[pct-l] Camera search experience

[Trekker4 at aol.com]

I've never had this happen with any other online  merchant; I live 140 
miles from the closest city, so have been ordering online  for 10 years. No the 
"reservation" was not an order; the "reservation" was made  verbally over 
the phone, as I'd done nothing online to place an order, or even  start the 
process. He asked for my email address and confirmed that this was a  24-hr 
reservation, not an order. He also had to have written down the camera and  2 
memory cards I talked about, as I never entered that info anywhere; the  
followup email a few hours later clearly says "thank you for your order",  
doesn't ask for payment info, and had no link for step 2. In the dialogue they  
both kept calling it an order, even though I kept saying there was no 
order...  but you read all that. 
    One $, 1 vote. I voted elsewhere for $75 less, and  let a few hundred 
people know of Ritz's dishonest practices and poor  customer service. I'm 
satisfied; my camera from Sam's was shipped out 2nd day  air this morning, less 
than 12 hours after my order. It's Fri, but I'm sure it  will be here Mon 
morning.    
 
Bob  "Trekker"
Big Bend Desert Denizen, and...
Naturalized Citizen - Republic  of Texas

"Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says,  'See, if it 
wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.' " -- Harry Browne

"If you  think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it 
costs when its  free." -- P J O'Rourke



In a message dated 3/12/2010 11:38:20 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
bumblefist at gmail.com writes:

I enjoyed reading your post on the CDT-L but I think you must not have  
much experience with online shopping.  
When buying things online there are usually three steps that you go  
through.  Step one, placing the order followed by step  two, determining how you 
are going to pay for it and then making the  payment,after that step three, 
the item is shipped.
Sounds like Ritz Camera's way of holding a reservation is to complete  step 
one by placing the order, but not procede to step two, which they could  
not have done anyways because you had not given them any payment  information. 
 If you had decided to buy the item then you would have just  proceded to 
step two and only after that would they have shipped you  anything.
They sent you a confirmation order number so that if you decided  to 
procede to step two, there would be no confusion about what it was you were  
wishing to buy.  After that you likely would have received a "shipping"  order 
number showing that the transaction was complete, you actually bought  
something, and it was being delivered to you.
This all seems perfectly normal to me because I've bought plenty of stuff  
online and I'm familiar with these automated systems.
As long as you had not provided any credit card information or any other  p
ayment information, there is no way that they could have scammed you.   Even 
if they were dumb enough to send you the camera, legally you would not be  
obligated to pay because the transaction was never completed.  It would  be 
their own dumb fault for giving something away before they had secured  
payment for it.  
 
I think you must have really confused poor Patricia.  Technically  you had 
ordered something because in this case a reservation is the same thing  as 
an order except that you have not yet agreed to pay, but you kept insisting  
that you had not placed an order.  Reading their side of the conversation  I 
can understand what they were trying to tell you.
That being said, I did get a good laugh out of the whole "Boaters World"  
thing.  You are right about them needing to improve their customer  service 
so they at least don't confuse their customers even  further.