Bottleneck Gallery canceled my $287 order after I criticized their customer service. Am I out of line here?
I’m curious how other people view this because this may be the strangest customer-service interaction I’ve had in a long time.
On August 4, I ordered a $250 AJ Masthay art print from Bottleneck Gallery. After shipping and tax, the total was $287.87. The confirmation said the estimated shipping time was 3–4 weeks.
Yesterday, I noticed other people were beginning to receive their prints, while I still hadn’t received tracking.
So I emailed Bottleneck:
“Hi can someone please advise the status of this order?”
Their response was:
“Hi, Sure. Please read below.”
They simply forwarded my original confirmation email back to me.
I replied that I understood that was the email I had originally forwarded them, but I was asking because other people were receiving their shipments and I still didn’t have tracking.
Their response:
“Yes. Please look below. Estimate is there.”
At that point, I was frustrated. I responded:
“I’m sorry but are you unable to do anything beyond forward me the email I forwarded you? Are you able to advise when it will ship? Are you able to provide a tracking number? I have to be honest, this exchange has left a lot to be desired thus far. Please provide an appropriate and professional level of customer service.”
Was that irritated? Absolutely.
But I didn’t swear at them. I didn’t threaten them. I didn’t insult either employee personally. I criticized the customer service I was receiving.
Another employee then responded:
“3-4 weeks is the estimate. Once prints are in from AJ they will ship.
Nothing more will be said.”
Shortly afterward, Bottleneck canceled my order.
The first employee then wrote:
“As noted in the confirmation email below, the estimated shipping time for this item is 3–4 weeks. It says it in the email. That’s what I was referring to. Didn’t need to degrade us.
Your communication with other humans has a lot to be desired for thus far. Hopefully, you work on that.”
I asked directly:
“You cancelled the order for what reason?”
Instead of answering, he asked whether I had reviewed the shipping estimate before responding.
I subsequently explained that I wasn’t trying to insult anyone personally, that my criticism was directed at the quality of customer service, and asked them to reinstate the order.
They refused.
Their final response was essentially that the order was canceled, I would receive a full refund within 2–3 business days, and they would provide no further responses.
To this point, despite my asking several times, they have never actually told me why the order was canceled.
There’s an additional wrinkle: following this exchange, I discovered I could no longer locate a Facebook collector group I had previously been a member of. I have asked whether I was removed or banned from it, but I do not currently have confirmation of what happened there, so I don’t want to speculate.
I’m attaching/redacting the email screenshots so people can judge the tone for themselves.
My question is genuinely: Was my email harsh enough that canceling a paid customer’s order was a reasonable response?
I can absolutely accept that my “appropriate and professional level of customer service” line was confrontational. But going from that to canceling the order, criticizing my ability to communicate with “other humans,” refusing to explain the cancellation, and ending communication altogether seems wildly disproportionate to me.
Curious what people who deal with customer service on either side of the counter think.