bennison@clt.DEC (Victor Bennison - DTN 381-2156) (01/26/86)
>> I too had similar problems with 47th Street. Unfortunately, I didn't use a >> credit card and ended up getting beat for about $100. >I've found this discussion interesting, since 47th Street Photo is my >favorite mail-order photo store -- I order a very large amount of ... >I tend to feel that people who have complaints about mail order companies >of this sort often have unrealistic expectations of mail order companies. >If you order by mail, you should order something that's advertised in the >catalog, expect it in 30 days (as provided by law) unless they say it will >take longer, and not expect to be able to have the amenities of arguing >with the dealer over price, delivery dates, etc. that you have from a >local store. ... >You can't expect the impossible, like deciding 30 days is too long, >cancelling the order, and then refusing to pay for it because it had already >been shipped when you cancelled the order; nor expecting complicated order >changes after you've placed the order. These are the things you pay extra >for from a local dealer. >If the company acts in a fraudulent manner, New York has a very effective >District Attorney's office to get the problem straightened out, equipped >with fill-in-the-blank (by the D.A.'s office) forms which they send to the ... >Regarding the use of credit cards... I would be more wary of using a credit >card, since it provides a greater opportunity for someone to obtain and >use your credit card number illegally. On the other hand, with a money >order the *most* you can lose is the amount of the money order (as compared ... ---- Almost all of the complaints about mailorder firms that I've seen on this net, including all the ones I've received while running the mailorder survey, seem to me to be perfectly valid. Regardless of what practices have been made illegal and what one's are still technically legal, a mailorder firm has no business telling people things are in stock when they aren't or telling people they'll get something in a week when they know that's impossible. It is also their responsibility to run an efficient enough shop so that if a customer calls to cancel an order they can make sure it hasn't already been shipped and make sure that it doesn't get shipped, and that the customer is credited for the amount of the purchase. It may be legal to lie to your customers either in their advertizing or over the phone, but that doesn't make it right. I believe that the majority of these companies are trying to remain within the bounds of the law. That's why I trust them with my credit card number. I have so far heard no stories about any credit card fraud resulting from these mailorder firms misusing credit card information. I still think that using a credit card is the best way to deal with these firms. I look at these places as being the moral equivalent of a new car dealership. Some are better than others, but you have to watch out for them all. Vick Bennison ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!tools!bennison (603) 881-2156 -------------------- Please note that this mail message is likely to be incomplete. The sender aborted the transmission. rhea::MAILER-DAEMON --------------------