Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/15/2024

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I ordered $895 worth of Frozen Durian from Year of the Durian LLC in ******. The Product was to be shipped and delivered within 2 days via *** and was supposed to arrive frozen. Per *** tracking, the products arrived at the *** facility on Monday 10/21/2024 @ 3:06pm scheduled for Delivery on Wednesday 10/23. *** was delayed in delivery by 24 hrs and product did not arrive at my home until the afternoon of 10/24. 24 hours after original delivery date. Therefore, 70% of the delivered product came in a degraded thawed and spoiled state. Their policy states that they will refund or credit if shipping delays lead to spoilage or damage. I have provided to the company well over 60 pictures showing that the fruit was thawed and runny. The photos have time stamps showing when I opened the box and an **** receipt showing when I arrived home which was a few minutes before I opened the box. I offered to ship the bad product back and they refused to take it. I was even willing to compromise and accept a credit not even a refund for 70% of the order but they only wanted to offer half even though I believe I should receive 100% reimbursement because the product was supposed to come frozen and unspoiled and that is not what I received. I have spent countless hours, over 20 emails back and forth arguing with the owner even though I gave proof of what the product looked like when it arrive. He is accusing me of being dishonest which is ridiculous. I am now asking for 100% refund or credit of what I ordered. I have been a loyal paying customer up to this point and they are cheating me when they should live up to the policy on their website of reimbursement for spoiled or damaged product. I am unable to add any pictures or emails due to size limitations of your website but can provide upon request.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/16/2024

  There has been a lot of back and forth with ***** ****** by email. We originally attempted to resolve her complaint with a partial credit and free shipping offer, which she did not accept. She has demanded a 100% refund, which is not how we handle late *** deliveries. 
  
  Her problem originates with how she interpreted our Refund/Replacement Policy, but now her problem is that she is lying, manipulating photos, and attempting fraud. She has created fake instagram accounts and is harassing us online. We have blocked her credit card and email from our shop. 
  
  Explanation of our Refund and Replacement Policy
  We are a small company selling imported frozen fruit products from small family operated farms in ********. We ship our products with ***.
  
  Under our terms and policies, we cover Late Delivery or Improper Handling by *** that results in Spoilage or Damage. We do not refund an entire shipment for the sole reason that it arrived late. There must be clear signs that the products arrived spoiled or were damaged in transit. 
  
  Spoiled is defined as when the product is no longer safe or enjoyable to eat and the product must be thrown away. 
  
  Damage occurs if the integrity of the food is broken. Ruptured packages or packages missing due to holes torn in the box would all be examples of damage (we have seen some bad *** handling).  
  
  In ******* case, the question was whether or not her packages had spoiled in transit, as she did not report damage. 
  
  Typically, when a package arrives late enough to be spoiled we replace the full order the following shipping day. If the customer tells us the next shipping date is not convenient,  we credit the customer with a non-expiring coupon that can be used on our website at any date convenient for the customer. As stated on our Terms page, all claims are reviewed by our team and the outcome and percentage of credit issued is up to the discretion of our team and what we find to be fair and reasonable. We are typically lenient and will often give partial credits even when the claim does not meet our requirements because it's important to us that our customers are happy. 
  
  ******* package arrived at her house at 1:34pm on Thursday, rather than on Wednesday as scheduled, due to a *** mechanical failure. Packages shipped with *** are often delayed by one day. In our experience so far this length of delay is not an issue. The product typically arrives in a mostly-frozen condition. We ship with both dry ice and gel packs, and with a one-day delay there is not time for the product to thaw enough to spoil.
  
  In ******* situation, spoilage was not considered an issue, and any credit offered was for customer relations only. 
  
  ***** expressed her unhappiness with the product when it arrived. We reviewed her initial photos. Many of the packages still had visible ice crystals and the majority were clearly still frozen, however some were showing signs of beginning to thaw.  We did not see any signs of spoilage or damage. 
  
  By email we communicated to ***** that the majority of her packages could safely be placed in the freezer without any changes to the quality, as they were still frozen. The few packets showing some sign of thawing we recommended she place in her refrigerator and eat within 10 days. 
  
  Because ***** is a fairly new customer and had expressed unhappiness, we attempted to make her happy by additionally offering her a 50% credit with free shipping on her next order. We thought this was a very generous offer given that we did not see any serious issues with the state of her product on arrival.  However, ***** rejected the credit and demanded a 100% refund. 
  
  ******* explained to her what we saw in her initial photos, and told her that a 100% refund was not reasonable and was not covered under our terms and conditions. ***** however was not satisfied. She sent many long emails and began to harass us.   
  
  At this point, ******* Koivusalo took over communication with *****. He reviewed her emails, and noticed irregularities with the product photos she had posted in the ****** Drive Folder. 
  
  After checking timestamps, he noticed that around 25% of the photos were timestamped at 5:11PM on Thursday (around 4 hours after delivery), and then she had re-photographed 100% of all the products between 5:33PM - 5:36PM. Since she had re-photographed the same packets, we could compare how the packet looked at 5:11PM with how it looked 20 minutes later. It was clear that she had purposefully thawed these packets to take additional photos. 
  
  ******* also pointed out that ***** had not followed directions on what type of photos to send to us for a claim. 
  
  When ***** received her *** tracking number for the shipment, she also received a specific list of photos that she should send to us, which includes a photo of the box and packaging to indicate if there was damage due to improper *** handling. Since in ******* initial email, she did not send these photos, ******* asked her to send the missing ones and we would re-evaluate her claim. 
  
  ***** sent these photos in her next email. However, unlike the initial photos which she sent on ****** Drive Folder, she sent photos of opening the box as a low-resolution screenshot. These photos appeared to show that the product was fully frozen when the box was first opened and the gel ice appeared hard and intact.
  
  At this point, we also realized that she had deleted the folder of initial photos (which we had already downloaded) and replaced them with photos showing a much more thawed out product. These new photos have a timestamp for Friday evening, more than 24 hours after she says she first opened the box. 
  
  We asked her to send the photos of receiving the box as original photos in the ****** Drive Folder, rather than screenshots, however she refused. ******* informed her that the screenshots showing the product inside the original packaging makes it look like the product was fully frozen on arrival. He requested her in 7 different emails responding to her demands for a refund to please send the original high-resolution photo in a ****** Drive Folder with the others, however she did not send this photo and became more and more upset. We assume she does not want us to be able to compare the time stamps for when she opened the box versus when she took the photos of the product. 
  
  After reviewing the photos and communicating with ***** at length, it seems clear that she is dishonest and attempting fraud. We decided to rescind her 50% credit and free shipping offer, and we have blocked her from our shop.  She has been harassing us on our social media accounts using multiple fake accounts. 
  
  We can supply screenshots of all communications, the full 3 sets of product photos, and screenshots of her activities on Instagram. 
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 22537516
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Accusing an established customer of fraud who had ordered product several times in the past and who had even provided positive feedback to the company sounds inconsistent and sketchy. The owner ******* agreed early in my email complaint that based on the pictures I sent her, the product did not arrive in the condition it should have (frozen). At first, she tried to convince me I just needed to try and eat it all and that I received perfectly good Durian. She said that anything without liquid in the package could be refrozen but anything with liquid in it she would not suggest refreezing but eating right away. The majority of the packages had brown liquid in them and were clearly thawed and not frozen. I then pointed out to her many times that I purchased FROZEN Durian and that I bought the product to store not to eat right away. I also pointed out to her the companies shipping policy that said they would reimburse customers for products that arrived damaged or spoiled. The first thing I offered immediately was to send back the spoiled product for either a refund or a new shipment and she refused to take it back (does this sound like someone trying to defraud?  Offering to send back all of the spoiled product?)

  She then tried to offer me a credit for only half of the thawed product. At first I insisted on a full refund but wanted to try to compromise so I re-reviewed all of the packages again (and sent them more photos) and I told her that based on the liquid in the packages, $615 was what was due to me not the $445 credit she offered me. I was trying to meet her somewhere in the middle because there were about 6 packages with no liquid in them that looked ok but still not great. After several emails back and forth and my frustration building, this is where things started to go awry. She handed me off to her boyfriend and he started emailing me asking me for more pictures, specifically of me opening the box. I had already provided to them close to 60 pictures of the durian packages after removed from the box with timestamps, proof of the time I arrived home, proof of the time the package was delivered, along with the *** picture of the box outside my door. These things showed them that I arrived home at 5pm and the pictures of the packages were taken between 5-5:15pm. I have ordered Durian from them before and watched it thaw. None of the thawed Durian had brown liquid after thawing for just ***** minutes. The brownish liquid in the packs comes from extended thawing time which means it was already defrosting before being unpacked.I also reminded them that I emailed their company prior to the shipment specifically requesting they ask *** to put the box under my carport and not on the front porch because I knew that there was better shade in my carport and it was hot in ******* that week. (Now does that sound like someone trying to perpetrate fraud?)  I was trying to protect the product in case I was not home when it arrived. )

  But none of what I had provided seemed like proof enough for them. So I looked for photos of the initial opening of the box. I only had a few. I emailed them to him. When he received them, he claimed he was unable to see anything from the emailed photos and wanted them put on ****** drive like my other photos. I thought this was strange since I could see the photos fine in the email but I went ahead and dropped them on ****** drive. He then said they needed to be unmodified  and moved to apple drive because he felt the photos were somehow manipulated. I told him they were not manipulated and went back and forth with him in email about why I needed to move them to apple drive. At this point I started to feel like he was looking for a reason to not refund/credit me. I wanted to know from him why the large amount of other photos I sent to him were not good enough. He would never give a reason and continued to be hyper-focused on these few pictures as if he was trying to solve a multi-million dollar bank heist and not whether Durian was thawed or not. When I refused to move the photos somewhere else so he could "see them better" and told him I was going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau because I was tired of going back and forth with them, I received a nasty email back from him stating they had "re-reviewed" all the photos and concluded that everything arrived frozen, accusing me of being a fraud, and telling me that they were closing the case. No credit, no refund. Nothing. Just false accusations after ******* initially agreed to credit me for spoiled product under their policy.

  I am attaching a link of a short video showing me unpacking the box. It is timestamped as well for shortly after 5pm. It matches what can be seen in the pictures. I have provided above and beyond what is needed to prove that the product did not arrive as promised from this company and that per their spoilage and damage policy I should be given a refund or credit for ALL damaged product($615). 

  ******************************************* (video evidence)

  If Year of the Durian is going to continue to justify why the refund/credit is not due to me, I want to know if they are honestly saying that all provided photos with date, timestamps and location stamps is fraud? Is the Uber Driver receipt showing when I arrived home at 5pm also a fraud?  Is the video I am providing that also has the date and time stamp a fraud? I expect silence from this request as I received over and over in email but I will continue to ask for this. To me the only fraudsters here look to be Year of the Durian with unfounded and unproven accusations.  And it is mind boggling to me why.

  Sincerely,

  
  ***** ******

  Business Response

  Date: 11/27/2024

  We would like to remind the customer that all business transactions rely on the integrity of BOTH the business and the customer.
  
  We (******* and *******) will reply to each claim by the customer in her last response. She has made a lot of claims, so this is a long response. 
  
  #1. The customer claims that we have been "silent" in replying to her emails. In fact, between October **rd (the day her box should have arrived) and November 6th (the day we withdrew her credit offer), we sent her ** emails. This is about 1 email per day.
  
  #2. The customer claims she has purchased multiple times from us. She is a fairly new customer. The shipment being discussed was the 3rd purchase and the largest order by far.
  
  #3. Yes, our shipping polices state that we will replace or credit in situations where there are delays that result in spoilage or damage. Nowhere in our website does it say that we will reimburse or refund to credit card. The customer demanded monetary reimbursement, which is not in our policies.
  
  #4. The customer's complaint centered around her claim that there was urgency to eat a large quantity of the product very quickly, as she claimed it could not be stored. However, ******* told the customer from the beginning that the product could be stored and eaten later. See screenshots of email communication.
  
  On October **rd, the day that the box should have arrived, the customer emailed ******* with concerns about thawing. ******* replied the same day, and informed her that everything without liquid in the package could be refrozen without effecting quality, and at the same time recommended refrigerating the items that had liquid in the bag. At no time did ******* in this email or any other email say that everything needed to be eaten right away.
  
  The customer kept insisting there was urgency to consume the product, despite ********* reassurances that it could be stored without a problem.
  
  #5. Yes, the customer purchased frozen ********************. And yes, ** of her packages were frozen when she opened the box. Many of her packages had visible ice crystals on the plastic. For the 7 packages that had visible edge thawing and liquid in the bag, we offered **0% credit plus additional conciliatory credit and free shipping, which reached a value of 50% plus shipping. She rejected this credit and free shipping offer.
  
  #6. Yes, we would have replaced the entire box in full if the customer's product had arrived spoiled or damaged. However, the length of the delay (less than 1 day) as well as the photos provided by the customer clearly indicated that the product had not spoiled in transit and was still mostly frozen when she opened the box.
  
  Additionally, before my last response to the H333735363534353**639H pointing out our Policies in detail, the customer has never claimed that the product was spoiled or damaged. She has only been concerned about storing the product, which has already been addressed.
  
  #7. Most ********* companies selling frozen product do not accept returns. This is standard.
  
  #8. At no point in *******'s communication with the customer did the customer attempt to compromise or accept anything other than a **0% monetary refund to her credit card. On October 25, the customer rejected the credit and made threats of bad reviews or approaching an authority figure like the H333735363534353**639H.
  
  #9. Yes, on October 25 ******* took over communication with the customer. ******* is a full owner of the company. It is inappropriate for the customer to write, "******* handed me off to her boyfriend."
  
  #**. Yes, ******* requested that the customer provide more photos. On October **th, the customer received a Shipping Notification Email that contained a list of photos we normally require to examine claims for validity and determine how much value to credit. As the customer had not yet provided these photos - and ******* had issued the credit without requiring them - ******* requested that she send photos that included pictures of the box or packaging.
  
  #**. Yes, by October 26th, the customer had sent more than ******************************************************************** the October **th email or on October 25th by *******. It was only on October 31, a week later, that the customer finally provided low-resolution screenshots of the box and product with the ice packs and other packaging.
  
  #**. The screenshots did not have timestamps for when the box was opened. We did not discuss timestamps with the customer, but only requested for higher resolution photos as the screenshots did not show any signs of thawed product or liquid.
  
  #**. The timestamps on the photos provided on Thursday, October 24, showed that the customer took 9 photos of 7 products at ******, and the other 50+ photos at 5:33pm and later. Additionally, the customer re-photographed the same package at 5:**pm and also after 5:33pm. This shows that this same package was left out to thaw for almost 30 minutes to be re-photographed in a more thawed-out state.
  
  If she was so concerned that her product should stay frozen, why would she leave the 25 packages out for 30 minutes in the Gerogia heat?
  
  #**. On November **nd, the customer uploaded a video of her opening the box that would have fulfilled all of our initial requirements, however she did not share this video with us until after she started this complaint with H333735363534353**639H. We can only guess that the reason she did not initially share the video is that it shows that the product was mostly frozen when she opened the box, 3.5 hours after delivery by ***.
  
  We understood from this video that her low-resolution screenshots were from the video, and not photos taken when she opened the box. However, the customer has consistently claimed that they were photos taken when she took the original October 24th photos.
  
  #**. According to the *** photo of the delivery, the package was placed in the carport as the customer desired. The customer reached out to us on Sunday night, 2 hours after receiving her Shipping Notification, to request that we make a note to *** that the product be placed in the car port and not on front porch. We are glad it was successfully delivered as she requested.
  
  #**. Yes, the product appeared to be frozen in the Oct 31 low-resolution screenshots that the customer sent us. You can clearly see the sharp angles of the frozen ice packs, and the product in the clear plastic packages looks clean and un-squished. There is no visible liquid in any of the visible packages.
  
  #**. We never accused the customer of manipulating photos, nor did we discuss timestamps with the customer until she brought this complaint to H333735363534353**639H. We did ask her to not crop the photos since her printscreens where cropped and the next set of prinscreens that she claimed was the photos where cropped.
  
  #**. We never requested that she send the photos on any particular platform. Originally, she sent photos on ****** Drive. Later, she wanted to send them on Apple Cloud. Either was fine. We were hoping for a better resolution photo of when she received the box because she kept insisting that everything was completely thawed when she opened the box and we just couldn't see that in her photos.
  
  #**. Yes, at this point in the conversation with the customer it was clear to ******* that she was being dishonest.
  
  #**. Yes, at this point the customer had not respected our Shipping Policies. She rejected the credit offered to her on October 24th, and continued to demand a monetary refund back to her credit card, despite our Shipping Policies clearly stating this was not an option. On November 2nd, after refusing to provide photos of opening the box (despite having the video in her possession), she began demanding a credit of $6**. This was the first time she mentioned being willing to accept credit in place of a refund.
  
  #**. Yes, the customer became frustrated and was writing aggressively with *******, making accusations, using multiple exclamation points, putting words in all caps, and threatening us with various authority figures.
  
  #**. On November 6th, ******* informed her that we were withdrawing the offer of credit and free shipping based on the November 6th screenshots showing the product when she opened the box, which appeared fully frozen.
  
  #** . On November **th, the customer wrote an angry message informing us that she had reported us to the H333735363534353**639H and the **************************. The customer called ******* "Super Paranoid."
  On that same day, we received two defamatory comments on unrelated Instagram videos from two different fake accounts, both with content pertaining to her specific shipment.
  
  According to our Shipping Policies, it is our right to decide how each case will be handled and how much credit will be offered in light of the situation. 
  
  We tried to do our best for this customer, however she wanted to take advantage of the situation and would not be reasonable. She would not respect our policies. She has consistently either exaggerated or outright lied about the state of the product when she opened the box. She withheld the November **nd video. Her communication was unnecessarily aggressive and disrespectful.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/03/2024

   
  Complaint: 22537516
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  I did not withhold a video. I mentioned in the email correspondence to ******* very early on that I ran out of space on my laptop and had to delete lots of things (files, pictures, videos)  in order to even use my phone and laptop. My daughter was the one that helped me realize that several of the photos I had provided were actually screenshots of a video I took because I knew I would have to delete videos to get space back and she helped me figure out how to retrieve it from the cloud. If I had something that would help my case, WHY would I purposefully withhold that information. My dad was in the hospital during much of this ordeal and I had a lot going on. Again, the paranoia on your behalf as opposed to giving the benefit of the doubt is ridiculous. I am not a first time customer. I had ordered TWICE from you before this happened with NO COMPLAINTS!!! 

  I reported you to the BBB and other agencies after you came back to me and stated you were giving me nothing because of 2 photos that you thought were suspicious. You were not even offering what was originally offered in the beginning. This is unacceptable!! You have tons of photos and now even a video that shows liquid in the packages and in a poor state and yet you are still giving lame excuses on why you think it is ok to give me NOTHING!!!  Yes there were ice crystals on some of the packages but what you couldn't feel was how soft and mushy the fruit was and also where there was brown liquid even in some of the ones with ice crystals on the package.
  
  1.) I reached out and provided photos as soon as I opened the package which showed up a full 24 hours late. I did not delay in reporting anything even though per your policy I had a full 24 hours to inform you of the condition of the product. If I was really trying to get over on you, wouldn't I have just waited 24 hours more? There are so many other things I could have done if I wanted to be deceitful. Your paranoid!!
  2.) There was no malicious or hidden intent. The only intent has ever been to get a refund or product equivalent to what showed up thawed and watery and I only started threatening to go to the better business bureau when you:

  
  a.) Acted like you were doing me a favor by giving me a coupon for half of the product that came thawed even though it was more than that and then you continued to insist that I got what I paid for and should just eat the thawed stuff even though I was going out of town to see my sick father. My intent was always to freeze all of it. It was all purchased for long term storage. Then your boyfriend started to infer that there were malicious actions because I was not giving photos on an apple drive. This is ridiculous!!! 

  
  b.) I also was unwilling to compromise and accept just a portion of compensation for the bad product that was sent.  This is not $50 I spent on a product it is $895. This is about principle not about me trying to get money or free stuff. I don't need money from you or free product. This is about ensuring that as a business you are standing by your policies and treating your customers who are spending their hard earned dollars Fairly!.
  
  I am willing to come to some type of compromise but I am not walking away with NOTHING. All of those photos and the video have time stamps that show exactly what happened and when. Along with additional information ****** showing exactly when I arrived home.  You are finding every possible excuse NOT to do the right thing from a business perspective. All of this is going to be public record on the BBB website. The best thing for all parties involved is to come to a satisfactory compromise for both parties. You offered me half in product just from initial photos. Clearly you saw something in those photos that let you know your product did not arrive in good condition. As a reminder, here is your statement from you after seeing the first pictures:

  
  Based on the number of packages that we counted that show juice in the corner of the bags and the inconvenience that you've experienced, we would like to give you a 50% credit toward your next purchase so you can replace the durians that you've had to eat too quickly and can put some more in your freezer for later :)

  So to now say it was all a fraud is a cop out. Again I ask, where is the proof of fraud?  Where? Were the photo timestamps changed? Were they photoshopped? Was the video timestamp changed?  Did I manipulate when the *** package was delivered? Did I manipulate the picture of it sitting outside my door?  Did I mock up a fake **** receipt?  Please, enlighten me. Because I have yet to see any proof of what you are saying is fraud. The proof I am seeing is that one or both of you are extremely paranoid and maybe other people have tried to take advantage of you but that person is not me!! All I wanted was good Durian. Not watery, defrosted, s***** Durian shipped across the country arriving a day late. 

  Now please, lets come to a resolution so we can both move on. 
  

  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******

  Business Response

  Date: 12/17/2024

  Hello again, 
  
  This is our final response. We will not be engaging you again. 
  
  You have been informed several times why your claim has been denied. 
  
  Unfortunately for you, when you rejected our initial response and the initial credit offered, you allowed us to see your dishonesty and understand that you allowed frozen product to sit out for over 30 minutes to alter it's arrival condition for your claim photos (we only recommend thawing for 20 minutes before consuming). The difference in condition between your video (which you did not inform us you had for over a month) and your various photos taken at various times and dates on Thursday and Friday also tells us that you have been attempting to run a refund scam. You have backed this up with so many inconsistencies in your stories and straight up lies. 
  
  We will not be selling product to you again. You are blacklisted from our website. You have taken enough time. 
  
  Our customers are generally awesome, honest people who we really value and we will save our time and energies to take care of them.