My Boycott of Jafrum.com

1st off, I would like to apologize to anyone that ended up ordering something from Jafrum.com, on my recommendation. I have come to find that they are in fact a poor company.

I will let my complaint with the Better Business Bureau explain the situation:

** Please keep in mind that the only thing I requested, is an $8.00 refund of shipping charges, and for them to update their website to reflect the actual product they sell **

They responded with the following:

I rejected their response and responded with the following:

I have attached some pictures comparing the "old" and "new" gloves.

The bottom line is that at the end of the day, once they have your money, they could care less about you. Customer service is dumbed down to a joke, and they don't care to remain professional towards their customers.

Please help me in boycotting them, and pass this information to anyone that would find it valuable.

 

I read your complaint but felt you were missing one critical bit of information: did the seller really claim the gloves had a 3M Thinsulate lining? After a quick check, it appears jafrum.com does make this claim on their site.

It seems you have a clear case of bait-and-switch. If it were me, I'd consider reordering those gloves, then sending them with a screenshot of Jafrom's web page to 3M. Selling a product and claiming it contains Thinsulate or Gortex or whatever when it does not is illegal as hell and I'm sure 3M would be very interested in making them pay for it.

 

You know, just reading this thread makes my blood boil. This is the typical b-s that companies put people through to cover up for their own mistakes. It's all part of the "I'm not responsible for my own actions" attitude that permeates almost everything in this world, from government on down to interpersonal relationships.

Maybe you could send them this snippet and see if they want to adopt this as their corporate motto:

BTW, I think you got this part wrong:

They were never "professional" towards their customers; they just had a pretty website (grem--I know, I know.......). Their entire business philosophy hinges around SELLING you something rather than HELPING you with your needs. I bet the CEO has a corporate handbook that proudly proclaims that thier business goal is "to make profits". Well, they certainly do that, bully for them.

Too bad they never considered the Expenses involved with screwing all their precious customers.

Oh, and I'll bet you anything that you are considered a "problem" customer by them....how dare you question whether you're actually getting what you paid for and were promised, in writing.

Grem, you should be ashamed of yourself. You're destroying the economy........

 

It's obvious why they won't refund your shipping - it's a "consumable' cost. That means that by refunding shipping they are outputting (returning to you) more money than was inputed (money you paid - TO THEM).

This is the double edge of great pricing. Companies that agressively price their merchandise do not mark it up sufficiently to cover the extra expenses involved with returns. Apparently, there isn't enough mark up to keep the web site up to date either.

You can bet that anyone who has had a return with these guys is out of pocket the shipping.

Caveat emptor

 

Caveat emptor only works as long as the seller doesn't actively conceal latent defects.

I'd say that advertizing the gloves as having a 3M Thinsulate lining when it obviously does not falls under the "latent defect" clause.

 

Right, but It's not so much about the shipping charges as the fact that they lie to their customers. They need to update their website, and that was my primary complaint.

I can really look past the $8.00 shipping, but at this point, it's the principle.

--Gremlin484

 

Gamaru - "let the buyer beware" applies to all purchases regardless of the situation or information (or lack thereof) you have. In the legal sense I agree with you however, I meant it more as a blanket commentary on purchases. Sometimes, you just get hosed.

I agree there was misleading information and questionable business practices and fully support the complaint.

Thanks Gremlin for sharing this with us as I know I won't be buying from Jafrum.

 

So over an $8.00 shipping charge (for something that they were wrong about anyway), they've thrown away gremlin as a customer and now Fraps, perhaps Gamuru, and gosh knows how many others who have read this thread......

Let's see, I'm sure there are better statitstics out there, but let's do a bit of wild-rectum assuming here:


a) How much would Gremlin have spent with them over his entire lifetime of purchasing if he had been a truly satisfied customer?

Maybe $1000, over his entire lifetime? $20 a year for the next 50 years? Maybe a bit more or less, depending on the breadth of their product line?


b) What is their typical gross margin on the items they sell?

Hard to know exactly, but I suppose it's somewhere in the 50-60% range at retail, AT LEAST. I notice that their wholesale price on these gloves is $12.00, which means I doubt they pay over $9.00 (or less) for them.

So as a worst case scenario, let's say it's 50%.


c) That means that over Gremlin's lifetime, they would have made $500 gross profits ($1000 lifetime purchases x 50% profit margin) from him.


d) If Gremlin had been satisfied, he might have directed and influenced, directly or indirectly, over his lifetime, maybe a total of 30-50 other people (via forums such as these, personal interactions, etc.) to shop at Jafrum's.

Each of those people would have, on average, a lifetime purchase value to Jafrums of about $1000, and an average profit potential of $ 500 (same as in "c" above).

30 people x $500 profit value = $ 15,000


e) But wait, it gets better! Not only have they thrown away that $15K because of of what they're NOT going to get from Gremlin anymore (his business and referrals), they've also insured that such money will go into the pockets of their competitors.


f) All that over a lousy $8.00, which they probably spent 10-20x that much in arguing back and forth with gremlin (employee time), responding to the BBB, 800 call charges, etc.


g) Total net cost to them for the $8.00 they saved:

$15,100.


h) How to go broke without really trying.


j) "These are good quality gloves which will long last."

They sure got that part right......

 

Very good point Chacal. I really hadn't looked at it that way.

I was mostly concerned about the hundreds of other customers that were buying those gloves, without prior knowledge of what they used to sell. Upon receiving them, they are getting a product that is similar ( to the picture at least ) which what they assume contains 3M lining ( although it's not explicitly shown on the glove )

If a car company tells me their airbags are the top quality money can buy, I'm going to believe them. When I get in a crash and a bag of Orville Reddenbockers popcorn comes shooting out, I'd be a little pissed, but there is no way I would have ever known without getting in the crash.

The people that buy these gloves are going to think they have the 3M lining, and it's going to give 3M a bad name. It's really hard to describe with words how crappy these things really were.

 

I already have bitterness towards jafrum and its quality control so it goes without saying. It looks like they gave a good pair of gloves to china and asked for something similar...

Hell, I like boycotts. You could count me in even if I didn't agree with you.

 

I have looked at things on their site and almost ordered something. I am glad I haven't and I am going to email them and let them now that them making a customer pay to have something shipped back that was not the product advertised is pathetic. Seems like fails advertising to me. If people that are no going to do business with them because of this let them know, maybe they will understand the consequences more.
Thanks for letting everyone know about them.

 

It turns out the fellow at the parts store I work with had the exact same experience with this company. Seems to be an on-going problem with Jafrum.com.

 

Looks like you're not the only one LINK

and HERE