BEWARE of this online retailer....
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| lunakasha |
01 Mar 2004 |
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I wanted to post this thread as a "red flag" for those of you who purchase tarot decks and books online, in hopes that by reading this thread you may avoid the disappointment and frustration that I have recently experienced....
The name of the bookseller is www.classbook.com and I had never heard of this company until a couple of days ago. Another AT member had posted that the Greenwood Deck and Book set were available there for a very reasonable price, so I clicked on the link and was *thrilled and amazed* that the deck had NOT been sold yet....when I clicked the button to "check availability", a pop-up box informed me that I needed to place my order before they could check availability. Despite some fleeting doubts and reservations, I quickly punched in my information and hoped that this too-good-to-be-true opportunity would result in my purchasing the Greenwood, which has been on my wishlist for a very long time. I should also mention that the price was too good to pass up: $26.15 plus shipping....much more reasonable than the $75-100 asking price on ebay (when there is one available).
To make a long story medium-length :D I soon found out that there was never a deck for sale on this website, that it had probably been sold weeks (or months) ago, but no one at classbook.com bothered to update this information! I received an email from them this morning, informing me that the item was not in stock, my order canceled and my card had not been charged. My immediate response was to send them a very polite but firm email indicating that they should consider updating their software so that availability of stock is automatically updated, in order to better serve their customers and also to survive in the competitive world of online book sales. I posted the letter here if you would like to read it:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23173&perpage=10&pagenumber=2
Please be careful when ordering from online sellers that are unfamiliar to you...that is the lesson I learned here and wanted to pass on to my friends here at AT......incidentally, this is my first negative experience ordering online, and I have had excellent service from tarotgarden, amazon, mysticeye.com and joan bunning's website. Haven't tried overstock.com yet, but will ask around before I try it....
EDITED: to change the name of the website; the correct name is classbook.com (there is another website, classbooks.com, which is in no way related to the website that I am referring to here)
:) Luna
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| Star Spirit |
01 Mar 2004 |
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That sucks! I think I have actually heard of them but now that I've read this I'll remember never to order there. If it helps, I told my b/f about overstock.com and he ordered a book there with no problems.
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| dolphinprincess |
01 Mar 2004 |
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I've ordered DOZENS of books from Overstock.com and I have never had a problem! Their prices almost always undercut Amazon - and they have cheap shipping.
However, I do not think they accept returns on book / media items.. but double check.
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| lunakasha |
01 Mar 2004 |
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Originally posted by dolphinprincess
I've ordered DOZENS of books from Overstock.com and I have never had a problem! Their prices almost always undercut Amazon - and they have cheap shipping.
However, I do not think they accept returns on book / media items.. but double check.
Thanks dp and DeadStar for the info on overstock.com...I have seen their amazing prices and had considered ordering from them, but after my experience with classbook.com, I decided I should take precautions in the future.....
I am glad to hear that *most* online retailers are still trustworthy...but it is a good idea to ask around before ordering from an "unknown"...just in case!
:) Luna
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| Mimers |
01 Mar 2004 |
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I too have ordered from overstock.com with no problems.
My favorite place to shop is still Tarotgarden. No hassels there. Never.
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| Cerulean |
01 Mar 2004 |
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I found a very very good retailer at abebooks.com, the Occult Bookstore in Chicago. The out of print titles listed are rather good.
Since I safely received my order very shortly after I called them for an availability of something listed, let me say it is my second order from them.
The first order for an out of print deck that was originally on their shelf; however by the time that the gentleman looked at the online order on his computer, the deck and book was already sold. My order was cancelled and my credit card was not charged, that isn't the problem. But a small retailer doesn't always check their computer orders, especially for used books.
So the second time, by the second day and my order was not acknowledged, I went home to lunch and placed a long-distance call. The transaction through Abebooks.com was finished and everything was fine. The gentleman said that next time, I could call as soon as I see a listing that I wanted and we could do a transaction over the telephone and probably save a dollar or two on shipping.
So if you can, find a storefront retailer or a telephone number to track availability...that helps.
Mari H.
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| crystal cove |
01 Mar 2004 |
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Wow. I can't believe I'm seeing this thread right now.
I ordered the three editions of the Tarot Encyclopedia from Overstock over a month ago. They billed my credit card within 24 hours. I called last week to see where my books are and supposedly they were still on the way. Well, today I completely lost patience and called again and after getting a few lame excuses, found out that the books were out of stock. I've been on that site everyday for the last 10 days! There is NO note about it being out of stock! Plus, why didn't they tell me that last week when I originally called?
I'm sooooo infuriated right now. Ordering things online has been a huge hassle for me in the last few months.....I'm beginning to think it's me. At any rate, I won't be going to Overstock again, I'd rather pay top dollar somewhere else for every book.
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| lunakasha |
01 Mar 2004 |
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Sorry to hear about your experience, twenty-one...at least in my situation I only went through the torture for a couple of days. Which was bad enough, believe me :eek:
Here is the lame response I just got from classbook.com:
We apologize but the book you ordered is out of stock at this time. We
appreciate your business and would like to offer you free shipping on
your
next order. Please enter a new order on our website and we will pay
for
the shipping.Please enter SHIP in the promotion code field.
Thank you!
Regards,
Customer Service
www.classbook.com
Gee, that really makes me feel better!!! Notice that they never even addressed the issue that they DO NOT update their website and the only way to find out if an item is in stock is to place an order! To me, this is unacceptable, and I would never have agreed to it if it wasn't such a rare deck...I knew if I hesitated at all it would be gone, so I took a chance...but I have no desire to order from them again...hell, I can get free shipping from amazon if I spend $25, or from joan's website.....
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent!:laugh:
:) Luna
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| starsongs |
01 Mar 2004 |
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Originally posted by dolphinprincess
I've ordered DOZENS of books from Overstock.com and I have never had a problem! Their prices almost always undercut Amazon - and they have cheap shipping.
However, I do not think they accept returns on book / media items.. but double check.
I've also ordered from overstock.com. Never a problem; great prices, and cheap shipping for sure!...:-)
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| Star Spirit |
02 Mar 2004 |
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I think even the best sites have their downfalls at times. I've ordered a bunch of decks from Chapters.ca in Canada, since they have good sale prices and fast shipping within my country. Almost always very good service. But, I ordered the Tarot of Mermaids on January 12 and it STILL isn't here. It had 24 hour availability when I ordered, and 3 days afterwards I got an e-mail saying it was out of stock, and that they'd order it in and if they couldn't source it in 2 weeks they'd cancel it from my order. Well I had free shipping on the order because of the other deck that had already arrived, so if I re-ordered I'd have to pay shipping. I e-mailed them...and got nothing after a week. Not only that, it STILL was on my order...they weren't cancelling it or anything. I e-mailed again and got no reply. Finally I went back to the original item on display and it said "ships in 3-5 weeks". I got no e-mail regarding the status of my order at all! So finally a week or two ago I called them and asked about it, and he gave me all the stats and said it was still on order and the latest it would ship was the first week of March. Well, guess what. I still haven't heard anything...cross my fingers for me. Who would have thought? I can't even find this deck on Amazon or anywhere else (except, get this--classbooks.com, and some other place I never heard of).
Ordering online can just be a pain in the *ss sometimes.
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| Majecot |
02 Mar 2004 |
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Wow that really stinks..
Overstock is one of my favorite shopping sites. I love their shipping charge! I have never had to wait for anything. Not even at Christmas. The only thing I wasn't pleased about was the cordless phone I ordered for my daughter a couple of years ago, apparently electronis don't come with the manual, you have to down load the PDF. from the manufacturer.
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| Kiama |
02 Mar 2004 |
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I actually had a similar problem with Amazon.co.uk a while ago... They said they had the Ravenswood Eastern Tarot by Dirk Drysta for £6.20, so I bought it. I then had to wait about 3 months for them to inform me that they actually didn't have it (they couldn't 'source the item')... Yet they still haven't changed the listing on the site. :(
Ah well, like Mari said, even the best companies have problems sometimes.
Blessings,
Kiama
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| crystal cove |
02 Mar 2004 |
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Lunakasha: How big of them. ;) Like you'd want to go through all that again with another order.
When I first called Overstock, they couldn't figure out what happened to the books (supposedly), and was going to put the order in again for another 15 business day wait :mad: with a coupon for my "next" order. Yeah, that'll happen. I told them that they can save it because I won't be back. There's too many other places to get it. Of course, the books weren't actually there to reorder.......I'm just so ticked, I've been really looking forward to those books.
Hudson Gray: Thanks for the tip, I'm going to check out that site and buy.com to reorder. Maybe someday I'll actually get them! :D
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| EarthAngel2911 |
02 Mar 2004 |
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I do a LOT of ordering online, and the best places to order from are Tarot Garden and Joan Bunning's site for speed and personal service. You can't beat them!
Next would be Amazon.com. They have some of the best prices and free shipping if you order more than $25 in product. However, when I do use their free shipping, you can never tell how long it will take to get to you. Sometimes the packages come lickety-split, and sometimes they take a while. But they are always reliable.
I have taken some chances with other online places. I did place an order from Abebooks.com for an out of print title directly from Germany. Well, it did come.... eventually. Took over six weeks!
And I have ordered from Overstock.com. Now, I really didn't have any problems with them. Their prices are good, no doubt, as are the regular shipping costs, but I do NOT like their practice of charging your credit card immediately. Not too many places do that, and I don't agree with the practice. And there's a good reason why the shipping is cheap. I think they must ship 3rd class or something. When I ordered three decks, the decks took the full three weeks to one-month that they are "allowed," and when my order finally came, only two decks were included.
I called Overstock and the person I spoke with couldn't track my package because it just so happened that they never scanned that box. And there was never a mention on my order status that they had shipped from two different places. The deck eventually came, but it did take quite a while.
At that point, I decided to stick with the vendors I know best. Besides, if you buy from Amazon directly and are able to get the free shipping, the overall price would be comparable to Overstock, without the credit card hassle. :)
Hope this info helps! And happy shopping! :D
Karen
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The BEWARE of this online retailer.... thread was originally posted on 01 Mar 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.
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