can I keep this package...? please advise

[somethingwitty]

ok, here's a story and timeline, please let me know what you think.

Tuesday August 13: I notice a thread in hot deals with a foxstore coupon that would save me $14.98 (some percent of my order) on the second season of the simpsons. I don't read the entire thread (oops ), so I go to the site and start placing my order. After inputting all my billing and shipping info, i'm finally told that the coupon has expired. I email customer service (under two headings-"coupon concern" and "placing an order") expressing my displeasure that they have my info and I dont have a coupon, and informing them that I am placing my order and respectfully requesting a credit to reach the price that caught my attention...figured this was worth a shot, worst case scenario I cancel. note that they claim they'll reply within 24-48 hrs.
A little before midnight I get a notification that my order was recieved, total $43.XX shipped.

Thursday August 15, noon EST: I send an email to the customerservice@foxstore.vcommerce.com that contains the text of my intial email(s), explains that I am still upset about giving my info out, and requests a coupon, phone number to call, OR a CONDITIONAL cancelation in the event that a credit can not be given. I recieve an autoreply referring me to their site's help section (which has no phone number that I could find and instead refers me to the form to email customer service with a specific topic of concern) stating in part

*** At this time, this message has auto-generated this reply. No further action will be taken.***

.

August 19, evening: I give up and decide to cancel my order. I go online, see it listed as "processing", and request the cancelation. Autoreply comes informing me that they received my request to change the order and would get back to me (email) with a status report in 3-5 business days.

August 21, morning: I receive an email regretably informing me that my order may have been delayed;

We regret to inform you that shipment for part of your order may be delayed, as we have not yet received a shipment confirmation from the warehouse.

August 23: arrive home from work to find a media-mail package from fox home in AZ (i'm in MD); my credit card has not been charged (yet), and the site still claims my order is processing. I'd love to speak with someone there to offer to pay the coupon-adjusted price (because there's no way I'm paying the $43.xx when I can find it cheaper somewhere else), but I've looked all around and can't find the number.

Now, in the interest of honesty, I will admit that the form inside the package claims a ship date of august 14th; that does kinda hurt my cause. however, I'm still VERY pissed about the total lack of customer care.

So anyways, what do you all think? If they ever charge my card (hey, it may not happen since I did cancel) can I argue it (lol, yes, essentially I'm asking if this can be free to me, but i'd pay if that's what it comes down to)? Is this considered an unwanted package, since I tried to cancel, they never told me it shipped, never gave me a single way to contact them to request a cancelation (faster than the 3-5 days they said it would take), etc...

thanks for any advice

 

[PsychoAndy]

They'll wind up charging it. Wait a week.

-PAB

 

[vegetation]

Take it back to the Post Office and tell them you refuse the package. Technically, you can't refuse a package if it's been opened, but in this case I think it's the best way to go about it.

 

[dirtboy]

Return it. They will charge you for it.

Believe me, it will never be "free". They will eventually raise prices to absorb the loss if you try to keep it without paying. If they do charge your credit card, you could fight it, but since it was actually delievered you have no leg to stand on.

Since you knew what it was, you should have called the shipper and asked them to return it unopened. Now that you've opened it, you own it. Call Foxstore and get it straightened out. There has to be a phone number inside the package?

 

[somethingwitty]

Originally posted by: dirtboy
Return it. They will charge you for it.

Believe me, it will never be "free". They will eventually raise prices to absorb the loss if you try to keep it without paying. If they do charge your credit card, you could fight it, but since it was actually delievered you have no leg to stand on.

Since you knew what it was, you should have called the shipper and asked them to return it unopened. Now that you've opened it, you own it. Call Foxstore and get it straightened out. There has to be a phone number inside the package?

figured I'd take this one first-nope, no phone number on the packing slip or website, no reply to any of my 3 emails over the last 10 days. no idea how to reach a human over there.

opening the package is ok, as long as the actual DVD isnt opened yet.

 

[ThunderGirl]

Just tape it back up and pay money to send it back ceritifed so you have a copy that you sent it back and they got it.

Once opened you can't do a return to sender.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Wait to see if they charge your card. if they do Call CC company and contest charge. you did go through the cancelation on there website, incase you haven't done so, in the future all ways screen capture or print the confirmation of the cancellation. If you can prove you cancelled the order yet they still sent you the package, you can keep it and not pay for it.

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: somethingwitty

Originally posted by: dirtboy
Return it. They will charge you for it.

Believe me, it will never be "free". They will eventually raise prices to absorb the loss if you try to keep it without paying. If they do charge your credit card, you could fight it, but since it was actually delievered you have no leg to stand on.

Since you knew what it was, you should have called the shipper and asked them to return it unopened. Now that you've opened it, you own it. Call Foxstore and get it straightened out. There has to be a phone number inside the package?

figured I'd take this one first-nope, no phone number on the packing slip or website, no reply to any of my 3 emails over the last 10 days. no idea how to reach a human over there.

opening the package is ok, as long as the actual DVD isnt opened yet.

Dumb question, but what are you going to do if they charge your CC?

 

[Smolek]

They'll charge you. I ordered from them and they charged me 9 (was delivered on the 7th day) days after I placed the order.

 

[somethingwitty]

Just tape it back up and pay money to send it back ceritifed so you have a copy that you sent it back and they got it.
Once opened you can't do a return to sender.

I dont think it's worth paying to send it back-if it's getting returned I'd want them to pay for it; the slip says "shipping costs can only be refunded if the return is due to our error", at a minimum i'd fight for that (if i could ever reach someone there).

Wait to see if they charge your card. if they do Call CC company and contest charge. you did go through the cancelation on there website, incase you haven't done so, in the future all ways screen capture or print the confirmation of the cancellation. If you can prove you cancelled the order yet they still sent you the package, you can keep it and not pay for it.

for now I'm keeping the DVD wrapped. I did try to cancel on their site, but, as i admitted, the slip says "shipped 8/14". but does that negate the fact that they didnt keep me updated in any way on my order status (it still says processing) and that they dont have a phone number (or reply to emails) where i can reach them to request a cancelation in real time...

all i have so far is an email that they received my request to cancel-they promised an update in 3-5 business days, its only been four since then.

Dumb question, but what are you going to do if they charge your CC?

lol, it's a pretty good question-thats what im debating. I DO want the product, just not at the higher price. I'm leaning towards, if charged, calling my CC company to dispute, explaining that ive been trying for this lower price all along, and asking them to step in and try to find the sites contact info (since they havent replied to any of my emails, maybe they'll listen to a CC company) and help me resolve this to the lower price. any thoughts as to whether that could be effective?

I know im not debating over much, but it's my principals that have been offended more than anything. i want this dvd, i value my time, but, most of all, i value good (for that matter, responsive) customer service. an apology and a FULL refund (inc. shipping) would be great-anything short of that (or only charging me $29.xx for the product) and I'll see if I can fight this.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Coupon whining is just so.. weak. So what if you'd already put in "all" of your shipping and billing info, you were using an expired coupon and went ahead and confirmed your order anyway, thinking you'd be able to get CS to spot you another one, a worthy gamble if you were willing to accept either consequence, which it seems you were not. If you don't like the price, then return the stuff.

 

[somethingwitty]

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma
Coupon whining is just so.. weak. So what if you'd already put in "all" of your shipping and billing info, you were using an expired coupon and went ahead and confirmed your order anyway, thinking you'd be able to get CS to spot you another one, a worthy gamble if you were willing to accept either consequence, which it seems you were not. If you don't like the price, then return the stuff.

I agree with you logic, and yes, I was/am willing to accept the gamble. in the end, $14.98 is not going to make or break my account. the problem I have is with their customer service in general-a bad checkout process, no phone # to call, an auto-reply to an email saying essentially "thanks for emailing, we dont give a damn and will never read this", order info that doesnt update, etc.

really, heres what it comes down to-i tried to beat the system and "lost". i wouldnt have "lost" if they had decent customer service-i would have tried the coupon trick over the phone, they would have said "sorry you think our site sucks, but no coupon", and i would have bought it for $32 shipped from bestbuy. the fact that I couldnt get the lower price AND couldnt reach anyone there to cancel is the problem. If, hypothetically, they had a phone #, but i didnt call it, and they had responded "no" to my coupon request email, and then i said "Cancel" but it had already shipped i wouldnt be upset-it would be 100% my fault. But the way this worked out is that I have a product i want at a price higher than i want-i dont want to ship it back (since i DO want it), but i dont want to (and shouldnt have had to) pay the higher price that I could have avoided if they had a phone number. if, in the end, i have to pay it i will, but if i can get my CC company to step in on behalf of saving me $14.98 and not let the poor/non-existant customer service "win" that'd be worth more than $14.98 to me

edit: if they'd even responsed "no" to my INITIAL emails sent the first night and my cancel request was post-shipment i'd be ok with this...its not like the lack of phone number is the (main/only) issue...but no response 10 days later pisses me off.

 

[dakata24]

whois sure comes in handy sometimes

Registrant:
Vcommerce Corp
9977 N. 90th Street
Suite 200
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
US

Registrar: Dotster (http://www.dotster.com)
Domain Name: VSTORE.COM
Created on: 15-SEP-98
Expires on: 14-SEP-05
Last Updated on: 20-MAY-02

Administrative Contact:
Admin, Domain domainadmin@vcommerce.com
Vcommerce, Inc.
9977 N. 90th Street
Suite 200
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
US
480-922-9922
480-922-9921

Technical Contact:
Techs, Domain domaintechs@vcommerce.com
Vcommerce, Inc.
9977 N. 90th Street
Suite 200
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
US
480-922-9922
480-922-9921

 

[somethingwitty]

dakata24, thanks. i had tried whois using some ask.com link, it didnt give me all that info for some reason. I guess I'll try one of those two phone numbers on monday-see if i can reach customer service at one of them...any other advice?

 

[Lucky]

its a v-store? bah, good luck.

 

[somethingwitty]

Originally posted by: Lucky
its a v-store? bah, good luck.

other than terrible customer service can you explain that? what else am I in for :Q

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: vegetation
Take it back to the Post Office and tell them you refuse the package. Technically, you can't refuse a package if it's been opened, but in this case I think it's the best way to go about it.

You're a moron. You cant refuse delivery on a package that has already been delivered, let alone opened.

-PAB

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: somethingwitty

Originally posted by: Lucky
its a v-store? bah, good luck.

other than terrible customer service can you explain that? what else am I in for :Q

just terrible customer service....anyone can setup a vstore.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: PsychoAndy

Originally posted by: vegetation
Take it back to the Post Office and tell them you refuse the package. Technically, you can't refuse a package if it's been opened, but in this case I think it's the best way to go about it.

You're a moron. You cant refuse delivery on a package that has already been delivered, let alone opened.

-PAB

Yes you can (refuse delivery on a package that's already been delivered.) I've done it a couple of times for packages that were just left at my door.