In the last couple of months, in my quest to locate some difficult to find items, I've been exposed to some rather, ehem, 'interesting' practices and tactics by three small online vendors.
It always starts out the same way..... I do a Google search for the item, and the vendor's name pops up. The item is stated to be in stock, and everything looks fine.
One vendor charged my card instantly, then four days later, sent an email stating that the item wasn't in stock and had no anticipated restock date. I called, cancelled the order, and was promised, (verbally) that my card would be credited. After numerous calls, and a month going by, I got my cc involved. The cc card rep said there was no sign of a credit coming through, and that they would handle it for me. Once they got involved, the credit miraculously appeared from the vendor. After doing research on this vendor, I found stories of them rerunning the charge AFTER the cc company had resolved the dispute, so I had my cc company block them from ever running my card.
I had similar issues, (bad, but not quite as bad) with one of the other vendors, and the third looks like they are going to take eons to credit me for a return they've had in their possession for almost two weeks.
At this point, I have sworn off small online vendors. Some of the tactics I have seen can only be described as shady, bordering on theft. Does anyone have any similar stories to tell?
It always starts out the same way..... I do a Google search for the item, and the vendor's name pops up. The item is stated to be in stock, and everything looks fine.
One vendor charged my card instantly, then four days later, sent an email stating that the item wasn't in stock and had no anticipated restock date. I called, cancelled the order, and was promised, (verbally) that my card would be credited. After numerous calls, and a month going by, I got my cc involved. The cc card rep said there was no sign of a credit coming through, and that they would handle it for me. Once they got involved, the credit miraculously appeared from the vendor. After doing research on this vendor, I found stories of them rerunning the charge AFTER the cc company had resolved the dispute, so I had my cc company block them from ever running my card.
I had similar issues, (bad, but not quite as bad) with one of the other vendors, and the third looks like they are going to take eons to credit me for a return they've had in their possession for almost two weeks.
At this point, I have sworn off small online vendors. Some of the tactics I have seen can only be described as shady, bordering on theft. Does anyone have any similar stories to tell?
