Fashion

[TheOwl]

juliep324 : Thank you so much for the warning! I totally get what you are talking about. Last spring I set up a separate account in which to only budget fashion purchases - the vast majority of those when they happen are Linea. Boy did I get an education! I was absolutely amazed at how long my bank held funds in reserve for the purchase days after I had canceled an order. I was further amazed at how long QVC took in refunding monies when a return was made and then again how long it took to post to the bank. I finally stopped purchasing altogether at QVC from that account because I felt like my money was always being held hostage - either by the bank or by QVC and sometimes I was shocked to find it overdrawn on a purchase I had canceled days and days ago - like over the weekend plus a couple of days. It was an unpleasant but extremely informative learning experience. So I totally get how you are temporarily "broke" and cannot buy groceries or gas. Dear hubby trained bank employees for some time in various institutions and he "gets" this stuff whereas, it's not my forte.

Further, I can completely see a glitch "buying" you numerous items when things are messed up at the Q online site and now, you don't have to tell me what a mess that makes at your bank! Thank you for sharing your painful story. As usual, I will be cautious about buying online - checking the banking account from which I now purchase such items to make sure there are no inadvertent multiples. It only takes a few minutes to do so and as you say, can save me from overdrafts and those dratted overdraft fees which are insult to injury as well as the days it takes to get such snafus straightened out. I shed tears over the mess-ups on my little account. Dearest hubby so kindly helped me sort through each time until I finally grasped it all. I kept saying "But why would it take QVC so long to get the money sent back to my account and why would it take the bank so long to show I canceled a purchase and put my money back on the books?" He kept patiently explaining why they are not in the kind of hurry I thought they should be to get my money back on the books for me. None of it is illegal, or immoral or anything like that - just business practices and realities that I never had to deal with before until my experimental little account.

Other ladies had warned about watching out that your shipping costs get refunded on returns with problems (broken, wrong item shipped etc) and immediately calling the Q when it doesn't etc and they were right. I learned - finally - the effort involved in tracking those things down and yes I found mistakes on refunds of shipping costs a few times and Q customer service was wonderful about rectifying them. It's just that it was a headache to always be watching out. Again, nobody's FAULT and not DELIBERATE but they impacted my little account negatively nonetheless. I'm just a whole lot more careful now than I used to be and having learned lessons most of you already know, the hard way. The upside is that I'm a "wiser woman" now SO sorry for the short term headache you have to work through after this online snafu!

[juliep324]

I'm feeling pretty defeated right now. My bank says I need a written letter from QVC corporate stating these holds are not valid in order for them to release them. In the mean time $35.00 overdraft fees are being applied to everything that comes thru. They are going to see if they can get those overturned but I believe they can only over turn one a year

[TrishaMntka]

FYI When I want to cancel something & the order status won't let me, I use phone system to do it. I went very crazy recently & have since come to my senses. I tried to cancel orders online & it wouldn't let me. I went to the phone system & they all cancelled with no problem. It asked me to stay on the phone as I was being transferred. I didn't want to deal with that, so I hung up. I checked the status of the orders online & they were cancelled.

[TheOwl]

Wow Julie, I'm hurting for you. I think I would probably go ahead and ask for a letter stating the holds are not valid asap. Escalate your call at QVC up to the highest level of supervisor if needed to get the letter sent to you quickly - perhaps digitally and immediately. And think on this, you can not POSSIBLY be the only one who got dinged in this short-lived online techno glitch...

Edited to add: Can you also get some higher level help at your bank? I'd call this type of glitch a ONCE item (even though it contains multiple charges) and somebody at your bank should be able to see that ... even if the policy is for overturning once a year. - Yes it's a bunch of charges but it all comes from one single action that was not your fault.... Pulling for you, Julie!

[TheOwl]

And yes Sheesh is right - my little account was a debit account.

[juliep324]

Right now I'm unable to do anything as corporate is closed due to inclement weather. I called there this morning. The girl I went to see at the bank yesterday said she has never seen anything like this and the transactions were all seconds apart. She sent an email to the branch manager asking them to overturn any overdraft charges but if it does not happen I will contact corporate for the bank as well. Being a Sunday their corporate office wasn't open either. There is nothing I can do at the moment so I have to just sit on it and wait. I wish I had a credit card instead of a debit but this whole thing is making me think I need to take a break from these home shopping shows for a while.

[Maxine49]

On 3/3/2014 juliep324 said:

Right now I'm unable to do anything as corporate is closed due to inclement weather. I called there this morning. The girl I went to see at the bank yesterday said she has never seen anything like this and the transactions were all seconds apart. She sent an email to the branch manager asking them to overturn any overdraft charges but if it does not happen I will contact corporate for the bank as well. Being a Sunday their corporate office wasn't open either. There is nothing I can do at the moment so I have to just sit on it and wait. I wish I had a credit card instead of a debit but this whole thing is making me think I need to take a break from these home shopping shows for a while.

Julie, I don't want to be "preachy" or a mother hen, but if you are in the position of either shopping on-line or buying groceries or gas---then you definitely need to take a break as you are cutting it too close to the edge for comfort. Get yourself a separate credit card with a low limit and then use that strictly for your purchasing---if you run it up to the limit---then until you pay it down---cut yourself off and don't dip into your cash account. You are now in a very tough situation, and as bad as it is, I hope there are not kids involved, which would make this a whole lot worse. We've all been guilty of spending too much and not being able to suppress our urges, wants and desires...but the choice of food or QVC is not a good one. Hope you get this straightened out soon. It ought to be obvious to the bank that there was a glitch in the Q's systems that were out of your control.

[TheOwl]

So Julie: If you are unable to get much done today - please let it go for the day, take a deep breathe and stop beating yourself up over it. Do something you like doing today, if possible, and take the stress level down. Life is too short girl ....

[H20gal]

That's scary Julie. You won't be held responsible. Thing like this are why I refuse to have a debit card.

[Maxine49]

On 3/3/2014 H20gal said:

That's scary Julie. You won't be held responsible. Thing like this are why I refuse to have a debit card.

It's always good to have a debit card to have access to your cash from an ATM---you'll never know when you'll need cash, so they are very good to have. The problems arise when you use it making purchases and a third party is accessing your cash as we see with Julie's dilemma.

Also, when I travel overseas, I use my debit card to get local currency right from the "major" bank ATM machine ---no need to go to currency exchanges and pay fees, etc. If you use foreign banks that are on the same banking network as your US bank, there are no transaction fees, either. Stay away from "no name" local banks and standalone ATMs.