The
joys of starting a new business.
By
this time I was getting a little frustrated. If the customer can't
remember ordering the goods let alone having received and signed for
the goods after we had supplied the order details, credit card
details, and delivery address details, what was the bank doing! I was
at the point were I thought more should happen. If this was fraud
then when were the police going to be informed and an arrest made.
They had the delivery address, the goods were there, send the police.
Why was this taking months to resolve instead of days.
Our First Sale
The
web site was uploaded and all was in place as we waited to see what
would happen. The final test was to enter an order to ensure all was
working correctly. Simple enough, add to cart, complete the details,
enter credit card details, receive email order confirmation. Check
the bank transfer process, see the transaction in place. So simple
and what a relief that it worked.
Three
days later we got our first real order and it was a sizeable order.
The details were checked, the money was sitting in the transfer bank,
all we had to do was ship the order. This we did the very next day,
we had the tracking number which we added to the auto email and sent
it to our client. Of course you want to see how that order is
progressing so we followed it via the tracking number as it travelled
overseas to its destination day by day. Four days later the package
arrived and was signed for. Our first order delivered safe and sound.
We were in business.
 |
| What the... |
Imagine
our surprise when a month and a half later we receive an email from
our transfer bank informing us that the customer had questioned the
transaction on his monthly credit card statement and that the
transfer bank was debiting our business account for the sum of the
original transaction plus a fee. The email went on to say that this
sort of thing does happen and its likely the customer had just
forgotten that they had placed the order. We were asked to submit
details of the transaction, emails, and courier information to the
transfer bank who would then submit them to the customers bank so
that they (the bank) could conduct an enquiry. This we did post haste.
I
rechecked the details and information myself and could see no real
problem. The only oddity if you could call it that was the locations.
The location address for the credit card was different to the
delivery address but looking on a map they were not that far apart
and plausible. Being someone who uses his credit card in different
locations to have goods delivered was too me not unusual. If you
order a pizza at a friends house using your credit card the delivery
address would be different to your credit card address. If you order
flowers for your partner, delivered to her work place using your
credit card the address would differ to the credit card address. So
was there a problem? Not that I could see.
As
another month passed and we had heard no word from the transfer bank
I sent an email asking for an update. The large sum of money plus fee
was still as yet being held by the transfer bank. I received a reply
saying that the customers bank has a number of weeks remaining to
finalise their investigation before a decision is made.
 |
| Why is this taking so long! |
 |
| We were a victim. |
Finally
the following email came a few weeks later via our transfer bank informing
us that the customer had not placed the order and it was a act of
fraud. The money had now been returned to the customers bank account
and the fee retained by the transfer bank with an apologetic comment
along the lines of... “It was regrettable that this has occurred
and... there was nothing else the transfer bank could do.”
~~~
So
I was out of pocket and without my goods. Four months had transpired
between the placed order and the final decision. When I asked if the
police had been informed I was advised that it was not the
responsibility of the clients bank to inform the police! Yet I was
also told that this was not an unusual occurrence when a customer
could not remember placing the order. So why would I inform the
police if it was likely the client had just lost his memory. No need
to upset the customer.
I
guess there could be a lot of 'what if...', 'why not...', 'how
about...' questions but what is the point. I am not going to spend my
time chasing something that may or may not resolve in my favour and I
am sure Interpol have more important criminals to pursue. I have a
business to run and this little set back will not stop me. If the
receivers of the goods enjoyed themselves then so be it, I wish them
all the best and a good karma.
 |
| Just Karma |
Is
there anything I will change. I have thought about it. One could
request personal id from the customer, a birth certificate, proof of
address, but then how many customers would wish to undergo that sort
of requirement to place an order. I think very few. Amazon doesn't
request id other than credit card details. I have the basic checks in place for credit card use and
apart from restricting use to 'delivery address (including IP
location) must equal credit card address', one must take a risk or
simply close shop.
Lets
be serious for a moment. My conjecture is that fraud is part of
business if it is as easy as it appears to use someone else's credit
card. The simplicity of credit card fraud is you steal a credit card,
you order the goods, you get the goods, and the bank is not going to
pursue you as they recover the money for the customer from the
shop owner. End of story.
As
for RiceSoyCoffee, we live and learn and we will continue to remain in business as we planned to be. That's
business.
