THE FOSSIL STORE™ Arvostelua 

Richard’s store is highly recommended. We had problems with the delivery company and Richard took care of it and managed it till we got the delivery.

I have been purchasing shell fossils from The Fossil Store for many years and always have had amazing contact and service with Richard and Ben. My most recent purchase about a month ago arrived on time, well packed and is absolutely gorgeous. I highly recommend The Fossil Store.

I made an offer for an ammonite from an eBay listing by the Fossil Store for £175. It was accepted & all was good to this point. Happy with my purchase, I went to pay. However, a further £10 had unexpectedly been added at checkout for delivery. I double checked as I was certain that it should be included. Sure enough, the original listing specified free delivery. There was little room for doubt as even the description included “Free shipping to UK mainland only”. I contacted the Fossil Store to ask them to amend it so I could pay. They refused stating that free delivery only applied if I paid the full asking price & eBay’s T&Cs allow them to add postage for accepted offers. Whether that claim is correct or not, to sneak it in as an extra after accepting an offer when everything to that point says it’s free is extremely misleading at best. To further reinforce why I believe it may be better explained by cynical opportunism, I had hoped to be able to attach a screenshot of eBay’s sale confirmation but the company seem to have disabled that option. It was the link for me to pay after the purchase had been agreed & is the third point where it says delivery is free. It effectively shows that there is no ambiguity.
I cancelled the order on principle. There is a degree of irony as, if an inclusive counter offer of £185 had been made, I’d have probably accepted it. Adding it right at the end with no explanation just because they could goes beyond lacking transparency and feels disingenuous.
I appreciate that people have a living to make and it’s not always easy so I rarely leave negative reviews, preferring to offer personal feedback when a retailer could do better. In this case I had the opportunity to cancel & have not been left out of pocket so I offered such feedback to the effect of “…it's something you might want to consider making clearer if that's your intention on other items. Without wanting to labour the point, relying on small print that hardly anybody has read to justify increasing the cost by stealth doesn't result in a good customer experience.” That was met with a response of “…you’re entitled to your opinion…your loss.” That felt like an unnecessarily curt ending to what, up to that point had been a very courteous message exchange right up to the point of me cancelling. Whether they disagree or not with the feedback, when a company is so abruptly and summarily dismissive of a customer’s negative experience, it reinforces my perception of a fundamental lack of integrity. Consequently, I now open up my experience to other potential consumers to allow them to form their own opinion. I know I buck the trend but, seeing as I do not have the ammonite after agreeing a price in good faith, I struggle to come up with any other verdict than one star.

Addendum

3 replies from Fossil Store in 3 days demanding review is removed. I elected not to because…

Reply #1
Denied I was a customer as sale not completed – Semantics; we entered into a contract but sale cancelled when delivery charge added despite indicating it was free at 3 points.
Sought to distance eBay store from this domain – Rebutted (eBay shop clearly branded as Fossil Store, lists same company registration & link to main site.)
Sought to distance person I dealt with from this domain – Rebutted (They are specifically named in 6 other reviews).
Ultimatum to remove review or would be reported to Trustpilot – Disregarded (They reported it anyway citing wrong domain. Not removed, as it isn’t).

Reply #2
Long reply accusing me of “ridiculous bombardment of defamation” & “wrongful statements” (nothing specific), threatened “legal action” & to report me for “trolling” – Disregarded (review is a factual account of my experience)

Reply #3
Briefer, informing others that review is being “dealt with by cybercrime outside of this forum for trolling. These accusations are false and misrepresentative of the fossilstore.com.” – Disregarded (Nothing specific about what is false, presumably because none of it is. I’m not sure who cybercrime are or what they do but await their contact with interest).

I am willing to share my audit trail with Trustpilot & interested parties.

This escalation is unnecessary with no winners. All I ever wanted was to buy a fossil without hidden extras as per the listing. I’ve lost my ammonite & the Fossil Store has a 1* review - all over £10.

My advice to the Fossil Store is to engage with all customers, not just those who appear satisfied. Discounting the contradiction between advertising free delivery and then adding it, before summarily dismissing me with “Your loss” left me feeling aggrieved. Trying to mitigate reputational damage by seeking to forcibly remove reviews that are not to their liking reinforces my view that I was right to post it & is not a good look for any company.

Richard, Assistant Store Manager made my day. Friendly, helpful and and a personalised service. Thank you Richard. You are amazing 👏

Great guys! I got a great personalised service and would highly recommend.

Thanks Richard and Team!

Just the most amazing selection of fossils, insects, ammonites and meteorites I have seen! Such hard work has gone into obtaining and presenting these for any collector. My son is now eyeing up some pieces as he loves history

This place keeps managing to one-upping themselves with new gems!

Great service, wonderful fossil, a treasure.

Thanks

Happy with my purchase from Fossil Store. The Jasper bowl did have a flaw which was more noticeable in the real piece than in the online pictures but it is still a very nice bowl. It is difficult to get a proper perspective from pictures versus seeing them for real. Therefore, I would certainly advise looking carefully at the dimensions of any item you are considering purchasing to try and get a feel for the shape and size in real life.

Very happy efficient delivery and the item looks great, really happy.

Great website, easy to browse. With a lot of detailed descriptions and high quality pics that help inspecting the items and understand their proportions.

Quick delivery. Great packaging: all items were wrapped with great care and properly labelled. All relevant documentation was enclosed.

Purchased again and the experienced another wonderful seamless purchase, communication and final delivery. No hesitation in highly recommending this first class attention at every point of our transaction, with the arrival of quality items. Thank you the fossil store.

This is the best place to buy fossils for sure. Trustworthy and the price is okay

Very good service. Lovely fossil, very nicely mounted.

I am a longterm customer of The Fossil Store and bought some very special fossils from them.

Their service is great and detailed. Very thrustworthy.

Benjamin Allison provides a great customer experience.

Very happy with my experience. Kept me well informed throughout . 10/10

I can't think of anything negative thing to say. Both the customer service and delivery were excellent. On top of all that the fossil tooth I received is absolutely awesome. Thank you Richard and Benjamin!