So… I finally got a reply to my inquiry regarding Perlbill… I had resent it today after never receiving the reply to the original message last Thursday.
So… I decided to go ahead and purchase this ~$150.00 software…
For the first time…. ever… my card was declined, so I thought hmm, maybe something was wrong, so I went and rechecked the info… declined again.
This is really curious of course, because I’ve never had it declined before and I know I have plenty of money in there.
I check the account balance… it has decreased by ~$150 TWICE!
The credit card processor authorized $299.98 and fucking declined me!!
Note to credit card processor: If the card is declined that means you DO NOT GET AUTHORIZATION ON MY DAMNED MONEY! Soooo… CC Processor, that means it WAS NOT actually DECLINED!
I am now, again, but this time very impatiently, waiting for a reply from the perlbill guy. I’m infuriated… and if I don’t get a reply before noon GMT I’m going to contact my issuer and raise hell, then contact the CC processor and raise hell, and then contact perlbill and raise hell. A $300.00 mistake is a BIG mistake.
edit @ 06:15: No response, I fowarded the complaint to their sales address as well; considering the guy had just emailed me, I was expecting a slightly quicker response. I’ve contacted my card issuer through email; their telephone center opens in 45 minutes.
I am extremely pissed off now!
edit @ 06:33: I’ve now emailed perlbill’s credit card processor. That dude needs to get back to me and get this taken care of, because as time passes I’m going to be even more angry.
edit @ 7:47: Man, I can be really pissy when I’m angry, lol. I’m still pissed off, but not nearly as badly as I was an hour ago. This woman at the issuer for my debit card was able to remove the 2nd authorization as it was a duplicate; I just recently got off the phone with another woman at paypal and she told me about it; just got the email now. So that provides a half a relief… they still have $149.99 on hold, so I will need *someone* to fax them confirmation that they don’t intend on charging, etc, blah blah, and all that…. hopefully that won’t take too long. I really want to get this software, but, as time passes, I dunno, maybe it’s a bad idea after all, especially if it’s screwed up this bad already.
edit @ 8:16 Just received the email from the perlbill guy, the authorizations do not show as charges within his merchant control panel, but do show as declined, so that is a very good indication that neither will be processed as charges. I’m off to try and contact his payment processor now.
edit @ 8:20 OMG… The 800 number for perlbill’s merchant credit card processor forwards to a New York phone number, and that phone number is disconnected!… Jeeeeeesus! Oh, and to add even more hilarity and sadness to the situation, I call their “sales & customer service” phone number… This woman answers what is obviously a regular phone, versus a call center, sounding groggy and half-awake and tells me that she can’t help me because she’s there all alone, but takes my name and phone number and tells me that some guy named Tom will call me back in probably a half hour. This could be a badly written comedy! Oh, and just so that you know to avoid these people at all costs (okay, so perhaps that was a little harsh), the payment processor is http://www.planetpayment.com/.
edit @ 9:00: Tom from the payment processor just called me back, he seems like a pleasant fellow, says he’ll get the authorization to release authorization faxed to my issuer within a half hour… ugh… what a morning!
All of this because the address verification system was down for maintance when I tried the transaction…. note to self: never do online purchases at 4:30 EDT!
edit @ 13:34: 2nd spurious transaction cancelled around 10:30 and amount placed back into account from authorization hold. Just completed successfully registration for perlbill, now awaiting receipt of files.
edit @ 16:43:
Now that the perlbill guy has an actual charge… he’s seemingly complaining about the name of the person ordering the software and the name on the card.
I’m about to just say fuck it and put in a billing dispute/chargeback as well as make my annoyances more public by posting them to webhostingtalk.
I have been trying to get this software since four fucking am this morning… I’d explain to him about the differences between my name and legal name and that both names work on the card… but I feel as though his head might explode.
If I was stealing somebody else’s card to purchase this, would I be so pissed off that his payment processor fucked it up TWICE? Would I be concerned about authorizations on someone else’s card?!…Jesus, I would have just stolen another.
Now only if the card with the business name would have come today… does this guy not realize that companies often have different people, and that one doing the purchasing and the one doing the actually handling of billing might have different names? ….. Just like before I got my bank account re-activated here, I always had (and still do) have people send cheques and money orders under my dad’s name… just for the convenience of him being able to take care of things for me if need be.
The next email from him best be the software or I’ll very likely start a chargeback for non-receipt of purchase.
update @ 17:47: Well… finally, after all of this time and insanity I finally have perlbill! The guy also appologized… and I as well, while trying not to be rude, I probably wasn’t as polite as I should have been. *sigh* I’ll try installing it later.
