ThinkGeek has officially disappointed me horribly. Remember that I successfully purchased a few gadgets from them? Well, me and my colleagues joined up together to purchase more items from ThinkGeek this time. However strangely, there seems to be a new problem.
The email transcript is as follows:
FRM THINKGEEK
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for your recent order with ThinkGeek, #7c8e131a. We would like to process your order as soon as possible, but we need some additional information in order to complete your order.
To complete your order, we must do a manual billing address verification check. Please send us one of the following for address verification:
- A phone or other utility bill showing the same billing address as
your credit card
- A credit card statement with your billing address and last four
digits of your credit card displayed
- A copy of your credit card with last four digits displayed AND
a copy of a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's
license or passport.
Please send these via e-mail (a scan or legible digital photo) or via fax
(703-293-6292) at your earliest convenience. If you send your documentation as digital images via email, please make sure they total less than 500kb in size or we may not receive your email. We ask that you send this verification within the next two weeks, or your order may be canceled.
At ThinkGeek we take your security and privacy very seriously. We hope you understand that when we have to take extra security measures such as this, we do it to protect you as well as ThinkGeek. This sometimes happens with international billing addresses, or if the file address of your credit card's issuing bank does not exactly match what you entered.
If you used Paypal as your payment method, you may be receiving this email because you have an unverified Paypal account, or we had problems processing your payment.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we appreciate your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call us at the number below.
Thanks-
ThinkGeek Customer Service
1-888-433-5788 (phone)
1-703-293-6292 (fax)
MY REPLY
Hi, can a previous order which I had made be the verification?
Please refer to Order ID: 7b0a3974
It was successfully billed via Paypal. My current order is via Paypal too isn't it? And according to my bank account, money has already been set aside to process the payment (I'm using a debit card). If you had problems processing the payment via paypal, maybe you would like to try again.
I hope you understand that I do not have proper access to a scanner nor fax machine (I could fax a copy of my debit card and passport particulars via 7-Eleven if they allow overseas fax however...), so it would be a little troublesome and out of the way for me to do so. Hence if there was any other means by which I can verify my account?
Take note that my shipping address and billing address is not the same. Paypal should have my proper billing address.
Regards,
Kevin.
FRM THINKGEEK
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Sometimes, when an order is placed with a discrepancy between the billing and the shipping addresses, or with a billing address outside the US, or the order is above a certain value, our ordering system will flag the transaction. In these circumstances, we request physical documentation of the billing address on the order in question, to make sure that the order has been placed by the account holder. At ThinkGeek we take your security and privacy very seriously. We hope you understand that when we have to take extra security measures such as this, we do it to protect you as well as ThinkGeek.
Unfortunately, without this documentation, we are unable to complete the processing of your order. If we do not receive the requested documentation within two weeks of your initial order date, your order will automatically be cancelled. If you can't provide documentation of the billing address on your order, you will need to cancel your current order and reorder using the proper billing address for your credit card. Once we receive and process your documentation, you should not need to provide it on subsequent orders. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Mark Silverman
ThinkGeek Customer Service
888-433-5788 - phone
703-293-6292 - fax
8am - 6pm Eastern Mon-Fri
MY REPLY
(At this point of time, I realized that Paypal has already charged my bank account and that they have officially paid Thinkgeek. So I attached a screen shot of my bank statement and screen shot of Paypal's statements showing that they have paid Thinkgeek. At the same time, I have officially made myself a Verified customer of Paypal.)
Hi,
Firstly, I want to thank ThinkGeek for being concern about our security and all.
I want to draw your attention to my attached pictures. Firstly, as of today, I have officially verified my Paypal account. I am now a verified Paypal user.
The second issue which I want to highlight through my attached pictures is that Paypal has already charged my debit card (credit card) for the order #7c8e131a. The money has in fact already been deducted from my bank account so it means that I have already officially paid for the items. According to Paypal, they have also paid Thinkgeek for the order. Has the payment been processed? Did Thinkgeek receive the money?
I wish to explain to you what is happening over here for me.
Firstly, ThinkGeek.com does not accept credit card payments from Singapore. Reason being (as informed to me earlier before) is that you all felt that there are many cases of Credit Card fraud coming from Singapore (which I find absurd as Singapore is one of the most law-abiding countries in the world highly contrasting in comparison with their South East Asian neighbours). Hence you guys do not ship to Singapore.
However Thinkgeek DO accept payment via paypal. And Thinkgeek DO accept orders from Taiwan and Thinkgeek will ship orders to Taiwan.
I am a Singaporean with Singaporean Credit Card but am working in Taiwan. I have been working in Taiwan for a year and 8 months. So in order to make purchases from ThinkGeek.com (whom I am a huge FAN of), I make payment via PAYPAL but ship to my Taiwanese address. As you can see via Order ID: 7b0a3974, it was a successful transaction. I received my Thinkgeek stuff happily, and you guys get paid. So after the successful transaction, I made the next order, being more ambitious, ordering more products.
Now, on the Thinkgeek.com webpage, I can't state my actual billing address as my credit card address as you guys do not accept credit cards from Singapore. So I stated my billing address there as my shipping address (my Taiwanese Residence). However, the billing address on PAYPAL is my actual billing address. Hence I can never actually 'verify' my billing address to ThinkGeek because it will not tally.
So this is the Situation. What you have here is a great Fan of Thinkgeek whom comes from a country whom you do not offer your services to. However he has moved to another country where you do offer your services to. All he has done is found a way to allow himself to purchase and own (Finally!!!) the great ThinkGeek products. He is no fraud as evident by a previous successful transaction, and payment has already been made.
So, I hope that we can carry on this successful process because these are not the only items I want to purchase from ThinkGeek. I have many friends who would like me to help them to geek stuffs from Thinkgeek as well. (Two friends from LiveJournal...
http://rhumba.livejournal.com/131331.html )
You will not be compromising your security and my security for just this ONE customer. And the sad part (or good part for Thinkgeek?) is that I will be returning to Singapore in August where I will no longer have access to Thinkgeek again. So this remaining four months will be the only chance I will ever have to get Thinkgeek products. And I plan to purchase whatever I can while I can.
I hope and thank you in advance for your kind consideration into this matter. Wish to be a good customer of Thinkgeek.com.
Best Regards,
Kevin Yap.
FRM THINKGEEK
(This is where I got PISSED OFF... Tell me if I am wrong to be really upset...)
Thank you for your patience on this issue. This is insufficient documentation for the purposes of verifying your billing address. Unfortunately, without the requested documentation, we are unable to complete the processing of your order. If we do not receive the requested documentation within two weeks of your initial order date, your order will automatically be cancelled. If you can't provide documentation of the billing address on your order, you will need to cancel your current order and reorder using the proper billing address for your credit card. Once we receive and process your documentation, you should not need to provide it on subsequent orders. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Please note that we do not accept orders from billing addresses in Singapore at this time. This decision has been made due to a variety of reasons (our carriers do not deliver there, we have products that cannot be easily shipped internationally or we have had a high rate of fraudulent orders coming from your country). We appreciate your interest in ThinkGeek, and we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
If you have an alternate shipping address in a country that we do ship to, you can make payment by certified check or money order in U.S. currency only. Just place items in your shopping cart, proceed to checkout and fill out your billing and shipping information. You do not have to enter a credit card to get to this view. Print out the page with your order and the shipping rates and mail that information to us with your payment. Please note that orders mailed to us require a longer processing time than those placed on our website. You can find our mailing address at
http://www.thinkgeek.com/bug-us/ Mark Silverman
ThinkGeek Customer Service
888-433-5788 - phone
703-293-6292 - fax
8am - 6pm Eastern Mon-Fri
MY REPLY
(I wanted to really blow up at this 'Mark' guy at this point. He wasn't even reading my fucking email obviously. However I tried my best to keep my cool... And cancelled my order as pleasantly as I can.)
Dear ThinkGeek,
I am exremely disappointed with the reply received by 'Mr Mark Silverman'. Obviously he did not read my email, replying me back with Generic Answers. I feel that Thinkgeek does not fully understand what I have been trying to explain, and do not seem to be making any effort to do so. Payment has already been made, actual cash deducted from my bank account. I don't see how fraud could exist in this situation. You must understand that I feel that if ThinkGeek managed to ship to Taiwan before with me paying via PAYPAL with a credit card with a SINGAPOREAN billing address, I don't see why Thinkgeek can't do it again? If you want me to cancel my order now, isn't Thinkgeek going to be generating more rubbish work for yourself to having to return the money to me via paypal and paypal has to return the money to me? It will take forever for me to receive back my money.
I will not be able to submit the required information to you because it simply does not exist. As mentioned in my previous email with explanation, my billing address as stated on ThinkGeek.com does not tally with my billing address on my credit card.
So since this procedure cannot go through at all, I will have to cancel my order as you have suggested.
Good Day.
FRM THINKGEEK
(And Thinkgeek just cancelled it like that...)
Per your request, your order has been cancelled and a full refund issued to your PayPal account. Please let us know if there are any further issues.
Mark Silverman
ThinkGeek Customer Service
888-433-5788 - phone
703-293-6292 - fax
8am - 6pm Eastern Mon-Fri
Is it just me or does this make Thinkgeek (or rather that 'not working very hard' Mark Silverman) sound arrogant? It almost feels racist to me in that they don't seem to even bother to read my email. No consoling words at least saying that they are sorry that the order did not work out, or even tried explaining why my suggestion did not work. Is it their system's fault? Is their system so rigid that they won't allow this? At least if you mention this to me, I wouldn't feel as upset as I am feeling right now. Are they treating me as a customer or as a person who's bothering them? It almost sounds as if they are happy that the order is finally cancelled and all.
Is this how Thinkgeek's customer service work?
Anyway... even though I am pissed at the customer service, I still worship Thinkgeek's stuff. I'm going to try out another attempt at 'beating' their system and see if I can still get the awesome ThinkGeek stuffs. If it happened before, it could happen again. There must be some form of trigger that made me unable to purchase the products peacefully this time round. And I think I know what it is.