People should be very wary of ordering a case from Portenzo. They have made a total mess of my order, and lied to me in the process.
I placed an order for an iPad case on August 3rd. I opted for USPS 7-21 business days international delivery. After 12 days, although their "Mega Tracker" listed my type of case as ON TIME, it was still not listed as having shipped. So I mailed customer service to ask what was happening. I was told:
"It's difficult to give an exact shipping date for an entirely handmade product. There are just too many variables involving quality control", which was very worrying, and also
"I know you're excited", a statement which I found condescending and, by that point, absolutely not true!
When I replied pointing out that this kind of unspecified wait was not what I had been led to expect when I bought the case, the response was polite and candid, admitting that although they had recently increased their workforce, they were over stretched. They said my case would be sent out that day and they would upgrade the delivery to FedEx 2-5 day by way of apology. I was very happy with their openness and token of apology. Little did I know that my problems were far from over.
That day I received an email from Portenzo saying my case had been shipped with USPS (not FedEx) and would be with me in 2-5 days. The tracking link on the email didn't work, which I thought was odd, but I was looking forward to the case arriving. However, three days later I got another email from Portenzo, saying that my case had been shipped on that day! The link on that email also didn't work.
I mailed customer service again to ask what was going on, and their reply was:
"I'm really not sure why you received another tracking number. Terribly sorry for the confusion."
As business hours ended on the 6th day after I was first told the case had shipped, I mailed customer services yet again, to give them a chance to explain themselves before I drew any conclusions. They stated that "We shipped your case on 8/17 however USPS did not start moving your package until 8/21." and they refunded my shipping costs (around $15).
I told them that due to the large amount of mistakes and a possibly false shipping email, I didn't feel at all satisfied by the situation. They replied:
"That was our mistake because we said we would ship it that way for you; however we have taken care of you by refunding your entire shipping cost". If this is being taken care of, no thank you. By the time the case arrives (if it arrives), it will have taken longer to arrive than I was led to believe when I originally opted for 7-21 day delivery. In addition I have had to enquire as to the state of my order at every step of the way, only through contacting them personally, could I receive any information on my order. And even then ithe response was usually vague, sometimes patronizing, and occasionally untrue.
This company appears to have an excess of self confidence, coupled with very poor business practices. If you are keen to have a Portenzo case, I would recommend buying one from Amazon, a company with an excellent track record in on time delivery and customer service.
Alternatively, you could try choosing a small start up company which is actually worthy of your money.
