DO NOT BUY FROM WWW.AHUVA.COM...EVER!
This has got to be the most unethical website online. I have never experienced anything like this before. - I found what I "thought" was a beautiful ladie's Tillit Prayer Shawl on www.ahuva.com last week. I looked all over before I found the exact one I wanted. Their site said it was made of silk, hand stitched with the Star of David, etc., and even blessed by an official rabbi from Israel. I was thrilled.
Then came that feeling of dread. I placed my order online Nov. 24th. It didn't ship out until the 26th. WHY, I don't know. I paid $105.00 for the tallit, and another $37.00 for EXPRESS AIR SHIPPING so I'd get it in 2 days as promised. When I tried to inquire about the status of the shipping date, I heard nothing.
What's even more unsettling was the fact that once I'd ordered it, I went back to their website to view it again, only I couldn't find it. Confused, I emailed them again asking them to attach a picture of the one I ordered. They did, but not after asking me all sorts of questions about my order number, etc. (I found this very odd, because all of that information was ATTACHED via my reply to their previous email which contained all of my information.) It made no sense, .
I finally received a prayer shawl via FEDEX on 11/28 but it's not the one I ordered. This one is plain compared to the one I saw online. This one is lavender also, but does not have one Star of David on it, nor any of the other special stitching I loved. This one has crowns. The one I saw online did not. This one's material is not silk or even silk-like. It feels rough and looks like it's one that's been mass produced someplace on an assembly line. I was also bummed to see that it came from "Ontario, Canada" not Israel.
Frustrated, I called the phone number listed on their website: [protected]. It rang nearly 8 times before an answering machine picked up. It did not give any recognizable name (like, "hello, you've reached Ahuva...") Instead, it just says to leave a message then a beep sounds. I've done this twice, with no return phone call.
I did receive a very weird email from someone at Ahuva, with the subject line containing nothing but HTML coding style letters and symbols. I almost didn't open it, but when I did, it was someone from ahuva asking yet AGAIN for my "order number" so they could research my order.
I have counted SEVEN EMAILS back and forth between me and AHUVA.COM pertaining to this purchase and have YET to have it resolved. All they ever do is ask me for my ordering information, which I've provided to them several times. I've repeatedly asked them to provide instructions to me on how I can return the one they sent me so that I can receive a full refund to my credit card ASAP. Since they choose to ignore my requests, I have decided to write reviews about my experience online so that others won't have to go through what I have. I cannot afford to just give away $142.00.
I have since found other reviews of customers who've purchased items from this website and had similar experiences. Some people had to wait months to receive their items, while others are still waiting after 2 years. I wish I had known about this website before making my purchase. I'd love nothing more than to see it shut down for good. They are taking advantage of innocent people.
Please..if you or someone you know is looking for an authentic Jewish artifact, or item, DO NOT GO TO AHUVA.COM.
DO NOT ORDER FROM AHUVA.COM
Do not make the mistake I did, you will soon regret it as I am now. Ahuva is one scam website, if only I checked reviews beforehand...
I ordered a dozen tzedakah boxes for $2.35 from Ahuva, it was on sale from $2.50 so sounded even better. Something felt wrong from the start when my notification email of the shipment clearly stated there will be no tracking number, naturally making me nervous for I needed it by a certain date. When my ordered arrived I was shocked to see that it was sent from oriental trading.com
The boxes were nothing like they appeared online and looked very cheap, I checked the price on oriental and they were a little over $1... calling ahuva to return my order proved futile, I was only greeted with their rude costumer service which was of no help. And to add, to return you pay your shipping and 20 percent of your order, have you ever came across a store having that policy? I have not!
Do yourself a favor, dont use this website.
It is now June 2016 and their service, ethics and respect to customers has not improved one iota. I do not intend to go into my very long history of communications by email and by phone as at the end it is all about the same, a lack of ethics, honesty and respect. I could not be more disappointed with how they handle business and I fail to understand how they are still functioning. Their website has a phone number that is not in service any longer, their address is invalid and their inventory online is outdated. As soon as you order a product, your credit card gets charged for all, including taxes and shipping. When the product that you ordered turns out to be unavailable, then your frustration only begins. Their behaviour is totally appalling, dishonest, disrespectful and disappointing. Just as the title of this complaint states: Do yourselves a favour and stay away from this website completely.
I can't agreed above comment more than anything ever. That's exactly the situation what I have now. They totally ignore my order and took full amount from my credit card. What can we do? PLease Do Not Make Any Purchase From Ahuva.com. It's not real website
agree, terrible outfit
placed an order 2 day priority never got it, then got charged a restock fee out of refund. glad it was a small order.
don't use this company.
BUYER BEWARE !
In March, 2018, we placed an order for an Israeli flag tallit with an embroidered message. That was our mistake. It arrived from Israel with the message written in fabric glitter pen. After much unsatisfactory back and forth, we returned the tallit at our expense to Israel where it was repaired with the understanding that the tallit would be returned without any message or embroidery. It arrived in New York and the vendor, disregarding our instructions took it upon themselves to embroider a message in big block letters as if it were for a sweatshirt. This was unacceptable and the vendor blamed it on us despite the fact that they had ignored our instructions. Again, after much unsatisfactory correspondence, we returned the tallit at our expense to Israel where it was once more repaired. This was an expensive and time consuming endeavor with just satisfactory results. In all fairness, Ahuva.com did attempt to resolve the issue that they had created to keep us from contesting the charges. A brand new tallit has been repaired twice before we could even give it as a gift to our grandson. The entire encounter from March to June was very unsettling. There are other Judaica websites to buy from.