Seems the blog author was taking the "cheap" option by trading time-to-deliver for cost.

I don't think anyone assumes when they take the cheap shipping option that they are eating a 10% chance the package never shows up. Nor mis-matched packages. Nor sudden calls from collections. Nor being re-labeled in the database as a 'distributor.'

Author gave time for them to work out the bugs between each attempt, and, seems each attempt went worse.

Classic post-2010s-era support quality.

Seems like there shouldn't be a shipping option that, when used, results in the customer hating the company.

The fact that it took this customer so long to decide he hated the company indicates that he is quite patient — other customers might have changed their mind about Mouser sooner.

So when we choose the cheapest shipping option, we should expect shipments to just disappear, and customer support reps to lie or mislead us about what's going on, fail to refund or replace, and when they do refund, keep the shipping fees, despite not having actually shipped anything?

The only difference with cheaper shipping is that it should take longer to arrive. That's not what happened here.

Alternatively, "Our customer constantly has issues with our service, let's ignore it until they are no longer a customer"

Cheap shipping is supposed to mean "slow" and maybe "no tracking," not "50/50 chance of actually getting your items" and "we will send you to collections for the replacement order if the first one gets lost."

I happen to work for a company that ships things. Like every company, there are places where processes are less than ideal. We never treat customers like this.

Our customer support people have access to know where any order is and if it has been split across multiple shipments. At the very least, we know if the box left the warehouse.

This was not a bad experience, not even two or three. This was a string of pure incompetence.