Is it okay to post consumer warnings?

[Anonymous]

If we've had a bad experience with a particular model train business is it okay to name the business in a thread here and describe our problem and the business's response to our problem? I don't want to be stepping on toes here, but obviously it would be helpful to other consumers. Obviously such posts should stick to the facts and avoid namecalling etc. If such posts are acceptable I'll outline a problem I just had with a major online seller. Also, if it is acceptable , would it be a good idea to start one thread called "Consumer Warnings" or something similar where we keep all this info. for quick future reference?

[ben10ben]

I probably would not post the name publicly, but, rather, offer to e-mail it to anyone interested. We don't mind you posting the problem that you had, though.

[dougdagrump]

What type of problem is it? Quality, defective, etc.

[Jim Duda]

Ronk -
For starters, give us the scoop but withold the name(s) of the parties involved...

[Anonymous]

Please name the place if it will help other train buyers to avoid getting ripped off or having problems that could be avoided.

If you have decided not to name the seller in public, then please email me at [e-mail] Thanks,
Dan R.

[Anonymous]

Received a very nice email from our overlord advising me that because these issues are often contentious it's best to avoid naming here but to tell those who email me. I kind of suspected this which is why I asked. And it looks like most of you who replied knew this too.

Here's a description of my bad experience (Note: I'm not looking for help in resolving this--it's a done deal, I just want to let others know):

In early December I ordered $85 worth of train stuff from this wholesale online business. One of those places where shipping is calculated after the order is submitted. My past five orders all came with aprox. 15% shipping charge. The order arrived and invoice was for $85 plus $42 for shipping. I was more than surprised. I can only assume the $42 was because I'd orderd 2 el cheapo ($9 each) styro tunnels for the kids to use and they shipped these in enormous television sized cartons with tons of styro popcorn.

I sent an email explaining my sticker shock. It was polite. No reply. I waited a week and sent another polite one, no reply. I waited two more weeks and send another email. No reply. Three polite emails--no answer. I know that I'm responsible for these charges because I clicked submit order giving them carte blanche to add it on. But hey $42 on an $85 order and no reply to three emails. I won't do business with this wholesale train place again and will happily tell others their name if you email me. (because in another thread here I've said that Trainworld is my main dealer I'd like to stress here that it is not Trainworld I'm talking about--they're (IMHO) a fantastic dealer.

[Anonymous]

Please e-mail me the name of the place [e-mail]
Dave Roxin.

[dougdagrump]

Ron, It sounds as if you were charged a dimensional weight as opposed to actual weight due to the size of the shipping carton. From my own experiences this is a problem that occurs quite regularly. In my opinion this could have been avoided by the shipper informing you prior to shipment but it is absolutely inexcuseable for them not responding to your e-mails regardless of your content. A retailer can have 100's of successful transactions which nobody hears about but one BAD transaction can be remembered by 100's of potential customers. [soapbox][2c]
Forgot to add: Based on your description I believe I know who you are talking about.[:D]

[Buckeye Riveter]

If you have paid by credit card, you may be able to withhold payment until you get an answer to the emails that you have sent. Remember different credit cards handle problems in different ways.

When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note telling the CC company that you have withheld $XX.XX due to overcharges for shipping by XXXXX Company. They will normally hold up the payment to the company and gets their attention. The company will then need to justify their shipping charges. If they justify the charges as being reasonable and complete, you pay, but at least you now have an explanation and of course you will not be doing business with that company again.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Please let me know who they are: [e-mail]
Thanks,
BillFromWayne
P.S. I would have named them. Not in a consumer warning, but in relating your
circumstances and subsequent displeasure.

[Anonymous]

What?????
If you want to protect your rights under the Federal credit laws, you MUST notify your credit card company in writing, and there is a specific address that you must send it to, not just "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note" into the payment envelope. You have 60 days to notify the credit card company and your time is running low. You must CALL the credit card company and ASK them to tell you the specific procedure for DISPUTING a charge and then you MUST send them the dispute complaint in WRITING before 60 days has elapsed. What many of these retailers do is to ignore you for 60 days knowing full well that while you are trying to be polite, you are wasting your time under the Federal credit card laws. They literally run out the clock on you, then tell you to go pound sand. At that point, after 60 days, you have no one, including your credit card issuer, who will help you.

I don't think I would take a chance on losing your rights by "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note". Maybe it has worked for the guy who posted that, but any consumer advisor will tell you not to do it that way.

Ps. PLEASE email me the name of the merchant.

Dan R.

[e-mail]

[TurboOne]

Sorry you had a bad time with a retailer. When will they learn ?

I would like the name also. email me at [e-mail]. Thanks Ron

Tim

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dan18425

One other point to make:
According to Federal Law, if you make a purchase with a credit card, you have 60 days to dispute a charge in writing from the date of the bill (it may be from the date of the charge posting to your account), or you lose your rights to dispute a charge. This must be done in writing, not just by calling the credit card issuer and making a report or asking for the paperwork to be sent to you. Your credit card issuer must get the dispute in writing by 60 days and not one day more, or they must pay the seller and you are going to get stuck.

What a lot of disreputable sellers do is to string the customer along with promises of "the item will be in next week", or "it is going to ship in 10 days", etc. They basically run out the clock on the 60 days and then stop answering your calls and emails because at that point, they have your money and no one, including the bank, is going to help you.

SO, IF YOU HAVE ANY INKLING THAT YOU ARE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU ORDERED, YOU MUST CALL AND GET THE PAPERWORK TO OPEN A DISPUTE ABOUT THE CHARGE RIGHT AWAY. The clock is ticking. If ultimately the seller comes through, you simply withdraw the dispute or let the credit card issuer know that the matter has been resolved. If you wait, you lose.

QUOTE: Originally posted by dan18425

What?????
If you want to protect your rights under the Federal credit laws, you MUST notify your credit card company in writing, and there is a specific address that you must send it to, not just "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note" into the payment envelope. You have 60 days to notify the credit card company and your time is running low. You must CALL the credit card company and ASK them to tell you the specific procedure for DISPUTING a charge and then you MUST send them the dispute complaint in WRITING before 60 days has elapsed. What many of these retailers do is to ignore you for 60 days knowing full well that while you are trying to be polite, you are wasting your time under the Federal credit card laws. They literally run out the clock on you, then tell you to go pound sand. At that point, after 60 days, you have no one, including your credit card issuer, who will help you.

I don't think I would take a chance on losing your rights by "When you pay the credit card bill insert a small note". Maybe it has worked for the guy who posted that, but any consumer advisor will tell you not to do it that way.

Ps. PLEASE email me the name of the merchant.

Dan R.

Dan is correct. He posted this same good information on the topic where someone had a problem with another merchant. The times I have put the note in with the check to the CC Company, I was not even close to the 60 days he has referenced. I didn't need to commence using the formal procedure that he has outlined because the problem was taken care very quickly by the CC Company. If it had lingered, I too would have initiated the procedure prior to the 60 days.

Dan, remember we were in Scranton, PA the same day at Thanksgiving.[:D]

[AlanRail]

Business Slander

I am not providing legal advice to anyone. Just definitions.

Business Slander occurs whenever something FALSE is said or published to a 3rd party ( even in emails) that injures a business' reputation. Business slander doesn’t occur when the statement is not FALSE but instead true.

Stating that a business overcharged you for anything when they did is not slander because it is true. Saying that because of the over-charge, in your opinion they are #*%holes and should be run out of town is merely your opinion. That speech is protected by the first amendment.

You could also be said to be providing a public service by warning a forum about the business practices that you have personally experienced.
.
If however, you make up a story that injures their reputation and you publish it to anyone in a forum or thru a private email then you have slandered them and the business could sue you for slander per se to their business reputation.. DONT DO THIS.


Alan

[Anonymous]

yes,in my opinion a great big YES,because as a consumer you have rights and privilages,and you should be protected under those rights,and about warning others ,i say ,you have the right to do so,your a consumer,and to post warnings to help others i a good thing,and you are to be commended.

[jimhaleyscomet]

Ronkenworthy,

Please email me the name. I may have just ordered from a similar online wholesale train place and may have a different problem. In my case I placed the order and (per their acknowledgment email) sent an email the next day changing quanitities. I called a few days latter, the order was on hold for backordered parts. They had never read the follow up email and could not make any changes. I asked them to ignore the email, to delete the missing track from the order, and to ship now. I have a suspecion they deleted the parts but did not remove them from the order bill. I will update you on the service when I recieve the package.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the email answer. I've never heard of that company but it will definately lite up my eyes if I see it again.
GThat is about as bad as some of these companies charging 10 bucks or more for handling when the item is a small thing in an envelope.

[dbaker48]

I do not know who the wholesaler is, and not rying to defend anyone but as a business owner who process cc transactions from a website, I would like to offer the following for considerations.

- The shipping cost definitely seems in error, and should have been adjusted, by the supplier!
- I think a little more aggressive approach should be considered regarding notifying the shipper of the customers dissatisfaction. Calling as oppossed to a "polite email" their propobably was an 800 number available. (We receive in excess of 500 emails a day, and it is to he point that they are hardly ever review, due to spam, porn, etc. etc.)
- If the merchant was advised that a dispute was going to be initiated, I am sure they would have responded much quicker. Most banks that process the cc information for the merchants, charge a "Chargeback Fee" for every disputed claim. (Anywhere from $15 to $50) This fee is not refunded to the merchant regardless of whether or not the dispute is valid. It is meerly a fee to "cover the banks costs of the dispute activity"

Finally, I would like to COMPLIMENT one firm. (CR) I ordered a Polar Express Set on a Sat. Dec. 10. The following Wednesday, I called to ask for a tracking number to get an idea if it was going to be available for Christmas. The person taking my call, indicated they couldn't provide the information because they were too "swamped" to look up the data. (I wasn't very pleased) However, less than 2 hours later, I received a call from the same person, and he not only provided the number, but also had checked on the delivery status. He then appolozied for not being able to provide the information earlier but had some real time issues they had to meet. (Probably daily cut-off time). I was very impressed with their follow up !

Don
1

[Anonymous]

I agree that my personal, one-time experence, may not be typical, but I had ordered 2 "background" sheets from a LARGE online firm, and did not get them for over 2 months. No mention of "back-orders" or "sorry for the delay" came with the order. Typical or not, I will NEVER order from them again. Joe

[trigtrax]

I don't want to mix it up in this business of the train dealer.. But I am a UPS shipper and they are constantly adding extra charges after the fact. I keep a close eye on my invoices because they've doubled billed me twice already. If this dealer has shipped a number of packages and been hit with "oversize" surcharges after the shipment he may just have taken the easy way out and increased his shipping charge across the board.
I'm considering a switch to USPS as my primary shipper because UPS is just out of control.

[dwiemer]

Some have suggested first amendment rights with regard to posting the name of a retailer. As indicated, the forum sponsor (CTT) would rather have it be individual emails. I agree with them in that CTT, while being curteous to us by providing this forum, they are still a business and this possible is or could be a advertisor in their pages. Also, other companies could see this and decide not to advertise in CTT because of them allowing such posts. No one is saying you can't tell of your experience, just send the particular name of the company to individuals who ask for it. I am interested in the company that has such poor service, but respect CTT enough to ask privately. One asside, if you really have a problem with a company, the Better Business Bureau could follow up and take action.
Dennis

[darianj]

Though I do understand why CTT does not want names put out on this forum, I also think it's a burden for Ronk to have to answer to individual emails that could possibly be coming in for the next few months. Does anyone think a Yahoo group for situations like this is in order? It would in no way be a substitute for this site, but just help to fill in some of the gaps.

[jimhaleyscomet]

Ronken and others.

There is one vendor who usually has the best prices (ie he sells at or close to wholesale) who is a small hobby shop. He NEVER responds to emails. He will however respond to phone calls. Once I realize that he NEVER responds to emails I learned to call him instead. Also, forget about ever trying to change an order. Finally with prices so low he charges actual shipping which I really do not prefer. Once I understood these three facts things usually work out but I must be careful. I order big orders, wait for them to come it, never change them, and make sure nothing is horrendously expensive to ship.

I think with his prices so low he can not afford to "make things right" when a mistake causes overpayment to a third party (such as UPS). I just figure that when I get such low prices I am taking a chance and if once in a while I do not get a good deal I just figure out that on average I do better.

Jim H

[Anonymous]

Note: I started this thread a full year ago! I don't think it should have been brought back but to the top (did somebody accidently end up at the end of the pages and not realize it?) I will respond to the several emails I've already rec'd. As it was a full year ago perhaps the company has changed hands, is doing better, etc. Regardless it's an old story and time to leave it alone. I still won't do business with them but after a year have no desire to spread the word any more. If anybody is just dying to know which company it was I will still respond.

[Anonymous]

Hi I too would like to know of this this dealer. My email is [e-mail] Thank you Felix

[Jumijo]

I'd like to know the name of the wholesale retailer as well. Please e-mail me at:

[e-mail]

Thanks,

Jim

[4kitties]

Please email me the merchant's name at [e-mail]. Thanks.

[dbaker48]

Surprised that this is such an old original post, after a year.... maybe a glitch in the forum software. Poor guy doesn't have a chance to recover from old wounds.