Review of Ripen eCommerce

3 years ago

Update 9/2:

Update 9/2:
Their COO reached out and explained that my experience was a one-off incident. The unresponsive account manager is not longer with their firm. Although I'm not working with them at this point, you may have a different experience.

Original post:

I reached out to a number of eCommerce agencies in Chicago and New York/New Jersey area, in an effort to hire someone to build my new eCommerce brand. Unfortunately Ripen is the only one that gave me such a bad experience even before we start talking. Perhaps their business is doing so well that they do not care to even hear about new business opportunity.

Here is a timeline of what happened, so you can decide for yourself if you want to work with a team that deals with their (potential) customers so negligently:

8/10 - I sent an inquiry and an account manager reached out to me suggesting a meeting. Instead of suggesting specific time, he asks me to go on Pipedrive to book time with him. Well, Pipedrive requires a login. You can sign up for a free trial and get follow-up sales calls from Pipedrive (which is what I did). All those effort to just "see his availability".

8/10 later - Since Pipedrive didn't work out for me, I sent an email asking what time works for him to meet. No response.

8/11 - Followed up with an email asking if he can chat in the morning. No response.

In the meanwhile: tried to call the number they listed on website. No pick up.

8/11 - Giving them the benefit of doubt, I tried to work Pipedrive again.Turns out that if I access via mobile instead of desktop, I can see his availability without needing to login. I booked 1:30-2:00 pm which shows available on his calendar

8/11 later - meeting was re-scheduled to 8/12. Fine, maybe it was too short of a notice.

8/12 - Seven minutes before the meeting, it is rescheduled again to 8/13 without explanation.

At this point, all communication has been automated reschedule notice. No apology, no personal response, no explanation.

If you are a business owner and this kind of culture and attitude is what you look for in your agency partner, Ripen is an excellent choice for you. Otherwise there are plenty of other professional agencies in the market.