On July 26th, I decided to order a new digital camera. I had an instant rebate from buy.com for $15 and their price on the camera was lower than most other places I checked, but not outrageously so. The camera also showed as in-stock. I placed the order for the camera and a memory card.
On 7/28 I checked on the order and found that the memory card had already shipped but the order for the camera was still showing the credit card as processing. Since both were ordered at the same time with the same time with the same card, I sent an email asking why the Camera order was being held up and received the following reply:
Thank you for contacting Buy.com.
This is in reference to your email regarding order #XXXXXXXX (order number removed).
We apologize that the delivery of your order is taking longer than expected. Due to a setback from the manufacturer, item #202440061 on your order is currently on backorder.
We update our web site once every 24 hours. Occasionally, items run out of stock before we can update this information. We are working on providing more frequent updates in the future.
However, we do not have an estimated time of arrival. You will receive an email from us once the product you ordered ships.
We thank you for your patience in the matter.
I was puzzled by this since I had only asked about the status of my credit card, but I did notice that my order was changed in status to "Sent to Warehouse". I continued monitoring the website and each day the camera showed as in stock and each day my order did not ship. So on August 1st I wrote them again and asked why it continued to show as in-stock but wasn't being shipped. I received the exact same form email as the first time except that it now included a link to cancel the order.
I tried calling their (unannounced, you have to Google search for it) customer service line and got the exact same story.
I decided to wait until the weekend was over and try calling again. This time I called the customer service number and instead of giving my order number asked if I could just find out if the camera was in stock so I could buy it. I was told that it was. I then asked why my order was not shipping and provided my order number. The CSR said I could cancel my order and re-order and it should ship (note that this would now be at a much higher price than I bought it for - they have raised the price by $45.
I told him I wanted my original order to go through. He put me on hold briefly and then came back and said the camera was not in stock. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that they are only available from 9-5 PT. Since it was only about 8:15PT, I hung up and called back at the correct time.
When I called back and asked to speak with a supervisor, I was put into a queue. After 20 minutes of waiting, I couldn't spend any more time on this and tried using their 'option' to leave a call back number. However the callback system would not take any input so there was no way to leave a message.
I then sent them an email:
I called your service line and confirmed that you have this item in stock without bringing up my order number. I then asked when my order would ship and provided the number. I was told that I could cancel my order and re-order and it should ship. I said that I wanted my initial order to ship and then was told that the item was out of stock. Clearly, I am being lied to. Just as clearly, you are now guilty of bait-and-switch tactics as described by the FTC here: http://www.ftc. Gov/bcp/guides/baitads-gd.htm
Such tactics are illegal.
Please let me know the current status of the order
I received the exact same form letter reply. I no longer have the time to waste on this matter. I will order the camera from a reputable company and never again do business with buy.com. I will also suggest to all my friends and relatives that they do the same. I urge anyone reading this to also avoid them.
To add a final insult, I have tried to cancel the order only to be told that I have only requested a cancellation. I now have to wait up to 24 hours to find out if they in fact have cancelled the order. This means that if I do order it elsewhere, I may end up with 2 of the same camera.
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