Thursday, March 4, 2010

Unexpected Expense....but good all the same.


To the left is the latest piece I have finished. Ocean Wave Jasper Ring. I love it. Such a beautiful colour. I got 'bout 2 hours at the bench this afternoon, so I have another 4 pieces half done, one being a custom piece for my mum.

To explain the title - I went to check the post this afternoon (after popping out to get a Mcafe Coffee) and found an Express Parcel inside the letter box. When I looked at the senders address, I was immediately bewildered. It was from a Metal supplies company that I usually order my stuff from. My bewilderment? Well I haven't ordered anything from them in a week or more.

So I open the parcel and see inside, Round bead wire and some bezel wire. I check out the invoice and see that my husbands credit card has been charged $102. It didn't take me long to realise that all the items in the package, were items that I had previously ordered but never received as they were out of stock. Then I realised that I must have missed some small print somewhere, 'cause no one called me to confirm whether I actually wanted these items anymore, or whether they could go ahead and charge my credit card!

Cut to the end - I read on their site that when they don't have something in stock, they back order it and then send it out without charging for freight (this is not stated on their homepage or anything obvious like that). So that's all fine and dandy. But I would think that normal etiquette would be to call the customer prior to charging their credit card to double check they still want the items and whether or not they can afford them before going ahead and sending it out!

Well lesson learned. Now I know this is how they operate, I will call before making orders from now on to ensure that I am not going to be getting anymore surprise credit card expenses! The good part? It's stuff I really can use and was on the look out for anyway. So it's not a waste of money.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

What a pretty jasper & that particular style of bezel wire is one of my favorites. The ring looks great! Another nice big'un. :D
Silly about the credit charge, but I guess a bunch of confirmation calls would tie up their time & make things take even longer. Would be a nice customer service improvement they could make though. Ah well, yay silver! Fixed my name, thanks! :)

littlecherryhill said...

Yes it would be nice to get a confirmation call. But at least I know now what to expect in the future I guess. They don't even email back when I ask questions, so how could I expect a phone call.

Glad that I know your name now....was kinda weird calling you KSK haha.

Narelle said...

Oh no..........
Hmmm, guess I'm going to expect a little surprise on my credit card soon too!
They use to call to see if you still wanted the order, I guess they are just so back logged. Great!
Hope you have fun at the gem show.

littlecherryhill said...

Did you know that they did that Narelle? I obviously didn't. Can't say that I am thrilled that they run it that way..... but at least I know now what to expect next time.

Halle Jay said...

I've had them do that to me before too!! Can be a bit of a heart shocker when you open the invoice!!
I'd prefer that they called me to check as well