How long does this ship take?

August 28, 2005 1:02 AM

Is it legal for an internet company to deposit your money before they have actually shipped the product you have ordered?

I bought an item, the NEXT day the money was out of my account, the shipping time was supposed to be 1-14 days, but for the past 10 days my item just says it is "ready to ship" -- for the past 10 days these bastards have been eating hamburgers on my behalf and my item is only READY TO SHIP? something is fud'up here...

posted by Satapher to computers & internet (9 comments total)

If they haven't guaranteed a time in which you will receive the product, 10 days doesn't seem horrendous.

Ask them. Maybe they have a good reason why they took your money (made sure your payment cleared, which seems fair), thought they were ready to ship, and then ran into some trouble. READY TO SHIP might just be a more positive-sounding way of saying WE HAVEN'T DONE IT YET or maybe TED IS ON VACATION or even WE RAN OUT OF BOXES. In such a case, what should they do, cancel your payment?

When you talk to them, make sure you don't use the passive voice: not "why has it has not shipped?" (as if the package might just ship itself) to "why have you have not shipped it" (someone has to do it).
posted by pracowity at 1:30 AM on August 28, 2005

It's not illegal but probably against credit card rules. According to the Visa guidelines, "transactions cannot be deposited until goods or services have been delivered". I'd take that with a grain of salt since all mail order merchants typically charge upon shipment, not delivery. I haven't looked at the entire manual but there's probably more in it, and I see a section about delayed deliveries with the customer's consent.
posted by rolypolyman at 1:35 AM on August 28, 2005

Also -- that last link is a 100-page PDF.
posted by rolypolyman at 1:36 AM on August 28, 2005

I believe Apple pulled this on me once. They also have the ludicrous policy that the warranty runs from invoice date and not from date of arrival! Shame it ended up taking two weeks to arrive..

Most retailers, luckily, do not charge until they ship.
posted by wackybrit at 4:36 AM on August 28, 2005

Oh, bear in mind that many companies will 'authorize' a certain amount of funds from your card when you place the order. Somtimes this shows up on your statement as an actual charge, but it's not.
posted by wackybrit at 4:37 AM on August 28, 2005

Most internet retailers don't maintain much stock at all. The get your order, and then they order it from a wholesaler or have a distributor drop-ship the merchandise to you.

If it's the latter case, from their perspective, they have completed the order. Distributors, in turn, sometimes take orders from items they don't actually currently have in stock, and order it from the manufacturer (or an upstream wholesaler) in order to fulfill your order.

I agree that it's frustrating for the consumer, but its possible that the retailer your dealing with has fulfilled all of its obligations, and is simply waiting for shipping confirmation from a drop shipper.
posted by curtm at 6:47 AM on August 28, 2005

I had a situation with cheaptickets.com where they advertised a flight for $650, I bought it, then I got an email saying it wasn't available, but the $650 had been charged to my credit card. When I complained they fobbed me off for a few weeks until someone told me it'd take 3 months (!) to get reimbursed at which point I called the credit card company (Citicard), they said they'd send me forms for an improper deduction, and when I told cheaptickets about that the money was returned immediately. Which makes me think it's not legal, and if the worst happens, at least you have some sort of recourse and you're not completely helpless like you tend to feel in these situations.
posted by forallmankind at 8:47 AM on August 28, 2005

I think they have 30 days.
posted by caddis at 9:40 AM on August 28, 2005

It is against FTC regulations to bill you for an item they have not shipped. They have 30 days to ship the item before asking you if you still want to wait for it, they cannot just keep your order on backorder for 31 days without asking you if you want out of the deal. Call them and tell them to credit your account until they ship the goods. This is important, 'cause you have rights given to you from your bank / credit card company and the clock starts ticking the moment the charge goes through. You wait too long, then it ships, then there is a problem, then you try to be the nice guy and work things out, then you decide to get tough, then you realize it is too late and your bank / credit card company cannot help you any longer.

I used to run the returns department of an ecommerce site, it was my job to know all of this stuff. Don't put up with their BS and if anything goes wrong with the order, notify the FTC.
posted by pwb503 at 3:34 PM on August 28, 2005