channelfireball.com channelfireball.com Unprofessional, Bad Customer Service, Dishonorable, Dishonest San Jose California

I was looking for deals on Magic: The Gathering cards when I came across this website. I knew I couldn't afford to buy any booster boxes at the moment, but I was checking prices and sizing up different competitors. When I went to the booster box section, I noticed that the newest edition of booster boxes was priced as free.

No other product was priced in this manner, and when I tried to add more than one to my cart, it had a pop-up that said only one FREE booster box per order, so obviously someone meant for this to be a free booster box. I was so excited that I immediately placed my order, at the time they showed only 8 boxes in case anyone wants to say they would be losing out thousands of dollars. That count went down by one and stayed at 7 for over about an hour when my brother-in-law went and ordered the same thing as me.

My credit card was charged for shipping and I was sent a confirmation letter. Two days later, my account went from showing that I had 1 order in my history to 0. I checked my email and I had nothing new. I waited all day to see if I got anything. At around 5PM Central I called my brother-in-law and he said that the same happened to him.

He called customer service and they told him that it was cancelled due to a typo on their part for the pricing. When I called, I was told the same. I asked the customer service rep if he knew that in most states that I know of, it is legally binding once a credit card has been charged, also, if an order is cancled or held up, the company must contact the customer via email or phone.

The rep told me "I'm not going to give you the product for free, we have the right to cancel any order at any time, for any reason." Although I don't remember reading that anywhere when I was making my account or placing my order it doesn't matter, I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure no company can take back something once they've charged you.

I also let him know that I am also in retail and if there are any pricing errors on our part, we are legally obligated to honor that price, no matter what it is. He didn't seem too worried about that. Overall, he was not very courtious at all, and as a result, I will never make another order through them unless they resolve thier error for every customer that they wronged.

Danny
Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
U.S.A.