1/5
posted Apr-02-2012
they sell ipad 3 without tax + $10 off which is a good price, so I gave them a call. My problem was that my shipping address is different than my billing address. I mainly do my shopping online without any problems with the billing address being different than the shipping address. However, I talked to Powermax salesman, Mark N, and he asked me a few questions to verify my identity, but seriously these questions were ridiculous, so I only got a few answers right. I was on my lunch break when making the call, so I had to rush back to work, and I asked Mark to see if I could just email him my credit card and driver license, he said okay, and he would forward my info to the accounting department for verification. I emailed him the next day to see how was everything going, and I explicitly suggested that if he didn't feel comfortable shipping my order to the other address, he could ship my order to my billing address. However, this is what he responded:
"Nothing is happening. I'll check again with credit but, frankly, it doesn't look promising. How would they know if the documents you sent weren't just found on the street? I hope you understand."
I felt really insulted because I did like what he said, but he assumed that I stole someone's wallet. First of all, I did suggest him to ship my order to my billing address if he wasn't comfortable shipping my order to the other address. Secondly, if someone lost a wallet, she would call the credit card company immediately to block her credit card. Powermax could easily verify my credit card by initiating a small charge, and if it went through, my credit card is good. However, they didn't do a proper verification, but they assumed that I'm a criminal. Anyways, I would never shop at Powermax again no matter how great the deal is.
Update 4/20/12: I surely understand the credit card theft issues, so I have no problems with PowerMax's identity validation procedure. I actually spent 20 minutes of my busy lunch time to proceed said procedure. I honestly don't know why I couldn't get all the questions correctly. That's why I asked Mark Nelson, the sale representative, to email him my ID and credit card info for the verification. He said okay and gave me his email. However, I didn't receive any response from him to confirm that he had received my email. And when I sent my second email, and I got his response above. When I emailed him my info, I did suggest him to ship my order to my billing address which is on my ID. I was trying my best to prove my identity. However, what I received was Mark's unprofessional and rude email response. PowerMAx representatives certainly don't have the critical thinking and problem solving skills to differentiate honest customers and criminals. PowerMax is much smaller than big online retailers such as Amazon, so if PowerMax encountered with 1 online criminal a day, Amazon would have encountered with thousands. I've made plenty purchases on Amazon; I bought TVs, MacBooks, DSRL cameras on Amazon, and these are thousands dollar items. I've never had any problems using my credit card with different shipping/billing addresses. Moreover, Amazon customer services representatives are extremely polite and helpful. In one word, PowerMax fails both customer services and business practices. To all the honest customers, there are better online retailers which offer good deals and customer services, such as Amazon, Adorama, Newegg, etc. Don't waste your time with PowerMax!
This review was modified by
Hoa_Le on April 21 2012 01:45:57 AM
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posted Apr-15-2011
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Macy offers a variety of nice suits with great price. Their return policy is excellent. Return the item to their store without any problems. They offer a long return period too. Highly recommended!","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Macy_s\/review\/2302571#comment2302571","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Macy_s.jpg","store_name":"Macy\u0027s","username":"Hoa_Le","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Newegg is the first place where I go to buy computer parts. They offer good prices and Eggellent customer services. If there\u0027s a problem with the item, return for a refund or replacement is a piece of cake; it usually takes me lest than 5 minutes to request a RMA, that\u0027s including the wait time. No restocking fee for defective product, and free return shipping label.<br><br>Newegg rocks :)","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Newegg\/review\/2263941#comment2263941","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Newegg.jpg","store_name":"Newegg.com (USA)","username":"Hoa_Le","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"they sell ipad 3 without tax + $10 off which is a good price, so I gave them a call. My problem was that my shipping address is different than my billing address. I mainly do my shopping online without any problems with the billing address being different than the shipping address. However, I talked to Powermax salesman, Mark N, and he asked me a few questions to verify my identity, but seriously these questions were ridiculous, so I only got a few answers right. I was on my lunch break when making the call, so I had to rush back to work, and I asked Mark to see if I could just email him my credit card and driver license, he said okay, and he would forward my info to the accounting department for verification. I emailed him the next day to see how was everything going, and I explicitly suggested that if he didn\u0027t feel comfortable shipping my order to the other address, he could ship my order to my billing address. However, this is what he responded: <br><br>\u0022Nothing is happening. I\u0027ll check again with credit but, frankly, it doesn\u0027t look promising. How would they know if the documents you sent weren\u0027t just found on the street? I hope you understand.\u0022<br><br>I felt really insulted because I did like what he said, but he assumed that I stole someone\u0027s wallet. First of all, I did suggest him to ship my order to my billing address if he wasn\u0027t comfortable shipping my order to the other address. Secondly, if someone lost a wallet, she would call the credit card company immediately to block her credit card. Powermax could easily verify my credit card by initiating a small charge, and if it went through, my credit card is good. However, they didn\u0027t do a proper verification, but they assumed that I\u0027m a criminal. Anyways, I would never shop at Powermax again no matter how great the deal is.<br><br>Update 4\/20\/12: I surely understand the credit card theft issues, so I have no problems with PowerMax\u0027s identity validation procedure. I actually spent 20 minutes of my busy lunch time to proceed said procedure. I honestly don\u0027t know why I couldn\u0027t get all the questions correctly. That\u0027s why I asked Mark Nelson, the sale representative, to email him my ID and credit card info for the verification. He said okay and gave me his email. However, I didn\u0027t receive any response from him to confirm that he had received my email. And when I sent my second email, and I got his response above. When I emailed him my info, I did suggest him to ship my order to my billing address which is on my ID. I was trying my best to prove my identity. However, what I received was Mark\u0027s unprofessional and rude email response. PowerMAx representatives certainly don\u0027t have the critical thinking and problem solving skills to differentiate honest customers and criminals. PowerMax is much smaller than big online retailers such as Amazon, so if PowerMax encountered with 1 online criminal a day, Amazon would have encountered with thousands. I\u0027ve made plenty purchases on Amazon; I bought TVs, MacBooks, DSRL cameras on Amazon, and these are thousands dollar items. I\u0027ve never had any problems using my credit card with different shipping\/billing addresses. Moreover, Amazon customer services representatives are extremely polite and helpful. In one word, PowerMax fails both customer services and business practices. To all the honest customers, there are better online retailers which offer good deals and customer services, such as Amazon, Adorama, Newegg, etc. Don\u0027t waste your time with PowerMax!","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/powermax_computers\/review\/1407613#comment1407613","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/powermax_computers.jpg","store_name":"PowerMax Computers \/ csnw.com","username":"Hoa_Le","rating":"1"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"Excellent audio store, and great customer service. I got an awesome deal on JBL studio speakers. All speakers arrived in good shape. Two weeks later I was browsing their site to buy another pair of the satellite speakers to upgrade my system from 5.1 to 7.1. I found out the the center speaker price was lowered. I contacted WWStereo via only chat. The CS Rep promised to refund me the different. I contacted them again today after not seeing any notification email about the refund. I met the same CS Rep, and he said the refund was just sent today. I checked my account, and it\u0027s there. Overall, this is the first time I shop at WWStereo, and I\u0027m really satisfied with their price and customer service. A+ seller :)","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Bob_Ron_s_World_Wide_Stereo\/review\/1264901#comment1264901","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Bob_Ron_s_World_Wide_Stereo.jpg","store_name":"World Wide Stereo","username":"Hoa_Le","rating":"5"}, "single");){kind=link}
![Share](javascript:share_rating({"review_body":"I placed an ordered on 3\/15\/11, and it\u0027s now 4\/13\/11, but I haven\u0027t received my order nor the refund. Based on the tracking #, my order was delivered, but I didn\u0027t actually receive the package. I reported this problem with tigerdirect. First, they told me to wait 5 business days for USPS to deliver my package because they shipped via UPS basic, so UPS had to transfer the package to USPS for delivery. I waited, but still no package. Again, they told me to wait 10 business day to they could start an investigation with the shipping company. I waited, still nothing. My latest response that I got from them was that the refund was credited back to my account. I checked my paypal account, no refund. Well, if you would better off finding other retailers. Don\u0027t waste your time with Tigerdirect. <br><br>4\/14\/11 update: after many sending many emails to them, they finally give me my money back today, not last month like what they stated in their response. Therefore, if you have similar problems, make sure you check your bank account. These guys are thefts; even though they say they already give you your money back, they don\u0027t actually issue the refund. Stay away from Tigerdirect. <br><br>4\/24\/11 update: I finally got the replacement order as Ernie promised.<br>","link":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/Tiger_Direct\/review\/737373#comment737373","store_thumb":"http:\/\/www.resellerratings.com\/store\/thumbnail\/Tiger_Direct.jpg","store_name":"TigerDirect \/ Systemax","username":"Hoa_Le","rating":"2"}, "single");){kind=link}
“It's always unfortunate when consumers don’t fully understand how pervasive and problematic credit card fraud is today. We are literally inundated with fraudulent purchase attempts daily. These range from the obvious to the very clever. As a result, we employ a multitude of procedures in order to head off as many of these as possible.
Even if consumers don’t have to pay for charges to their card when they are used fraudulently, they are a major pain in the arse when they happen, and we view it as our social responsibility, not to mention our financial one, to prevent as many of these as possible.
There is no magic bullet, and once in a while, if a transaction has some flags thrown up as a result of our verification procedures, an otherwise honest citizen can get caught up in the net. No one should take it personally, and we do our best to make it as unobtrusive as possible, but at times it can get a little complicated.
Not every company that sells on the web has to worry about this kind of thing, because thieves are mostly interested in high ticket items that they can move quickly, which is exactly what we sell. We do care very much about our customers, just as we do care about doing our part to help stop crime. But make no mistake, it is an epidemic out there, and we can only ask that every honest consumer understand, and participate in the preventative procedures, and bestow a little patience and understanding on those companies working hard to prevent more crime from taking place. We are all inconvenienced by all of this, but ultimately, more crime is a far greater inconvenience and threat.”