Don't buy anything from indoo.com

[nancylebov]

On September 5, I ordered a copy of _A Hatful of Sky_ from indoo.com (a half.com seller) for $7.16.

They had 95% positive feedback, but I wish I'd looked at the negative feedbacks--they were for failed orders and ignored emails. Considering that half.com makes it somewhat difficult to leave negative feedback, I should have realized that 5% negative probably indicates a higher rate of unsatisfactory transactions.

At some point, well after it was due to arrive, I emailed them. No reply.

I'd pretty much written the thing off, then I got a refund for $2.25. When I emailed them about it (no insults, but I admit, no courtesy either), they said
there was a 15% restocking fee and $1.42 postage. Even with their deductions, I'm still $2.42 short.

On the one hand, it's a small amount of money. On the other, I'm feeling insulted as well as ripped off.

Comments

[wings13.livejournal.com]

Wait... you didn't get the book, but they charged you a restocking fee? How do they justify that???

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Urmn...

A restocking fee and postage on something they never shipped?

[mneme]

IANAL, but yes, this is fraud.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

What mnemex said. That just ain't right. At all.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

At minimum, you should complain the the state Attorney General's office (or being you're in PA, perhaps it the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, as it is here in VA.)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I don't know for sure that they never shipped it. It's conceivable that it was shipped but was returned to them.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

But something you never got.

[cellio]

I ordered something through half.com once that never arrived (something in the $100 range). It took forever -- and invoking the Attorney General -- to get a refund from them after the seller went silent. His feedback had been previously good and then apparently he stiffed a bunch of people all at once, but even that didn't get half.com's attention.

I have not shopped with them since.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what I want to do at this point. I've filed negative input. It's past 45 days, so Paypal isn't listening. Ebay isn't interested in transactions under $25. I'm not sure how much trouble it is to bring the government into this, nor whether anything significant is likely to happen to indoo.com as a result.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I think you have a point.

It's possible that someone had fraudulently taken over a legitimate sellers reputation. Even so, half.com should have more concern with something like that happening.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

The Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.com/) may be interested. I've never dealt with them myself, but part of their purpose is to resolve complaints against businesses.

[zenlizard]

Well, I never have, but because of your warning, I never will. Thanks for th ehads-up!

[quarkwiz.livejournal.com]

Wait. So...you still don't have the book? Are you in need of a copy? If so, let me scrounge here at the office. That's one of our titles. Let me know if you want one, okay?

[madfilkentist]

You don't say if they claimed to have shipped it and provided any documentation. If they did both, they might deserve the benefit of the doubt. But they don't deserve to be credited with something they didn't even claim.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

All I've been able to find is the "will be shipped" email. I wouldn't expect proof of shipping for a USPS media mail package.

I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt--not when they're this late, when they're charging me for something which is either their fault (bad label) or never happened (they didn't ship the book), and when they then cheat me on the reduced refund they say they've given me.

[water-neko.livejournal.com]

Oy ve...I'm sorry that happened to you...

Something quite similar happened with me and Amazon.com. I can't even find a way to e-mail or call them...the link to "Contact Us" is totally misleading...

Is there any sort of law about online stores and customer service?

[madfilkentist]

I've linked to your post. The more people who know about this, the better.

One of Handango's clients did the same to me and I wasn't credited

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I'll buy on-line programs that go through Kagi because I've never had any problems, but Handango handled the credit card end of a sale from a Novosibersk software company and the Russians never came through with a password and Handango didn't care.

My guess is that there are a lot of semi-legit places out there and the money they rip off is small enough not to be much of a problem, so they do it.

Amazon does have a reputation to protect so putting up a website about them being a problem and mailing the url to them or putting it in a review of the book you didn't get might get their attention.

Re: One of Handango's clients did the same to me and I wasn't credited

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I've looked at Kagi's site. Do you mean that you only deal with sellers who use Kagi?

This was a half.com thing--they're affiliated with Ebay. Amazon links to them, I think, but I'm not as sure that they care. I'll probably take it to Ebay, since the connection is closer. I've complained to paypal, but it could take 45 days for them to get back to me. On the other hand, paypal is in an excellent position to make life hard for indoo.com.

Contacting amazon.com by phone

[(Anonymous)]

credit Amazon.com Cards 888-247-4080 Account number then 5 web retail Amazon.com 800-201-7575 Direct to human! (from find-a-human at https://www.quickbase.com/db/bam6rdiey?a=q&qid=5 ) -- Ron

Re: One of Handango's clients did the same to me and I wasn't credited

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I will be dealing only with sellers who use Kagi, which isn't optimal since Handango had gotten a number of PocketPC program distributors to work with them. It's also one of those hoop jumping problems -- the Novosibirsk site wanted me to register with them; Handango wanted me to register with them; I got a confirmation for the order but no code. No reply from the boys in Novosibirsk, no reply from Handango other than to survey me about satisfaction. Daily (it seemed) sales offers from Handango -- so I sent them a notice that I didn't want their email anymore. They attempted to keep sending me promotions since I'd gotten PocketTV and that was part of getting Pocket TV for free, so I told the PocketTV people to stop.

One purchase worked fine. One purchase failed to deliver the code for unlocking the program. I don't know if they've dropped the Novosibirsk folks since but I'd liked to have heard something and I'd liked for them not to have charged me for software I didn't get the purchase code for.

I've never had any problems with software where Kagi was the agency handling the credit card purchase.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Last year when a CD I ordered never showed up I complained and got a full refund directly from half.com. I'd say you should definitely file a claim with half.com, except that according to their Buyer Protection Policy (http://pages.half.ebay.com/help/policy/guarantee_p.html?helpsection=guarantee_p) "you have a maximum of 60 days from the date of your order to file a Buyer Protection Claim", so you've just gone past the limit. Ugh.

I'm reading A Hatful of Sky to my children right now (well, as in the next chapter later today), actually.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I might complain to half.com anyway, just to give them a heads-up about indoo.com.

Yes, Indoo is Awful!

[thatssomelanie.livejournal.com]

I can very much second your feelings about this Indoo crap. I ordered a 75 dollar textbook from them over a month ago. They claimed it was shipped the same day. I constantly emailed them, as I never got it. They kept saying 'oh the mail is slow, just wait'. I sent multiple emails to them demanding a refund, as I had already re-ordered it from another seller and got it within a few days. Every time I made a demand for refund, they would put me off and say to just give it a little more time. Finally, another four weeks after that, I receive a package from them. I considered just straight refusing it, but I instead took it, then opened it, and it wasn't even what I ordered. It was a ten year old book about a philosopher with obvious water damage and black mold on it. Upon entering the package tracking code into the USPS website, I found that they had outright lied, as the package wasn't shipped until after my 2nd complaint/demand. Maybe they think they can screw someone over and they will just let it slide. I am a mid-20's college student taking 24 semester hours with little-to-no money for simple things like my rent, and I've now been shafted for about 80 dollars by this crooked seller. I'm still demanding refunds from them, as apparently they've had about 1,000 other negative feedbacks. Much like you, I wish I would have read into the feedback before getting myself into their little web.

I agree: don't buy anything from indoo.com

[(Anonymous)]

I have the same awful experience with indoo.com