discemporium bad experience

[micks_address]

Hi folks,

I hate doing this but i've just had one of those experiences with a retailer that leaves a really bad taste in your mouth. Here goes my tale of woe :(

Last week in my search for the Rambo R1 Special edition trilogy I came to discemporium. They were one of the places that had the title listed and i've used the company before and was very happy with their service so i put in my order. In the next couple of days i noticed that my credit card was charged so i assumed everything was in order and i would receive my shipment in due course. Early in the week I dropped an email to them to ask when the title would be shipped and they said to check back thursday and they'd know by then. So I waited until thursday and fired off a quick email - I got a very polite response asking me if i would accept the Japanese Special editions as replacement for the R1 version at no extra cost to myself. I was fully aware that the Japanese version was much more expensive than the R1 trilogy and I thought to myself this is really sound of discemporium.

They were offering me a more expensive version of the product for the same cost and I was delighted.

Now comes the sting in the tail. This morning I got an email from disc emporium telling me they were unable to charge my credit card for shipping so to please advise them with new credit card information - the charge would be GBP10.54.

Two things annoyed me about this. My credit card was charged for the original order over seven days ago. There was no mention of an extra shipping charge at the time of order. I have ordered discs from discemporium before and have not been charged shipping. I would not have been informed of the shipping charge until it appeared on my credit card statenent. No authorisation was sought to charge my card twice.

The reason the charge couldn't be applied to my card was because i had to cancel it earlier in the week because it was mislead.

I replied to discemporium this morning and said i was very upset at the fact they had even tried to charge my credit card again without seeking authorisation first. I told them i was unhappy with their service and that i wouldn't be using them again. To this email i got the response that my order had been cancelled and i had been refunded.

This was without even giving me the chance to pay for shipping or see what other options that were available. I informed them that i would be making a post to these forums to let people know of my experience to which i was told all correspondence had been sent to the forum moderators. I dont want to get into an argument with anyone but its not the kind of thing you want to be dealing with early on a friday morning.

Looks like Rambo won't be arriving in my dvd collection anytime soon :( ... ah well hopefully i'll be able to source it somewhere else.

Ok - sorry for the long winded post. I'm not sure what the moral to this story is - even if there is one but i know i've lost out on getting the dvd's i ordered - my credit card has been refunded so i'm not at a loss financially but its dissapointing all the same

Cheers,
Mick

[sandi]

Our terms and conditions dictate that free delivery applies to UK addresses only . Postage (at cost) applicable to deliveries outside the UK.

[Mr Cat]

erm...isn't Dublin classified as the UK then..?

[sandi]

Is Republic of Ireland

[Kirk]

Indeed, Northern Irland is part of the UK, Southern Ireland aint.

It's a shame about your experience though as I have only ever had really good experiences from DiscEmporium. :oops:

[micks_address]

not wanting to start a heated debate but its not the shipping charge as such that got me so upset... it was more the sneaky way in which the charge would have been applied to my credit card - i thought when you authorise a transaction - you authorise for a specific amount... if retailers can just take some more cash when they like its kinda worrying...! This is what would have happened if my card hadn't been cancelled during the week...

if i had been asked if the shipping charge was acceptable before the attempt to charge me then i don't think i'd have been so bothered. It still annoys me though the way i was charged for the title last week - 70 euro was taken from my credit card - i would have thought the proper procedure would be to calculate cost including shipping and then charge in one go.... does anyone know of any other retailers that charge for the item then in a separate transaction charge for shipping?

Cheers,
Mick

[Kirk]

'tis a fair point!

I would want, hope and expect the total transaction to be billed once only, either at the time of order or at point of shipping.

[Simon6776]

My two pennath, for what it's worth:

This seems like it could be a legitimate misunderstanding, or possibly a genuine mistake on the part of DE, for not charging the shipping on the initial card charge, although, despite postings from a DE representative here, the reason for the separate charge seems to still remain unexplained.

It appears to me that no one was trying to rip anyone off, and that DE have acted promptly with replies to e-mails, and issuing a refund (albeit, at the same time, letting them 'off the hook' from supplying a more expensive version of the item required), which cannot be said of some retailers.

If I had used a company previously, and been happy with the service, I may not personally be too quick to disassociate myself from them after one cock up, but in this case, I think I would want the issue of shipping costs clarified, before using them again.

[Phil Hinton]

It clearly states on their site that postage is charged to addresses outside the UK, i have checked, you obviously didn't.
Disc Emporium then tell you they cannot source the R1 edition but offer you the far more expensive Japanese collector's edition (which puts the R1 to shame) for the same price, fairly decent customer service if you ask me.
Then when ready to ship they have calculated your postage costs and tried to charge you them, as it states on their T&C's. Card is declined so they ask you for payment of shipping and you decline, so they refund you the full amount straight away and wish you luck in finding another supplier, so you then threaten the retailer by stating you are going to come on the forums and bad mouth them. So what is the reason for this thread? To bad mouth when it was you who didn't read the T&C's of the company you were dealing with?

If people have a genuine problem with a retailer then they can mention it on these forums but only when they state their full name in the thread, please read our T&C's.

As moderators we are unbiased towards retailers the same way as we are towards members, but in this case I take exception to the fact you have no real complaint against the retailer and have more or less threatened that you would bad mouth them on these forums, because you didn't clearly read their T&C's and didn't get your own way because of your mistake. Whether their T&C's are correct is not what is being debated here and I have found retailers with far worse terms of service than the retailer you are bad mouthing.

If you insist on continuing with this thread then please abide by the forums T&C's and include your full name.

[sandi]

To clarify the postage issue (applicable to consumers outside the UK). We charge separately since this is pretty much an unknown quantity until the very last minute and is charged at cost.

Postage is applicable from the UK Royal Mail handover point only - not the full length of the journey.

Hope this clarifies the issue - just the way we've always worked. Your concerns however are noted.

[micks_address]

thks for the replies folks...

one could be cynical about these things and assume that Disc Emporium would have shipped me the version i ordered originally for free (the region 1 special editions) and hence just charged my credit card once last week. Then when it became apparent that they couldnt fulfill my original order and having already billed me they offered the more expensive product at the same price. i'd like to point out that i was told in an email i was being offered the replacement at no extra cost which i believed meant i would not be charged any more money shipping or otherwise.

One could guess then that Disc Emporium tried to recoup some of the loss of giving me the more expensive product at the same price by trying to charge me for shipping. As i said i've ordered discs before off them and have never been charged shipping to dublin.

This is all just me thinking out loud and i'm not making accusations of any kind so apologies if it sounds absurd.

Cheers,
Mick

[Phil Hinton]

Because of your concern i have contacted Sandi and she confirms you ordered once before, a year ago, and you were charged postage on that order. The retailer has clearly stated what their T&C's are, and in my opinion have acted above board. I cannot help but feel you are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Closing.