Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Metro Coffee Direct
990 Grove Street #204
Evanston, Illinois
United States
Phone: 866-794-2030
seattlecoffeedirect.com

This is a business that appears to be reputable but are far from it. I signed up for a trial offer and paid the set up fee for (2) 12 oz. bags of Seattle Coffee w/free gift. I received my first shipment with the gift which were very cheap stainless steal (intended) travel mugs. 4 days later I received 2 more bags. 4 days later 2 more bags until I had amassed 8 12oz bags of coffee. while the coffee was good but nothing special, even I an avid coffee drinker could not possibly consume so much coffee in such a short amount of time and shame on the criminal who would shove that much of their product down my throat during a trial offer.

I called them immediately and cancelled the trial and was told to return the unwanted coffee by simply writing refused on the package and return to sending. If you are familiar with UPS you know that this is not an acceptible form of shipping unwanted items as the tracking numbers need to be re-established in the UPS system for processing. I packaged 6 bags of coffee in my own box and entered the shipment in the UPS systems and paid for the return shipping while refusing to accept the last of 6 shipments. I ended up keeping 3 bags of coffee. That was in April 2009.

I had to wait 30-days before I could dispute the charges on my Discover Card and was pleased to see that Discover gave me a credit pending their investigation. I waited and waited and still no reply from Seattle Coffee or Discover. I emailed Discover and was told that I would have to take up my complaint with the vendor as the charges met Discover Cards guidelines for merchants who accept their card. The charges were then placed back on to my account with finance charges for the time removed from outstanding balance causing my account to go over my limit and I was charged an over the limit fee but was able to get that reversed. It was about the only consideration given to me by Discover Card. When I disputed the charges again with full documentation and tracking on the returned items, Discover Card still sided with Seattle Coffee. I have email Seattle Coffee and have yet to see a response regarding a credit or refund.

In looking at their website I now see in the fine print that the company will only issue a store credit and only if the return is made within 30 days of receipt.

I have two warnings for you all. DO NOT TAKE ANY OFFER FROM A SURVEY EMAIL WITH SEATTLE COFFEE OR APPLY FOR A DISCOVER CARD as they are both businesses that do not have the customer's satisfaction as a top priority. Seattle Coffee is out to get as many sales as possible to increase their bottom line and have instructed their customer services reps to be very rigid with returns. Undoubtedly a tactic to get the employee job security and a weekly pay check. Discover will take the side of the vendor as they have met the necessary requirements with their charges and will not stand by the consumer even with documentation proving the order(s) were returned. I was told that Discover's investigation was complete and that was that.

I am out $139.90 plus UPS shipping plus finance charges tacked on each month by Discover. I have filed a claim with Discover card using my account protection plan under the involuntary termination clause and the account has been placed on hold so I am not incurring additional interest on the shipments but I will not pay the charges and will close my Discover account upon the end of the two claim period and would not recommend Discover Card to any one. The "vendor is always right and the consumer is lying" must be the latest customer service mantra for Discover Card. I am so disappointed with Discover Card as they have been very helpful in re-establishing my credit score over the past 10 years. I hate that they let me down.

So beware. If an offer sounds too good to be true then it probably isnt that good and Seattle Coffee has left a very, very, bitter taste in my mouth. Truck stop coffee would probably taste better. I am filing a BBB report on both Seattle, Metro, and Discover Card for these shady business practices and may even file in small claims court to get my money back.

Bill Reed