They charge you before they deliver

@suspenseful (40193)
Canada
November 18, 2009 9:54am CST
We usually buy our major items from Sears. This time it was the microwave and the dishwasher. Before it was the bedroom set and before that the sofa and chair. Now one thing I have noticed is as soon as we ordered the stuff and even before (in the case of the living room set( they customized the colors, etc. they put it on our charge card. Yet we did not have it in our house yet so it seems that they had gotten it in their warehouse free before we had a chance to use it. Now this does not matter if it is bought in September and delivered in September, but sometimes as in the case of our sofa and chair that had to have a special color to match our decor, it was a month later and so we got the charges on the Sears bill before we got it. Luckily they gave us a gift certificate to compensate, but that does not help much. So I was wondering whether this is the policy in your store when you order big items that they put it on your credit card or charge card before it is used in your house. And how to do you feel about this policy? I can understand a deposit, but not the whole amount.
2 people like this
6 responses
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
19 Nov 09
Last time I did anything like that I used cash and yup had to pay for it before it got delivered like my stove adn the rug for the kitchen!
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
20 Nov 09
Ya pay before then dont have to have the money in the house t opay when deliverd for my kitchen rug cost $2800 installed and I figure that the mexicans that did it wasnt to handle the money!
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
19 Nov 09
So I guess those who pay cash get the same deal as those who pay by charge. But still you should have been asked for a deposit and then as soon as the delivery man was at the door, paid it C.O.D.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
22 Nov 09
We have to sign papers to show that the material arrived, but what happens if they forgot to put something in the carton or put in the wrong sized item? Then you are screwed.
@suzzy3 (8341)
20 Nov 09
That sounds like a mistake.I make a point never to pay anything but a deposit till the item arrives in my home.We are expecting a new three piece suite in december but we have to go down three days before its arrival date to pay for it.So maybe things have changed somewhat.Maybe with the credit crunch as they have to make it and pay for that expense ,they kept getting let down or people changing thier minds.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
22 Nov 09
I wonder what if something goes wrong? They forgot to pack a tube inside for the dishwasher and our friend had to pick it up and had to pay for it. That made me a bit annoyed because if they had put it in the box this never would have happened. And the box was all right. So I prefer a deposit rather then pay the whole amount.
@ElicBxn (63486)
• United States
19 Nov 09
Sears is FAMOUS for doing that.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
19 Nov 09
I agree. That is what makes it so annoying because we expected that they would put it on the charge as soon as it was ready for delivery. It was that week or so and in the case the month for the sofa and chairs. And what happened if they did not have the goods in Winnipeg and had to call all the way to Alberta, Ontario or even to British Columbia? A deposit would have been fine with me.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
18 Nov 09
I do know that Sears does do this. I got my washer thru them and they put the full amount on my card right off. It got delivered about a week or so later so I guess that was ok. Waiting for a month seems like a bit much tho.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
19 Nov 09
The trouble is that we needed the microwave and dishwasher a few months ago and the only reason we got it now was besides the good deals, was that we will pay it off in January. We had to wait almost a month for our living room set but that was because we custom ordered it. The dishwasher and microwave were delivered in a week because they were basic white like the fridge in our kitchen.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
18 Nov 09
I don't think that is fair. I haven't bought furniture for a long, long time but while a deposit is reasonable they shouldn't get paid until they deliver your goods. Businesses have become much less customer friendly over the past few years--it's almost as if they think they're doing us a favor, letting us to business with them.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
19 Nov 09
I think a deposit is all right. It used to be for big stuff, at least, they would ask for a deposit and tell you that they expected the payment or they would only put the deposit on the credit card and then put the rest when you got the goods, just in case there was an error.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Nov 09
Hi suspenseful I agree that a deposit is okay but to be made to pay for it beforehand is troubling although come to think of it sure you have to pay the whole amount. The stores now do this as a lot of people got the furniture then took forever to pay for it. we had to do that on some new mattresses as they do not deliver until the furniture is paid for first. Thinking about this, you always pay for your groceries before you use them, so why not with furniture too. after all it would be silly to take groceries home free just because you have not ate the food yet. really I do not think any furniture store will deliver anything until you actually pay for it. think of it as the seller, its not fair to have use of something for awhile before you actually pay for it as you could well change your mind and not want to keep it.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
19 Nov 09
We have it on our Sears credit card, but the trouble is that we cannot pay the whole amount off in one month. It is just such a big amount and it is not the same as groceries. I would agree that as soon as it is ready for deliver, that it is right to pay for it then because it is about to be loaded on the van. However if one orders it on Oct. 24th (an example) and it is being made or being assembled or whatever and not ready to deliver until Nov. 1st, the date it should be put on the credit card statement should say Nov. 1. If we had ordered on Nov. 1st and the sales lady or man said "we can deliver it tomorrow." then I would not have minded. Because when we order the groceries, they do not take the bags back and tell us "you cannot have these until next week." We take them home right away.