Hands down, the worst vendor experience of my 20+ year professional design career.
Hands down, the worst vendor experience of my 20+ year professional design career. Lapel Pin Junction, its parent company Excel Promotional Products, LLC, its principal, and their production counterparts in China, King Gifts Co. Ltd. have failed on numerous levels. Bottom line, their company lacks integrity, lacks quality services and products, and has essential stole money in the process.
My graphic design company provided our own final artwork to be reproduced on 4 custom lapel pins; we signed off on their watermarked digital proofs from our original artwork and agreed to go into production. Lapel Pin Junction / Excel Promos somehow still managed to deliver 3 out of 4 products we ordered with misspellings and intensely refused to remake the products, and also failed to resolve or to even discuss options for a proper resolution.
I've attempted to resolve the issue with the company for many months via both email and phone. The company has flatly refused any offer or option for resolution.
Overview of their failed efforts:
- Does not provide a quality product
- Does not honor their own Terms and Conditions that state:
“TheLapelPinJunction.com was founded on a strong belief that our customers are the reason for our success.”
“We back each and every Lapel pin order with outstanding customer service practices, and our 100% quality guarantee.”
“Standing behind our products 100%. TheLapelPinJunction.com backs each and every order with our 100% Quality Guarantee. We will replace (at no additional charge to you) defective product that equates to 5% or more of the order total that is found to have defects in materials or workmanship.”
- Handled the disputed resolution poorly by negating any need to resolve the matter to any degree.
- Attempted to charge a higher per unit rate different than what was publicly listed on their website
- Delivery timeframe was more than twice what was published on their website. They blamed the delay on the “Chinese New Year causes a slow down in production.” The order was placed in September – nowhere close to the Chinese New Year.
- The company also failed to follow proper US Customs and Border protection laws and illegally does not label either the country of origin (Made in China) on their products, nor does the company include proper health warnings required by law which should have been disclosed and reported specifically for deliver to California residents in that the product may contain chemicals known to the State of CA to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
- Attempted to claim different terms than was clearly outlined in their own Terms and Conditions as a reason not to resolve the dispute. They clearly don’t even know their own legal terms they attempt to enforce.
- Without my authorization, Lapel Pin Junction / Excel Promos charged back my credit card twice after I disputed their products with my credit card company. During the initial payment Lapel Pin Junction claimed that after credit card is run all credit cards numbers “are destroyed after the initial payment in order to protect against data loss.” That statement was clearly not an accurate representation of how they purport to handle data security or customers credit card information.
- To make matters worse, while attempting to discuss the issue with their representative via phone, I was put on hold so the representative “could give his boss the weekly sales numbers.” Yes, the representative actually said that to me. Clearly a firm indication that sales numbers where a far higher importance than customer service.
- At the end of our phone conversation regarding the dispute, a representative attempted to up-sell me on additional products and services in the future even after refusing to resolve the current issue at hand.
Certainly mistakes can happen, and when they do it is unfortunate, but how a company or individual handles the mistake is paramount. Lapel Pin Junction, its parent company Excel Promotional Products, LLC, its principal, and their production counterparts King Gifts Co. Ltd. have failed miserably and lack professional integrity.
April 15, 2018
Unprompted review