thingstodo

I write this with a dual purpose: one to vent a little and the second to share the name of a company that has caused repeated trouble with its policies and service. The company is known as Signals, Wireless and Art & Artifacts. They send catalogs or you can order over the internet.

I placed an order from Wireless last year more than two weeks before Christmas. It was supposed to ship within a few days. I checked three days before Christmas and it had yet to ship. The phone rep was very apologetic but said there wasn't much hope it would actually get it. It ended up showing up nearly a week after Christmas.

Fast forward to this year, long before Christmas. The very same guy last year's present was for is now leaving the company to work for a supplier. He has been with us for years and we were planning a nice farewell. The item I ordered from Art & Artifact had a sentimental message. I paid nearly $30 extra for overnight shipping.

The next day the wrong item arrived!

I called customer service and asked if they could replace the wrong order with FedEx 8:00 am delivery (since they used FedEx on the first delivery) and was told they could not. Doesn't make sense but, OK, just cancel the whole thing. I was told I would be credited immediately and they would send me a return label.

My credit card statement was processed over a week later and there was no credit. I called the company and was informed that the credit had been issued but it might take a month to hit my card!

So let me get this straight: they can charge me immediately but can't get a credit on the statement for 30 days? What's more, the clerk defended this position and said all companies are like that with mail orders. I've been shopping on-line and through catalogs for some time and have never experienced credit issues like this!

Anyway, be wary of Wireless, Signal and Art & Artifacts. They carry some cool items - if you can get them!

Any other odd experiences out there?

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If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

Lady Sage

2 weeks ago I ordered for my future step-son the South Park trivia game. Friday the box arrived with the invoice reflecting the above mentioned game. Inside the box a darker evil resided. A magnetic chess set. This is reasonably late on Monday evening and my emails sent out Friday afternoon have YET to be returned.

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If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
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jt6879

This is why I just buy everything local. That way if the clerk or whoever is an idiot I can yell at them

The internet still isn't as wonderful as its cracked up to be. Its still best for Porn and music.

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Just remember this my friend, when you look up at the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light..

ratbastid

Not to excuse all the rest of it, but this part genuinely isn't their fault. Credits take longer for the credit card company to process. I don't really know why. The fact is, if I charge you $5 and credit you $5 on the same day, the $5 charge shows up within 48 hours or so, and the $5 credit might take weeks.

Kaliena

Even though this can be frustrating, don't always take it out on the clerk: more often then not, there really is nothing they can do about the situation without a higher up and the higher ups bail way before the rush hits. (Yes, I speak from experience).

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~Beware the waffle~

jt6879

Oh I know, I just try and be as self sufficient as possible, I dont like to ask a clerk a million questions about something, if they dont know anything. But when you get these uppity ass people and they are rude and treat you like crap (Ya know, the Christmas spirit) then I dont hesitate to let them have it. Cause believe me I get less respect then that in my job

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Just remember this my friend, when you look up at the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light..

kurty[B]

I avoid ordering anything online that I need to receive on a timeline. If I order it online, I hope it shows up, and hope it's what I ordered, if it's not, I test how their RMA process works, and if it sucks and is a pain in the ass, well, I'm certainly not shopping there again. Everyone's Christmas presents from me either show up way early, or way late, people are used to it by now.

thingstodo

I hear you but it doesn't make sense. You may have inside info I don't have. Thanks for the feedback.

Either the company I tried to purchase from or the bank is screwing with my money. I guess I'll call the bank and find out what is taking so long. The thing is, I've never had this problem with any other on-line refunds - they're always very prompt. And this company acts like it's normal business.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

cyrnel

It's the bank's way of ensuring they won't lose a dime. You're responsible for the charge until the merchant funds reverse to the bank's account and enough time passes for it to clear all settles. If anyone - customer, merchant, or transaction processor - defrauds them then it's in your lap with interest from day zero.

I've been involved in three merchant account negotiations and that's been part of every contract. You're right it isn't true in every case but I expect that's part of larger agreements (ours never moved > $250K/mo). It could also be for large accounts working directly with a bank, without middlemen who increase chance for error/fraud, or even situations where the merchant guarantees funds for the bank in the name of customer service.

The banks and merchant service companies have smaller merchants and consumers over a barrel. Don't like the policies? Don't use or accept cards. If you haven't noticed, banking has turned to usury or fee-rape over the last decade. Use a card attached to your assets or you're at their whim.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

magictoy

This merits further discussion. I once had a problem with my credit card processing company (Nova, headquartered in Memphis, I think). They charged a client inaccurately, and charged me to correct the error. Faxing them the paper trail showing it was their error accomplished nothing. Calling them resulted in, after the usual lengthy waits, essentially a "Fuck you" from them.

I changed banks, and a year later the new bank changed to them.

I'm curious about your last statement, though, since I've repeatedly seen it said that online purchases should never be made with a debit card. The reason is that with a credit card, you can get the charge reversed, whereas with a debit card, the money is gone, and small claims is just about your only option.

Average_Joe

I absolutely hate the customer service for credit card companies. Either they are trained to be assholes or they talk to so many Yahoos everyday trying to argue late fees with lame excuses that they just generally treat everyone with no respect.

Last year, we noticed on our credit card bill that we had an interest charge that didn't belong since we paid the entire credit balance on the card that month. I was away on business, so my wife tried to handle the disputed charge. After she got off the phone with customer service, she was literally in tears because she felt like she was patronized, and her complaint fell on deaf ears. They refused to check their own records to see if there was a mistake made on their end. They kept telling her that "she shouldn't make so many charges if she couldn't pay the bill".

A week or so later, we got everything straightened out. It turns out that they entered the wrong account number into their system when they processed the payment. I cancelled that card on the spot. Not to name names, but the card was from a large financial company that probably has a BANK in every CITI around the world.

thingstodo

Never use a debit card as it's tied to your checking account. Once it's tagged the money is gone until you resolve a dispute.

You can always dispute a charge within 60 days of your statement. That's what I plan to do with this charge and things will work out by the time the next xtatement rolls around. I've had to dispute several times over the years (I'm pretty old) and I've never had a problem since I'm following their rules.

I've even disputed something and received a credit from the bank in the middle of the dispute only to have the vendor make it right - but the credit had already been issued by the bank anyway. I felt bad and sent the vendor a check since they did finally resolve things.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

warrrreagl

Here's our latest - trying to get rid of the immortal AT&T.

Grancey and I have a house landline with BellSouth and cellphones (another carrier), so we haven't made a true long distance call in at least 3 years. Our AT&T setup was a "bill-as-you-go" service, where we would only get a bill from AT&T if and when we ever used long distance - which was never.

In September, we got a bill from AT&T for $15 for long distance. WTF? I called AT&T customer service and was told that they no longer offered our service plan and that we had been automatically converted (how nice of them) to one of their other plans. "Didn't you get the notice in the mail?" Uh, no we didn't. Since they no longer had a "pay-as-you-go" plan, I asked her to remove our long distance service and credit our account the $15 since I didn't select that plan and we hadn't made any long distance calls. She agreed, but not without offering me a few other plans - one of which was only $5 per month. "No," I said. Just give us credit and cancel it because we don't ever use it. She agreed, and I got a confirmation number.

The next month, we got a bill for $5 from AT&T. I told Grancey to ignore it because the bill and the cancellation had crossed in the mail, probably.

The next month, we got another bill from AT&T for $11. I called AT&T and was told that the cancellation hadn't taken effect and our account would be credited and cancelled. I got another confirmation number.

The next month (December), we got another bill from AT&T for $17 and a threat to put our account into collection. I spent most of the afternoon of Dec. 26 yelling over the phone at two idiots in AT&T customer service. First, they told me that I had enrolled in the $5 per month plan back in September and they refused to believe that I had not. Then, they told me that there was a "limit" to the number of credits my account could receive and that they could not give me another credit for the $17. In other words, they could cancel the account but I would still have to pay the $17. I went NUCLEAR.

I went through an agent and his supervisor and got the same story. I told the supervisor that I was going to send him a bill for $100 for tutoring services - it didn't matter that he didn't ask for it or even get the service, because if I send a bill then you have to pay what it says, right? He apparently didn't believe that we really didn't use the long distance service. Grancey theorized THAT was the main aspect of this AT&T scam - they figure everybody will eventually use the long distance for something and then they've got you and you can't get credit. He announced that he would have to do an "in-depth" study of our account and call me back. He finally did call back, "with great news, sir!" They were now suddenly magically able to cancel my account AND give me full credit for the $17. Once again, I got a confirmation number. End of story? HA!

Yesterday, we got another bill from AT&T for $6. The bill showed the $17 credit but didn't show anything about cancelling. I called customer service yet again and was told that it was MY responsibility to call my local service provider (BellSouth) and have the long distance disconnected at the switch. Since I didn't take that secret step, then AT&T had assumed I still wanted long distance and would keep billing me until I changed it.

She cancelled the account - again - and gave me credit for the $6 - again - another confirmation number - again. Then, she connected me to BellSouth for the official disconnect. After being on hold for 10 minutes with BellSouth, the call was dropped. Since she had connected me directly, I had no idea what BellSouth number to call, so I had to call AT&T back all over again, wait forever, then explain the whole thing to a new person who could connect me back with BellSouth (this time, I had her give me the number just in case).

Once I got BellSouth, they handled everything and I am now officially disconnected from AT&T. I think.

But here's the kicker. BellSouth charges $4 to make any changes in your long distance service, and that includes cancellation. And guess who now owns BellSouth again? After 20 years, we're right back where we started with this shit. They got their damn money from me after all.

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Living is easy with eyes closed.

ngdawg

I'd just toss those $4 bills....
I had the same problem 5 years ago with AT&T. We'd gone to Niagara Falls, Canada, leaving the kids with my folks. I called them once, charging the call from the hotel to my home phone.
Soon, we got a bill showing that supposedly, I'd called the folks again at 6am the following morning. WTF?
A call from Canada to the states, charged to a home phone, ain't cheap. It was $6.95 the first one, I wasn't about to pay for one I didn't make. But no one at AT&T wanted to hear that.
I ignored the bills and after about 6-7 months, and after switching phone companies, they stopped coming.

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Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

thingstodo

You're lucky. Those bastards (companies that don't care in general) won't hesitate to turn you over to a collections agency AND ding your credit filel

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

Randerolf

Here's my favorite customer service video. A Comcast technician is in phone hell so long that he falls asleep on the couch.
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Also, I was having trouble with Tivo, but they worked with me and I couldn't be more pleased (other than my dead Tivo). Here's the thread about it and other customer service stories.