Princeton Watches Poor Customer Service

[ctr]

I am disappointed with the service received from PrincetonWatches.com.

An order for 2 watches was placed yesterday with next day delivery requested, at an additional charge.

Late this afternoon Diane representing Customer Service for Princeton Watches called. She stated that she would need the phone number of the bank, my credit card number again, and the card security code.

Her statements indicated that the order was unusual and the bank would have to verify the charges to my card. Diane also stated the order would not ship before tomorrow at the earliest, after the bank verifies the card information. I deferred responding until Wednesday.

I take exception to their handling of my order. First, I paid for next day delivery, which has now progressed to a 3 day delivery due to delays by Princeton Watches.

I also take exception to the insinuation that something is amiss with the order, and that my intentions were, shall we characterize, as less than honest.

I am also uncomfortable with the request to provide, once again, credit card information that was provided at the time of the order. I am also uncomfortable with providing bank contact information to Princeton Watches. In my decades on this earth, never, not once, has this type of request be made of me.

The whole dialogue sounds tainted to my ear. Do you think this is a legitamate business practice?

What on earth would Customer Service do with the bank contact information?

Unless someone can come up with a plausable explaination, I am considering
action to cancel the order and file a complaint.

 

[Austin]

I would cancel the order. I would not give a stranger my information unless I could verify who was calling me. I have been called before by my bank regarding purchases on my card. Not the other way around.

 

[perry]

I believe it is newegg that asks for the bank's phone number when you place orders. It's a just in case thing..

I guess Princeton Watches needs to contact the bank to get some other sort of authorization on the card. Something about the order has set off whatever checks they have. It is annoying that they aren't faster though.

She should have the card number. The verification code isn't supposed to be kept though - just ran at the time of the transaction and discarded.

If you don't feel comfortable with em, then cancel the order. I'm sure buying a couple watches isn't exactly low cost, so no sense in being less than happy with it all.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I wonder if your credit card issuer gave them a hard time about processing the order. Maybe the order tripped one of their fraud warnings and they refused to process it. If I were you, I'd call your card issuer and ask what happened before putting all the blame on the retailer.

 

[Walker]

I have never had something like that happen from customer service. I would cancel.

 

[DS/B MCS]

i wonder if your credit card issuer gave them a hard time about processing the order. Maybe the order tripped one of their fraud warnings and they refused to process it. If i were you, i'd call your card issuer and ask what happened before putting all the blame on the retailer.

+1

 

[Thebigspendur]

First we're only getting one side of the story so we don't know what really happened. Personally I've ordered from them a couple of times and have had great service from them.

We get there was a delay but you need to find out what it was for or who caused it.

 

[Danuhoh]

I believe it was with DELL via their webste. I ordered and was guaranteed delivery by X-mas only to ultimately find out it didn't ship as they needed some type of authorization from my bank. It was for a $100 digital picture frame; I received it like in January if I recall.

Be cautious but know this can occur with some companies/institutions. I don't understand the reason either but............

 

[ctr]

A quick call to my Bank for an update this afternoon. Princeton Watches has not submitted any charges or made any inquiries with my Bank. This is most unusual.

If this is their normal business practice, they could use more customer service focus and training. This has been a very unfortunate experience and extinguished my excitement about the order and doing business with them.

 

[Cuttingboard]

I've heard that this is standard practice for internet watch retailers to call the credit card company to verify.

 

[PrincetonWatches]

Hello from Princeton Watches,

We appreciate your concern and we are sorry that our credit card verification procedures resulted in an inconvenience and raised concerns with you.

However, because we sell watches, we receive a lot of fraudulent orders. Most internet retailers in our field and in fact most internet retailers, both large and small, have standard verification procedures based a lot of different factors in the order.

We were not questioning your integrity, but in case someone did happen to have your card and was not authorized to use it, these kinds of safeguards would help you. I trust that the info you provided allowed us to process your order just as quickly as possible and get it on it's way to you.

Please enjoy your purchase despite the hassle you feel you experienced, and let us know if we can be of any additonal help.

Princeton Watches Customer Service
http://www.princetonwatches.com

 

[AFG]

I have placed one order with Princeton and received excellent service. One watch that I had ordered was defective and they exchanged it without a hassle even though I had the band resized. Most internet watch retailers would have had me send the watch back to the manufacturer for repair. Sorry for the problems here but I would not hesitate to order from them again.

 

[ctr]

I contacted Princeton Watches and worked out the issue, and reduced the size of the order. Princeton Watches filled the order in a professional manner and I received the watch in a timely fashion.

Much of the issue would have been avoided if the credit card policy was disclosed at the time of the order. Communication and setting expectations are critical, especially in the internet age.

I am gentleman enough to admid I jumped to a hasty characterization due to a lack of information.

In fairness to the vendor, I have requested the the moderators rename the thread title.

 

[ryand]

They might have amended their site after you posted this but their info/contact page seems to clearly state that "Acceptance of orders is subject to credit card verification procedures." I believe that their policy was clearly disclosed.

 

[ctr]

They might have amended their site after you posted this but their info/contact page seems to clearly state that "Acceptance of orders is subject to credit card verification procedures." I believe that their policy was clearly disclosed.

I have no doubt. However, my order was placed by phone.