posted on August 8, 2005 01:50:21 PM new
OK, here is a brief summary of what is going on..ANY and ALL opionions on this matter will GREATLY be appreciated, trust me!
About 2 years ago I was using a vendor who sold me t-shirts via their internet web site. Everything was going fine, we DID NOT have any kind of Net30 or any other terms with them. We paid directly with a credit/debit card for each individual order. First few orders were fine, no problems at all...We would pay, and the order would always arrive within a week. Then we received an e-mail a few montsh later from them stating that they had some problems with their merchant account and a few of our orders were not properly charged. I looked back at my statements and it was true that a few orders didn't seem to actaually be charge, even though we provided a legit credit card that had worked many times before...He assured us that it wasn't our fault, but rather their merchant account just failed to charge the card properly and order after order showed as "Paid" when in fact they were never charged.
So, he then sends us this hand-made invoice saying we need to re-pay again...My bsuiness partner agreed with me that we did nothing wrong and that he needed to conatct his merchant account. Basically, we were scared that we were going to get double-charged for these orders. We had no idea if this was a scam to get us to pay twice for the same order. After all, we provided our card and he shipped us the goods. HIS merchant account was at fault and they should reimburse him for the error THEY caused.
Anyway, or final transaction with them was in mid 2003, and we had not heard from them again...UNTIL last week when we get a collection notice from some collection agency saying that we owe them around $1,000, which is indeed the amount they are in error for. There is NOTHING on our credit report about this, again being that we did nothing wrong or did not commit anykind of fraudulent act. I realize anyone can contact a collection agency, and just hope they get something out of you, of which the agency gets a fat %.
I just find it strange that it has been almost 2 years since we heard from this company and now we get this letter in the mail. We still feel that his efforts should be going after the Merchant account that faild to charge the cards correctly. There has to be some kind if insurance involved there.
Also, we are out West, and they are based in SC. Should we even respond to this letter, or is this just an attempt by an agency to get some easy money?? Also, they of course threatened to take more serious "legal action" , which I think is just a blind threat hoping to scare money out of us.
So, any thoughts or opinions on what we should or shouldn't do in this situation?
posted on August 8, 2005 02:01:38 PM new
No matter what you should dispute the debt in writing. Make sure the dispute is put in writing stating all the facts and that it is sent certified with a return receipt requested so you have proof. If you have any of their invoices that have paid on them - make sure you include copies of those - they will be the key to your winning the dispute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on August 8, 2005 02:06:11 PM new
Aquaint yourself with the Fair Debt Reporting Act.
Also if they actally threatend you with the words pay or we will take you to court then they are bluffing.
I would write them a letter and tell them that you are disputing this money with whoever the original merchant was and will not be paying them, also state that all communication must be in writing.
If you owe the money, you should contact this vendor, as they may be in BK and that would require them to collect all they could.
Don't deal with collections agencies, they are full of huff but very little puff.
posted on August 8, 2005 02:32:19 PM new
I see this differently.
If I'm reading this correctly your business has received a $1,000 worth of merchandise that you never paid for.
But you feel it's their problem because their merch. account marked it paid. BUT if you know you haven't paid...I don't know why you wouldn't have done so. You owe it to them, imo.
The problem is we did pay...They made an error in charging the card...We feel we would have possibly been taken advantage of if we would have submitted payment again..Who's to say they wouldn't have cahrged our card again on the original transaction, and then kept the second payment we made.....It all just seemed a bit strange to us based on earlier transactions being processed and charged without any problems at all. I was just scared we were going to get hit twice and there would have been little we could have done about it. Especially when they requested that the second payment be sent separately. It would have been "off the books" and we would have had no protection in ever disputing that if it did end up we were charged twice.
posted on August 8, 2005 02:58:43 PM new
Well....I took this statement you made to mean that as of today...you had no money taken from your account.
I looked back at my statements and it was true that a few orders didn't seem to actaually be charge, even though we provided a legit credit card that had worked many times before.
And what I'm saying is that as of today IF you still haven't been charged nor paid for these products...then you owe it to them. As far as ways to pay them....since they're in this country....a company check would work well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Aug 8, 2005 03:01 PM ]
posted on August 8, 2005 03:08:35 PM new
Sounds like you and your business partner need a lesson in how to deal with credit cards. Had they double charged you, you could have immediately disputed the second charge. The fact is you went two years not getting charged you so it should have been quite obvious that the first charge was not going to go thru. Your vendor recieved no payment from you, you ignored an invoice and they have every right to send you to collections.
Pay the man!
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
- Ann Coulter
[ edited by fenix03 on Aug 8, 2005 03:09 PM ]
Caroline