Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The owner of this business invited me to display/sell my art with her company. I sent several items. A couple months later I received an email saying that I had sold some items and I needed to sign a distribution agreement. I did so. Then I asked to have the remaining items sent back so I could send in more. When they sent the initial items back, I was missing three unique pieces and I was told to call my insurance and there was nothing they could do. She (*******) informed me I in fact did not sell anything and everything was returned. Which it wasn't. Due to this I asked for all the items back and I wanted to disassociate with Indigenous Box, and am still waiting--that was two months ago. Now she will not answer her emails and I feel like they've stolen my original art work from me. This company is called Indigenous Box and supports Indigenous artists....but in my experience they are stealing and making a name on the backs of individual artists. I have since been contacted by one other artist who has had the same issue. I just want my items back.

  Business response

  17/07/2023

  Hello,

  We partner with Edmonton International Airport on their Indigenous Interpretive and Retail Centre located in their international departures area. This project involved offering space for local artisans to showcase their work to travelers. In order to buy, travelers scan a QR code which takes them to a page on our website where they can browse and purchase the artisan pieces which then ship directly to them from our fulfillment center. We operate this space like on a commission basis although it is not a profitable project for us but is instead a community building effort. If a piece sells we take a small (5%) processing fee to cover some of our costs.

  We sent a blanket email to all of the interested artists asking them to sign a distribution agreement. In Ms. ******'s case, we did not receive a signed agreement so her products were left in draft on our website. The agreements were being handled by a staff member who is no longer with us so it is possible that an agreement came in but was not added to our database. In any case, on May 10th 2023 Ms. ****** corresponded with our CEO and requested that we send back her pieces that hadn't sold as she would like to send some new pieces. We requested that she create a shipping label so we could ship back her pieces at her expense. She had trouble doing this and claimed that she spoke with ****** **** and they had never heard of such a thing.  In the end we decided to ship the items to Ms. ****** at our own expense. Our Operations Supervisor personally packed all of Ms. ******'s items and shipped them. Upon receipt, Ms. ****** claimed that three items were missing. We followed up with our Operations Supervisor who was certain that the items had been carefully picked and packed for return. We suggested that Ms. ****** may have accidentally thrown out these small items with the packaging material and suggested she make a claim with ****** **** if there had been any damage to the box. She stated that she had opened the package herself and that it was not damaged. She then accused us of calling her a liar.

  Our Operations Supervisor is any extremely competent and compassionate person, so after doing our due diligence checking our warehouse forthe missing items, we tended to believe that the items had indeed been shipped. At that point our team discussed the situation and we considered paying her out for the missing products. When we discovered that Ms. ****** had taken to ******** to post libelous comments about Indigenous Box, we decided not to reimburse her. 

  By then her other items had arrived and she said she wanted them back but expressed concern about us shipping them as she felt we were unreliable. Our team suggested that she could come pick up the pieces directly if that is preferable. In the end she asked that we ship them. The items were taken to ****** **** on July 8th.

  As far as we are concerned we have no more dealings with Ms. ******.

   

  Thank you,

  **** ********

  Indigenous Box

   

   

   

  Customer response

  28/07/2023

  
  Complaint: 20269527
  
  I am rejecting this response because: not once was I told they were considering reimbursement, and they have indeed insinuated that I was lying regarding my items.  I have yet to receive the items they have claimed to have sent by ****** **** July 8,2023.  I was told I sold items, I did sign an agreement.  I want the items that I sent to be sold, back. My “libelous” comments were the truth. I would like to see proof they sent my items and I will be satisfied. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* ******

  Business response

  01/08/2023

  Hello,

  We corresponded with the complainant, and although we weren't able to agree on all of the facts of the situation, they were able to reiterate their version of what happened, which we appreciated hearing. The complainant did express that they had a bad taste in their mouth and nothing could be done to fix the situation. They also expressed that they would not be pursuing this any further. Overall this has been a valuable learning experience for Indigenous Box in a number of ways.

   

   

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