Bad Experience with AshaDiamonds.com....

[RebeccaTX]

Last night I eagerly placed my order for my loose RB stone at AD. I decided to pay with my debit card rather than with my Paypal b/c it said that when you used Paypal, they could only ship to your verified address. Well, I've just moved and I haven't switched all my mail over yet. So, I happily paid with my credit card.

This afternoon I went to website to check on my order in hopes that maybe, just maybe it had shipped! And what do I find? I find that my order has been canceled. I received no email, or a phone call to tell me that my order had been canceled. So, then I think maybe I didn't have the funds...so I went and checked and saw that AD had gone through fine.

So, I decided to contact AD. The lady said that they only ship to verified/billing addresses and that my purchase had been a suspected fraudulent charge. I told her that her website ONLY said that in regards to Paypal account purchases. And she says back that they check ALL purchases and that there is nothing she can do about it.

I then move on the fact that my account had been charged. She says that they refunded me....well, that's not showing up. So, I can't even purchase another stone until the funds come back in.

I don't think I will purchase from them. The thing that put me off the most was the lack of communication in the cancellation of my order. I think that is VERY poor business practice and I don't think they will get my business any time soon.

Sorry for the rant....I'm very frustrated....I really wanted that stone!

 

[miloandtaz]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. I'm also sorry to tell you that it can take up to five business days for the money to show back up in your account (knowledge from being a banking auditor). I agree with you that the company does lack in sufficient communication and that communication is paramount to having repeat customers. I shared in another thread about my shipping charges - where the first went express, the second went priority and the third I paid extra for express and it hasn't even shipped yet. I hope that Mr. and Mrs. MikeC take note to improve their relations with their customers. Also, that they can explain why this would be the case with a debit card. What if you were wanting to ship it to your parents house so your GF didn't see it? - just an example. I hope it is all straightened out for you soon so that you can have a beautiful sparkly on your finger!

 

[RebeccaTX]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. I'm also sorry to tell you that it can take up to five business days for the money to show back up in your account (knowledge from being a banking auditor). I agree with you that the company does lack in sufficient communication and that communication is paramount to having repeat customers. I shared in another thread about my shipping charges - where the first went express, the second went priority and the third I paid extra for express and it hasn't even shipped yet. I hope that Mr. and Mrs. MikeC take note to improve their relations with their customers. Also, that they can explain why this would be the case with a debit card. What if you were wanting to ship it to your parents house so your GF didn't see it? - just an example. I hope it is all straightened out for you soon so that you can have a beautiful sparkly on your finger!

You make a good point about some of the potential reasons someone might need to ship to another address!

It's like they are playing internet police and it's frustrating! I've bought a car on Ebay without using my verified address! LOL!

 

[Barbara Lipsky]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

I frequently ship to my work address if the package requires a signature. I am never home during the day so there isn't a chance that I could intercept the package and I hate the long drive to the nearest FedEx facility. No thank you! I've never had a problem shipping to my work before.

And just like miloandtaz said, it takes approx 5 business days to get a refund.

 

[elf925]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

Im sorry you are frustrated. I can understand why. I can tell you though that it is "understood" kinda that your billing address needs to match the address on file with the credit card company. It is actually a requirement by Visa and M/C etc.. We have to do it when we sell a $25 box of chocolate, not to mention a high dollar jewelry purchase.

I agree, you should have been notified but maybe you jumped the gun? Maybe you'll get the email at the end of the day when the system updates?

Give them another chance, hopefully it will turn out right this time.

 

[RebeccaTX]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

A cancellation email should be sent as soon as it happens...it should be an automatic email. I still haven't received one and my "order" is still showing up in their system as "canceled". So, IMO I haven't jumped the gun....but maybe I am alone in thinking that...

 

[miloandtaz]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

Since when is that a visa requirement? I have things shipped all the time to other people. Isn't that the reason for having a shipping and a billing address?

 

[elf925]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

Yes, the billing address is used to verifiy that you are you. Otherwise people could use a card and send stuff anywhere. I.E.- crooks straight to themselves leaving the card owners to foot the bill!

 

[anangel]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

It's interesting and I understand both sides, but there should be another option...
Like when I made my purchase from Bath and Body Works online today, they did have me enter my billing address, but there was an option where I could ship it to someone else as a gift.
It satisfies both parties- Visa/MC gets their billing address, and you can ship where and to whom ever you please!

 

[elf925]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

OOOPS, I read the original post wrong, I thought she had said that her billing address was incorrect as she had moved.

There are a couple of companies that will only ship to a billing address. I just found out that Sprint is one of them, I wanted my new phone mailed to my work address and they wouldnt do it.

 

[RebeccaTX]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

There are a couple of companies that will only ship to a billing address. I just found out that Sprint is one of them, I wanted my new phone mailed to my work address and they wouldnt do it.

Oh I know it! My beef is that they didn't tell me that when using the credit card. If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered ordering from them. But now my business account is out $275 until next week(probably).

I think people should be able to ship where they want to ship! LOL!!

 

[miloandtaz]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

So, I was looking over my ashadiamonds.com order from a while ago. I bought my Asha, with my husbands credit card and they ran it thru with my name. My name is on the billing and shipping address BUT my name was not on the card

 

[elf925]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

There are a couple of companies that will only ship to a billing address. I just found out that Sprint is one of them, I wanted my new phone mailed to my work address and they wouldnt do it.

Oh I know it! My beef is that they didn't tell me that when using the credit card. If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered ordering from them. But now my business account is out $275 until next week(probably).

I think people should be able to ship where they want to ship! LOL!!

I know how that goes! It stinks! :-( Hope you get it all fixed and get a pretty sparklie!

 

[RebeccaTX]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

So, I was looking over my ashadiamonds.com order from a while ago. I bought my Asha, with my husbands credit card and they ran it thru with my name. My name is on the billing and shipping address BUT my name was not on the card

And they didn't flag it?! What the poop! I had the right name on mine and everything!! LOL!!

That shouldn't even gone through with your credit card...it should have been denied b/c of the wrong name! Weird!!

 

[miloandtaz]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

What is even worse is when I mooch his card to go down the road to Dutch Brothers Coffee. They always ask for my ID, look at the debit card, look at the ID then run it anyway!

 

[tarmsspace]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

I do know, working at The Pearl Outlet that we do frequently ship to another address other than the billing otherwise we would loose a lot of business. Too many gifts being hidden from their intended persons. And also that even though we may refund the same day you call, or that the order is canceled, we have absolutely NO control over when the funds are deposited back into customer's accounts. Some banks are quicker than others. We had a situation where a customer called rather irate that we had said it was refunded and it hadn't shown up a week later. We double checked, the funds were indeed refunded the day we told him. We asked him to call his credit card company and they said we had done it and it was just in process. He actually called back an apologized which was very sweet of him. I always love how quick the money goes out but when it comes to coming back - it takes FOREVER.

 

[Leli]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

What is even worse is when I mooch his card to go down the road to Dutch Brothers Coffee. They always ask for my ID, look at the debit card, look at the ID then run it anyway!

Ugh. This is why I quit Best Buy. When I asked for someone's ID when they tried to use a debit card during the holidays (peak time for fraud), the customer got irate (suspicious much?), asked to talk to my manager, and then my manager threw me under the bus "explaining" that I was new and didn't know the procedure. The customer ending up yelling at the manager too (I can't remember what for) and got thrown out, but the manager never apologized to me.

That, and some kid was trying to buy a CD with explicit lyrics, and wouldn't let me see his ID without him covering the picture with his thumb. Manager came over, ran the transaction, and walked away. Kid proceeded to curse at me and gloat, and then danced out of the store. I HATED working there.

 

[strawberryscentedlove]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

Yes, the billing address is used to verifiy that you are you. Otherwise people could use a card and send stuff anywhere. I.E.- crooks straight to themselves leaving the card owners to foot the bill!

This.
I think it would be nice to have the option of shipping item to another address than your billing. Maybe it will be considered in future but by shipping to same address on card it helps reduce the chance of fraudulent charges. It would be easy for a crook to use a stolen/misplaced card to purchase items and have them shipped elsewhere under the guise of being a gift/surprise. Shipping to an address that is verfied to be the cardholder's prevents more trouble down the line. Imagine your card is stolen, someone makes lots of purchases, and then later you get an outrageous bill. I have gone through this with my mother. Let me tell you what a hassle it was to have to call those companies and try to get refunds for purchases we didn't make. Well out of the places we tried only one gave money back. Maybe ours was an extreme case but it would have been nice if the companies would have had a little more need for verification.

I still hope you decide to try again because the Asha is wonderful!
Also when making purchases online the names on the card are not really checked. I've made purchases all over the net for various family members using my name but their card numbers, billing addresses, etc
@ Leli...i totally know what you mean. There are a lot of stores that will just disregard id checking/matching to make a buck!

 

[crystalzi]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

There was an instance a few weeks ago when my mom messed up her billing address and it did not exactly match what the card had, and we got a email almost immediately saying the order could not go through due to the card. We changed it and tried the order again and it went right through. However, the card was charged twice but the first charge fell off two days later. How strange....

I have a feeling this is more of a Paypal issue than AD. They are VERY strict about allowing things to be shipped without a verified address. Their reasoning is because people can easily file Paypal complaints, and the consumers a lot of the time get screwed. Paypal is actually a very shady company. Check out paypalsucks.com.

 

[shiny_things]

Re: Bad Experience with Asha(the company)....

I have a feeling this is more of a Paypal issue than AD. They are VERY strict about allowing things to be shipped without a verified address. Their reasoning is because people can easily file Paypal complaints, and the consumers a lot of the time get screwed. Paypal is actually a very shady company. Check out paypalsucks.com.

She did not use Paypal, she used her credit card.

I agree about Paypal though.