Oops.

February 28, 2008 8:22 PM

I bought something on the internet. The store I bought it from seemed (after I placed the order) shady, didn't ship the item, wouldn't cancel the order. I went to my bank and filled out a form thing, my bank refunded the money for me. Today I got a shipping notice about the thing that I ordered. What now?

Boy, this is a mess.


So, about a month ago I ordered this thing from a store on the internet. I was in a big hurry, so I didn't do a whole lot of research first (oops.). Two weeks later I emailed them to ask about the status of my order. A whole bunch of emails were exchanged, they wouldn't provide me with a customer service number to call, they wouldn't cancel my order, and they wouldn't give me a tracking number for the order.


The last email I sent to them basically said, "Cancel this order. Do not ship this item. I do not want to receive this item."


So I went to my bank and filled out a thing that basically said I ordered something from someone and never got it. Great! Problem solved. My bank reimbursed me, and I used the money to buy the same thing from a more reputable internet establishment.


Except then today I got an email notifying me that my order has shipped.


So what do I do now? I don't want to return the order, because I have a feeling my bank covered the cost, and I don't want to give these jerks back an item that they received payment for. I could give the item to someone I guess, but I feel like that's kind of shady, since my bank was nice enough to take care of me the way they did. I realize this is a totally silly problem to have, but does anybody have any suggestions?

posted by hapticactionnetwork to shopping (11 comments total)

Talk to your bank. They will have the answer.
posted by The World Famous at 8:28 PM on February 28, 2008

Wait till it arrives, and then tell the bank. Just cuz an email went out doesn't mean they are sending it. The bank will have a process in place to handle this situation.

Also, check the wording on the affidavit you signed for the bank. You may be responsible for this cost, and may be liable for fraud if you don't tell them about it.
posted by jenkinsEar at 8:29 PM on February 28, 2008

You may be able to refuse shipment of the item when it gets to you and consider the matter settled.
posted by jessamyn at 8:37 PM on February 28, 2008

Assuming you had your bank perform a chargeback (where a CC claim is reversed after payment), the merchant doesn't have your money (in fact, they likely got charged a fairly hefty fee for the chargeback itself, plus the amount of your purchase).

You can take two attitudes to this:

1. "Fuck 'em": Keep your merchandise. I don't think you're under any legal obligation to send it back.
2. "Didn't pay for it, don't need it": Refuse shipment when it arrives, if you can.
posted by neckro23 at 8:48 PM on February 28, 2008

1. "Fuck 'em": Keep your merchandise. I don't think you're under any legal obligation to send it back.

Supremely bad idea. If it was a CC chargeback and you keep the item, you've basically just committed credit card fraud (depending on jurisdiction, etc).

You're going to have to either give them the money or the goods... you don't get to keep both just because they had bad customer service.

The bank will know what your best option is, call them. I'd guess refusing shipment is probably the safest bet.
posted by toomuchpete at 9:12 PM on February 28, 2008

What Jess said.
posted by dobbs at 9:14 PM on February 28, 2008

Do NOT open the box. Print "Return to Sender" on the outside and put it in the mail. Done.
posted by misha at 9:16 PM on February 28, 2008

Banks aren't nice.. they have policies, is all. Does the email have tracking information or tell you how the company ships things? I mean, there are different ways to mail things, if there's no tracking on the package and it's just regular mail, heck, I'd keep it and say "fuck em" because they can't prove anything. If there is tracking and you can refuse it, just don't bother to pick it up.

But.. I'd do the best I could to preemptively figure out how they ship and make sure the package is refused and the shipping service doesn't just drop it at your door, because maybe if that happens they'll claim it was sent and get the money back from your bank.. I don't know anything for sure inc. your bank policies.. but better to cover yourself on that if you can. Meaning.. if you need to put a sign on your door saying "I REFUSE DELIVERY OF THIS PACKAGE" then do it. (esp if it's a big ticket item - I almost got burned buying a laptop from a shady refurb company like this, but managed to do a chargeback and refuse the package when they tried to ship it back to me.)
posted by citron at 9:49 PM on February 28, 2008

Return it, unopened. If they attempt to collect payment, tell them you refused payment due to their cruddy service, and have returned the item unopened. Document everything.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 11:13 PM on February 28, 2008

You don't say how long you waited before asking for a refund. They were required by law to give you a refund if they were unable to deliver within 30 days. In fact, they were required to give you a refund immediately unless you agreed to a new shipping schedule.

So you were probably in the right to go to your bank to reverse the charge. You wouldn't, however, be in the right to keep the item now that it's shipped; you only have that right if it's unsolicited merchandise, and while you did cancel the order, you also solicited the merchandise. Stamp it "Delivery Refused -- Return to Sender" and return it to the post office.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:04 AM on February 29, 2008

Be aware that a slimy company like this may add another layer of sliminess by threatening or going through with restocking charges if you return the merchandise to them unopened.

I was in the exact same situation late last year with a similarly shady merchant. My credit union was awesome and did all the paperwork to reverse the charges according to Visa's rules for merchants, which they were clearly in violation of--not only for selling a product they didn't stock, but for failing to provide a means of cancellation. More than a month later, out of nowhere, I received the product I ordered. I attempted to work with the jerks to return the product, but they threatened me with additional restocking charges exceeding the original purchase price of the merchandise, which was about $80.

I had no problem paying for the merchandise I ordered, but the extra layer of manipulation from the company left me feeling trapped. I called Visa directly after reviewing their rules for merchants here, and they advised me that it was up to the company in question to refute the chargeback by proving that they had not only shipped the merchandise, but had shipped it in a timely manner and in accordance with those rules. They have a limited time frame in which they can do this, and it was clear that the company wouldn't be able to prove this and probably wouldn't have known how to go about it--I was about to send them a helpful link to Visa's merchant chargeback guide when I received another email threatining not only further restocking charges but a postal fraud investigation. At that point I went with the fuck 'em approach and never heard another word about it.

And . . . I'm not sure what kind of card you completed your purchase with, but Visa chargebacks are eaten by the merchant, not the bank, which, in this case, I felt served the bastards right.
posted by littlegreenlights at 8:41 AM on February 29, 2008