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In lugnet.market.shopping, Daniel Siskind wrote:
> At the last weekend's GMLTC showing, I found out from another club member that
> LEGO still had some of the light gray brick packs available. Still in need of
> several thousand pre-2004 light gray bricks to finish the stand for battleship
> project, I ordered $366 worth through the web site on Sunday afternoon. With 2nd
> Day air shipping at the bargain price of only $15, I thought I could be on the
> way towards completing the stand as of this evening.
>
> Later that night I received an email saying my order was not going to be
> shipped, because my credit card had been declined. I thought this strange,
> because the card had been authorized and approved earlier in the day. So, I
> checked Paypal (to which my card is connected to) and sure enough, my account
> had been debited not once, but twice for the order. With only about $500 in the
> account, the second attempt was declined. Seeing as their customer service
> department was already closed for the evening, there was no one I could talk to
> about the order.
>
> Now I work between 60 and 70 hours Monday through Friday being a partner in my
> own mail-order company. I have very little time during the week to do anything
> but work, and the few precious hours I am not working, I spend with my family.
> Knowing it would be an inconvenience for me to try to call them on a Monday (my
> busiest day and probably theirs too), I tried to send their customer service
> department and email through the web site. After composing a fairly detailed
> letter explaining the situation with my order, I tried to send it through the
> customer service contact page on the web site. Little did I know the contact
> form only accepts a message about 200 characters long - far to short for any
> real communication. So, I summed up my situation and went to bed.
>
> On Monday morning I managed to find a little time to call and explain the
> situation to a customer service rep. I explained that they had already
> authorized my card and froze $366 of the $500 in my account. It was explained to
> me that their web site only authorizes the card, but the authorization only goes
> to settlement stage when the order is ready to ship. Clearly they didn’t follow
> through on the original authorization, but instead charged the card a second
> time. (I’ve used the same card to make similar purchase in the past and never
> run into this kind of problem before.) Their only solution was to try to run the
> card again (which, according to my Paypal logs, they did) and then ask me for
> another card. At that point I said no, because the mistake had been made on
> their end. The customer service rep then went to talk to her supervisor. After
> being put on hold for a bit, I was asked for my bank’s phone number and told
> that the supervisor would call me back shortly. The only number I have for
> Paypal is on the back of the card, so I gave them that.
>
> By mid-afternoon, I had received no call, so I called again and asked for the
> supervisor by name. The rep who answered would not let me speak to her, but
> tried to solve my problem by again running trying to run the card a third time
> now (again I did not say it was OK to do this). I had to explain the whole
> situation all over again and finally she went and talked to the supervisor.
> After more time on hold, she came back saying they could not get through to
> Paypal and could not reverse the original authorization. Having gone through all
> this trouble already, I had to force myself not to slam the phone through my
> desk, and instead paid for the order with a different bank card.
>
> Late the next evening, I received an email stating my order had shipped. Hooray!
> At last some progress - even though the 2-day shipping was a complete waste by
> now.
>
> Also there was still the problem with, $366 in my Paypal being tied up by their
> original authorization. I kind of need that money, so I did some research into
> Paypal’s policy in regards to freeing up the authorization. Late last night I
> finally had a moment to look it up. I forwarded the info to customer service
> through their stupid email form (this time I wrote the whole message, but sent
> it in several small parts). I also called early this afternoon and left the same
> info with customer service. I was again told that a supervisor would call me
> “shortly” back when the info was sent to Paypal. Of course, customer service now
> closed. I received no return phone call, nor have my funds been unfrozen.
>
> So if my time is so important, then why am I spending so much time writing this?
> It’s because I am angry that I’ve already had to spend several hours of my time
> dealing with what is ultimately their mistake. It took 15 minutes on the web
> site to place my order, but so far I’m about 10 hours additional time into it
> and they still have not completely followed through. Mail-order should not be
> such a hassle. I strongly suspect the box will arrived burst open, like so many
> previous bulk parts shipments, even though I’ve complained about their piss-poor
> packing jobs on numerous occasions.
>
> Also, during the lengthy periods being of being placed on hold, I decided that
> this was my last time I would be dealing with this company and it’s products.
> Through my close involvement in the AFOL community, I have witnessed too many of
> the company’s shenanigans: been betrayed too many times by corporate
> know-nothings, been made empty promises, and put up with too many lies. I just
> can’t believe in the company or it’s products anymore. Other than a few odds
> and ends for my battleship (which I will buy at Bricklink, where there is real
> customer service) I do not plan to buy any more LEGO products for myself,
> friends, or family (In fact I haven’t bought any LEGO sets at all since the
> great 2004 gray brick debacle). At this point, I’m feeling really used, abused,
> and totally unamused.
>
> Daniel Siskind
>
> an ex-AFOL
Wow! Working 60 & 70 hours a week will take it's toll on anybody. That and
these short winter days and the holiday rush only add fuel to the fire. You
mention that you have a family so there's more or your time divied up. Granted
you have provided enough examples of things that have gone wrong with LEGO to
set one in a negative mood. I agree with Dave Koudys that you have presented
yourself better in a recent reply. Of course you're a few days removed from
what triggered this "nightmare". It reminds me of something my Grandmother once
told me "if something starts to get to you, maybe it's time you put it aside."
It would be nice to do this with work and family, but realistically it's not
that easy. Since LEGO is a hobby you can put it aside for a bit. You're very
talented with what you have created and I'd hate to see that gone forever. Give
it up for awhile and come back to it.
-Patrick
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