Marlys

I noticed that you put it on your debit card. That is why I never use my debit card online. With a credit card you can dispute it and get the charge reversed. You cannot do that with a debit card - it comes straight out of your account.
I would definitely contact BBB. Good luck and keep us posted on what happens!

Airwick156

I am so sorry that this happened to you. I also had this problem but not with a fabric store. My father in law used to put planes, animals, bridges etc together that are made from balsa wood. He used to buy kits for them. We had to buy them online. Anyways, the first order Dad spent just over $100. He was all excited. Immediately his debit card was charged. The company sent me an email confirming that they had sent the package out and gave me a tracking number. Three months later, still no package. I emailed the company took about another month to get a reply email saying that they had sent it out and they don't know what happened to it and they wont replace it unless we pay the shipping and handling again and they would send us out another order. HECK NO we are not paying that. Anyways it was within a week that we conviently "received" the missing package. So all turned out well.
Then about Halloween, dad and I sat down and put in another order for the same company. I had my doubts because their customer service was horrible the first time, but Dad wanted to make this order because he really enjoyed making them.
So we put in another order this time dad spends over $300. We submitted the order on line and again immediately his debit card was charged. We figure that since they debited his bank account that they received the order and was getting it ready to send out. Dads 75 years old and this is his hobby putting these things together and he doesn't have alot of money. So we wait the 4-6 weeks for the order to arrive. That came and passed, infact several times the time came and passed with no package. So I get on their website to get their contact information. I first sent an email explaining that they had taken the funds out to pay for the order that was placed on October 19, 2009 and it was now March 5, 2010 and we have not recieved the order and I gave them the tracking number. It was to be delivered by the post office. Anyways I got no response. I emailed them daily. I got fed up, and started calling them....ALWAYS ALWAYS would get a Voicemail IF I WAS LUCKY, or instead of a voice mail I would get a message saying that the person I am trying to reach's voicemail box is full. So I kept up and kept up and email and emailed with no response. So finally I was SOOOOOOOO Mad, that I sent them an email telling them that they had until 9:00 am Monday morning to respond to my repeated phone calls or I was contacting a lawyer. They contacted me get this 5 minutes before 9 that morning. And then they gave me this big old story. And then once again, told me that it had shipped. I flat out told the man he was a BIG FAT LIAR, and I am contacting my lawyer as soon as we get off the phone and I had given him a random lawyers name out of my phone book. In just a matter of days, again Convienently dad received his package. We never did order from them again.
So I wish you luck. Email them call them repeately. And if you don't get a response, I would contact your bank and have the money put back, my bank has done that for me before. And then contact Better Business Bureau.

pheasantduster

I would contact your Attorney General's office, Consumer Rights and file a complaint and also contact the Attorney General's office in the state where this company is located. Unfortunately using your Debit Card does not give you immediate recourse as it is like sending cash. Keep records of all calls, e-mails, correspondence. If company is in your state you may threaten to take them to Small Claims Court. Of course, if they are already out of business, they may not care. Sorry for your experience.

quiltstodo

What part of the country was it coming from? I just placed an order online and usually get the order in about 10days from when they charge me. This time because of weather it took over 2 weeks. Call your bank and see if you can dispute it even though it was a debit purchase. What company was it? maybe someone here has dealt with them and can give you better information.

Deborah12687

When I purchase anything online I go thru PayPal. I never give my debit or credit card to anyone directly.

QKO

The store's lack of response may be indicative of the poor customer service that probably caused them to go out of business in the first place.

If they charged your card, they should have shipped the order. Stores with good customer service will ship, then charge your card, then give you a tracking number.

It might be still in transit, or weather delayed in transit if the order was shipped via parcel post or UPS ground. It's been only about 2 weeks, I'd give it another week before you start panicking. If it still doesn't arrive in a week or so, there's plenty of time to start disputing the card charge, etc.

QKO

Most online store carts use merchant services accounts that hide all the financial details, like card numbers, from the merchant.

On most shopping sites, unless you call the merchant and physically give them the card number and details, they never see those details.

Here's how to tell if the store has access to your financial info; If a store offers to save your cc number, etc in an account file, they usually do have access to your card info. I personally would stay away from stores that do this. I prefer to enter my card info each time. If you use Paypal for your orders, you are saving your financial information on Paypal. (Not that that's a bad thing, Paypal is at least as trustworthy as your bank is.) Some stores, like Amazon and others will save your financial information on their computers and employees there will have access to it. It's up to you whether to trust these stores with your cc information.

If a store doesn't offer to save your cc info, they most likely will never see that info and won't have access to it at any time, if you order online and don't call and give them info.

If a store uses a system where you place an order and then they have someone call you and get your card number, or if they only take phone orders and don't have secure online ordering, or if they encourage you to send your cc information via email, I'd stay away from that store, because they probably don't have appropriate financial protection in place.

On a lot of stores though, like ours, if you establish an account, you'll save only your address information or other shipping info, wish lists, etc, to make it easier to order and track your orders.

We don't save, nor do we want to be responsible for any financial info. If you choose to order via phone, and we take your CC over the phone, like any well-run careful store we put that info immediately into our merchant services computer system, at which point we no longer have access to it. Any handwritten notes taken during order processing are immediately shredded.

If you order using a credit or debit card at stores that don't save your financial information, that information is passed through the merchant services computer directly along to your banking institution and is only maintained in the merchant services computers long enough to service and close the transaction. The merchant (like us) never sees the financial info.

And that's the way we like it... :mrgreen:

jaciqltznok

not really,, they might already be in the hosp for their cancer treatment and can not go the shop to answer the phone.

IF they sent an email saying it was shipped, there should be a tracking# have you checked that?

Call the CC co and reverse charges..but remember, our postal service is NOT the greatest..even with tracking#'s things go missing...trust me, I ship out 30+ orders a day! At least once a month an order disappears when it hits the sorting station in OKcity!

dreamer2009

what was the name of the company ??

natalieg

They haven't sent out the email stating it was sent. If they would have sent me a tracking number I would have something to check, but don't. They have only sent the intial confiramtion email stating that the order was received and will be sent out int he next 24-48 hours with a tracking number through UPS. That's what is worrying me. I haven't heard from them since, except to see that they have taken the money out of my bank account.