Who Can Really Say?

'Tis the season to get pissed off at online vendors. Megan McArdle's wrath is vented at Dell, who took an order a month ago and only this week acknowledged they couldn't fill it because they cancelled production of the computer. Nice timing, Dell.

My adventure through the looking glass today was with TigerDirect. (Sorry Tiger -- you ain't gettin' a link from me). We ordered two low end digital cameras and although most of that cost is being carried by others, it was paid for with my card and so I got to be the official disgruntled customer. On Sunday when the order was placed the items were said to be in stock. I received a confirming email that night with a nice, friendly message from none other than the President of the company, Carl Fiorentino. There was no mention of stocking problems in the email, but the email carried the following statement: "Pricing and availability are subject to change up to time of shipment. We reserve the right to cancel any order before it is shipped."

Today I received another email, noting that the cameras were back ordered. The first customer service rep. on the phone, Arnold, was nice enough as he is paid to be. He admitted that at the time the order was placed their ability to fulfill the order was based upon their expectation that more cameras were on the truck arriving or arrived that day. Unfortunatlely, the trucks came and went but our cameras weren't on them. In other words, they said the items were in stock based upon an estimated delivery date. The next expected delivery date? This Friday.

You know, it's one thing to say you can cancel an order up to the time of shipment. It's another thing to say you can induce people to place orders with false information on the website.

Arnold was no help, of course, and so after describing to him in detail the violation of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law arising from the false information on the website, I spoke with Elizabeth. In the meantime we'd scouted out other cameras on the website and found a different model (in stock, no less!) which cost $30 more per unit. After wrangling with Elizabeth, those cameras will be overnighted to us tomorrow at their cost (increasing the cost to us an additional $15 per unit), with no additional charge for the overnight delivery.

Elizabeth essentially tried to explain to me that they process "millions of orders" and that "these things happen". Well bullshit. I can't say it any better than Mrs. Marcus:

Now what kind of an attitude is that, these things happen? They only happen because this whole country is just full of people, who when these things happen, they just say these things happen, and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.

TigerDirect wants to leverage all sorts of computer technology to streamline their business model and sell us stuff at cheap prices. I say more power to them! But I also say don't give me lame ass excuses when your system breaks down and leaves customers holding the bag.

And don't try to defend your inventory process that generates false information to your website when describing product availability, and then tell me "These things happen". Yeah, they happen -- they happen because you're system is cutting corners. My bank, for example, has a hold on the amount of cash equal to the cost of my order so that I don't spend that money before they have to transfer it to TigerDirect. How hard can it be for TigerDirect to do the same thing, placing a hold on the items I ordered because they told me they were in stock? Where's the warning on the product pages that says "In stock may not actually mean 'in stock'"?

And as for Carl Fiorentino -- well his email tells me "TigerDirect would like to sincerely thank you for your patronage and we want to assure your satisfaction on this and every order you place with us." My reply? "Peter would like to sincerely express that he has placed his first and last order with your company".

I should have stayed with Multiwave.com, Etronics.com, or Amazon.com, three vendors I've ordered thousands of dollars of stuff from over the last 5-10 years. Mr. Fiorentino -- you get no more money from me.

[Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.]