Warning to Internet Shoppers.

T

tom&shan

New member
An FYI to the C-Brat Community. Watch out for Smokesign.com .
After reading on this site about fire estinguishers, and only finding the Kiddie brand at the local stores, I went shopping on the Internetwork for estinguishers. Found a nice one and ordered it. The site has a Better Business Logo and is laid out very professionally. It states shipping in 2 business days or less. Four weeks later, no product, bank account debited when I placed the order. Checked with the BBB, the company has 54 complaints, is not a member of BBB. Emails and phone calls to the company have gone unanswered.

Cheers,
Tom
 
In my previous life (a bit less than two years ago) I was a manager of computer security for a significant quasi-government organization. Despite all the knowledge gleaned from my professional life, the only modestly reliable method I've found on a personal basis for protecting myself is to know my credit card vendors.

If an internet goods vendor fails to deliver as promised, I want my credit card vendor to withhold payment. I want to know that VISA, Discover, American Express, etc. will withhold payment based on their good faith in what I've told them. This doesn't mean that they are withholding the exact $100 you owe Aardvark.Com for a stuffed three cornered aardvark. Rather, will they withhold the $100 from the next major credit card payment from VISA, etc. to Aardvark.com?

If they will, and will then make an attempt to resolve the problem, you are likely OK, but the bottom line is they have to be willing to accept your word over the vendors. Of course, if the vendor has gone out of business, you may still be out of luck.

There are two other parts to this that aid your side of the process. First, determine whether the Internet vendor nails your credit card before the product ships or as the product ships. The latter is clearly preferable but I can envision where it may not be possible. Second, contact your credit card company as soon as you think there's a problem. Don't wait until there isn't the slightest doubt you've been ripped off.

It should be obvious, but never pay using anything but a credit card (i.e. avoid cash, never never ever use a personal check, and try very hard to use a credit card rather than a debit card).

Bill
Edgewater, MD
 
After having several close calls with internet stores, I stumbled upon this website:

http://www.resellerratings.com

If I find a site and don't know anything about it, I always check them out on the Reseller Ratings site to see what kind of feedback people are leaving on them. In the case of Smokesign.com they weren't in the database, so I would have avoided them. Not fool proof, but at least you can get an idea of how their customer service is in the event you have a problem. I have avoided many a sites because of these ratings and probably saved myself some serious headaches.

Jack
 
Well my fire estingisher finally arrived. So no fraud on the part of the online vendor, just really slow delivery service, and a inability to respond to phone calls and emails.
Moral of the story - I'll stop using my debit card for any charge that I dont walk out the door with the product. I've also become a little more leary of online shopping.
Cheers,
Tom
 
I have had very good experiences (2) getting redress from both American Express and from Paypal. American Express acted immediately, putting the charge in limbo until their investigation was complete. Paypal was more cumbersome and required more involvment of me, the buyer, but after passage of the specified time periods for each step they credited my credit card.
 
Tom - I am very happy you did not get burned. I have had good luck using my credit card online. The only time I ever got burned was on eBay 10+ years ago when I paid by check. Back then most sellers did not take credit cards and PayPal did not exist.

I looked at the Smokesign web site and thought Wow, that does not appear to be the type of web site designed by a scammer. Most scammers use a cookie cutter type of web site and that one looked a little too elaborate.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
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