DAMN F##### FAO!!! HELP

[liya]

I am beyong upset BEYOND is the freaking word. Today when i came home i found several emails saying FAO WARNING...So casually i went and read them...It said that there were some ppl with cancelled orders that didnt have their orders cancelled so i inmediatelly get worried...When all the FAO S. frenzy i went to their online store and ordered a couple of items through a phone order. I was told my shipping quote was 13.00. Well my husband saw a couple of things he loved and just had to have so i went ahead(THIS WAS 2 min AFTER) and ordered those items plus a Triumph stroller. When the gal checked my shipping quote she inmediatelly saw something was wrong. She told me the quote that the gal gave me was incorrect and since i lived in PR shipping had to go through UPS 2nd day AIR which is extremely expensive giving the order a grand total of $130.00!!! IN SHIPPING ONLY!!! YIKEs...So i told her that that wasnt what i was told and she said the phone gal gave us a wrong shipping quote. Ofcourse i told her to cancel the order since even though the items were soooo cheap $130 in shipping....Well lets just say it didnt make them that cheap. So she said "SURE" and "I UNDERSTAND" and "IM SORRY FOR THE MISTAKE".....So i let it be....I didnt have one worry in my mind since i had talked to her LIVE and she vouched that she had cancelled the order....So today when i saw this i went bazurk....I got to the live chat once more and checked on my cancelled order only to find out IT WASNT CANCELLED and i had 3 items shipped!!!!!!AAAAGGGHHHHHHHH they still dont know how much they charged for shipping and i am here posting this practically in tears as my husband basically screams at me because of this mistake. I know this company is going bankrupt and will do anything to keep my money even though it was their freaking mistake but i just CANT pay 50-100 dollar shipping on 3 stupid ITEMS.....!!!! I wont even pay 30 for it the items were so NOT HEAVY but when you put them in a UPS box and it says 2nd day AIR they charge you an arm and a leg....

What can i do?? Can i dispute these charges to my credit card!!!??? Just have them deal with them..I mean they have to have a log of the live chat they just have to...And they know that they estimated my shipping to be 13.00 and that shipping was WRONG!! It says so in the screen the gal i talked to today even said that it was a wrong shipping estimate....

[cuca_]

Sorry you have to deal with this. First of all I would call FAO and complain and tell them that you cancelled your order and will not be accepting the items they shipped and expect to receive a credit to your credit card because it was their mistake to send it out after cancellation. They may request a cancellation number, but if you did not get one just tell them that their rep did not provide one. Talking to them on the phone and explaining your situation may solve the whole thing.

If it does not, definitely contact your credit card. Many times they will take care of the whole thing. I don't know which credit card you used, but I know that, for example, American Express is great in this type of situations. Your credit card may not be able to help you until the charge shows up on your actual statement, this happened to me once, but they might be willing to act as an intermediary in case FAO refuses to credit you and accept a return.

I personally would not accept the package, and stand my ground that it was their mistake, since my order had been cancelled. Try talking to them on the phone first, ask for a manager if the phone rep is unable to help you. A phone call might solve all of this. Good luck and let us know what happens.

[egoldber]

Linda, definitely refuse to accept the package. And you can always dispute it with your credit card company.

HTH,

[kathsmom]

Linda,

I would definitely try to call them and explain the situation. And I would go ahead and call your credit card company and tell them that items had shipped and that you had cancelled the order. When the items arrive at your home DO NOT OPEN the boxes! I had a postman tell me this one time when something showed up at my door that I had not ordered. That way, you are not responsible for return shipping. The postman told me to write in large letters on the outside of the box "Return to Sender". You might want to check with the post office to be sure that this is still correct.

Please let us know how it turns out. Good luck!

[sweetbasil]

Ugh...Linda, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. Sounds like you've already gotten some sound advice- just wanted you to know I'm pullin' for ya! Let us know how it goes.

Hoping today is a better day for you,

[Melanie]

I have a few different pieces of advice.

The first is what I use with customer service reps who won't/can't help me. I am nice to them, and say, "Okay, if you can't help me, then who CAN help me?" If that doesn't work with them, then keep asking to talk to supervisors. At this point, it's probably shipped, but they need to know they made an enormous mistake. I would ask their advice on refusing a UPS shipment. I had Hanna suggest to me to refuse a shipment when they couldn't stop the wharehouse from shipping, but for me, it's coming USPS so I just put it back into my outgoing box and write "REFUSED - RETURN TO SENDER." I'm not sure how it works with UPS...perhaps also call UPS to ask their advice.

My last piece of advice, is to write a letter about the situation and carbon copy the better business bureau in the city where they are headquartered. Address the letter to their CEO and also carbon copy the Head of customer service. This worked for me in a fight with Dish Network once, when their customer service was failling pitifully.

All these FAO problems have me thinking, "No wonder they're going out of business!" I always loved their stores, we don't have a local one, so it was always a fun place to go on trips.

[Lynnie]

same thing happened to me, but on a much smaller scale - but it still makes me extremely upset. i spoke with a supervisor, who said that even though the rep had assured me my order was cancelled/modified the previous day, it had not been, and was ready to ship. i told her i would refuse shipment and dispute it with my credit card company, and she told me that refusing the item would do no good, because i would still have to pay for it and would have nothing. but i still plan on refusing it (unless i just fold, and take the stupid lion chair, even though i will already have a giraffe and a tiger, which are the two, and only two i wanted...but i digress).

there are other people who have been caught up in this mess. perhaps we can all get together and maybe speak to one person at fao as a group, and see what, if anything, can be resolved from their end.

by the way, the name of the supervisor i spoke with, for what its worth, is Dana, and she is at extension 2020 (i think the 800 number was 800-207-2885, i got it from the stroller board here, but have about 5 written all over my paperwork....)

good luck, and keep fighting !

[McQ]

That just sucks. You've gotten some good advice. Don't let FAO discourage you. Call UPS and find out how you can refuse shipment. Call your credit card company and dispute the charge. Call FAO and tell them what you're doing. And be sure to note the date and who you spoke with. Hang in there and don't let them beat you.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03

[Toba]

>i told her i would refuse shipment and dispute
>it with my credit card company, and she told me that refusing
>the item would do no good, because i would still have to pay
>for it and would have nothing.

This is just untrue. If you refuse it and dispute it with your credit card, your credit card company WILL accomodate you. They work for you, not FAO. Dispute it and they'll take it off your bill, especially since you previously cancelled the order and they sent it anyway. That's the whole point behind credit card protection that any Visa/Mastercard holder has. That FAO rep was just giving you a load of bunk.

~Kimberly Anne~
Noah Nevan due on 03/21/04

[Lynnie]

thanks - and the scary thing is that i am a lawyer... ha! (obviously not one who excelled in or has ever worked with contract law....)

as i said, i am lucky it is a relatively small amount. the frustrating thing is that when i called my credit card company for advice, to see if i could do anything yet, the agent seemed to imply that if they had said "all sales final" which they did, in big flashing letters on the computer screen, i might be out of luck. of course, i then took what little i can remember from contract law and told him that i had a verbal promise that the order was cancelled, and i relied on that representation when i then placed a second, superseding order, bla bla bla.. but who knows ! i will probably continue to fight though because it is just wrong. (and i really do not want a third chair, as cute as the lion may be... i never would have ordered two more had i not relied upon and believed the rep when she told me that the order had been cancelled, but i seem to be preaching to the choir here....)

if i learn anything more (or at all, really) i will post it here, i have "chatted" with someone else who got ripped off, and she will keep me posted too.

good luck everyone, and thanks to all for the words of encouragement.

[miki]

I haven't had this problem but we have had to stop UPS from dropping a package, knowing they would leave it in front of the door but we'd be away for a while. You can call UPS and find out which facility near you will have the package last before it goes on the brown van to your house, then call that particular site and you can give them instructions.

[mik8]

Oh, Linda I'm so sorry you have to be in this terrible predicament.
That place is a total mess! I was monitoring this FAO fiasco that day when it got clogged up with orders and it was scary to read a posting on the stroller swap board that when someone tried to fill in her account/personal info., it was already filled out with someone else's info. complete with phone and address. So she called that person and warned that her info. appeared out of nowhere. Really scared the heck out of me as I ordered a "ghost" zippy that same day.

I have no other advise to give you other than what our fellow BB members have already given. That's the problem with a bankrupt business - they simply don't care. There's nothing to lose. I just hope there's some resolution to this.

[starrynight]

*hugs* I'm so sorry this happened to you that sucks! And I have been told stuff like that by customer service(at other companies) and then come to find out stuff wasn't done. I hate hearing that "well someone misinformed you and it's not our fault" so why is it my fault that you don't know how to train your employees?? I hope you get it all straightened out Linda!

[miki]

Another thought in case those in this situation feel that desperate measures are necessary.

My husband is a bankruptcy attorney. Years ago he was the lawyer for a electronics retailer that went bankrupt. He said he'd often field calls from consumers who wanted to know how to get their money back, why can't they use their merchandise credits, etc. He'd be polite and tell them he can't really help them because the court decides how what's left of the company is divided. But one day when the lawyers were all scheduled to be in bankruptcy court, a woman came in and asked to speak with the judge in open court in front of all the lawyers. She had a laptop that was broken and she had a story about why she needed to get her money back. The story included bits about how it was not actually a defective laptop but it seemed like someone was careless and it got broken. So really, even if the store had still been operating business as usual, she might not have gotten everything. But the judge basically told all the lawyers to cut her a check, probably because of a combination of her being a squeaky wheel and her sad story. And she got her money back.