BEFORE you buy from cheaperthandirt.com, READ this:
I joined their "Buying Club and then placed an order. At the 'Check-Out' Page, I found out that my order for 4 items weighing 2.2 lbs incurred a shipping charge for over $19 for FedEx ground plus another $2.99 for shipping & Handling they called it package protection fee. When I emailed them to find out why the S/H was so blasted high, they said they have two warehouses, one in Louisiana and the other in TX and that parts of my order will be shipped from one warehouse an the rest from the other, so I have to pay FedEx twice.
Since I was unwilling to pay double FedEx for such a small order, I reduced my order from 4 to 2 items, making sure that both items would be shipped from the same warehouse. My order came to $17.97 x 2 $9.38 for FedEx $4.07 Sales Tax, totaling $49.39.
When I finalized my order on line and pressed the order button, I was also enrolled in something called Reservation Rewards for $10/month. I didn't even suspect that another company would piggy back onto cheaperthandirt.com's order form and trick people into thinking that they were a part of cheaperthandirt.com.
I immediately cancelled and got a confirmation from Reservation Rewards. I needed that aggravation like I need a hole in the head! I did send cheaperthandirt.com an email telling them of my objection on being mislead into joining something I had no interest in and it took extra time and effort to cancel it and make sure I was not charged by them.
Foolishly, I was going to place another order with cheaperthandirt.com, but this time I was more careful in watching who else might try to piggy back onto the order. Sure enough, if I had clicked the final order button, it would have signed me up for another $10/mon membership with NASCAR! Needless to say, I voided that order, and immediately emailed cheaperthandirt.com and on the Subject Bar of my email, I stated: Order Cancel (all) Order Number 7227425.
In addition, in the text of my email, I told cheaperthandirt.com that no one should have to be so careful ordering a couple of items through the Internet to make sure we don't get piggy backed onto unintentionally joining something totally useless and unwanted.
Well, cheaperthandirt.com sent me a confirmation email telling me that my buying club membership had been canceled and that she had refunded (past tense) the membership fee back to your credit card on 04/03/07 at 3:32;47 pm.
I thought that ended that unpleasant little shopping trip to cheaperthandirt.com.
It was not to be so.in fact, the nightmare just got started!
As it turned out, they did cancel my buying club membership. But they recalculated and applied the higher non-member price of $2 more for each item - and added insult to injury - by putting a note on their shipping invoice saying, and I quote:... Your membership fee has been refunded. Subsequently the price was changed for the items on this order to reflect the non-member pricing.
Correct me if I am wrong, please. But doesn't the note mean that even though they received my request for cancellation (for both membership and the order), they ignored it by changing the prices, added the note to the shipping invoice, printed the invoice, packaged the items, gone into and used the FedEx software to print out a shipping label with their Tracking Number and had FedEx pick up the package ALL OF THAT AFTER my order was already null and void?
As of Tuesday, April 10 @ 10:29 AM, cheaperthandirt.com had NOT applied my $30 refund. Does it take SEVEN (7) days to refund? Or was it a lie?
Their re-calculated non-member price was $2 higher and they charged my credit card on 4/4/07 for $53.39 again, AFTER I had cancelled my order and they confirmed my cancellation. Am I supposed to pay for something I didn't order and they sent them to me on their own free will?
Since then I received no co-operation from their Customer Service, until I emailed their Inside Sales Manager. Then the lack of co-operation from their customer service became a total lack of customer service. Cheaperthandirt.com's Inside Sales Manager called me and actually argued with me and tried to monopolize the conversation by talking over me preventing me from saying anything. He just kept talking and talking and talking, even though he had no idea what he was talking about. It was evident that he had not read any of the email exchanges between their C/S and me. He talked right over me when I was trying to tell him that he needed to go back and read all the email on record, so I don't know if he even heard me. Finally, I just had to hand up on him to shut him up!
What's the bottom line?
(1) They KNOW that I've canceled both the buying club membership and the order unless they are out sourced in India and don't read English!
(2) They sent me stuff I didn't order.
(3) They told me they refunded my membership fee on 04/03/07. That has not happened as of 04/10/07.
(4) They debited my account for $53.39 without authorization, AFTER confirming that the order had been canceled. That makes it a criminal and fraudulent act of accessing someone's bank account without authorization.
(5) I will not buy anything from cheaperthandirt.com ever again. Even if they have a monopoly on the market for what they sell, I still don't need the hassle. There are many and I do mean MANY - others that are much simpler and nicer with which to do business. But I am not telling you not to buy from them. You decide how much risk you want to take with your credit card and how much aggravation you are willing to endure just to buy something.
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