Club Cobra - Billing Practices

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Billing Practices

Have a quick question regarding billing practices of various cobra manufacturers.

Last week I ordered an item from a well known manufacturer. The item is made out of fiberglass. On the day the item was ordered, the full amount of the part was debited from my credit card. Based on many experiences with other online transactions, I assumed that this meant my part was ready and on its way to me.

After hearing nothing for a while, I pinged the company earlier this week and found out that the part is not in stock and that more are going to be made in a few weeks. I guess I am a bit concerned that there was nothing on the web site to tell me that my account would be billed regardless of whether the part was available for shipment and that I would not have known this had I not followed-up.

Is this common practice in the SPCN manufacturing arena? While I am not suggesting anything is wrong, I am finding this business practice a bit odd based on working with other online vendors...plus in the back of my mind, I seem to recall some credit card use laws that are supposed to prevent this from happening.

I could be making something out of nothing here and as always, look for the opinions of this Forum with more experience than me in this topic.

Thanks,

Bob

Confirm terms of payment before authorizing the transaction.

generally speaking, from a manufacturing standpoint, my company will not make a custom part for someone without pre-payment. this isn't unusual. now if you were told its stocking and it wasn't thats a whole different story. give the company the benefit of the doubt.

fred

http://www.origincorp.net/

According to Visa, the card can not be charged until the product is shipped or the service is rendered. That is in the contract that the vendor signs with them in order to be able to accept Visa. I would imagine that other cards, Mastercard, AE etc. have the same rules.

All, thanks for the input. The part is not custom but it does indicate a lead time is necessary for shipping.

I sent the company an e-mail asking them a couple of questions regarding same with the intent of giving them the benefit of doubt...guess we shall see what I hear back.

Bob

That is the way that My credit card works. Even if I order a custom made part they will check with the card company and normally show a $1 charge pending. Then when the part is finished and shipped the full amount will be charged.

Ron

I bought off one well known advertiser on this site and there was no shipping charge. I only found out what the shipping charge was after the item was billed on my card. By that time, it had been shipped. The shipping wasn't outrageous or anything, but it should be noted at the time of checkout.

I guess next time I could send an email, ask the shipping, then if it is good, buy the item. Or I could go to another vendor on this site, but the part with the shipping posted and avoid all the hassle. Hmmm....