A Cautionary Tale: My Challenging Experience with Bottlecapps’ E-Commerce Service
I signed a contract with Bottlecapps on August 1, 2023, for website and app development for my two liquor stores MDbeverage.com and MyLiquorMarket.com. The marketing representative, Tim Hughes, assured me of a flat fee structure with no per-transaction fees and a development timeline of 2 to 4 weeks. Unfortunately, my experience has been far from satisfactory. Bottlecapps began charging monthly fees immediately after the contract was signed but failed to deliver the website of my stores until December 5, 2023, a full four months later. The status of the phone app remains unknown to me till now, with no updates or training provided. To add to the frustration, a month into the contract, I received an email from Bottlecapps Accounting informing me of a price increase and a new service fee of $2.99 to be charged to customers after one year. After experiencing significant delays and what I perceive as unethical marketing practices, I contacted support on March 26, 2024, to cancel my contract. In response, on April 25, 2024, I was informed that a $500 fee per account would be charged for contract termination. I refused to pay this fee and requested a full refund instead. As of now, Bottlecapps has not agreed to cancel the contract without the termination fee, which I am unwilling to pay. My advice to others considering Bottlecapps: Get Written Timelines: Ensure that you have the timelines for complex projects written into your contract. Clear Exit Policy: Confirm that there is a fair exit policy in place that allows you to terminate the contract without penalty if you are not satisfied with the service. Document Promises: After any call with promises made, follow up with an email summarizing the key points and send it to the representative you spoke with. I hope my experience can serve as a cautionary tale for others looking to engage with Bottlecapps for their e-commerce needs. _______________________ Updated to reply: I am writing to clarify several inaccuracies in your response to my complaint and to reiterate my position regarding the issues we’ve encountered. Payment for MD Discount: Your response incorrectly states that I stopped paying fees for the MD Discount account as of April 25, 2024. This is not accurate. I have consistently paid the fees as per our agreement, and at no point did I halt payments for this account. I request that you review your records and correct this misinformation. Service Fee of $2.99: While you offered to remove the $2.99 service fee for the duration of the current contract, I declined this offer because it did not address the underlying issue. My concern was that once the contract was renewed, I would still be subject to this fee. Given that I had already committed to using your services for my stores, cancelling the contract was not a viable option as it would disrupt operations and inconvenience my customers who rely on these services. Zero Termination Fee Offer: I also refused the offer of terminating the contract without an early termination fee because I had already invested a substantial amount of money into this partnership through regular monthly installments as agreed upon in the contract. Terminating the contract at this stage would result in a significant financial loss for me, which is unacceptable. Request for Full Refund: Given the delays in service delivery, the lack of transparency regarding fees, and the overall unsatisfactory experience, I am requesting a full refund of the amounts paid to date. This includes all payments made for both the MD Discount and Liquor Market accounts. I believe this is a fair resolution considering the circumstances, as the services provided have not met the expectations set forth at the time of signing the contract. I hope we can resolve this matter amicably and promptly. Please let me know if you require any additional information from my end to facilitate this process.
By Haresh C.
Response from Bottlecapps· Jul 24, 2024
In response to Mr. Chovatiya's claims... We have two signed agreements for two separate accounts in question. They are BOTH 12-month agreements, of which only a small amount has actually been paid on each... - MD Discount (as of 4/25 when the customer stopped paying us, he had only fulfilled payment for 7 of the 12 months on his contract at a total of $946.40 or $135.20/month). No issues or pause was ever requested from the merchant for this account. - Liquor Market (as of 4/25 when the customer stopped paying us, he had only fulfilled payment for 1 of the 12 months on his contract at a total of$135.20, which was at signing, and then requested an immediate pause on the account, which we granted. Since 4/25 the merchant has NOT paid on his contract obligations and is still owing of 16 months at a rate of $135.20/month or $2,163.20 total. Once a formal request for CANCELLATION was made in writing, we informed him of the Early Termination Policy in his signed agreement (see highlighted on page 5 of attachments). Mr. Chovatiya's was explained that he could pay the ETFs of $500 per contract or 3 months rate per contract (whichever is greater) as stated in his agreement with Bottlecapps. Mr. Chovatiya refused. We then offered him to exit at a total of $500 ETF, but he once again refused, and then went further by requesting a full REFUND of all monies paid. At this point, he posted complaints with both your organization and the BBB with his claims, so we made a final offer or allowing him to exit with ZERO Early Termination Fee at all. This was again met with refusal and more demands. Furthermore, to address his claims and misunderstanding of the $2.99 service fee that he was unaware of... - Mr. Chovatiya was sent an email with an update to TOS (along with ALL Bottlecapps merchants) in the days following his sign up - the service fee is a 'passthrough' charge to the end customer, and not a charge to the merchant (never was) - we explained this to the customer, but instead of fighting a battle that would surely lead to a poor customer experience given his level of misunderstanding, we removed this fee altogether for both of his accounts, resulting in neither he nor his end customer being issued the above reference 'fees', even though all other merchants abide by this model on the daily. Lastly, as stated before, we have a myriad of saved phone and email conversations in our CRM at the ready should you require links to these recordings. Bottlecapps stands by our products, processes, and word regarding this account and customer complaint, and while we have made numerous attempts to amicably standup or unwind this relationship through compromise, we have been met with hostility and rejection from the customer at every turn. Please advise if any further communication or documentation is needed to satisfy the requirements of Trustpilot, and we will gladly comply. Hoping for the best resolution for all parties! Respectfully, Bottlecapps