Pet Warehouse...disgusted!

[Reefnman]

Here's my story...

I was cleaning my Remora on 2/18 and my cat knocked it off the counter and it shattered. Not wanting to leave my 75 gal. reef without a skimmer I got on line on 2/19 and found one at Pet Warehouse and I ordered it (actually upgraded to the pro so I ordered the prefilter also) and paid $50.87 in shipping as I selected to have it overnighted. I recieved my Ty and order confirmation soon after in e-mail. This was late on a Wednesday so I assumed it would ship on Thursday 2/20 and arrive on Friday 2/21.

At noon Friday UPS hadn't arrived yet so I wrote an e-mail to them with a copy of my order confirmation and asked if everything had gone ok with the order. A few hours later I recieved an e-mail back stating that it would not ship till Tuesday 2/25. I read this and was livid...I called thier 800 number and talked with some gal who stated the shipping dept. was not there and she knew nothing about the order. I then lat her know how displeased I was with the way in wich this was handled and asked her what over-night shipping meant to them...silence. I then cancelled my order and she informed me that it would take 30 days to be credited back to my CC...needless to say I was hot! I questioned the fact my CC had been charged and they hadn't shipped, she had no idea why. At this time I did use the F word as I hung up the phone but up till that time had remained civil throughout.

I then called Reef Geeks and they squared me away and had my skimmer on the 24th. Great bunch of peeps!

I did recieve an e-mail back from Pet Warehouse and they questioned the fact I had said it was an emergency that I needed the skimmer (He stated he had never heard of such a thing). My point was I paid for overnight and expected overnight didn't matter the reason why!

Also, as of today 3/1 it still is on my CC and has not been credited!

 

[Anonymous]

I'd be hot too if I were you!

Your tank should be fine without the skimmer. I've gone two weeks without a skimmer before without any ill effects.

Contact your cc company and inform them of the situatiom.

Louey

 

[Desolas]

I would have to agree that being skimmerless doesn't count as an emergency. But that's not the point.

If you order something on day one, it should be shipped on day two if it is in stock. Unless it is a weekend, or the store is closed on the following day(s); it should be shipped the very next business day, no exception. Since you ordered it on a Wednesday, it should have gone out Thursday, and should have been there Friday.

I would be pretty annoyed as well. Pet Warehouse is pretty bad about this IMO. I order a lot of dry goods from them, and often I have had stuff not ship due to haz-mat problems, and they don't tell me until the first half of my order arrives and I'm wondering why my test kits didn't come, or I find out something is back ordered when the first part of my order arrives.

Currently I'm sitting on waiting for a test kit, I ordered several items Monday and had them shipped Priority so it would be 3-4 days, I got my order on Wednesday but without the test kit. Just a note saying it would arrive normal post on the 28th. The 28th has come and gone, and after contacting them yesterday I'm informed it will ship on the 1st and arrive by the 6-7th. The bulk of my reason for placing the order was to get the test kit, and the reason I had it sent Priority was to get it quickly.

All you can do is do what I did, write them, tell them your concern, and stop shopping there. Marine Depot is my source for everything now, they have treated me right and they always ship on time - plus they will email you the next day if they are short on stock, and recommend items in replacement if they can.

 

[Anonymous]

Chargeback the credit card, after 30 days it's harder to do, I woudl have done it as soon as I slammed the phone down on them.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually not having a skimmer can be a disaster and dangerous. That is where most of the oxygen is added to the tank. If i were you i would be so mad i would not know what i would do. $50 shipping for a item that is many days late is unacceptable.

 

[Terry McGee]

Being in the maintenance business we used to do a lot of business with them, at least $5000.00 a month or better. We had special wholesale prices with them and everything was done by credit card so they had their money instantly. When Foster and Smith took over they went to pieces and we had several, in your face complaints, of orders taking forever and getting lost, saying they had it in stock when they didn't. That Fish Place then formed a wholesale section and we started ordering from them, and also we are dealing with one lady only, June, which is also a big bonus and she has been a sweetheart. Pet warehouse then went to calling, but we told them the time to get excited was before they lost business not after. It had been quite a while but about a month and a half ago I place a small $500 order with them, and they have been averaging about 3 catalogs a week being sent to us since, LOL. Ya all keep up the good posting, we enjoy this wealth of information from this site, as nobody can know it all, but with numbers of people we can find out almost anything we need to. Ya all take care Terry

 

[gbundersea]

It's a violation of federal law to actually charge your credit card for merchandise not in stock or not shipped. I don't know the specific statute, but this was a major concern at a software company I worked for. If a customer ordered items A and B, and only A shipped, the system absolutely had to only charge them for A, NOT the backordered item! It was not an arguable point.

Yours is a clear-cut case, and your credit card company should issue an immediate freeze on that amount. File a dispute with them ASAP, and notify them of the details. I suspect things will happen a lot sooner than 30 days if you raise enough stink about it. With a dispute on file, however, you won't incur any interest even if it does take awhile.

HTH

 

[LFS42]

I also stoped going thru PW, I ordered a big trickle filter and some powerheads from them once.
I checked the UPS web site for delivery schedule, and I was pretty exited on the day it was to arrive.
AT work, UPS site said it was delivered, but when I got home, 1 box and no trickle filter.
I called them up and they said it all was shipped.
They handled it pretty well and said they shipped a new filter out, but 2 days later they gave me a call saying someone stopped by to check on my order, and they found it on my porch.
I don't trust that kind of service. If your going to hand deliver it, tell me your going to hand deliver it. If it's going carrier pigeon, tell me it's going carrier pigeon. Just let me the customer know what your going to do.
plus since DFS took over, I have to pay tax on it.

I agree, you should be pissed off at them for pulling that crap. If you pay for overnight, you should get overnight.

As for marine depot, I love there service but UPS out in CA eeds some help.
It's like they only have 1 airplane leaving for the midwest on Wed.
I'm going with Fishsupply.com now, at least for the moment.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a violation of federal law to actually charge your credit card for merchandise not in stock or not shipped.

This is not true. Read the terms set by the bank which provides your merchant account and you will see what can and can't be done. There are several instances when your card can be charged without the item having shipped.

If I can find my paperwork for my account I'll post what the rules are. One which I found interesting was that my bank says that I may not impose a minimum amount when paying by credit card. That's something I see at stores all over the place...wanna pay by card you gotta spend $20. All sorts of rules, all sorts of exemptions.

 

[danmhippo]

I too concur that charge for items not shipped is not "against federal law". I used to be in mail order biz myself. If the merchant has informed the customer that their card will be charged before shipping, then it would not constitute fraud.

But the customer always has the right to exercise the option to charge back onto his card.

I would say that PW needs to improve on customer handling. IF the lady that answered the phone is much more courteous and knows more about what's wrong with the order and was able to explain it to you, I am guessing you would not be so aggrivated.

Also, I always jump up and demand to speak to a supervisor if I suspect the first line customer rep doesn't know crap.

 

[Anonymous]

True. Where I was working (til I was injured) we were required to take payments on furniture to be delivered. Most of the time we didn't have the furniture in stock on site, but in our main warehouse.

However, the old supervisor trick backfired on everyone who tried it with me. They soon learned that they would get much further, MUCH more pleasantly, and with far fewer headaches than if they'd gone with my super. As a matter of fact, she is so bad with customers that I've actually had them call and tell me that they REFUSE to speak with her! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Are we talking about service from the petswarehouse that is now FostersAnd Smith or the lawsuit happy goons company? I have ordered from Fosters+Smith for a few small items and have been relatively satisfied. I won't order from the other company ever based on reputation for senseless litigation and heavy-handed plutocratic thuggery ..... Just my opinion of course.... bah.

 

[gbundersea]

I did some research on the "federal law" issue, and unfortunately could not find a specific statute that states a card shall not be charged until the merchandise actually ships. I know it was a MAJOR concern at the software company where I worked, and I saw numerous other postings on the Internet from others with similar views. However, none of them cited a statute. Without finding the statute, I have to agree that such a practice is not illegal.

However, I did find the page on the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) website (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/mailorder.htm) which explains and details the laws applicable to mailorder sales. I'm no attorney, but from what I read, the rules on mailorder sales are quite clear. The following is a key excerpt:

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What is the Mail or Telephone Order Rule?
The Rule requires that when you advertise merchandise, you must have a reasonable basis for stating or implying that you can ship within a certain time. If you make no shipment statement, you must have a reasonable basis for believing that you can ship within 30 days. That is why direct marketers sometimes call this the "30-day Rule."

If, after taking the customer’s order, you learn that you cannot ship within the time you stated or within 30 days, you must seek the customer’s consent to the delayed shipment. If you cannot obtain the customer’s consent to the delay -- either because it is not a situation in which you are permitted to treat the customer’s silence as consent and the customer has not expressly consented to the delay, or because the customer has expressly refused to consent -- you must, without being asked, promptly refund all the money the customer paid you for the unshipped merchandise.
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Further reading seemed to indicate that they have 1 billing cycle in which to issue credit.

In cases where I've had a problem with an item charged on a credit card, I've immediately called the CC company and filed a dispute. This gets them involved in the process. They have always immediately frozen the charge, which alleviates any interest from accruing until it is resolved. It has always worked out for me, although I've only disputed a charge when I knew it was clearly wrong. BTW, in your case it is indeed clearly wrong!

Elsewhere on the FTC site, I read one legal proceeding against a mailorder company for doing something similar. The plaintiff alleged they had committed the following, among others:

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a. Violated Section 435.1(b)(1) of the Rule by failing to timely offer to the buyer, clearly and conspicuously and without prior demand, an option either to consent to a delay in shipping or to cancel the order and receive a prompt refund;

b. Violated Section 435.1(b)(1) of the Rule by failing to provide the buyer with a definite revised shipping date;

c. Violated Section 435.1(b)(2) of the Rule by failing to timely offer to the buyer, clearly and conspicuously and without prior demand, a renewed option either to consent to a delay in shipping or to cancel the order and receive a prompt refund;
-----------------------

From your description, it seems to me that they committed these same violations. I hope these citations help you and others in dealing with this kind of BS.

It's nice to see that some companies make it a policy to not charge your card for items until they ship, and proudly state this policy up front.

 

[Anonymous]

Pets Warehouse is still Pets Warehouse. Pet Warehouse is now Dr. Fosters and Smith.

 

[31-2c]

IF you file a complaint with your Credit Card Company, the company you bought from could get fined. Anytime you have a complaint on a purchase, your first call should be your CC company. Most businesses will bend over backwards trying to get things right because the fine can be higher than the original purchase.

 

[danmhippo]

Actually, CC merchant do not get "fined" per se, but the rate of "charge back" does get calculated every billing cycle (one month). If the charge back rate reaches a certain pre-determined rate (say, 1% of total gross credit card sales), the processing rate (eg. 2% fee) does increase as the merchant is now classified as "higher risk".

But a merchant like Petwarehouse gets billions of $$$$$$$ of transactions a month, and for them to get their charge back rate to increase means something really gone wrong in the management level.

Usually, when a complaint arrives to a merchant, the merchant can decide to ignor it and let the bank assess the chargeback, OR (most likely event), the merchant will fight it first, if not successful, issue voluntary credit back. If voluntary credit back is issued, it does not constitute a "charge back".