Did Office Depot just one-up NVidia on me?

[Tweak155]

Some of you may have read my thread here where NVidia basically charged my card weeks before the product actually shipped.

Well, what I never said at that time is that I also placed an order at Office Depot that was expected to ship ~4weeks later... by mid / end of Feb.

After the NVidia card shipped on me, I tried to cancel the Office Depot order, but could not find a way to do it online... at the time though video card prices were still hot so I decided to let it sit rather than hassle myself with calling in.

Well a month later the card had not shipped, and I noticed at just about exactly 30 days after my order was placed, the temporary hold dropped off my card. I checked the order status at Office Depot and it just never changed status... that is until today.

Today (yes, 4mos later.. I ordered it on 1/18) I got an email that the card shipped!! Obviously by now I just plain forgot about it, I kinda wiped my eyes a little. I checked the order status on Office Depot site this morning and it remained unchanged, so I thought it was a glitch. I didn't have a tracking # or anything... that is until I decided to check it again an hour ago!!

Not only do I have a tracking# and it will show up on Monday, somehow these a-holes were able to re-charge my PayPal / Credit card!!

If I have any problems taking this card back I will be pretty livid, and I struggle to determine who is more shady... perhaps I won't know for certain until I try to return it. If I get ANY hassle, there will be issues.

Poll because we need moar polls.

EDIT:

Just returned the card without issue, although the cashier kept mentioning he thought it wouldn't work...

 

[IEC]

I've basically learned the hard way that you never preorder or backorder computer hardware without a solid ETA unless you want to get it months down the road.

Not in stock = no sale from me.

 

[Tweak155]

I've basically learned the hard way that you never preorder or backorder computer hardware without a solid ETA unless you want to get it months down the road.

Not in stock = no sale from me.

Yeah even in my order confirmation back when I placed it... it says expected delivery of 2/21/2018. So I thought they expected it in the next month or so which didn't seem unreasonable.

 

[cfenton]

I don't think Office Depot did anything wrong here. You ordered the card, they said they'd ship it when they had stock, you didn't cancel it, so they shipped it when they had stock. The only problem I see is that it took them longer than they thought it would to get more stock. That sucks, but with the current state of the GPU market it's hardly surprising. Regardless, I'm sure they'll take it back. Why wouldn't they?

 

[Tweak155]

I don't think Office Depot did anything wrong here. You ordered the card, they said they'd ship it when they had stock, you didn't cancel it, so they shipped it when they had stock. The only problem I see is that it took them longer than they thought it would to get more stock. That sucks, but with the current state of the GPU market it's hardly surprising. Regardless, I'm sure they'll take it back. Why wouldn't they?

Yeah I'm not overly pissed at them or anything, but I do wonder... what if they got it in a year later for some reason? What is a reasonable limit to be allowed to charge your card again?

I could see this having been a problem for someone not keeping on top of their finances as closely... an unexpected $300 charge could easily put someone over their limit 4 mos later. At what point is it reasonable to assume they just aren't going to send it? I think it's logical that their should be a limit in situations like this, but definitely very subjective as to what that time period should be.

 

[cfenton]

Yeah I'm not overly pissed at them or anything, but I do wonder... what if they got it in a year later for some reason? What is a reasonable limit to be allowed to charge your card again?

I could see this having been a problem for someone not keeping on top of their finances as closely... an unexpected $300 charge could easily put someone over their limit 4 mos later. At what point is it reasonable to assume they just aren't going to send it? I think it's logical that their should be a limit in situations like this, but definitely very subjective as to what that time period should be.

I think it's reasonable to assume that if a customer doesn't cancel an order, then they still want the product. Of course, a reminder every once in a while wouldn't hurt. For example, I have a three(ish) year old pre-order for the Final Fantasy 7 remake at Best Buy. They send me an email every three months or so reminding me that it's still an open order. I think that's a reasonable system for this kind of thing.

 

[Tweak155]

I think it's reasonable to assume that if a customer doesn't cancel an order, then they still want the product. Of course, a reminder every once in a while wouldn't hurt. For example, I have a three(ish) year old pre-order for the Final Fantasy 7 remake at Best Buy. They send me an email every three months or so reminding me that it's still an open order. I think that's a reasonable system for this kind of thing.

I could live with that. At least Best Buy has a way to cancel the order online. Why let me order online but not cancel (at least up to a certain point)?

 

[alcoholbob]

If I can't cancel I would just block my credit or debit card.

 

[paperfist]

They charged your card once for something you ordered?

 

[Guru]

That is how it actually works!!! Of course they charge you first, what genius would charge you AFTER the product arrives? It doesn't make any sense!

If they didn't charge anyone at order, then anyone could be ordering GTX 1080ti's and canceling them hours or days later, it will be a mess.

Office depot also didn't do anything wrong. The only issue here is you! You were too lazy, too ignorant, too in your bubble to actually take control and cancel a simple order!

 

[Tweak155]

That is how it actually works!!! Of course they charge you first, what genius would charge you AFTER the product arrives? It doesn't make any sense!

If they didn't charge anyone at order, then anyone could be ordering GTX 1080ti's and canceling them hours or days later, it will be a mess.

Office depot also didn't do anything wrong. The only issue here is you! You were too lazy, too ignorant, too in your bubble to actually take control and cancel a simple order!

And you sound too lazy to even read, buddy. They charged me 2-3wks before it even shipped in Nvidia's instance.

And yeah, I didn't care to call into Office Depot and like I've said, I don't think it's all that bad what they did, but there should be an in between placing an order that's due 1 month out from ordering and just charging and shipping 4mos later.

 

[cmdrdredd]

This is why Amazon is taking business from everyone. They only charge you when a product ships. If they let you pre-order or place an order for an expected to arrive product that is shipped and sold by them there is no money out of your account until they try to ship. I believe Best Buy is the same way. Now if they want to charge you before it ships, like immediately after the order is placed and then ship it when it arrives that's ok if they have this clearly stated where you can easily see that they will charge you immediately upon placing the order. If they don't say that and just randomly charge you weeks before anything is available to ship that's a little shady if you ask me. Gotta put it out front so people know what's going on.

 

[Guru]

And you sound too lazy to even read, buddy. They charged me 2-3wks before it even shipped in Nvidia's instance.

And yeah, I didn't care to call into Office Depot and like I've said, I don't think it's all that bad what they did, but there should be an in between placing an order that's due 1 month out from ordering and just charging and shipping 4mos later.

So? That is how most companies do things. Apart from a few select companies which you can count on one hand, everyone else does business like that. You place an order and you are charged. You can cancel that order if there is no stock, but the onus is on you, otherwise they'll ship you a card whenever its available, technically it can even be a year later.

 

[paperfist]

This is why Amazon is taking business from everyone. They only charge you when a product ships. If they let you pre-order or place an order for an expected to arrive product that is shipped and sold by them there is no money out of your account until they try to ship. I believe Best Buy is the same way. Now if they want to charge you before it ships, like immediately after the order is placed and then ship it when it arrives that's ok if they have this clearly stated where you can easily see that they will charge you immediately upon placing the order. If they don't say that and just randomly charge you weeks before anything is available to ship that's a little shady if you ask me. Gotta put it out front so people know what's going on.

Way back before the internet and there was mail order they couldn't charge you before something shipped. I dunno what happened, but now it's acceptable and routine.

I ordered a $3k piece of equipment and they charged my CC for 6 months before it shipped. I had to get the State's Attorney general involved and even they said it wasn't a crime to charge like that lol

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

To anyone thinking this is totally normal business practice, I urge you to read this excerpt from the Visa merchant guidelines booklet:

Deliver the merchandise or services to the cardholder at the time of the transaction. Cardholders
expect immediate delivery of goods and services unless other delivery arrangements have been made.
For card-absent transactions, cardholders should be informed of delivery method and tentative delivery
date. Transactions cannot be deposited until goods have been shipped or services received.

What they are doing is not okay under Visa's merchant agreement and most other credit card companies merchant rules. They can put a temporary hold at the time of order to ensure the amount is available but actually charging before shipment is not acceptable.

It's almost like some of you don't even care about your rights as a consumer/cardholder. You aren't required to give a free loan while your product is backordered. That's bulls***. Companies get away with this because no one complains.

 

[Tweak155]

Just returned the card without issue in case anyone was losing sleep wondering what would happen.

 

[paperfist]

Just returned the card without issue in case anyone was losing sleep wondering what would happen.

It wasn't worth putting on eBay?

 

[Tweak155]

It wasn't worth putting on eBay?

They're pretty easy to get these days.