It seems that there are several vendors which will take your money and then not ship your parts within their promised timeframe. I just had this experience with a large order and was fortunate enough to have my full purchase price refunded by Visa. Here's some tips which might save you some grief.

1. Check for previous posts about the reputation about this vendor. If it's happened to others, you have a good chance that it will happen to you too. Buy from someone else.

2. Don't order through their online ordering system. You will be subject to the terms they might have buried somewhere on their site. This includes large (35%) restocking charges for cancellations even when they haven't shiped for months after their promised date. Instead, call them on the phone and get prices and agree on a delivery date. Then, send them a purchase order, either by mail or email, in which you specify the terms. The terms should include an absolute deadline for delivery. The delivery should be a complete delivery - no partial shipments should be accepted. They need to acknowledge these terms, or there is no order.

3. Use a credit card. If you use Paypal, be aware that Paypal only protects you for 30 days from when you are charged. Alot of vendors can't or won't ship within 30 days and will charge your acount as soon as you place the order. In these situations, Paypal offers no protection.

4. Followup on your order. Send emails asking for the status of the order. Keep everything in writing. If you have phone conversations with the vendor, follow-up with an email restating the same information. Ask for a confirmation.

I had a recent experience where I ordered over $4800 worth of parts from a vendor. I needed the parts by an absolute drop-dead date so I could install them prior to a Vishu tuning day in our area last month.

The vendor had about 5 weeks to deliver and accepted these therms. The parts didn't arrive in time. Sure, they would have arrived only a couple days late, but the opportunity for their use was lost. This was all communicated up front and agreed to by the vendor.

After I emailed him to cancel the order, he hit me up with a 35% restocking charge for parts I never received. I called Visa and they immediately reversed the full charge. They asked for documention to support my claims. Based upon my steps above, my documentation left the vendor without a valid claim for the restocking charge.

Just wanted to possibly save some of you from problems that a lot of us have experienced.

 

Excellent information. This should also be posted in the other forums and stickied!

 

certainly should be stickied, and put like... in the for sale forum or something

 

good work
regarding PayPal, I've heard that they're less than helpful if you've paid with funds in your paypal account and need charges reversed. Obviously stories like the one above are becoming more common as ecommerce becomes more prevalent- your CC company will do everything they can to protect you.

 

Nice Job! And a good write up.

Joey