HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER exhorbitant and unreasonable shipping charges - a real ripoff - very arrogant attitude. NEW YORK CITY Internet

BEWARE OF BUYING FROM HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER VIA THE INTERNET!!

I wish to raise the following experience of downright overcharging done in a misleading and (my opinion) dishonest manner.

I am a South African resident and often purchase goods by internet. My details are:
A.RXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Robertson.
Western Cape.
6705

On 27 Oct 07, I placed an internet order with HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER for an electronic scrabble dictionary priced at $49.65. The website did not quote shipping charges but from previous experience I expected a reasonable charge between $20 and $40((maximum)

I had no sooner confirmed the order when my credit card account registered a charge of $161.65.

On Monday 29, I contacted the company by e-mail requesting the reason for such an exorbitant charge.

I was advised on the next day that $111.70 was for shipping and handling charges.

I then attempted to cancel the order but was informed that it had been shipped but that they would try to cancel it.

They then advised me to take the following action: quote-refuse delivery on this item or mark return to sender and the package will come back to usa.

I then attempted to negotiate a more reasonable shipping charge on the basis that other suppliers usually charge less than $40 and that it seemed senseless to send the item back.

The response to my proposal was as follows: quote -The package has already been returned to us. A refund in the amount of $49.95 was applied to your Visa card. Shipping and handling is nonrefundable and nonnegotiable. Please contact me if you need further assistance

I have now paid them $111.70 and received nothing but delayed responses and aggro!

I strongly warn anyone dealing with this company to be extremely careful as they are not only overcharging but have also adopted a very high handed attitude and are definitely not customer orientated or customer friendly!! In any event, their charges are exorbitant as I have purchased the item new from eBay for a total charge of $72 LESS THAN HALF THE PRICE CHARGED BY HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER!!

This was a very expensive lesson and I do not believe that such companies should or will continue to exist in the long term. I hope that this serves to expose them.

All e-mails to support my statements are available.

Antonio
ROBERTSON
South Africa