I saw the ad for Steam Buddy on TV and it seemed like a pretty good little outfit for the money so I decided to go to their website and order it.
The ad claimed that the Steam Buddy was 19.95 plus shipping and included was a free pants creaser. I filled out all the required info to order using my debit card but after I saw that the shipping was over $15.00 I did not confirm my order, stopped the transaction and closed out the window altogether.
We live out in a very rural area and I have been ordering products on line for some time now. I do know the protocol for ordering so I know that as long as you don't confirm your order, you haven't purchased it. So I felt confident that all was well.
About 10 minutes later I get a conformation email thanking me for ordering Steam Buddy. I called the company right then and told them that I did NOT confirm my order. That I did NOT want the item. They assured me that it would be taken care of. This was on February 5th.
The next day I checked my bank account on line and it showed a pending charge of $35.88 from Steam Buddy. I called my bank straight away and told them that was an unauthorized charge and please do not let it go through. They told me that I would have to wait until it was actually charged, not pending, before they could do anything but when it did go through they would take care of it. But it did not go through so I thought everything was OK.
I checked my bank account on line on February 22nd 2008 and there again was a debit of $35.88 from Steam Buddy and IT HAD GONE THROUGH! I called the company up right away and told them that I had canceled that order and that I did NOT want the item shipped and refund my money. The gal replied "Who is this for again?" I said "For Steam Buddy steamer" She replied "Oh I'm sorry. Our number was accidentally given out instead of another number for Steam Buddy" I snapped back "Don't try to flake out on me. This is the EXACT same number I called about 20 days ago to cancel the order!" She hung up on me.
I called my bank and told them what had happened and what she has said. They said that they would take care of it but that I needed to fill out a fraud report, which they would send to me, as well as turn a fraud report into my local Sheriffs Department. So I told them that I would.
After I got off the phone with my bank, I decided to give the folks at Steam Buddy one more try to redeem themselves. So I called the number again. After telling them the whole story again about canceling my order and all I finished it up by saying "Now I have just got off the phone with my bank. They are sending me paperwork to fill out a fraud report. They have also advised me to contact the authorities about this too and fill out a fraud report. I am more than willing to do that. But you know what? I'm a pretty easy going person. And rather than putting me through this and you through this, why don't you just refund my money and let's get this over with"
They told me that they would have my money back in 10 days. I will update if they do. Quite frankly I will be surprised if they do.
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