COMPLAINT:
ECBlend - *BUYER BEWARE* ~ Billing & Customer Service Warning
Payment servers hold card funds repeatedly for each incorrect billing address attempt.
LONG-time ECBlend customer, my praises for the company can be seen all-throughout this forum, and not until today have I ever had any issues with this otherwise outstanding ejuice supplier.
Tried placing an order for a friend yesterday, (he suffers from a mental disability and is not technically-inclined enough to place an order himself), who was recently told that he needed to end his tobacco-use immediately over health concerns, so naturally I suggested my favorite company, and considering his very limited income and EC's excellent prices, I let him try all my ECBlend juices to find ones that he liked that would help him kick the habit for good.
He found 3, and upon placing the order, we received the message:
"Ensure the Billing Name and Address in Step 1 above match your credit card statement"
So we added his billing info on the "Addresses" feature on the site to select it from checkout and tried submitting again a few more times, but kept receiving the same message. He lives in an apartment, so we then tried altering how his address was listed in my address list, and after several more attempts we then received a notice that said the card was declined, (presumably because the address was now correct, but there were not enough funds in the account), at which point, we stopped trying to order immediately.
Low & behold, I awake this morning to a phone call from my friend, very worried & upset, stating that there were now EIGHT charges of $27.57, (the price of the order we attempted to place), totaling $220.56 on his bank account, reducing his entire balance to nearly zero, which explained why the last message we received at checkout was a "Declined" message. So basically, each time we submitted his billing address the wrong way, their servers held $27.57 from his bank account. After speaking to a bank representative, we were informed that this process was occurring because a neglect to cancel the verification code after each attempt, and could also be avoided by including a shorter time-from to relieve the funds, as well as implementing software that would catch multiple transactions of the same amount occurring around the same time. The charges are only temporary and will begin to drop off after 3-5 days or so, but now he doesn't have access to his funds for gas, cigarettes, food or anything else due to this issue, and had we received any indication from the site that each attempt to process the order using an incorrect address would result in placing a hold on the funds each time, we would have simply placed the order over the phone or took other precautions. Even a simple "Your card was declined due to an incorrect address" would have sufficed, but there was no indication that any funds would be held after each attempt.
So with my friend losing trust in me and growing very discouraged from now being without any money OR juice, I contacted ECBlend directly to discuss the issue with them, vent our frustration with the way the site attempted to process the order, and see if there was anything they could do. After explaining the situation and being on a lengthy hold, they generously assumed responsibility for not informing cardholders that an actual transaction was occurring when verifying the billing address in their system, and was told there was nothing that could do about the current charges or relieving his funds. I was then told that they would start disclosing a disclaimer on the site to warn future users that funds would ACTUALLY BE HELD FOR EACH ATTEMPT during ordering, regardless of being declined due to failed address verification, and that the word "Declined" would be used in the new error message to inform the user that funds on the card had in-fact tried to be processed.
That was all well & good, and I'm happy that we were able to help them continue to establish & advance their online ordering system at our expense, but when I told them that I was a longtime customer and asked if they had any solutions to ensure that my friend would not-only forgive them of the inconvenience (of which claimed responsibility for), forgive me for having sent him there in the first place, and would ensure that he would still continue his plan to become a very frequent & dedicated longterm customer to ECBlend... I was then placed on another lengthy hold and then told that I could "purchase a 5ml sample bottle for him for only $2.50". Really!?!? I thought that was a completely inappropriate and a totally unacceptable suggestion considering the circumstances. This simple processing error occurred through no fault of our own except a lack of trust in the site, and today I am regretting having sent them so much business through my family, friends & acquaintances. Weak. And the worst part is.. we never got to order any juice!
ECBlend - *BUYER BEWARE* ~ Billing & Customer Service Warning
Payment servers hold card funds repeatedly for each incorrect billing address attempt.
LONG-time ECBlend customer, my praises for the company can be seen all-throughout this forum, and not until today have I ever had any issues with this otherwise outstanding ejuice supplier.
Tried placing an order for a friend yesterday, (he suffers from a mental disability and is not technically-inclined enough to place an order himself), who was recently told that he needed to end his tobacco-use immediately over health concerns, so naturally I suggested my favorite company, and considering his very limited income and EC's excellent prices, I let him try all my ECBlend juices to find ones that he liked that would help him kick the habit for good.
He found 3, and upon placing the order, we received the message:
"Ensure the Billing Name and Address in Step 1 above match your credit card statement"
So we added his billing info on the "Addresses" feature on the site to select it from checkout and tried submitting again a few more times, but kept receiving the same message. He lives in an apartment, so we then tried altering how his address was listed in my address list, and after several more attempts we then received a notice that said the card was declined, (presumably because the address was now correct, but there were not enough funds in the account), at which point, we stopped trying to order immediately.
Low & behold, I awake this morning to a phone call from my friend, very worried & upset, stating that there were now EIGHT charges of $27.57, (the price of the order we attempted to place), totaling $220.56 on his bank account, reducing his entire balance to nearly zero, which explained why the last message we received at checkout was a "Declined" message. So basically, each time we submitted his billing address the wrong way, their servers held $27.57 from his bank account. After speaking to a bank representative, we were informed that this process was occurring because a neglect to cancel the verification code after each attempt, and could also be avoided by including a shorter time-from to relieve the funds, as well as implementing software that would catch multiple transactions of the same amount occurring around the same time. The charges are only temporary and will begin to drop off after 3-5 days or so, but now he doesn't have access to his funds for gas, cigarettes, food or anything else due to this issue, and had we received any indication from the site that each attempt to process the order using an incorrect address would result in placing a hold on the funds each time, we would have simply placed the order over the phone or took other precautions. Even a simple "Your card was declined due to an incorrect address" would have sufficed, but there was no indication that any funds would be held after each attempt.
So with my friend losing trust in me and growing very discouraged from now being without any money OR juice, I contacted ECBlend directly to discuss the issue with them, vent our frustration with the way the site attempted to process the order, and see if there was anything they could do. After explaining the situation and being on a lengthy hold, they generously assumed responsibility for not informing cardholders that an actual transaction was occurring when verifying the billing address in their system, and was told there was nothing that could do about the current charges or relieving his funds. I was then told that they would start disclosing a disclaimer on the site to warn future users that funds would ACTUALLY BE HELD FOR EACH ATTEMPT during ordering, regardless of being declined due to failed address verification, and that the word "Declined" would be used in the new error message to inform the user that funds on the card had in-fact tried to be processed.
That was all well & good, and I'm happy that we were able to help them continue to establish & advance their online ordering system at our expense, but when I told them that I was a longtime customer and asked if they had any solutions to ensure that my friend would not-only forgive them of the inconvenience (of which claimed responsibility for), forgive me for having sent him there in the first place, and would ensure that he would still continue his plan to become a very frequent & dedicated longterm customer to ECBlend... I was then placed on another lengthy hold and then told that I could "purchase a 5ml sample bottle for him for only $2.50". Really!?!? I thought that was a completely inappropriate and a totally unacceptable suggestion considering the circumstances. This simple processing error occurred through no fault of our own except a lack of trust in the site, and today I am regretting having sent them so much business through my family, friends & acquaintances. Weak. And the worst part is.. we never got to order any juice!
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