Howdy, I've figured I'd give my account of some customer support by Evike, which as yall know is the largest online airsoft distributor (and one of the only ones) in the US. Sorry for this being a bit out of place but as I browse this subreddit, I wanted to see if this was just me or anyone had poor experiences with Evike too, and to blow off steam after this fiasco.

Purchased an order during the memorial weekend of 2022. The wrong address was placed in the order because of Paypal filling in an inactive address that will not hold the package/cannot be picked up from. I sent a email to customer support the next day asking for a change in address. They did not respond after the holiday ended until 2353 hrs Wednesday (two days after the holiday ended) . Meanwhile, they partially shipped the order to the wrong address before responding, and only after an additional call to customer support at 1300 hrs, did they change the rest of the order before it shipped. This is the first big one, as they sent out the package partially to the wrong place, then if it wasn't for me calling them quickly after getting that notification, they would have sent the rest of the package over to the wrong place. They never responded to my email prior to sending it out.

Additionally, they have bounced responsibility back and forth multiple times. My first call to Evike support said they were unable to change the shipping address, it was the responsibility of UPS, and my only option is for the package to be returned to sender and charged 13.50 service fee (which increased to 18.00 later on). I contacted the carrier UPS (call #1U), and they stated that it was not received by UPS at that point. I called Evike (call #2E) which said it was in UPS custody but not held, and to call UPS again as again, repeating the same options as the first call. I called UPS again (call #2U) and was informed that the seller can still change the address. I called Evike (call #3E) and was informed of the same info as call 2E. I called UPS again (call #4U) and was told that after being accepted it can be changed via UPS support. I contacted UPS again (call #5U) after package was accepted, and then told that and the shipper/seller [Evike] only has the capability to request a change in address while the package is in transit, and that it is the responsibility for Evike customer support. I then additionally received the email response from Evike at 2353 hrs, repeating the same info again and asking me to inform them when it is being returned to sender. I have contacted Evike via call and email telling them of this info, (call #4E) and have again, been told they cannot do anything, that this is normal thing, they have an entire department for this, and they did not attempt to call UPS citing that previous experience says they cannot. I called UPS (call #6U) informing them that Evike won't call and was informed it either is going to be returned to sender, or seller has to contact UPS (same info as Call 5U). So in the end, my only options were to have it be returned to sender and be charged 18.00s (presumably out of my refund which was part of a larger order to get free shipping) for a new item (speedloader as it broke, and needed one for an event which I had to cancel) or somehow get evike to call UPS, which they wont.

In summary of that whole long text: Evike has the capability to change the shipping address via UPS while in transit, has been clearly informed of this, and refuses to do so. In conjunction, Evike, refusing to change the address via UPS, will charge me an $18.00 service fee as a penalty for return to sender, additionally placing impotence on me to inform them of such. Additionally, they only responded until after the problem occurred, and refuse to remedy the situation. As of right now I must pay Evike to get returned the package, have to pay Evike the difference of refund more shipping to get the same product, and have been delayed delivery of equipment which was ordered in expectation of an event.

What I'm trying to say, or express I suppose is that I genuinely feel this is some scam level stuff. This entire process felt as if the Evike customer support was just trying to bounce responsibility and put as minimal effort in and put in the "autofill" response, even after I went through the effort to see if I could fix this myself, and got word by word how Evike can indeed, change packages in transit. Even more so, I get charged 18.00 for a free shipping item, get to pay more than I originally did (with the reduced refund, and also having no free shipping) to get the object maybe 2 weeks later or even spend more to get 2 day shipping. Felt like a second-rate customer who is worth only his wallet, and felt that the only "options" I got was to milk me for more money. I feel like they have gotten to the point where since they have nailed the US market niche for being the biggest and one of the only market sellers for airsoft in the US, that they can get away with stuff like this. By no means am I saying I'm not at fault, in hindsight, I should have called on Tuesday, in hindsight, I should have checked the Paypal autofill, but after having to spend hours trying to fix this I just feel burned.

That was the end of my Ted Talk thank you.