bill. I can enjoy my jersey without worry now.

*Edit as of January 21.  This is now part two of three. Part three changes the story.

Also, I should clarify that I appreciate that the Official MLB.com shop is on twitter and responds to people. This suggests that there’s a possibility for better/faster communication in the future.

Communication was really the heart of the problem I had. While I would never have been pleased with having to wait over  a month to receive an item I ordered online (this was not a custom order), if proper timetables and expectations had been set, I would have gladly waited. So, suggestions for running a webstore and improving communication:

1. Only say an item is “in stock” when it’s actually in stock.
2. If an item is “in stock” be prepared to ship it quickly. An in-stock item taking longer than a business day to ship makes you look incompetent.
3. If an item is waiting completion/delivery from the manufacturer, tell me that it’s “processing” or something and provide an ETA for completion.
4. If you say an item is “delayed without ETA” I should be able to cancel my order and get a refund immediately.
5. Don’t be surprised when I decide to use a different vendor if my order is “delayed without ETA”

Problem right now appears to be that the underlying order-status data is poor so @OfficialMLBShop is likely to be stuck in damage-control mode rather than pro-active helpful mode.