When you place an order with a mail-order firm, there are high hopes that the merchandise will arrive within a reasonable length of time. It is not unusual to watch for the letter carrier each day. Then you think, perhaps it’s on the UPS truck – so you watch and wait.

Such was the case of Martha Witte, who had placed an order with Carol Reed Products. Witte was ready and waiting for the mail, and after 23 days the box finally arrived. She carried it into the house, placed it on the dining room table and opened it.

To her utter amazement, except for some crumpled-up newspapers, the box was empty. Now this caused a dilemma. Should she write the business a letter and say, “Believe me when I tell you that you sent me an empty box.” Would Carol Reed Products ignore Martha Witte’s letter leaving her with no way to prove the box was empty on its arrival?

Witte had ordered three blouses and two pairs of slacks at the cost of $85.70 plus shipping and handling. Everything seemed against her. The deliverer could verify the box had arrived but would have no knowledge that it was empty. She considered contacting Northeast COMBAT, but decided to try to take care of the matter on her own. She wrote a letter to Carol Reed Products stating what she had ordered along with the sizes and colors. She enclosed a copy of both sides of her canceled check and went on to explain that when the box was delivered, it was empty.

“Please send me my merchandise as soon as possible,” Witte wrote. After five weeks with no response, she contacted Northeast COMBAT and requested our intercession in the matter.

A Northeast COMBAT mediation specialist took on the challenge. A letter was written to the president and CEO of Carol Reed Products stating Witte’s problem. We reminded them of the Federal Trade Commission’s 30-day mail-order ruling on merchandise and the refund policy. We explained that the ruling states that if the consumer is not promised delivery within a specific amount of time, the seller must send the merchandise within a 30-day period.

If a consumer does not receive the merchandise within that time frame, then the consumer may cancel the order and get his or her money back.

Northeast COMBAT’s mediation specialist thought that because Witte did not receive the order in the empty box, she didn’t in effect receive her merchandise. Therefore, the business was in noncompliance with the Federal Trade Commission ruling.

Carol Reed Products failed to respond to our letter. That week we wrote a second, much stronger letter. We informed Carol Reed Products that if Martha Witte did not receive her full refund within the next 14 days, we would have no alternative but to contact the attorney general, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. postal inspector, and Better Business Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce. Our letters would request that they examine Carol Reed Products business practices, check into the possibility of consumer fraud and work actively on Witte’s behalf by contacting the business directly.

Six days later we received a call from Carol Reed Products.

The customer service representative calling said that the business apologized for the error. We were informed that a full refund would be sent to the customer within the next 14 days.

We wrote Witte immediately telling her to expect a refund within the next two weeks and asked that she let us know when it arrived.

Witte called us nearly two weeks later. She was delighted to receive a refund in full. She wrote us, “A thank you seems so inadequate but I truly mean it. My caseworker deserves such praise. We are so lucky to have COMBAT go to bat for us. Really, it is the principle of the thing; therefore enclosed you will find a check for the full amount you got back for me.”

Another satisfied consumer.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded nonprofit consumer organization. Individual membership $25, business rates start at $125 (0-10 employees). For help and information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.