Pre-Order Frustration with Warner Brothers - Page 4

Macfanforever · #46 09-15-2014, 12:43 PM

One thing came to mind is the multiple authorization that WB keeps doing with the CC companies.The CC companies are probably getting fed up with it.

TxEpiscopalian · #47 09-15-2014, 04:22 PM

Well my situation is a bit different and I briefly described my dilemma before.

My fiance and I have two checking accounts, but we really only use the one. So we ordered the day we could and I read the little pre-authorization deal. They put a pending charge on my checking account but then it disappeared. Well a week and a half passed and we spent our money as we had to. A surprise bill came up and the 73 and some change got dipped into. A week later I get an email saying "We canceled your order". No trying to get a hold of me before that either via email or phone.

I was livid! I was able to reorder it though and this time around we put the full price of the order in our second checking account. Every week like clock work the pre-authorization is put on and is given back. Just so stupid that they make NO effort to contact before just canceling your order, or not just taking the money when you place the order like it makes sense to do.

Amazon when my payment declines for any reason, gives me the opportunity to use an alternative payment and makes several attempts to resolve it before they cancel my order. WB is just shady as hell. If it was not for Stevie I would not have any dealings with them.

NurseDJackson · #48 09-15-2014, 05:15 PM

Can someone tell me where on Facebook this conversation has been happening? I'd like to see it.

And because it seems that a few people (some of whom seem to have been sucessful in placing an order, with both debit and credit cards) keep suggesting the banks/credit card companies, I am going to paste what Warner Bros. told me during our back and forth:

"In processing your order, we attempted to confirm funds from your credit card, but the request was declined and your order was cancelled.
Please note that at the time of purchase we authorize your credit card to verify funds are available, and for preorders, some banks require the authorization to occur every 7 days. These are NOT charges, and the authorization is removed from the account quickly. However if the authorization attempt comes back declined more than once, the order is cancelled. If you are interested in re-ordering with a different payment method, please go directly to the store." [emphasis mine]

and then...
"We cannot charge your account until the actual merchandise ships. That is part of the Visa and Mastercard agreement. Therefore, in order to keep your order active, we need to have a valid authorization. An authorization is only good for 7 days at most banks. That is why we need to reauthorize on the 8th day. We first reverse the existing auth before reauthing."

If the above were explained to me at any point while buying (excuse me, "pre-ordering") I would NOT have done this. Even when they sent me the info from the disclaimer in the FAQs it says nothing about multiple authorizations being authorized and reversed.

Maybe that will help it make sense to some as to what's happened with so many of us. It's still not an acceptable policy. Like I've said before no corporation would have this policy unless they benefit from it in some way. They are not bound by law to do this complicated and convoluted practice. Corporations always act like the party with the power in the situation and it seems plenty of people have agreed with them. Sorry, that's not how it works when there is an exchange of goods/services with me.

Jondalar · #49 09-15-2014, 05:26 PM

Wow! I really feel bad for you all.

Sad that record company pissed down everyone's leg. Wonder if Stevie knows it.

MikeInNV · #50 09-15-2014, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Because I and many others have not had any problems with the pre-order being cancelled, or multiple authorizations, I can't help but wonder if your banks are playing a role in this that they are not being forthright or honest about?

I agree and thought I posted something to that effect already. My purchase has been sitting as a pending charge since I bought it on the first day available.

michelej1 · #51 09-15-2014, 07:07 PM

My purchase hasn't been sitting there consistently. It has fallen away as "pending" and then reappeared about three different times, but it has not been canceled. Knock wood.

Michele

HoursAndHours · #52 09-15-2014, 07:24 PM

I don't think it's anything shady - just terrible policy on the part of WB.

NurseDJackson · #53 09-15-2014, 07:52 PM

As mentioned above by me, by others, and by Warner Bros, some banks do not allow an authorization to sit on a credit card for longer than 5-7 business days. This is what causes the original authorization to to be removed and re-authorized repeatedly, every week, until the product ships. Do some of you want to tell us with whom you have your credit card or who your bank is? I use Chase. I wonder what would have happened had I used my AMEX. There is nothing useful about adding 2 cents around "well it must be the banks because it didn't happen to me"...it's the same answer Warner's gave and it implies that all of these people who are experiencing problems are somehow to blame or should have known better. How many people this happened to have never had a problem shopping online otherwise? I've been buying online, with debit/credit/pre-paid for over a decade and this is the only time I've ever had an issue...

BESIDES, the "different banks have different rules" excuse/answer doesn't take away the fact that some people have had confusing, difficult, and possibly even fraudulent charges on their cards from this (or haven't even gotten confirmation of "pre-order" after days and days). It doesn't take away the fact that Warner's doesn't make this practice explicit to potential customers (if not all banks/cards have the same policy they need to write "please check with your bank for their authorization policy as we do not charge your card and might need to re-authorize every 5-7 days", for example). It doesn't take away the fact that this problem has happened to people who used credit cards and to people who've used debit cards....WB is responsible for prudent practices that don't involve sending weekly authorizations to a credit card THAT THEY DO NOT TELL YOU ABOUT.

So forgive me if I don't really care that it's not been how it has happened for some of you. Good on you guys. Congratulations that there were no problems with credit card payments and authorizations crossing over each other. Congratulations that your bank/credit card has a different policy than Chase or whichever other ones this happens to. Clearly this hasn't been explained to many of the people that have had difficulties and touting the corporate line is just useless. Yeah, people are actually suffering in the world and not being able to spend 70 bucks on an elderly rock star isn't even remotely the worst thing to happen to anyone, but it's clearly caused havoc for some people.

I for one am livid at Warner Bros for their craptastic policies, unclear policies, and their even worse customer communication. I am not the only one who has spent untold thousands of dollars on Warner Bros. artists over the years! As I have mentioned above and will mention again if need be: THIS WAY OF (NOT) COLLECTING PAYMENT BENEFITS THEM, otherwise they would change it. The service rep at Chase agreed on this, "it would make sense that they could cancel out some of the pre-orders and not have to produce as much product"...that's one possibility.

Look past the idea that this is "just a policy" and that folks should know better. Warner Bros does this because it benefits them financially in some way to practice business like this.

HoursAndHours · #54 09-15-2014, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NurseDJackson

As mentioned above by me, by others, and by Warner Bros, some banks do not allow an authorization to sit on a credit card for longer than 5-7 business days. This is what causes the original authorization to to be removed and re-authorized repeatedly, every week, until the product ships. Do some of you want to tell us with whom you have your credit card or who your bank is? I use Chase. I wonder what would have happened had I used my AMEX. There is nothing useful about adding 2 cents around "well it must be the banks because it didn't happen to me"...it's the same answer Warner's gave and it implies that all of these people who are experiencing problems are somehow to blame or should have known better. How many people this happened to have never had a problem shopping online otherwise? I've been buying online, with debit/credit/pre-paid for over a decade and this is the only time I've ever had an issue...

BESIDES, the "different banks have different rules" excuse/answer doesn't take away the fact that some people have had confusing, difficult, and possibly even fraudulent charges on their cards from this (or haven't even gotten confirmation of "pre-order" after days and days). It doesn't take away the fact that Warner's doesn't make this practice explicit to potential customers (if not all banks/cards have the same policy they need to write "please check with your bank for their authorization policy as we do not charge your card and might need to re-authorize every 5-7 days", for example). It doesn't take away the fact that this problem has happened to people who used credit cards and to people who've used debit cards....WB is responsible for prudent practices that don't involve sending weekly authorizations to a credit card THAT THEY DO NOT TELL YOU ABOUT.

So forgive me if I don't really care that it's not been how it has happened for some of you. Good on you guys. Congratulations that there were no problems with credit card payments and authorizations crossing over each other. Congratulations that your bank/credit card has a different policy than Chase or whichever other ones this happens to. Clearly this hasn't been explained to many of the people that have had difficulties and touting the corporate line is just useless. Yeah, people are actually suffering in the world and not being able to spend 70 bucks on an elderly rock star isn't even remotely the worst thing to happen to anyone, but it's clearly caused havoc for some people.

I for one am livid at Warner Bros for their craptastic policies, unclear policies, and their even worse customer communication. I am not the only one who has spent untold thousands of dollars on Warner Bros. artists over the years! As I have mentioned above and will mention again if need be: THIS WAY OF (NOT) COLLECTING PAYMENT BENEFITS THEM, otherwise they would change it. The service rep at Chase agreed on this, "it would make sense that they could cancel out some of the pre-orders and not have to produce as much product"...that's one possibility.

Look past the idea that this is "just a policy" and that folks should know better. Warner Bros does this because it benefits them financially in some way to practice business like this.

I mostly agree with you. The policy is terrible, and even though my order has not yet been canceled (crossing fingers), the charge does come and go pretty much twice weekly on my account.

The only thing I doubt is whether WB is trying to reduce production. I would not be surprised if it has more to do with risk management. In future dealings with them, I will only use PayPal to pre-order from them. It seems like the only way to guarantee that they actually participate in standard business transactions.

Also, you're point about blaming the customers whose orders were canceled is well-taken.

Macfanforever · #55 09-15-2014, 08:39 PM

So far I didn't see any activity of any kind on my CC statements from WB .not even pending or reserve charges.Its all payed up a couple weeks ago so they should have no problems charging me the $105 bucks when they ready to ship the package.I remember having these worries and stress when I purchased Stevie's signed IYD DVD.

PenguinHead · #56 09-15-2014, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Wow! I really feel bad for you all.

Sad that record company pissed down everyone's leg. Wonder if Stevie knows it.

Not just on my leg, but on my face. To hear that so many others have experienced this absolutely asinine way Warner Brothers does business makes me so mad.

I'm not sure what the hell to do. Hope that my record store has the deluxe version? Try to buy it online, from another seller? But I want the special bundle with the extra photos! Should I be so foolish to try to buy it from Warner's store again, go through the process for the forth time and subject myself to more frustration?

I'm really stressed over it. It should not be this way! This is so ****ing wrong! I consulted with my bank. They said this pre-authorization should not be happening. Bank of America doesn't even understand it!

KarmaContestant · #57 09-15-2014, 10:29 PM

OK, I think I understand better now. Thanks for the additional info, guys. Totally terrible what's happening. It's only compounded by the fact that these are limited and numbered items. I hope it all works out.

PenguinHead · #58 09-16-2014, 01:12 AM

I'm still getting the downloads from Warner Brothers because of my purchase. Does this have any bearing on my purchase status? I have no idea!

Macfanforever · #59 09-16-2014, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

I'm still getting the downloads from Warner Brothers because of my purchase. Does this have any bearing on my purchase status? I have no idea!

Thats a good question.I just got Starshine today.And no word from them about my status of getting the package.

I know one thing .They keep spamming my email addy with BS promotions with no problem.

NurseDJackson · #60 09-16-2014, 02:28 AM

Things should be all go for you if you have gotten another mp3. I got Lady a couple weeks ago. My purchase was only canceled on 9/6. I suspect that if you account for the amount of your order, like you would a check that hasn't cleared (or treat your credit card like a checking account in this case), you will be fine. The actual charge will appear on your card when the CD/book/etc ships. All will go off without a hitch if you know for sure the amount to cover the pre-order is in whatever account was used to make the pre-order.

Hopefully too much of a panic button wasn't pushed for those who've had a successful "pre-order" so far.

I can't speak for anyone else, as there appears to be a number of reasons this happens, but in my case it seemed to happen because my credit card didn't have enough credit available on the day WB sent in their most recent authorization.