Wednesday, June 25, 2008

It's one freakin' ipod

I ordered an ipod from an online retailer. You know I am physically in Cairo, but can shop with my US credit cards anywhere I want and have many times. The bill gets paid each month and all is good.

Our friend is coming to Egypt this weekend and like so many times, when we have friends or family travelling here we have them bring things from home.

Sooooo as we are probably one of the few folks who don't yet have an ipod, and we could so use one, I thought this would be a great chance to get one. Yes they sell ipods here, but I am always leery of buying anything electronic from here and get it all from USA, don't ask me why, I just do.

Let me backtrack a bit..... I initially ordered the first ipod from a certain online retailer. I requested they ship to an address other than my billing address, our friend who is coming here. They questioned this and after my explanation they asked me to contact my credit card company and have them add our friend's address as an alternate shipping address on our account and then they could process the order. After i told them it was done to go ahead and check my with card company they said they could not process. Screw em I said and went to the next online retailer.

My order with the second online retailer resulted in a cancellation. According to their website my order was "cancelled by the customer". So naturally I emailed saying I, the customer, did not cancel the order what is going on? They said I need to call Credit Card Processing.

So i opened Skype, cause I am NOT paying to call these b.a.s.t.a.r.d.s. When i got Ms. Cheerful she told me "oh, sorry for the inconvenience but you need to call our Fraud department at 1-800..."

Fraud department?? WTF?

I called. Got voicemail left a message and my cell number here in Cairo. No call back.

I forwarded the email to a family member, as their address is my billing address and THEY WERE PISSED! They called the Fraud dept too and left a voicemail. (they think its discrimination, mainly my being in Egypt and shipping to another address other than billing). I doubt its discrimination but they could have done a little more checking to verify that indeed this is a legitimate order.

You know what I totally respect security and expect and appreciate it, but in this case, ONE $200+ ipod, both my billing and shipping addresses are listed with my credit card company, i emailed fraud dept, i left a voicemail, would a criminal go through all this ???

Have not heard from them, no ipod from USA for us now.

Again, let me reiterate I know there is so much fraud online and respect companies decisions and procedures to ensure safety, but really in this instance they could have verified me and at least called me back!

I soooo want to name this company. But you know what I won't, not yet. I will file a complaint with BBB in their state and also with whatever other organizations will listen.

What do you think, haven't they handled this WRONG????

5 comments:

  1. Uh, yes! I, too, understand them being cautious because of all of the credit card fraud...but you have done everything you can to prove who you are & to prove it's an authorized purchase.

    Have you tried ordering from Apple direct?

    That sucks! BTW, I love, love, love my Ipod & can't imagine life without it...otherwise, I'd send you mine :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. While I think it could have been handled better, it's good credit card companies are cracking down on international fraud, sadly this makes the process harder for a legitimate customer like yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm happy that they questioned it. Ours has done this anytime we make a big or unusual purchase and we have to call the fraud department too to verify some info. I would be pissed though that they aren't taking care of things. You are completely right in that no criminal would contact them the way you did. I hope you get it all cleared up soon.

    I have the shuffle and don't like it much so I'm stealing my DH's ipod nano. (He just got an iphone). (:

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dude, that blows. I hope you get your ipod soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How peculiar!! When I have ordered stuff (ok, nothing more than £50) as a birthday gift, I have been able to get it sent directly to the giftee, which naturally ends up being a different address to the billing address, so why does being international make any difference!!? I hope you get your iPod eventually!! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE comments! To me its like getting a present from a mystery person, ok well some of you are not such a mystery... but u feel me. You can subscribe to my updates via email or in your feeder of choice. Thanks so much for stopping by!