Your Order Gets Screwed Up. Now What?

January 17, 2012 · Filed Under · Comment 

* The following guest article is by Michael Dolen. He analyzes credit card offers on CreditCardForum, a site he started nearly 4 years ago. His most recent blogpost is a list of the top ten cards for 2012. If you are in the market for a new credit card and all of the different interest rates and reward programs have your head spinning, check out his site to make the process much easier.

Other than perhaps the occasional delay in shipment, chances are that 99% of your online orders are completed without any major hiccups. But what about the other 1% of the time… when your merchandise is damaged, not as described – or worse yet – you don’t even receive it?! What rights and protections are you entitled to?

Fortunately if things go haywire, you have a number of safety nets to fall back on, thanks to your credit/debit card (assuming that’s how you paid, which most likely is the case with online orders).

Safety Net #1: The Dispute Process

Contrary to popular belief, the biggest advantage of paying with a credit card is not always the cash back or airline miles you’re earning. Rather, it’s the laws which protect you in the event of a dispute.

There are federal laws for debit and credit card liability when they are used fraudulently:

  • Credit Cards – You maximum liability by law can be no more than $50. However, most credit card companies do not enforce this “deductible” and instead, give you $0 liability. There’s only been a couple times I have heard from someone on my forum that had to pay that $50 when blatant fraud occured.
  • Debit Cards – With debit cards, the law is a bit different in that your liability depends on how quickly you report it (for details, please visit the above link to the FTC). That being said, debit transactions which are processed as “credit” (meaning you didn’t have to enter your PIN) are generally covered by Visa and MasterCard’s zero liability policies.

Keep in mind the above laws and policies apply to unauthorized charges. If you did indeed receive your merchandise but it wasn’t as advertised, then that would be a different kind of a dispute for “quality of goods and services.” You still are entitled to some legal protections but it can be a bit complicated. To learn about them you can go here.

Safety Net #2: Purchase Protection Benefit

Many credit cards include a free benefit called “purchase protection” which protect eligible items against theft and accidental damage during the first 90 days from date of purchase.

  • American Express – All of their charge and credit cards include this benefit.
  • Visa – This benefit is included on their “Signature” tier cards.
  • MasterCard – Most “World” and “World Elite” come with this perk.
  • Discover – Not offered.

The rules and exclusions vary by card issuer, so check with yours to find out what is and isn’t covered. From my experience, the best coverage is through American Express. I have filed several purchase protection claims over the years and the process couldn’t have been easier. For example, when my blender was broken, AmEx refunded me the money when the merchant wouldn’t.

Safety Net #3: Extended Warranty Benefit

This benefit comes in handy if you purchase a product that was of questionable quality and later on, it breaks down.

If a retailer or manufacturer only included a 6 or 12 month warranty and you bought the item 13 months ago, normally you would be out of luck. But many credit cards include an automatic extended warranty benefit free of charge. It generally works like this…

For eligible items that come with a manufacturer’s warranty of 3 (or 5) years or less, the card issuer will mirror the length of coverage, up to 1 year extra. For example, if the normal warranty was 6 months, then with the credit card you would have an additional 6 months. For a 1 year warranty, it would be another 1 year of coverage. On a 3 year warranty, it would be 1 additional year.

  • American Express – Just like the Purchase Protection, AmEx includes this on all of their cards issued in the US.
  • Visa – They have more hoops to jump through so their version isn’t on par with AmEx, but it’s still pretty good. They call their benefit Warranty Manager Service. It’s included on Visa Signature cards.
  • MasterCard – Just like the other benefit, this is found on most of their World and World Elite tier cards.
  • Discover – Not offered.

Now of course you’re probably wondering what the exclusions are? Well unfortunately they don’t publish all the extended warranty details online for me to link to, but this AmEx example is more or less what you can expect.

Conclusion?

There’s no denying that getting stiffed or screwed with an online order sucks big time. Fortunately, you have number of weapons in your arsenal to protect yourself, assuming you paid using a credit card or a good debit card.

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Shopping With Kids: 5 Things You Never Want To Hear

January 11, 2012 · Filed Under , · Comment 

We are into 2012 and things have been very busy here at Rather-Be-Shopping.com. So I thought it was time to lighten things up a little bit with this post. Despite what my wife might say, I DO indeed go shopping with my 3 kids from time to time. And in my experience, here is what you DO NOT want to hear while at the grocery store or Walmart.

1. Lady comes over the loud-speaker, “Clean up on aisle 3, 6, and 9. And sir, we can see you, stop pretending you have no idea what is going on.”

2. While trying to find the perfect piece of fruit, your 10-year old son says, “Dad, why do you like feeling the melons so much.”

3.  While loading the youngest into her car seat you hear, “Hey Dad, our cart rolled away and is going towards that fancy car over there.”

4. ”Um, Dad, Emma just dumped out the box of cereal and replaced it with her diaper.”

5. ”Excuse me sir, one of your kids is climbing up the Pepsi end-cap and the other just found the Mentos. You need to leave NOW.”

What would you add to my list? Looking forward to your comments.

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5 Frugal Yet Memorable Last Minute Gift Ideas

December 20, 2011 · Filed Under , · Comment 

Inexpensive and frugal Christmas gift ideas don’t always have to look cheap and rushed. By putting just a little bit of time and effort into it, you can create some very thoughtful last minute gifts for people on your shopping list. Here are five easy to implement examples.
Personalized Photo Calendar
For less than $20, you can use photo services like Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com to create custom photo calendars that will be a huge hit with [...] Continue Reading…

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4 Ways To Finish Christmas Shopping on the Cheap

December 13, 2011 · Filed Under , , · Comment 

Cheap Stocking Stuffers
After you have finished your Christmas shopping list you will often be hit over the head with expensive stocking stuffers which can really add up and blow your spending budget right out of the water. A solid solution is to take advantage of dollar stores and discount stores which always have fun little stocking stuffers at REALLY low prices. Also, as a father of 3, I have found that Santa’s key to [...] Continue Reading…

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December Buying Guide: 10 Things To Buy Now

December 5, 2011 · Filed Under , · Comment 

As we head into December and you wrap up your Christmas shopping (literally), it is worth noting some of the better products that offer the best savings this time of year. If you have gift recipients on your list and are still unsure what to buy them, perhaps this will help you maximize your savings this December.
Automobiles

2012 models are already on the lot and year-end quotas are trying to be met, all of which makes December an excellence time to purchase a new car. [...] Continue Reading…

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Christmas Shopping Giveaway: Win a $75 Walmart Gift Card, Just Gotta “Like” Rather-Be-Shopping.com & Share to Enter

December 1, 2011 · Filed Under · 587 Comments 

Lets kick off December with a Christmas Shopping Spree Giveaway! Here is all you have to do to be entered to win a $75 Walmart Gift Card:
We have a WINNER! Congratulations to Sara C. on winning the $75 Walmart gift card! Go do some Christmas shopping Girl! With over 500 entries, this was a huge success, thanks to all who entered. Look for another giveaway coming SOON.

1- Just ‘Like’ Rather-Be-Shopping.com on Facebook (Like box [...] Continue Reading…

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Register for Free Christmas Shopping ‘Coupon Alerts’

November 29, 2011 · Filed Under , , · Comment 

Now that the turkey and gravy leftovers are long gone and all Tryptophan induced naps successfully completed, our attention turns to Christmas shopping and how to save the most money on your purchases this year. It is with this in mind that we proudly present our recently created ‘Christmas Coupons 2011′ page! It is chalked full of the best coupons we can find for free shipping and savings up to 50% off your purchase [...] Continue Reading…

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Black Friday 2011 Headquarters

November 10, 2011 · Filed Under , · 1 Comment 

We are going to use this blog post to keep you up-to-date on all the top Black Friday Ads for 2011. As we get closer to the big shopping day, (Friday, November 25th) check back to this page to find all of your ads so you can plan your shopping trip and find what stores will give you the most savings. Also, check out our newly added Black Friday Coupons page which will give you free access [...] Continue Reading…

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10 Must-Follow Twitter Handles That Will Save You Money

November 7, 2011 · Filed Under , · 1 Comment 

Donna Freedman @DLFreedman
Donna tweets about creative ways to live well with less. Her writing style is very fun to read and she makes living frugal and saving money actually kinda fun. Novel concept, eh?
Donna Freedman.com

Leah Ingram @SuddenlyFrugal
Leah tweets about free goodies, frugal living, rebates, and other money saving tips. We re-tweet many of her tips to our Twitter followers which is always a good sign of a feed worth following.
Suddenly Frugal.com

Jean Chatzky @JeanChatzky
Her Twitter tagline is “Making money make sense” [...] Continue Reading…

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November Buying Guide: 10 Things To Buy Now

November 4, 2011 · Filed Under , · Comment 

As we head towards the great shopping deals and coupons of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the 10 best buys for the month of November. Items that it would be worth your while to shop for as the deals will be really good this month.
Wedding Dresses

The wedding season is over and dress retailers need to clear out last season’s styles to make room for the new. If you are planning [...] Continue Reading…

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