[pct-l] Camera search experience

[Trekker4 at aol.com]

In their minds, obviously, but I've never had that  experience with any 
other website -- ever -- period. They also put me on  their mailing list 
without my permission. They also sent 2 more emails trying to  get the order. I 
only thought they were going to ship my "reservation" as an  "order", until I 
remembered they had no payment info. They asked at least 4  times for my 
credit card info, They asked at least 6 times for my order  number. I don't 
consider any of that behavior honest or ethical; I've never  been treated like 
that by any other company, online or not. 
 
End of  conversation; I've made my points -- 3 times!
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 3/15/2010 12:48:17 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
bumblefist at gmail.com writes:

Really the only problem here is your personal definition of the words  
"order" and "reservation" are obviously very different things, while to many  
other people these days, there isn't much difference between those two  words.
Reservation can mean that you have identified items which you have the  
intention of purchasing and you want the vendor to set them aside for you  
until such time as you decide whether or not you will actually pay for  them.
Placing an order can also mean that you have identified items which you  
have the intention of purchasing, and in today's world where everything is  
computerized, those items will be set aside in their computerized inventory  
system until such time as you decide to pay for them, which makes it pretty  
much the same as a reservation.  
"Orders" do not become "shipments" until payment is received.  You  seemed 
to think that when you saw the word "order" they meant they were  actually 
going to ship those things to you.
Even though you were talking to a live person on the phone when you made  
your "reservation," he was surely inputting the data into a computer where  
from there it became automated and sent you that email confirming that you 
had  expressed an interest in purchasing certain items and there was a file 
number  that could be used to identify those items.  The email did not say 
that  items were being shipped.  
While the human you were talking to understood what you meant when you  
confirmed with him that it was a "reservation" and not an "order",  a computer 
likely doesn't see any difference between a reservation and an  order that 
has not yet been paid for.  
 
I don't see any dishonesty anywhere in any of this.
 
You simply failed to realise that in their minds, placing an order is no  
different from making a reservation.  That is why they kept using the  word 
"order."  You never paid for anything so they were never going to  send you 
anything.  You had nothing to worry about.  They tried to  explain that to 
you but you were still hung up on the word "order" and your  assumption that 
their definition of the word was the same as yours and they  were going to 
send the stuff to you.
 


On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 12:44 PM, <_Trekker4 at aol.com_ 
(mailto:Trekker4 at aol.com) > wrote:


 
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_ (mailto: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 
payment 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.