Odyssey of ordering...

[Cyberman tM]

This would be off-topic anywhere, but since this is an off-topic forum, and it's at least related to an eBook Reader, I think I can write it here as well as anywhere else.

Beware, it's a long post. I tend to meander when writing...

I just need to place to vent my ... - to be honest, I don't know WHAT it is I'm feeling. Certainly not anger. Still, I need to get it off my chest, even if merely so I can see where I did wrong, if I did at all.

As some may know, I bought an Elonex EB-600, at Borders (co.uk) .
The unit's quite good, no problem there.

BTW - anyone working at Borders? If so, it's nothing personal. But I don't think I'll order there again for a long time.
I'm sure it's just a series of bad luck, but it's tiring.

When I looked for an eBook reader, I stumbled across the Borders site by chance. Once I saw it's a Netronix device, I decided to buy.

At first, no problems, everything normal - usual routine, until it came to completing the order.
I intended to pay via credit card. Once I hit the "submit" button, a popup came and asked me for the secure code for my credit card.
For those who don't know, this is a code made for internet shopping, you register it with your credit card company and other sites then ask the cc company to ask for authorisation - via this code.
Neat idea, actually, though not widespread in use - or at least not where I shop. Till now I only needed it once and that was quite some time ago. Most sites are satisfied with the credit card verification value (the three digits on the backside).
Anyway, since I rarely used it, I didn't know the password at first. So I closed the site, terminating the order (I thought).

Via the credit card website, I finally found out the correct password, so I went back to Borders to order the eReader (again).

This time, it worked like a charm.

Next I had to wait. After a few days of no change (i.e. no status change on my order (containing one item) when I looked it up on the Borders site), I decided to write in and ask if there were any problems - I admit I'm a rather impatient creature, especially when anticipating something I look forward to - like the new toy, the eBook Reader :-)
My fear was that there might be a problem with the credit card - authorisation or something. I remember when I first tried to sign up with PayPal it didn't work - I still don't know why, apparently something happened with the initial authorisation request.

I soon got an answer that everything's alright and it merely takes some time.

More waiting.

Finally, I saw that my credit card had been charged, so obviously there was progress.
For some reason, it was charged twice. Same amount, seemingly same statement twice.

Naturally, I was curious and asked Borders why this may be. I was told that one charge is the actually charge, while the other is merely the authorisation request.

Seems fine, right?
Still, I wasn't entirely convinced, so after a while I decided to ask the credit card company - they've got to have more information than what I can see, so they can tell me if it really is an authorisation request, or a deduction, which it looked like.

Can you guess the answer? It's indeed two deductions.
Since I only ordered one EB600, and the Borders website still told me that I only have one order with only one item, I informed the credit card company that one charge was faulty.

"No problem", they said, they'll cancel one.

Great.

This done, the next incident happened. By now, the unit was on it's way to me, so all I had to do was wait - according to the Borders site, approximately a week or two.

A few days later, I return home to see a small yellow note lying in front of my door - from UPS, telling me they tried to reach me three times without luck - asking me to contact them.
(You know, I always wonder why they don't leave a note the FIRST time they tried? Chances are good I don't know about getting a delivery, or when to expect it. They can't really think someone will stay at home from work all week?)

From a previous delivery, I was still registered with the UPS site, so I was able to look up what exactly they were talking about.
What do you know? It's a delivery from the UK. Any idea what it might be?

So, since they tried 3 times already, they were giving up and expecting me to tell them what to do.
No problem with me - I told them (via web interface) to try again the next possible date(which even could be selected) and added my cell phone number (previously I only gave them the fixed network number.

More or less at the same time, I got an eMail from a friendly person at Borders - telling me that UPS had problems reaching me, asking that I contact them to reschedule delivery.
Basically what I already did. Or thought I did.

At the set date (as I thought), remained home from work, expecting delivery to be till noon (I could see on the website that previous delivery attempts where all before noon).

At about 2PM, I received a call - from UPS - telling me they have my package on the desk and were about to send it back to UK when they found my phone number.

Interestingly, the UPS site claimed my delivery as on it's way that day, not sitting around in a storage somewhere.

This time I told them to deliver again as soon as possible, BUT to deliver it to where I work, instead to me at home.
At work someone is always available to receive mail and packages - till now I refrained from packages there because I thought it's not proper to do so.
From now on I'll think different...

As you can guess, I got the package the next day at about 10 AM. Great, isn't it?

Everythings OK now, I have my package, the faulty charge is canceled, Borders had been informed about it, I was happy.

Of course, this couldn't be.

Some days later, I got a mail from my credit card company - the foretold papers detailing the charges from Borders, and their cancellation.

Interestingly, they told me that there indeed have been TWO authorisations.

But if I ordered twice - shouldn't I see TWO orders? Or at least have TWO eReaders ordered?
I checked the Borders site again - still just one order, one item.

That was friday - now it's sunday. I intended to call the company tomorrow to perhaps finally clear up everything.

By chance, I opened my eMail account - and found a mail from Borders.
Apparently, my order just has been shipped, it should arrive soon.

?

Let me repeat that:

??

I already have the device in my hands. I got the delivery. Still there is an eMail telling me it's on it's way?

So, without knowing any details beyond what I wrote already, I can only guess.
My guess is that somehow my first try to order has been saved (without telling me, or at least warning me), and when I ordered again, this time actually completing it (i.e. with authorisation), both orders got processed.

BUT - they only got ONE number. I just checked again - all the time, I only got one order number.
This order has status "completed" right now, and contains merely one unit.

Yet it seems a package is on it's way to me, containing another one. Which also explains the second deduction from my credit card.

Of course I informed Borders. I'm curious to see the reply. I'll also have to contact my credit card company, but I'm not so sure anymore as to what I should tell them now.

I suppose I'll have to wait till the package arrives, send it back, tell my credit card company to keep the second deduction cancelled and contact Borders for details.

Let's see how this mess will end.

As I said at the beginning, as those who still read may remember, I'm not exactly angry. Or anything at all. Perhaps a bit scared and sad.
If I'm angry, it's at the website. I don't really want to say that, but the Borders site is one of the worst I've seen.
I've once ordered something from a chinese site - the order status was updated on an almost hourly basis. (Of course, I have no way to know if the updates were real or predefined, but I appreciate the illusion of informing me.)
The Borders site on the other hand kept me guessing the whole time.
In retrospect, I think the only changes were "in progress" "to be delivered" and "completed".
It would have been nice to see something along the lines of "waiting for credit card authorisation" "received authorisation, preparing item" "ready to ship" and so on...

Anyway. Thanks for reading, if anyone's still awake - perhaps one or two?

It DOES feel good to get that off my chest. Even if no one reads it :-)
Sorry for the very long post. I got carried away...


[edit]Almost forgot:
Just to clarify - I didn't write that up to discredit Borders, or to "prove" that I am without fault. I'm sure it's a one in a thousand chance that something like that happens.
I just had to tell it someone. Once this is all over, I'll hold no grudge. (Well, I won't order again, but I'm sure both parties are glad about that :-)

[zelda_pinwheel]

wow, you must be feeling really frustrated. from the details of the story, it's clear you did nothing wrong, there must be an error somewhere in the system, and i'm sure you can work it out. at worst, you can refuse the second (?) delivery, have it returned to borders, and contact borders and your credit card company to explain the situation (just as you did here) so that you can be refunded the second charge. the first order should not have been completed without the confirmation code, and i think refusing the delivery (particularly in light of your account showing one order only) is largely enough to prove your good faith.

i hope this can be resolved quickly so that you won't have to worry about it for too long, and you can just enjoy reading on your new elonix ! good luck. let us know how it goes...

[RWood]

I went through something like that only muchg smaller. Good luck. The charge popped up on my credit card statement and was removed several times over the next six months.