Quick Question URGENT!!!

When u pay via credit card online...when does dell take the money out of your account?....i called the cc company to check my credit and i had the laptop money still in my account. I made the order on july 31st. I checked the status of the order and they say its in production.....is my order doing to be cancelled or summ??...anyone with dell experience please help!!

 

They take it out when you receive it.

 

no they take it out when it ships

 

In case you didn't know, online orders, regardless of what they are, are always charged when the merchandise ships (in the US).

 

Kegobeer is right. They can't charge you for a product that has yet to be sent to its rightful owner. Rep point up to Kego!

 

ok, I am sorry this post was in this thread. I am pretty sure I had two threads open at the same time and thought I was posting it in the other one. Also, the statement that was made, came out the wrong way. I was referring in another thread, where my question was really intended to ask if there was a secret to calling the reps and working them to getting a good price, as opposed to simply building it online.

Sorry for sounding like a jerk.

 

I love it how this conversation has gone from when does Dell charge my CC to what can I complain about to get some price knocked off...

 

edcgoldguru, you could use a nice big glass of dignity!

 

hahahahaha

 

Yes its sad to see you just ordered you laptop and looking to get stuff out of dell, a lot of people on this forum have been waiting a month + just be happy with your price and stop trying to milk dell.

 

In my case they held/froze/reserved/whatever the amount the same day I ordered (I no longer had access to that money), and the transaction didn't finalise until I received the laptop 2 weeks later.

 

Don't hijack this thread, especially with such a laughable request.

 

This is not 100% true. Most online stores take an authorization at the time of order and then ticket it through when it ships but they don't HAVE to do it that way. It's not the law or part of the credit card contract. When you take an authorization it blocks off a chunk of credit as a guarantee against the authorization; those guarantees normally last about 96-168 hours but it depends on the bank. Once the guarantee expires the hold/guarantee is lifted but the authorization can still be ticketed for up to 1-3 months (again depends on bank); there's just no guarantee for the merchant after the hold expires that the card will have the available credit to put through the charge. Debit cards work a little differently since they don't have a credit limit in play; with debit cards the money is removed from your account immediately and put into a holding account until either the authorization expires or it is ticketed.

Having said that there are laws about how quickly after charging the card do you have to ship (without prior notice to the customer about delays in shipping). I believe that you have 30 days to ship without providing notice of delay and not break the law (granted any store waiting 29 days to ship without notifying the customer would probably be tarred and feathered in the court of public opinion). If it's going to be more than 30 days you HAVE to notify the customer of the delay and offer to credit the charge. After 60 days you have to credit back the card and charge them again when it ships. But if you say in advance that it's not going to ship right away I believe you can charge with as much advance notice as you want. IE if you are taking pre-paid pre-orders and let the customer know this in advance.

I am not a lawyer and I'm just going on memory of discussions with our lawyer so don't take this as gospel but I do own part of an online company and I'm the one that handles the credit card transactions.

 

A hold is not an actual charge. Retailers are authorized to check to see if funds exist to cover the purchase. I worked with a postmaster a few years ago and he told me all about the mail order act (not the actual name, but it's the term he used) that forbids a company from actually putting a charge on the card until the product is ready to ship or ships.

I had to call several retailers when charges were actually made on my card but the products hadn't shipped. Once I reminded them about this rule, they quickly credited my account.

Regarding debit cards: I don't use the for online purchases, and anyone who does so is a fool IMHO. They don't have the built in safeguards that credit cards have, and it's much harder to get money back in case of fraud.

 

Its funny to see how a guy who quibbled & complained to get his $200 credit (one of the highest reported on this forum), advices people to have some 'dignity'

 

FYI you CAN legally charge before shipping. Did some googling for you kegobeer (honestly didn't get that name until I typed it, LOL):

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/billed.shtm

The Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule
This rule covers merchandise you order by mail, telephone, computer and fax. It requires merchants to have a reasonable basis for claiming they can ship an order within a certain time.

Ship Dates

• By law, a merchant should ship your order within the time stated in its ads or over the phone. If the merchant doesn't promise a time, you can expect it to ship your order within 30 days.
• The shipment "clock" begins when the merchant receives a "properly completed order." That includes your name, address and payment (check, money order or authorization to charge an existing credit account - whether the account is debited at that time or not).
• If the merchant doesn't promise a shipping time and you are applying for credit to pay for your purchase, the merchant has an additional 20 days (50 days total) to establish the account and ship the merchandise.

Delays
If the merchant is unable to ship within the promised time, it must notify you by mail, telephone, or email, give a revised shipping date and give you the chance to cancel for a full refund or accept the new shipping date. The merchant also must give you some way to exercise the cancellation option for free, for example, by supplying a prepaid reply card or staffing a toll-free telephone number.

• If you ignore the option notice, and the delay is 30 days or less, it's assumed that you accept the delay and are willing to wait for the merchandise.
• If you do not respond - and the delay is more than 30 days - the order must be canceled by the 30th day of the delay period and a full refund issued promptly.

If the merchant can't meet the revised shipping date, it must notify you again by mail, email or telephone and give you a new shipping date or cancel your order and give you a refund.

• The order will be canceled and a refund issued promptly unless you indicate by the revised shipping date that you are willing to wait.
• If you do not respond at all to the second notice, it's assumed that you are not willing to wait, and a full refund must be issued promptly.

 

Thanks for the info. However, it doesn't mention anything about charging a credit card - it's just talking about how long they have to ship the merchandise. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) in addition to the Merchandise Rule are there to protect consumers from merchandise ordered but never received. That, and many card issuers have rules in place that prevents a company from charging before shipment. For example, my credit card policy is that a company cannot charge before shipment. If the company violates that rule, I can contact my credit card company and file a complaint. Companies do not want that kind of headache, which is why they will (most) always credit a card if one calls and complains.

It all boils down to what one's card issuer's rules are, the company in question, and what actions the individual takes if a card is charged before shipment.

Good info for everyone.

 

I don't think that a card issuer's rules can supercede the law and I don't think a specific card issuer can create any rules that Visa/MasterCard/Amex don't have for all customers. And the above does mention:

The shipment "clock" begins when the merchant receives a "properly completed order." That includes your name, address and payment (check, money order or authorization to charge an existing credit account - whether the account is debited at that time or not).

So a company could debit the account at the time and still have 30 days to ship under the law.

Don't get me wrong, I agree you can contact a company and have them cancel the order and they wouldn't want the head-ache of fighting you. I'm just saying that a store could charge your card at the moment of order and still ship a little bit down the road without violating the law.

 

This is from the FTC website:

I'm guessing it's perfectly legal for issuers to impose those restrictions. However, it's up to the buyer to inform the issuer and have the facts to back up the claim.

It's not the little bit down the road that bothers me - it's the charge now even though we don't have the product that chafes my backside.

 

Wow that's insane. That could seriously hurt a lot of internet merchants. I mean how can they know what policies the card issuer has when a person places an order online on their website? Granted my website doesn't charge at the moment of order but I know other sites that do. They state that all over their site but how can they know the card issuing banks' rules when the order is placed.

 

I have no idea. There may be some sort of automatic flag that comes up when the card is queried; then again there may be no way for a merchant to know. Personally, I like having this type of protection. Imagine what could happen if there were no laws or policies in place - the consumer could really get screwed!

Like everything else, it's up to the consumer to be educated and know the rules and laws. Luckily, most merchants don't charge until the item is ready to ship and are honest and upfront with consumers.