I placed an order on 3/13 with BoatSupplyOnline.com, which is owned an operated by Ace Hardware Superstore. The order was filled by AceHardwareSuperstore.com. I ordered four rope cleats for $105.68. Shipping to my address was an additional $16.53.
Shortly after placing the order, I received a form-letter type email stating that because this item was a "special order" an additional $9.99 would be charged. Needless to say, I was unhappy with this since I had already been charged quite a bit to ship the merchandise. Nothing on the website said there was any sort of "special order" fee.
Here is the address to the item I purchased:
http://www.boatsupplyonline.com/434-pull-up-folding-cleats/16685.html
I replied to the email, which disingenuously apologized for any "inconvenience" caused by the special order charge. I stated that I felt they ought to ship the merchandise at the original price, and that a reputable company would not change the price of their merchandise after it had already been ordered. After a short exchange, the order was cancelled.
I have since visited several sites like ResellerRatings and usacomplaints.com. AceHardwareSuperstore has extremely low ratings on these sites, and a surprising number of negative comments. Of particular interest is their apparently frequent use of a "special order fee" ploy to increase sales price after-the-fact. Here are direct links to their ratings at each of the above sites:
Http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Ace_Hardware_Superstore
Avoid these guys like the plague.
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