So, Placed an order last week paid on line by ck Card, got the
package very quickly, all was good, till my bank statement was not
matching the invoice I recieved from stuller the bank statement was
$12 more on top of All their charges. So i am trying to figure out
where is this charge coming from, over the past few days, Taxes?
more shipping costs? fees of some sort?
well today I just called them… to my suprise and anger was told,
they just do that and put a hold on that sum for a few days after the
order has gone through, and then they recredit your bank account a
few days later. WHAT THE??’ they charge more and recredit you later!
This truely is unacceptable, Really, I mean what company would get
away with this kind of behaivior, mine could not! this really leaves
me speechless, what is wrong with corporate America. I spent a 100.00
on findings, pay 15.00 for shipping and then another 12.00 for ???
what do you call this. anybody else have an opinion on this? anybody
else got this happen to them?
I’m not going to stand up for the behaviour of over-charging but I
would imagine that if you talked to the right person (the person
around when this over-charging started), you might well discover that
originally when paid by cheque, they waited until the cheque was
actually processed and the money in their account before they shipped
the goods. In the USA, the time for clearing a cheque can be really
long since cheques are used by banks to calculate float and it is not
unusual for it to travel between many banks before it is cleared in
the clearing system. (not the same in Canada). So - it might have
come down to a choice between the customer waiting - maybe for weeks
until a cheque cleared — or a customer paying a “fee” (Overcharged
amount) that would help compensate them for a bad cheque (usually $10
if NSF - or more). Maybe I am being kind to them by this explanation
but my years in the banking system contributed to the “leetle grey
cells” accumulating info. And as I started out, I am not standing up
for this behaviour. Not now with credit cards and instant debits at
least.
they just... put a hold on that sum for a few days after the order
has gone through, and then they recredit your bank account a few
days later. WHAT THE??' they charge more and recredit you later!
I’ve seen a motel put a $500 hold on a debit card for almost a week.
Car rental firms, gas stations, other businesses do similarly. Have
an adequate balance when you travel or beware.
Sadly, this happens all the time. Try buying gasoline with your
check card through a pay-at-the-pump; they put a $75 hold on it.
Rental agencies will put a $400 hold on your card, even though the
rental may be less than half that. It makes me cranky as well…but I
figure they are trying to make sure they get paid. I can understand,
even though I never would do that to any of my customers.
I’m a very happy customer at Stuller. I never pay more than $8.00
shipping, though I use a PO Box and they ship Priority. I’m sure the
added charges are to cover themselves against charge-backs and other
fraudulent losses. Maybe you should get an open account?
Barbara the payment was done via check Card as in a debit card, not a
cheque, so an instant debit card is even faster then credit card
payment.they were paid instantly over the christmas weekend too.
monday the 26th of december the money had been taken out of my
checking already. there really is no excuse. and Russ return shipping
cost coverage, premtive charge before you even return anything?
Uhhhh, would anyone do that to their customers??? pre charge a return
shipping fee with out any returns or anything done? Stuller has left
me Speechless.
We apologize for any inconvenience your purchase from Stuller may
have caused and understand that the holidays are both a hectic and
stressful time for our jewelers. It’s always our goal to make any
interaction with Stuller as smooth and worry-free as possible.
We’ve looked into your situation and would like to clarify where
there was some possible miscommunication: When you placed your order,
the quoted price was an estimate based on average weights rather than
actual weights of items you ordered, an estimated shipping charge and
nominal buffer amount. This buffer ensures that enough funds were
authorized so as to efficiently settle your final payment amount upon
shipment of your order. A credit card buffer is a common practice in
regards to debit or check cards and is in place in the event that the
final shipped weight of items and shipping charges are more than
originally quoted. (In your case, this is where the additional $12
comes from.)
When the original order estimate was authorized with your
card-issuing bank, funds were held in reserve by the bank on
Stuller’s behalf. No money had changed hands at this point.
The next day, we charged the card for the exact cost of the items
included in the shipment with actual weights and actual freight. At
this point, the funds were deducted from your bank account and
transmitted over to Stuller. The amount charged and debited from your
bank account should match the amount of the invoice that was provided
with your shipment.
Any difference between the actual amount charged and the
authorization amount (in your case the buffer of $12) is generally
released back to you by your bank within three days. Due to the
holidays, this could take longer. The buffer monies is something that
your bank holds on to and only they can release it back to you.
Again, we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and wish there
was more we could do to resolve the situation. If you have any
further questions, please feel free to contact Sandra Courville, our
Executive Director of Finance Planning and Support.
Neil is right about the credit card charge for a rental car – In
Britain I was appalled by a $5000 and yes that is the right number
of zeros charge to my credit card on a car rental. It was reversed at
the time the car was brought back but by then I had to pay the bill
and was out the funds until the next bill. It made for a fun
scramble!
Barbara the payment was done via check Card as in a debit card,
nota cheque, so an instant debit card is even faster then credit
card payment.they were paid instantly over the christmas weekend
too. monday the 26th of december the money had been taken out of my
checking already.
After reading the response from a representative from Stuller, I do
know the solution. An open account. I have had one for 21 years. I
like getting merchandise with 30 days to pay.
I’ve seen a motel put a $500 hold on a debit card for almost a week.
Car rental firms, gas stations, other businesses do similarly. This
issue has been covered on our evening news this past summer, when
debit cards are used for gasoline purchases. A larger amount is held
until the actual transaction has gone through, and then the balance
is credited. In essence, you are paying a “usage fee” for the
priviledge of not paying in cash, since I believe the banks are
getting some small amount of interest on the amount they are holding
for that week. I read this morning that wireless services are
starting to institute “convenience” surcharges on monthly bills, for
paying online or over the telephone with a credit card. You don’t
have to pay the extra couple of dollars a month if you pay by check
or with a credit card in their store or have your account
automatically paid from your bank account. The banks have been doing
everything they can to cut down on services having to do with our
checking accounts, and want us to do our banking online to save time,
paper and for convenience. Then the companies that are paid through
our online banking want us to pay extra when we bank online unless
they are allowed direct access to that bank account. There is alot of
funny stuff going on out there when it comes to how our financial
transactions are handled, and those little fees seem to me to be
nothing more than padding the bill. After all, wasn’t the purpose of
banking online supposed to eliminate the need to transport checks and
cash, and to have a nearly instant update of the transaction?
I pay my Stuller bill with a credit card when I order, and I haven’t
noticed any additional charges. Perhaps it was the use of the debit
card which initiated the additional fee.
in the past I had an open account with stuller,you got the net 30,
but since 2009 the activity on the account got so slow that they had
closed it. and in 2010 and 2011 i had restarted the process, but
again due to inactivity it would get closed automatically. at this
point i am simply not big enough for stuller. on the other side of
this coin I have no problems like this with Rio,or Otto Frei,or
Hoover or… I place one order a year or a dozen orders, there are no
extra charges for fee coverages or deactivated accounts because of
inactivity of orders. in the end here is my message when a small
studio is going through something like this, i am going to do
business with companies that are small business friendly, and will
keep my distance from the ones that come with headaches. the example
of a headache is, if I have placed 3-4 orders with different
companies in the same days and they all placed a hold on extra funds
at 10-20 dollars a pop that sum will cause the checking account to
start bouncing checks or denying payment to others even though there
is enough there to pay. the answer to that would be not to place
orders all at the same time, which is fine but you are having to
change the wat you are operating because the larger companies and
banks are placing these kinds of fees and pressures on all of us. the
explanations that were given by stuller as to why this is so is
understood but NOT accepted. they have materials they are selling
they are not sure how much it weighs ? for shipping? really? a
company that size does not have the man power to figure these details
out,?? they are in the business of taking orders on materials and
shipping things via shipping Companies, and have been for a long
time, they can not figure out what the charges are so they place a
small buffer onto the customers account? as a business owner would I
be able to do this to any of my customers? would any of you? I like
stuller’s material, but they have always made it hard on the little
guy to shop there. you have to have an account ( not an open
account)to do business even if you are paying straight out right then
with a Ccard. and if the account is inactive for a period ( i am not
clear to how long), then it deactivates automatically and the next
time you need to place an order you begin the process of applying for
the account all over again. at that point I will just go to RIO or
any of the other major tool and supply houses that are willing to
take my order and payment then and there.
Don’t understand what’s big companies problem, perhaps we have to
have a French Revolution. I have not had the problem with Stuller
yet, however we are having a similar problem with PayPal-Ebay. What
can we as small studio owners do to make the big companies understand
that all of us little guys support them?
I’ll ditto that. PayPal is on my black list and I refuse to pay via
it or use it for payments! Judy in Kansas, where it was the perfect
day to hang out the laundry… breezy and 50 degrees F.
PayPal is on my black list and I refuse to pay via it or use it
for payments!
Hi All. Several people have posted similar statements about Paypal.
Maybe I missed something, but I’d like to know what the specific
problem is. I use Paypal all the time, buying and selling, and have
not had a problem.
re paypal - I use it all the time (just ask the mailman who brings
the parcels) and have only had one time that I had a dispute. Paypal
said I had paid for the item but the seller said he had not received
the money. I queried paypal over it and suddenly all was right in the
world again. No problem.
I’ll give you the brief story of my experience. A person wanted me
to buy and send her some beads. She arranged through PayPal to put
$100 in my account. The money was transferred. I bought and sent the
beads. The person cancelled the payment, and PayPal insisted that I
cover the $100. No effort to even see if the beads had been received
or why the payment was cancelled. Mind you, from the time the money
was put into my account until she cancelled the payment, over a month
had passed. The person to whom I sent the beads never responded to my
emails and PayPal was only interested in recovering the money.
That’s the short version. I refuse to use PayPal and risk being
cheated again. Cheat me once, shame on you. Cheat me twice, shame on
me.