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All Forums > Shopping Info > Shopping Info Forum Page 48 > WARNING -HowCool.com
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astroknight All-Star Supporter
Questionable Moderator


Tastes so good...
4187 Posts
11/99
Posted - Dec 5 2000 : 10:52AM
I just cancelled my order from howcool.com (also known as howkewl.com). I placed my order on 12 October. Their website says that they don't charge the credit card until the item ships, but they charged mine right away. Some of the items weren't in stock but I was told they would be shipping in 4 - 6 weeks. It's 8 weeks in 2 days. I've been trying to get through to them on the phone (since I couldn't find an e-mail address) for over a week. I could nver get to a real person, so I left a message for them to call me on Friday. Then I left a message yesterday. Today I finally got a real person and cancelled the order. No questions why or anything. If I had somebody wanting to cancel the order, I'd at least want to know why! They say that they are going to call me when they get it cancelled, but I told them to e-mail me instead (as I gave them my work number and it was going to be a surprise for mrs. astro). They took it and then told me I'd get a call when my card was credited. Maybe they're better when something's in stock, but DON'T order if it's an out of stock item. They told me that they only carry one of the brands (they list about 3 different brands if I remember right) in stock. Needless to say, I'm not happy.
sonic
Deactivated User

1178 Posts
12/99
Posted - Dec 5 2000 : 1:19PM
Howcool's.com...not cool at all then.

Thanks Astroknight ..another site happily merrying on jabroni lane.

-sonic

astroknight All-Star Supporter
Questionable Moderator

Tastes so good...
4187 Posts
11/99
Posted - Dec 7 2000 : 7:00PM
Well, surprise, surprise. Two days after I called How Cool to cancel the order, and it still hadn't been done. So I called again this afternoon (about 1:30 California time). Of course nobody answered where I was supposed to call so I had to get one of the people where you're supposed to place orders. She told me that I should call a certain extension (I assume the one I was automatically connected to) but the girl I should talk to there was out to lunch so I should leave a voice mail. I told her that I had been doing that for over a week now and that it doesn't really do any good to leave a voice mail if the person doesn't return the call. So instead I asked to be connected to this person's boss. She put me that he was gone so I asked for his extension. She put me on hold for two or three minutes before coming back and saying that she couldn't give me his extension because it's not supposed to be given out and she'd probably get fired or something for it (must be a great place to work if you think the boss is going to fire you because you give an upset customer a way to contact him). This person (I'm sorry I didn't get a name since she seems to do more than everybody else at How Cool combined) actually asked why I wanted to cancel the order. I told her that it was extemely slow at getting filled (almost two months instead of 4 - 6 weeks) and that I was really ticked that my credit card was charged before the items shipped. She told me that they always charge the cards immediately unless the customer requests that they don't. I told her that the web site and the person I placed the order with said that they don't charge until shipping. She claims that the web site doesn't say so (although I wouldn't have placed the order if I didn't read that they didn't charge until shipping). So she tells me that she'll get it taken care of and goes to check to see how much the credit should be. After holding another three or four minutes she comes back with the right amount and tells me that she'll credit my card right away. Hopefully she does. I'm giving it until tomorrow afternoon for it to get into the system so I can check.
torris
Senior Member

Deep within Mila's anus
1827 Posts
1/00
Posted - Dec 7 2000 : 7:54PM
Thankfully, I've never run into this problm. But how do you handle this on the credit card end. Fuck the three card monty routine. Can you just call your card company and say that you have been charged for goods not delivered and they will debit your account and charge back the charge against their credit card deposits? Or is it a bigger hassle than that. I would assume that they are a scam outfit altogether the "secretary" is probably one of the owners.
astroknight All-Star Supporter
Questionable Moderator

Tastes so good...
4187 Posts
11/99
Posted - Dec 7 2000 : 8:16PM
There's a process you have to go through that's outlines on the back of the credit card statement. The worst thing is that you have to contact the company that's screwing you over and the credit card company within 60 days of the statement. That's one of the reasons why I tried getting a hold of How Cool last week.
 
dumblonde
Senior Member

2352 Posts
7/00
Posted - Dec 8 2000 : 12:45PM
That's too bad, as they seem to have a lot of kewl things at good prices, but one wonders why they advertise items that they don't actually stock, and charging for items before they're shipped ought to be outlawed IMO, as you only have 60 days to contest a charge.
I have had to do this a couple of times, and the card issuer was very easy to work with & resulted in chargebacks. You're not obligated to pay that part of the bill in question until a finding is made.
A while back ( before I found this site, it had nothing to do with any affiliate here) I somehow got caught up in that scam that Luke Ford is always "reporting" on, I was being charged $24.95 a month by some vague outfit with no phone number on statement. The only thing I don't like is, the card co. wouldn't tell me who was doing it, but at least charges were reversed.
As for HowCool, they say they do have an actual store, if that makes anyone feel better. But then, they advertize it as being in "Beautiful, Historic Bakersfield". Trust me, I have been to Bakersfield...these people ARE guilty of stretching the truth, at least.
2dvd
Senior Member

Trading DVDs
1447 Posts
12/00
Posted - Dec 13 2000 : 9:48PM
I hope you get your money back and thanks for the notice.
astroknight All-Star Supporter
Questionable Moderator

Tastes so good...
4187 Posts
11/99
Posted - Dec 14 2000 : 10:40AM
As of Monday, How Cool still hadn't credited my card, so I called the credit card company. They issued me a credit and since I was about to run out of time took care of most of it over the phone. It's too bad that How Cool thinks so little of their customers since they had some decent prices on their stuff.
dumblonde
Senior Member

2352 Posts
7/00
Posted - Dec 14 2000 : 1:46PM
thanks for the update, Astro - I was hoping they would at least issue a credit, then MAYBE all the previous
fuck-ups could be chalked up to coincidence - but this doesn't sound good at all.



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