Internet Shopping:
When Things Go Wrong

In an earlier article I identified the four things to do to shop safely on the Internet including:

1. Make Sure Your PC is Virus and Spyware Free

2. Make Sure Your Browser is Using A Secure Connection – padlock appears in lower right

3. Use a Credit Card

4. Shop Reputable Sites

Sometimes I stretch the shopping envelope to find the lowest price. Searching at www.Pricewatch.com often is the easiest way to find low cost PC components. If you know exactly what you want and you search for that precise product using Froogle, NextTag, Vivisimo and other search and price scanning sites; you can find a low price. However, many deceptive sites hide the true price (the price plus shipping) and they try to add other fees including configuration (formatting disk drives), added cables, warranty, order cancellation, restocking and special shipping fees. When you go for the lowest price, you must deal with sites that are less than nice.

Recently, I violated the fourth shopping rule and tried to purchase a digital camera from a disreputable site. The shopping search engine and their initial web site listing represented the camera price as the price after rebate not as the price prior to rebate. This advertising approach is used by many stores to make you think that they sell at a low price and make you come to the store. If you do not follow the rebate instructions to the letter, you end up paying the full retail price.

Before realizing the advertised price was the after the rebate price and that shipping plus an extra 6% was also charged making the final price higher than several other sites, I had given them a credit card number and clicked submit. Now usually I catch such deceptive selling practices and just leave the site, but I had a confusing moment. Immediately upon realizing what I had done, I fixed the problem or so I thought. Here is what you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation:

1. Return to the Web site and cancel your order. Most all shopping sites have you create an account with user ID and password. After purchase, you can track what was bought by logging into your account at that site. Often this gives you the ability to cancel the order. Cancel it within 24 hours you have a strong case for not being charged.

2. Check the site’s cancellation and return policies. Save these pages on your PC using the Internet Explorer “Save As” menu selection to create documentation in the event of a dispute.

3. Capture the sales information on the product purchased including price and shipping information.

4. Call the site and cancel the order.

5. Immediately contact your credit card company and inform them that any charges from that site was unauthorized and disputed. In my case the shopping site telephoned me, called me stupid and threatened to bill me an order cancellation fee. This was outrageous. So I contacted my credit card company.

6. Change your credit card number. Since this disreputable site had my credit card number, this was an excellent suggestion from my credit card company. Several days are needed to get a new card, but this is less hassle than straightening out unauthorized charges put on your card by an unscrupulous web site.

7. Report the unscrupulous web site to merchant ratings so that others can avoid a similar hassle.

The best approach is to not shop sites with lots of rules and confusing pricing.