I will never purchase another product from PCNation.com, and I will never recommend to anyone to purchase from PCNation.com. If I ever hear of someone I know making an internet purchase, I will go out of my way to prevent them from making a purchase through PCNation.com. PCNation.com has very suspicious practices, the customer service representatives lie, and they are never apologetic or sympathetic about any situation, even when it has been proven that they made mistakes. I have never had a worse experience with a company than the experience I had with PCNation.com. My experience with PCNation.com is described below.
E-mail letter to PCNation.com dated 10/17/02:
Dear PCNation:
On October 16, 2002, I made a purchase of a digital camera and memory card through your website:
www.pcnation.com. This particular purchase had a billing address different from the shipping address. Per the instructions on your website, I was required to add the shipping address to my credit card account, which I did prior to making the purchase.
On October 17, 2002, I received a call from you concerning this order (order #W0306067). In particular, the customer service person requested that I submit a copy of the front and back of my credit card for security reasons. When I questioned this practice, the salesperson switched me to his supervisor named Scott. Scott said that when he called the credit card company the credit card company mentioned, "there is a lot of possible fraud on this credit card account" and, "this credit card is very suspicious--proceed with caution". These are quotes from Scott. Scott said that because of these statements, he needs to further verify my credit card by obtaining a copy of the front and back of my credit card. He also mentioned that the credit card company had no record of an alternate shipping address on file. This conversation concerned me greatly and I told Scott that I would call my credit card company and then call him back.
When I called the credit card company, they said that there was absolutely nothing in my account that would prompt the credit card company to list my account as 'suspicious', 'fraudulent', or 'proceed with caution' as Scott had mentioned. They said that my account was in excellent standing and had no reason to deny or limit its use. Additionally, the credit card company verified that the shipping address was listed and had been listed since October 16, 2002. The credit card company mentioned that they never heard of the practice of submitting a copy of the front and back of a credit card for any reason and that I should NEVER do this (especially the back of the credit card with my signature). The credit card company agreed to provide me with a supervisor's name, phone number, and extension such that Scott could call the supervisor directly to inquire about my account.
When I called Scott back, he refused to call this supervisor but agreed to call the number he has for the credit card company to re-verify my data. He also agreed, per my request, to inquire about the supervisor to verify that he is a legitimate employee of the credit card company. Scott called me back and said that he verified that my credit card had no issues and that he was going to proceed with the sale, but that it may be an extra day. He said that he was still unable to verify that the alternate shipping address was on file with my credit card account, but agreed to proceed with the sale regardless.
The activity exhibited by your company seems very suspicious. It seems possible that your company was trying to obtain a copy of my credit card which contains my signature for use in fraudulent activities. Had I done this, your company and the employees of your company would have access to both my credit card number, but also my valid signature--things that can expose me to fraudulent use of my credit card.
I would like to mention that I am considering posting the text to this email to ResellerRatings.com, DealTime.com (the website that referred me to PCNation.com), the Better Business Bureau, and any credit card fraud reporting agency that may exist. I will make this submission unless I hear a valid and acceptable explanation and response from your company within 72 hours (i.e., by October 20, 2002, 5pm).
Sincerely and Regretfully,
…
On the morning of October 18, 2002, Scott from PCNation.com called me concerning the e-mail letter above. He called to try to further explain the practices of PCNation and talked on and on about how his company needs to protect itself from fraudulent credit card use, a practice that is prevalent with internet shopping. I explained to hime that I understand his position on trying to protect his company from fraudulent credit card use, however, the practice of asking customers to forward a copy of the front and back of their credit cards still seems highly suspicious to me. Rather, PCNation.com should have merely refused the sale if they were not able to obtain a verified alternate shipping address through the credit card company.
Scott said that he still has not verified my shipping address with my credit card company, but that he shipped the product anyway yesterday (10/17/02). We then proceeded to call the credit card company in a conference call to see what the credit card company has to say. In this call, the credit card company was able to verify that I do have an alternate shipping address on file with my account and that it was posted on October 16, 2002.
I asked Scott for the UPS tracking number for the merchandise that was sent on 10/17/02, but Scott could not come up with it. However, Scott assured me that the merchandise had been sent the day before. Later that morning, I called PCNation.com customer service to inquire about my order and the customer service representative verified that the shipment was made, but that it was shipped on 10/18/02, not 10/17/02, the day that Scott assured me that the shipment was made. Basically, Scott lied about when the shipment was made.
I would also like to mention that at NO time did PCNation.com or any of its employees apologize for any miscommunication that happened or offer to compensate me for the time that I had to spend resolving issues with their company. On the contrary, Scott was rude, beligerent, and accusatory throughout the conversations. He always was on the defensive and it seemed like he was putting the blame on me that this situation ever occurred.
I want to reiterate my feelings about PCNation.com. I will never purchase another product from PCNation.com, and I will never recommend to anyone to purchase from PCNation.com. If I ever hear of someone I know making an internet purchase, I will go out of my way to prevent them from making a purchase through PCNation.com. PCNation.com has very suspicious practices, the customer service representatives lie, and they are never apologetic or sympathetic about any situation, even when it has been proven that they made mistakes. I have never had a worse experience with a company than the experience I had with PCNation.com.
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