LostHiWay

Just got this on an order for the Godfather collection I used Flooz to pay with:

Thank you for shopping with us.

We are sorry to inform you that your above referenced order number has been suspended because the payment method that you selected, Flooz®, is currently not available. To complete your order, you will have to submit a another method of payment such as a credit card or bn.com gift certificate.

We'd like to hear from you right away so that you avoid an extended delay in receiving your order. Please call us and ask to speak to one of our Special Payment Processing Customer Service Reps; at 1-800-The-Book
(800-843-2665) Monday - Friday between 8AM - 5PM EST. They will be happy to assist you in applying another form of payment. If you are calling from outside the United States, call 201-272-3651. Or if you'd like to email us the required information (credit card number, expiration date and the associated billing address) you can do so by sending it to [email protected].

In the event we don't hear from you within 5-7 business days your order will be cancelled.

If you have any questions regarding the unavailability of Flooz, please contact Flooz directly at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.

We appreciate your business and look forward to you visiting us again soon at .

cve

They deducted the Flooz for my Godfather Pre-order from my account over a month ago. This has to constitute payment on my part.

Edit: Notice how they sent this out after their Customer Service queue was closed. I'm mad.

Edit(2): I was mad and didn't explain myself very well. Here's how I look at this situation. I entered into an agreement with B&N that I would give them something of value (Flooz) on the condition that they would send me something of value (my Godfather DVDs) when it became available. They accepted my Flooz which were deducted from my account thereby solidifying the terms of the deal. Now that the Flooz no longer have the same (any) value they are backing-out.

What if I made a pre-order and the value of the dollar dropped drastically?

B&N really had a chance to look good here, and they blew it.

Snowball

Snowball

Perhaps the money isn't actually transfered until the order ships?

cve

But if I don't have access to it, it's gone.

Snowball

I know, just trying to come up with possible reasons... I'm pissed about this though, they canceled two of my orders.


The message on flooz.com:


We are currently unable to process your transaction. We are working very hard to resume Flooz.com web site operations. Check back for further updates.

Hmm... I think the wording of "resume Flooz.com web site operations" is giving me some false hope..

LostHiWay

Here's the email I just sent Barnes & Noble. Lets see what they
have to say.


I just received an email from you stating that my order that was paid with Flooz for the Godfather DVD collection is going to be cancelled. Let me inform you that this order was placed over a month ago while Flooz was still in business. After I placed the order with you the money was deducted from my Flooz account. I feel that I have already fulfilled my obligation for payment for this order. If Barnes & Noble takes more than a month to collect there money from Flooz that is there problem and there loss. NOT MINE. Please reinstate my order or I will be forced to take legal action against you.

MrGoat00

EVERYONE who this happened to should e-mail a complaint to B&N.com and refuse to pay with a credit card. They have already debited our accounts when the orders have been placed, we should not be held responsible for this payment since they already deducted it. I'm sure we have some legal grounds here for a dispute, is there a lawyer in the house that can help us out? Everyone should threaten to take legal action. It's an OUTRAGE!

raKim

I know that my Flooz was free but, a transaction is a transaction and they should honor that. Losthiway, tell me how that works out, I am interested to what they have to say, and how they justify this rather unorthodox business practice. Any lawyers know of any actions that can be taken. Usually in this forum we threaten leagal action on misprices but this time I thikn there may actually be more of a "case". If I am just being whiny or stupid please tell me.......

raKim

Great minds think alike eh MRgoat?

TelocZ

This really blows. That's $19.95 I paid to American Greetings for nothing. I never even used or plan on using those greeting cards.

I guess thats what I get for placing pre-orders with that Flooz. What a chump!

Micky Ficky

Wow I was pretty lucky, I placed an order the night before flooz shut down. They shipped out the day flooz closed, thankfully everything I ordered was in stock.

CrazeeDonkee

Got the same email. One of my orders was placed like 2 or 3 weeks ago and they shipped 4 out of 5 DVDs. Now I got an email saying they won't ship the 5th.

They messed up my order originally and sent me someone's $180 order of books. Then they sent me 4 out of the 5 DVDs even though when they sent my order to the wrong guy they sent him the whole 5. I guess if they want their $180 of books, they better fulfill my orders!

MrGoat00

Why, of course we do.

But on a much more serious note, I do not think that we are whining this time, they took our flooz dollars right out of our accounts, prohibiting us from using it somewhere else. They had our money, and some people even placed orders a month or more before flooz shut down. We should NOT pay for their crappy bussiness decisions. They should demand payment from Flooz, not us, after all, they are (were) a supporter of flooz and accepted it and TOOK it out of our accounts.

LBPound

I just sent out a lengthy detailed e-mail telling them to correct their error. Ain't no way in hell we're going to be penalized because The Godfather Collection isn't being released until October. That's just not right in any way. They're going to try and take advantage of those whose items have not yet shipped. Everyone's Flooz was deducted at the time of the order...whether the item is in stock or not. $50 Flooz here...$33 left over unused....$20 if "Tommy Boy" doesn't come through. Past , I am irate.

Scott27

Believe me, I was upset when I got my e-mail, too. BUT, after visiting the Help Desk at B&N.com, I am thinking cancelling previously placed orders made with Flooz MAY have been an error on their part. The following is C&P'ed straight from the B&N.com Help Desk:

The part I bolded seems to give me hope they will honor the orders if we call them about it.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/p...1+22%3A38%3A34

cve

Nice find Scott27!

If the CSR needs help 'finding' the information, just click 'Help' in the upper right hand corner of the main page and then 'Payment Options' under the 'Placing an Order' header.

naughty jonny

I'd be very pissed if I had paid money for flooz and B&N won't honour it. It's not like the amazon misprices, because you've actually lost out on it.

(And yes, I have purchased flooz in the past - albeit only 2.60 to make up a minimum order).

CrazeeDonkee

Is their customer service open right now? Has anyone called them yet?

Scott27

According to the e-mails everyone received, the hours are 8AM-5PM (ET).

eviljim

B&N has 24/7 phone support I thought? I know I've called late at night, did they change this?

LBPound

Cool. Great find, Scott. Great Scott, what a find!

Anyhow, this is one less thing to worry about. I really didn't feel like having to slug it out on e-mails back and forth, but it looks like this should seal the deal. No having to re-purchase the Godfather elsewhere with coupons and earning GCs. No need to get reimbursed for American Greetings. This is good. Now if only Flooz would come back up and let me blow my last $33 at Tower and Tower would complete my backorder and I'll be all set. And woo-hoo, Columbia House introductory package coming later this week. This is a good week now. All because B & N aren't complete idiots....although actually, until I get the confirmation e-mail from them, the jury's still out on that one.

I guess they did this cancellation thing to see if unobservant people would not notice this and it would save them some money (I'm sure they're missing some $ from Flooz)...but they should honor all our orders, no questions asked.

TelocZ

I have a bad feeling that Barnes & Noble defines "purchases already made" as orders that have already shipped. In other words: "If we already shipped your order, don't worry we will not make you send it back. Have a nice day! "

shite!

jiggyblau

Just got off the phone with a CSR...

I asked immediately for a supervisor, and I was granted one. I immediately laid into her asking her about the discrepancies in the email and the website (the blurb above and the fact that the orders still say "in process"). After firing away my soliloquy, she told me that there was simply an error in processing the order, and get this...I should have never received emails! I really don't understand this, but she assured me that my preorders would in fact ship, and there would be no other method of payment necessary.

Call them. Hopefully others get the same story. And save yourself--ask for a supervisor.

Good luck. Hopefully it was just a scare.

Zutton

For what it's worth....

I had used flooz several times in the past to pre-order from bn.com. Usually the pre-orders were 6 weeks or more in advance.

What would happen is when I placed my order, my flooz account would show the amount of my bn.com order as spent. HOWEVER, after about 30 days, the money would show back up in my flooz account. When bn.com shipped my order, the transaction would show back up at flooz.

I liken the above situation to when one uses a webcertificate. BN.com authorized your flooz account, and although the flooz web site shows the money as spent, it is really just an authorization pending. BN.com doesn't "bill" the order until it ships - just like they do with credit card orders (remember the trouble buy.com got in for charging credit cards before shipping orders). So, it isn't bn.com's fault for not collecting the money in advance from flooz. In fact, they shouldn't have deducted the amount until the order shipped.

My experience with outpost.com also validates that flooz is simply authorizing transactions. I had placed an order at outpost using flooz on a mispriced item which was $0.00 + shipping. Outpost canceled the order, but my flooz account was still showing the shipping charge at outpost.com as spent. Repeated emails to Outpost about refunding my flooz were returned with "We never charged you". Then, after 30 days, the flooz showed back up in my account, and the outpost charge was gone. Outpost had "authorized" the flooz, but never billed them.

I sympathize with those who pre-ordered using flooz - I lost money myself, but I understand why bn.com might cancel orders. Of course, they should not have posted on the site they will honor flooz orders and then change their minds, but that's a different story all together.

-Zutton