My nephew purchased a body kit for his Sunfire from
formatting link
They sent him the wrong kit. No big deal, they have a 30-day no questions asked, 100% satisfaction guaranteed return policy.
My brother-in-law called to get things in motion. The manager said "Too bad" and hung up on him! And my brother-in-law is extremely mild mannered, never beligerent.
He called back...every day. They told him they wouldn't return it. He explained that the mistake was theirs, not his. They said "Too bad."
Unfortunately, they paid with a debit card, thinking they had the same protection as if it were a credit card.
My nephew is 17 and has a job. He saved every penny of the $900 to buy this kit. (I know, he spends his money on stuff like this, neon, glasspacks, instead of performance. But hey, he's a kid).
Finally, my brother called them. He's a lawyer. He spoke with the manager, who told him "Too bad," with no explanation at all for why they weren't honoring their own policies.
They are actually going to have to sue these people, instead of just returning the merchandise and getting the right parts! It's like something out of a dream.
Similar thing happened to my friend. It went on for about 4 months, and they finally settled in small claims court... I've heard other stories about their customer service that seems consistant with these stories.
Contact the bank in person & explain the situation. You might be able to get reimbursed & let the bank handle the $900... if you can't, then take it to small claims court. What a shitty attitude for a business owner to have... at first I thought it was just maybe he had a bad day & didn't feel like dealing with customers.. but if he called persistently.. that's just CRAZY. Good luck with it.
Never EVER use a fake, piece-of-trash, VISA-or-MasterCard for purchases unless it's the absolute LAST possible resort... like at merchants that only accept cash or debit cards (ALDI & Save-A-Lot come to mind).
Merchants LOVE debit cards - above example is one reason. It's cheaper to accept, too, than credit cards. They WANT you to use them! There is no consumer protection associated with fake, piece-of-trash, VISA & MasterCard debit cards, they are just a direct access for the merchant to raid your checking account.
I'm sorry about your experience on the car parts... get going right away and get your lawsuit together!
Having personally been through this almost exact situation with MPH Daytona Mustangs in Southern California, about your only recourse is to sue in small claims court. I still maintain a website regarding this situation.
formatting link
we were awarded judgement we have yet been able to collect, our onlyrecourse was to put a lein against his house.
this is a travesty. I will do my best to see this company no longer does business. My corvette, mustang and dodge clubs locally and nationally will know not to order from them. I will also let others know at social events and car shows not to take a chance with them.
I emailed the company directly, told them that I know what they did, asked them politely why they did it and if they'll reconsider. I thought *MAYBE* I could appeal to some sense of decency. We'll see.
Wow, where do you get your information from? Oh, I know....you don't do research, just spout off. Banks certainly do offer buyer protection on their debit cards. The last 3 banks I've been with offered me an instant provisional credit while they challenged the merchant and charged them back.
The original poster will find that he has this same protection if he just goes to his bank and explains the situation.
well I have contacted this company myself and mentioned the car clubs I deal with also have made pretty large orders from them in the past, (they actually have) and I mentioned they will loose all of our business based on this one incident unless it is resolved quickly.
He mentioned there is a difference in fitting between OEM and after market parts and they do everything they can to make sure these parts work well for the customer. He seemed to miss the entire fact Andy's sent the wrong parts to begin with. I mentioned that in my reply. We'll see.
Dave...I just got the reply from Andy's. I wonder if it's the same as yours. I'm betting it is.
"Thank you for the E mail. Unfortunately due to company guild line we at Andysautosport cannot disclose any of our customers information. I can however say that we try to satisfy our customers to the best of their needs. Parts manufactured by Andysautosport are aftermarket. Andy?s Auto Sport manufactures and distributes aftermarket parts that are tailored for specific vehicles. Nevertheless, parts in the automotive aftermarket are not necessarily of OEM quality for every car, and by purchasing parts from Andy?s Auto Sport, the customer acknowledges this about automotive aftermarket parts. As I stated before we do our best to help our customers to best satisfy there needs. "
I'll give ONE reference... then let you do a little search on your own... only on a very rare occaision will you get your $$ back on a debit transaction.
formatting link
(Those of you in Atlanta especially will know this name...)
Another warning about debit cards - February 19, 2004 Clark has a special warning for you if you carry a debit card. It has to do with a lawsuit that retailers won recently after a long battle with certain big banks. Under the terms of the settlement, a retailer has a right to turn down a Visa or MasterCard debit card as if it were a credit card. They have to right to say that the card can only be used with a four-digit code. Why would that matter to a retailer? First of all, if you use a secret code, the chances of fraud are gigantically reduced. Secondly, the retailer pays as little as one-tenth of the transaction fee to the bank when a purchase is made with the code instead of as a credit card. As a result of all this, banks are striking back at you, the customer. Banks are losing lots of money with this change, so they are hitting you with a fee. If you write a check at a store, there is no fee. But if you use your debit card, you suddenly might get hit with a $1.50 charge. And the worst part is that you may not even know it. Your bank probably hasn?t told you it is charging you these fees. It will come in mice type in one of the statements you get in the mail, but most people don?t read these statements. Read your statement. If you don?t, you could be out $135 a month in fees.
Using debit cards can be deadly to your wallet - January 20, 2004 Over the years, Clark has heard tons of horror stories about fake Visa and Master Cards. With these cards, the biggest problem usually involves things of a clerical nature. With a credit card, if a clerical error is made it?s corrected before your statement goes out and there is nothing really to worry about. But with a debit card, once someone makes a mistake, it takes a lot of work to get it resolved. First of all, it?s unlikely that you?ll get any of the money back once it?s been removed from your account. And under Visa and MasterCard guidelines, the bank has no duty to pay you for any of the insufficient funds charges you may incur. The shocking part is that even though Clark talks about this repeatedly, one of the staffers ? Kevin ? recently used his debit card to pay for a cruise. That in itself was risky. But when he tried to use his credit card for other charges on the cruise, the ship charged them to his debit card anyway. So, it racked up about $600 in charges on his checking account that he didn?t have. Luckily, the people at the bank know Kevin and they are going to waive all of the NSF charges. Kevin has learned his lesson and will never give anyone his check card when services are supposed to be rendered later.
Business check cards offer little protection - November 19, 2003 Clark has never been a big fan of Visa or MasterCard check cards or debit cards, as they are also known, because they are tied directly to your checking account. If your card is lost or stolen, thieves have easy access to your money. Also, you have little or no charge back rights to recoup your money if someone steals your account. So, what about a business check card? Recently, Clark got a call from a man named Roy whose business Visa check card was recently stolen along with his wallet. The thieves took all the money in the business account and he called the bank, thinking he had ?zero liability.? The bank told him that wasn?t true. Even if you have a business check card, you are out of luck. Team Clark checked and found out it was true, which surprised Clark very much. Turns out, if you tie your business to a check card, you have the same ?zero fraud protection liability? you would if you?re a consumer. Clark had a Visa representative on the air today to discuss the difference. Clark confirmed with him that Visa establishes regulations for its member banks when consumers use a debit card. But there are no such regulations for business debit cards or check cards. It?s up to each individual bank to decide whether you should get your money back. The Visa rep reminded the public that if a consumer or business owner is having trouble and is trying recoup loses, those people can call 800-VISA-911. He also said consumers have charge back rights with the Visa check card, but Clark couldn?t find anything about that on the site. It?s up to each Visa issuing bank to decide what they are going to do with business accounts. So, the bottom line is that if you?re a business and you are going to give your employees a card, make sure it?s a credit card. Or you may not get your money back.
Banks in trouble over debit card dupe - May 1, 2003 Clark has been doing cartwheels over a recent court decision regarding debit cards and banks. Usually following court cases is like watching paint dry to Clark. But this case has held his attention because it has real significance for our wallets. It?s about a lawsuit that has been going on for half a decade involving ripoff fees that banks were charging retailers each time consumers use a fake Visa or MasterCard. It?s the underlying reason why banks have been pushing so hard for you to use debit cards. Retailers have been charging about $1.50 every you use these cards. Whereas, if you used a regular ATM card, retailers would pay only about a nickel. So, who do you think ended up paying the fee? YOU! Banks were using you and I as pawns to swipe extra money from retailers. Then the retailers would raise the price of goods or lower their profits in order to make up for those fees. So, retailers sued the banks under anti-trust laws and they?ve prevailed. Now MasterCard is paying $1 billion in restitution. Visa vowed they were going to fight until the end, but they were fibbing. Visa settled and now they are paying $2 billion in restitution. As a result, the costs of transactions will go down. And it?s now going to be legal for you to pay for things in a variety of ways. For example, more and more people will soon use their cell phones to pay bills. Money is simply a moving target. In the old days, people carried precious metals, then coins came along and paper money was developed fairly recently And some day your eye or your finger will represent money.
Retailers take on the banks and we benefit! - April 29, 2003 There is a court case going on right now that Clark first talked about five years ago. It is a case against our banks by our retailers and we as consumers are caught in between them both. The problem is that the banks have been forcing the retailers to accept debit cards ? what Clark calls fake Visa and MasterCards ? as methods of payment when they did not want to. Why? Because every transaction using them costs the retailers $1.50. And the reason we are caught in between? We are paying that $1.50. It has been a transfer of wealth from the American people to the banks via the retailers and the retailers have had enough. Clark can happily report that MasterCard has caved and offered one billion dollars for all the years of trouble this has caused, and the trouble in extra costs to the retailers and ultimately to us amounts to around $5 billion in the last few years. Visa has not followed suit yet but Clark thinks they will settle sooner or later. Right now they have the task of convincing a jury that they are not wrong in their actions. The good news is that if the jury sees it Clark?s way the damages they will be forced to pay will be tripled to around $15 billion. Clark thinks this is fair as there is no excuse for it and they should be punished. He just hates these debit cards and was upset to read in The Wall Street Journal that the use of them is up by 24 percent a year because of all the clever ads that have been out tempting you and me to put them in our wallets. As an alternate method of payment Clark would prefer ATM cards with a secret code. They are much safer for us than debit cards or checks and they save retailers money - a transaction with one of these costs only five cents. The banks of course stopped their use. It should be up to the retailer what form of payment they accept and the money saved should be in our pockets.
Banks pushing debit as credit - November 7, 2002 You have probably heard Clark talk about how much he dislikes debit cards or ?fake Visa cards." These are cards that have the Visa or MasterCard logo but they automatically debit your checking account, unless you opt to use them as a credit card. Clark wants you to know they are nothing like real credit cards, which give you charge back rights and other safety features that debit cards don't. If someone steals your debit card and the money disappears from your checking account there is nothing you can do to get it back. Clark has always said it would be much better if these cards worked more like ATM cards and users had to enter a secret code every time they used the card. That way, if someone steals your card, they can?t get your money because they don?t know your secret number or PIN. You?ve probably been asked at stores whether you want to use the card as ?debit or credit.? It?s a win-win for everyone if you use it as a debit card and you have to enter your secret code. But banks want you to use your debit card like a credit card, because they can charge the merchant huge fees when you do. They are desperate to make money, so plan to give you all kinds of goodies and points if you say "credit" at the register. These points will then be turned in for things like concert tickets and movie tickets. The number of debit card transactions made each year is now larger than credit card transactions. So, Clark has obviously lost the battle trying to warn people against using them. But you can still be smart about how you use it - by always entering your PIN.
I as both a merchant account holder, a business Visa Check/debit card holder and personal checking Visa/debit card holder find all that you have written does not pretain at all to the state of Pennsylvania.
Also, I pay 1.78% on each transaction, whether Visa, Master Card, Discover Visa or Master Card Check Card or used as a Debit card with PIN.
Charge backs are available to the customers within 90 days of the sale if not satisfied, and I have 30 days to answer to the complaint, and the customer has 30 days to respond to my response.
The bank then makes it's decision based solely on: Validity of the customer's claim, my willingness to resolve claim(in the case of any validity) Customer's willingness to work with the merchant to resolve the claim, or return the defective or non working product!
So, it seems your state screwed you, and your bank is taking agvantage of the liberty the state gave them, on the other hand, my bank charges no fees if I use my card to take ten people out to lunch, buy $2,000.00 of parts to repair a collision job, or just buy a coffee and a bagel at the convenience store. They do however charge a $1.50 fee for using a foreign ATM.
So, it looks like you should contact the
formatting link
in the state that you made the purchase in, the Attorney General in the state you made the purchase in, The Postmaster General. Contact your bank and if you gave your pin over the phone, foolish you, tell them to change your PIN immediately!
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.