Cherrypal customer service: lies, ignored emails, and technical incompetence

Nate the great · 01-13-2010, 02:37 PM

I'm going to take the opportunity available to me to tell everyone about my experiences with a company by the name of Cherrypal, and a person who goes by the name of "Max Seybold". Cherrypal is reported to be a subsidiary of Tristate Lifestyle Brands, a Hong Kong based company. Given the behavior of this subsidiary, I think it's best to avoid the parent company as well.

First, let's cover the lies told to me. I ordered a Cherrypal Africa laptop on 21 December. I waited a couple days for an email about when my order was shipped, but received nothing. I did not get a response from Cherrypal until after the 4th email I sent. The email I received on 30 December said that I would get a tracking number the next day, and that I would receive my order soon. Needless to say, neither event occurred. I still do not have my laptop, nor have I gotten a refund.

Second, let's consider what I had to say to get a response at all. My first 3 emails were ignored. In order to get a response to the 4th email, I had to include my concern that this was a scam. When I sent a 5th email to point out the broken promises, it was ignored as well. My 6th email did get a response, but that may have been because I asked "Where is my F***ing laptop"? It was questionable, yes, but I am very angry about the treatment I have received. Four weeks had gone by without a word from Cherrypal other than when I poked them.

My last response from "Max Sebold" was that I would get a refund by Wednesday (today). It has not happened.

Third, there was supposed to have been a blanket email sent to all outstanding orders. I did not get it. Other than when I poked them, I did not receive any emails from Cherrypal. According to this PDF, which was supposedly sent to all customers, my order should have been refunded on 2 January. I did not get the PDF, and I still do not have my refund.

Cherrypal has demonstrated a pattern of incompetence, lies, and a refusal to communicate. I strongly urge you to avoid doing business with them

kjk · 01-13-2010, 04:15 PM

Cherrypal were the guys who promised the $250 desktop computer and the $100 laptop computer?

daffy4u · 01-13-2010, 04:18 PM

I hope you used a credit card so you can get your money back.

Nate the great · 01-13-2010, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I hope you used a credit card so you can get your money back.

My bank is very good about that, yes.

kolrone · 01-13-2010, 06:07 PM

I went through something similar last year. I waited 4 months before getting my money back. Thankfully they used Amazon Marketplace and Amazon's customer service has always been good to me.

Nate the great · 01-13-2010, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kolrone

I went through something similar last year. I waited 4 months before getting my money back. Thankfully they used Amazon Marketplace and Amazon's customer service has always been good to me.

If you really had the same experience then that would suggest that this is a scam. It would make no sense for what happened to me to be an accident. They couldn't possibly have the exact same problems over such a large time span.

desertgrandma · 01-13-2010, 06:51 PM

Taking into consideration who posted this .........I'd take it as gospel........I'm just sayin'.........

kolrone · 01-13-2010, 09:00 PM

They had a forum up before: http://cherrypal.proboards.com

I became a moderator because I thought I was helping a small startup company. People started posting complaints and questions about their orders. Then soon after someone began deleting posts that made the company look bad. I left the forum. I wouldn't trust Cherrypal, Max Seybold, or any affiliation of theirs.

lilac_jive · 01-13-2010, 09:11 PM

Wow, that's terrible. I'm not in the market for a new laptop, but I'm glad you posted this, since it'll probably make it's way on google searches.

Krystian Galaj · 01-14-2010, 07:04 AM

I expect some people don't try to get their money back persistently enough, and so they profit.

KarateMonkey · 01-14-2010, 01:16 PM

My wife tried to order a Bing laptop from them a few weeks ago. A few days after she placed the order she got an E-mail with the subject line: "LIFESTYLE BRANDS SUGARROMANCE Customer Refund Notification". Sugarromance is skeezy looking dating website run by the same company as Cherrypal. When we ordered, at least, they were the ones doing the credit card processing.

Somehow the message made it through her spam filter. She opened it to find that, because they had neglected to charge us shipping, our order was being canceled, but if we would resubmit it they would include “something sweet”.

I’m sure you can imagine, alarm bells were ringing at this point. After a day with no refund in sight, she wrote back to ask when we could expect to get our money, and got a reply from Max Seybold saying that had been submitted to the credit card processor and should only be a day or two and it was out of his hands now.

After most of a week with no refund, no reply to further E-mails, or answer to phone calls we reported them to our bank and got our money back that way.

lilac_jive · 01-14-2010, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarateMonkey

My wife tried to order a Bing laptop from them a few weeks ago. A few days after she placed the order she got an E-mail with the subject line: "LIFESTYLE BRANDS SUGARROMANCE Customer Refund Notification". Sugarromance is skeezy looking dating website run by the same company as Cherrypal. When we ordered, at least, they were the ones doing the credit card processing.

Somehow the message made it through her spam filter. She opened it to find that, because they had neglected to charge us shipping, our order was being canceled, but if we would resubmit it they would include “something sweet”.

I’m sure you can imagine, alarm bells were ringing at this point. After a day with no refund in sight, she wrote back to ask when we could expect to get our money, and got a reply from Max Seybold saying that had been submitted to the credit card processor and should only be a day or two and it was out of his hands now.

After most of a week with no refund, no reply to further E-mails, or answer to phone calls we reported them to our bank and got our money back that way.

Yikes! That's insane!

atari · 01-15-2010, 11:17 AM

This story is quite ominous. The tracking-number associated with my cherrypal-order belongs to a shipment that has no bearing with the one promised by Max Seybold. But see the "package insert" yourself:

Cherrypal – Online Tracking

Riocaz · 01-15-2010, 11:41 AM

Wow they make iRex look competent.

Good luck with your refund Nate.

Daithi · 01-15-2010, 02:34 PM

This might be worth letting your State Attorney General know about. It looks like a scam/fraud and they might take an interest.

01-13-2010, 02:37 PM	#1
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Cherrypal customer service: lies, ignored emails, and technical incompetence I'm going to take the opportunity available to me to tell everyone about my experiences with a company by the name of Cherrypal, and a person who goes by the name of "Max Seybold". Cherrypal is reported to be a subsidiary of Tristate Lifestyle Brands, a Hong Kong based company. Given the behavior of this subsidiary, I think it's best to avoid the parent company as well. First, let's cover the lies told to me. I ordered a Cherrypal Africa laptop on 21 December. I waited a couple days for an email about when my order was shipped, but received nothing. I did not get a response from Cherrypal until after the 4th email I sent. The email I received on 30 December said that I would get a tracking number the next day, and that I would receive my order soon. Needless to say, neither event occurred. I still do not have my laptop, nor have I gotten a refund. Second, let's consider what I had to say to get a response at all. My first 3 emails were ignored. In order to get a response to the 4th email, I had to include my concern that this was a scam. When I sent a 5th email to point out the broken promises, it was ignored as well. My 6th email did get a response, but that may have been because I asked "Where is my F***ing laptop"? It was questionable, yes, but I am very angry about the treatment I have received. Four weeks had gone by without a word from Cherrypal other than when I poked them. My last response from "Max Sebold" was that I would get a refund by Wednesday (today). It has not happened. Third, there was supposed to have been a blanket email sent to all outstanding orders. I did not get it. Other than when I poked them, I did not receive any emails from Cherrypal. According to this PDF, which was supposedly sent to all customers, my order should have been refunded on 2 January. I did not get the PDF, and I still do not have my refund. Cherrypal has demonstrated a pattern of incompetence, lies, and a refusal to communicate. I strongly urge you to avoid doing business with them

01-14-2010, 01:16 PM	#11
KarateMonkey Connoisseur Posts: 90 Karma: 210 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Astak Pocket Pro, Sony PRS-300	My wife tried to order a Bing laptop from them a few weeks ago. A few days after she placed the order she got an E-mail with the subject line: "LIFESTYLE BRANDS SUGARROMANCE Customer Refund Notification". Sugarromance is skeezy looking dating website run by the same company as Cherrypal. When we ordered, at least, they were the ones doing the credit card processing. Somehow the message made it through her spam filter. She opened it to find that, because they had neglected to charge us shipping, our order was being canceled, but if we would resubmit it they would include “something sweet”. I’m sure you can imagine, alarm bells were ringing at this point. After a day with no refund in sight, she wrote back to ask when we could expect to get our money, and got a reply from Max Seybold saying that had been submitted to the credit card processor and should only be a day or two and it was out of his hands now. After most of a week with no refund, no reply to further E-mails, or answer to phone calls we reported them to our bank and got our money back that way. Last edited by KarateMonkey; 01-14-2010 at 01:21 PM.

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01-13-2010, 04:15 PM	#2
kjk . Posts: 3,408 Karma: 5647231 Join Date: Oct 2008 Device: never enough	Cherrypal were the guys who promised the $250 desktop computer and the $100 laptop computer?

01-13-2010, 04:18 PM	#3
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	I hope you used a credit card so you can get your money back.

01-13-2010, 06:07 PM	#5
kolrone Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 113 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Florida, US Device: jetBook-Lite, eBookwise-1150	I went through something similar last year. I waited 4 months before getting my money back. Thankfully they used Amazon Marketplace and Amazon's customer service has always been good to me.

01-13-2010, 06:51 PM	#7
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Taking into consideration who posted this .........I'd take it as gospel........I'm just sayin'.........

01-13-2010, 09:00 PM	#8
kolrone Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 113 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Florida, US Device: jetBook-Lite, eBookwise-1150	They had a forum up before: http://cherrypal.proboards.com I became a moderator because I thought I was helping a small startup company. People started posting complaints and questions about their orders. Then soon after someone began deleting posts that made the company look bad. I left the forum. I wouldn't trust Cherrypal, Max Seybold, or any affiliation of theirs.

01-13-2010, 09:11 PM	#9
lilac_jive Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,870 Karma: 27376 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Device: PRS-505	Wow, that's terrible. I'm not in the market for a new laptop, but I'm glad you posted this, since it'll probably make it's way on google searches.

01-14-2010, 07:04 AM	#10
Krystian Galaj Guru Posts: 820 Karma: 11012 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Warsaw, Poland Device: Bookeen Cybook	I expect some people don't try to get their money back persistently enough, and so they profit.

01-15-2010, 11:17 AM	#13
atari not established Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: /dev/null	This story is quite ominous. The tracking-number associated with my cherrypal-order belongs to a shipment that has no bearing with the one promised by Max Seybold. But see the "package insert" yourself: Cherrypal – Online Tracking

01-15-2010, 11:41 AM	#14
Riocaz Fulfilled but not by iRex Posts: 932 Karma: 286846 Join Date: May 2006 Location: London Device: Far too many	Wow they make iRex look competent. Good luck with your refund Nate.

01-15-2010, 02:34 PM	#15
Daithi Publishers are evil! Posts: 2,418 Karma: 36205264 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: Various Kindles	This might be worth letting your State Attorney General know about. It looks like a scam/fraud and they might take an interest.

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