long delivery delay and lack of order detail
Complaint
c. rosler
Country: United States
On 3/22/09 I ordered one TIVAX STB T9 TV Converter Box.
By 3/30/09 there was no shipping information posted.
On 3/30/09 I emailed them as follows:
I've been monitoring "My Orders" for several days - it shows nothing. And, I've heard nothing by email about shipment in over a week. I'm becoming concerned. What is going on?
They responded on 3/30/09 as follows:
Dear Customer,
Due to the high volume of orders and limited quantity of the Tivax converters, your order may be delayed. Processing time for an order may take up to 10 to 14 days. As soon as your order ships out (this week), you will be getting an email from us with the USPS Priority Mail tracking number for it.
We apologize for the unexpected delay of your order and greatly appreciate your business with us!
As of 4/6/09 I have no product; no further status in "My Orders" and now believe I will be forced to dispute the charge to my credit card company.
By 3/30/09 there was no shipping information posted.
On 3/30/09 I emailed them as follows:
I've been monitoring "My Orders" for several days - it shows nothing. And, I've heard nothing by email about shipment in over a week. I'm becoming concerned. What is going on?
They responded on 3/30/09 as follows:
Dear Customer,
Due to the high volume of orders and limited quantity of the Tivax converters, your order may be delayed. Processing time for an order may take up to 10 to 14 days. As soon as your order ships out (this week), you will be getting an email from us with the USPS Priority Mail tracking number for it.
We apologize for the unexpected delay of your order and greatly appreciate your business with us!
As of 4/6/09 I have no product; no further status in "My Orders" and now believe I will be forced to dispute the charge to my credit card company.
Comments
Doing so is a violation of their payment processor's merchant agreement, required by VISA and MasterCard rules to protect cardholders and their banks, both as protection from intentional fraud and protection from financial failure of the merchant.
One practice of companies engaged in fraud is to run through charges immediately, and then just string the customer along until over 60 days has passed from the statement date showing the charge, after which (under FCBA) the customer's bank no longer has any legal obligation to assist their customer with handling a charge dispute. Since the charges are too small to justify suing, particularly if they are located in a different state, unscrupulous companies may just walk away with the money, since it often takes many complaints to get any action from their own state's Attorney General.
BBB report:
http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/e ... ook-il-88267047
BBB does show them having a number of delivery complaints, although they appear to respond and resolve them.
Make sure that if you do not receive their shipment, you file your written dispute with your bank much earlier than the 60 day from statement FCBA cuttoff date.
They have run through the charge without shipping, they said they would ship last week and send you a tracking number to show the shipment was on its way. You might give them another week then send them a deadline to ship or you will cancel the order. If they fail to provide proof of shipping (tracking number that confirms that the package has been received by the carrier), then notify them the order is cancelled, and dispute it with your bank in writing due to failure to ship and charging without shipping.