I trying to buy a new sound system.
I'm going with a pair of EV SB2As and a pair of EVZX1s.

With the current euro/pound rates I decided to try and source them from UK suppliers see if I could save a few euros.

In the case of both companies, I could track down, who could provide them, Gear4music.com and HWAudio.co.uk they are way cheaper than Thomann and Musicstore (although the Germans are much cheaper on the covers, poles and leads). I mean 500/600 euro cheaper.

Of the two UK companies HW Audio were the cheaper, the price including the shipping (the germans ship anything costing over 200euros free) will cost me about 1930 euro. Gear4music was 2040 euros.

So the point of my story. I telephone HW today, as instructed by reply email when I contacted them to say I would buy from them. I place my order and give my credit card details. The only problem, unlike other dealers, they can't handle the delivery address being different from the billing address(maybe this is common I just haven't come across it before). No one at home in my house during the day so my deliveries usually go a business owned by a friend of mine open 8am to 9 pm. It works better for me and the courier companies. But in this case for what I am saving it's still worth taking a day off work, so I go ahead.

When I get home tonight I get this email,

"Hello John,

We need a photocopy of your bank statement with your address, you should scrub out your transactions. This is a security check so we can finalize the transaction.

Kind regards


Adam

HW Audio Ltd.

fax no: +44""

I have bought equipment from various suppliers in the UK in days of old, Germany the last few years, I even got some mini-spots from the US last year, no one has ever asked for a bank statement before.

They already have the card details. Should I be worried?

John

telephone them direct,might cost you a bit for the call but not as much if you get stung.

I would say that this is pretty common in days of increasing fraud and credit card / indentity theft. Last summer I ordered some domestic A/V goods by mail, and the confirmed delivery date coincided with a holiday. The company refused to deliver the goods to an alternate family members address, who would be in to sign for it, because it was my first order and doing so wouldn't pass their security checks.

A bit daft really, as a lot of people work during the day / go on holiday / have days away and may not be around during normal delivery hours, and would routinely need them delivered to neighbour / friend / relative so these sort of terms must be an headache for carriers having to fail deliveries and return goods needlessly to the sender.

Its probably something which is demanded by their merchant service provider or card processing company rather than a rule brought in by the retailer themselves.

If in doubt, always use a credit card which has some form of mail order / fraud protection. This way, you won't be out of pocket if the worst should happen.

HW Audio are a long established company.
I used to hire some kit off them in the 70's.
I believe it shows good practice that they want other proof of your address, after all it is your credit card that they are protecting, also making sure the goods go to the right place prevents loss and keeps their prices down.

Jim

I run a few online stores (and develop them for others), and only delivering to the card holders address is a good security policy.

For example - PayPal will only protect the merchant if delivery is to a "confirmed" address. If I ship to a "non-confirmed" address and the account holder complains they didn't receive it, I'll lose the transaction.
Part of my software will check the origin of the person ordering (via their IP address), and if they are outside the UK, I'll stall the order until I get further proof. I have occasionally declined orders based on this -better to lose an order, than lose the item and the cash!

For this reason, I'm sympathetic to most retailers. My normal DJ store didnt want to ship a Mic stand to my place of work (for a last min PA hire). However, I could reel off the purchases on the phone (with rough dates) and that was enough to satisfy them.

I've not been scammed yet, but lots of retailers have.

From chatting to the banks, this is really for the merchant to decide. If they ship to an alternative address, they could lose the cash... So asking for some rock-solid proof is better than refusing to deliver.

Sign of the times -but also how easy it is to commit fraud! :-(

Thanks for the input everybody.

I hope it's now sorted without sending any bank statements.

Spoke with my credit card company this morning. They said the transaction had been put through and no way should I provide any more information. If the dealer had any concerns about my identity they should have checked before putting the card details through. They were unable to do anything for me but would monitor the card for any future suspicious transactions.

Called the dealer. Spoke with a "manager", very nice, and explained it was all in the interest of my security. He said the problem in my case comes from the fact we don't have postcodes in Ireland so they have no way checking who I am (?). But really I got nowhere. He said they would check and see if they had any alternate way to verify my details. I left them my land line telephone number.

Had to leave the house for a few hours. Got back message saying the speakers will be shipped shortly, sorry for the confusion.

To be honest until the speakers get here I'm going to be a little nervous.
I'll let you know when they arrive.

Thanks again

John

I have visited HW audio a few years ago and was impressed with their set up, I doubt you will have any problems and I think they were acting in your best interests.

I think you should post progress in this matter, one way or another, with obediance to the forum rules, of course.

Still no speakers.

e-mailed for update last Monday, no reply.
Called last Thursday, spoke to yet another guy, (that's 4 different people I've now spoken with over my 6 phone calls for one order) this one said that they should ship that day (they were waiting for a replacement ZX1) and he would get on to me with the shipping details. I have heard nothing since.

Is it unreasonable of me to expect that on an order, worth over 1600 pounds, even if they have a problem on their end they send an email to say so. Remember, I paid for these speakers on 20/01/2009. I still have no idea when/if I am going to get them.

John

This does NOT sound like good customer care to me.

emailed them requesting they cancel the order and refund the money.

I let you know if I hear back.

John

How did you pay for these - credit card?

Credit Card,

John

you are protected in that case

Just what I was thinking..

Any news by the way?

First make sure that the money has actually been charged to your card. I'm not just talking about them taking and holding the card details, have they actually processed the fee- does it appear on your card statement?.

Some companies have the policy of only charging for goods on the day that they are being despatched. If they haven't yet charged the card then technically they haven't yet acknowledged nor accepted the order.

If they have charged the card, contact them, and tell them that you wish to cancel the order with immediate effect and request a refund on the basis that you are not happy with the service and despite giving them a reasonable timeframe to fulfil their promises, you have now lost confidence in them being able to supply the goods as agreed. Inform them, clearly and firmly, that if they haven't refunded the money to your card within 48 hours, then you will file a chargeback and take up the matter with your credit card company.

Retailers hate chargebacks with a passion, as its effectively logged as a black mark against their status with their merchant providers & bank and may, after several such complaints cause them to get restrictions placed on their accounts or lose the use of them, so they usually want to avoid the situation and usually it kicks their backsides into refunding you.

Speakers arrived today. All are working.
I’m relieved.
I had sent an email to ask them to cancel the order.

I got a reply today saying the speakers had shipped last Friday along with the shipping details. (I had asked to get the shipping details as soon as the speakers shipped. This would allow me to make arrangements with courier company as there is never anyone at during working hours in my house, but of course they didn’t do this either). Clicked and followed the link in the email, they were going to be in my town today. Called a neighbor to watch-out but he said a DHL van had been and gone. To cut a not very interesting story short thanks to Audrey in the DHL call-center, and the driver, my neighbor took the delivery. The speakers are here.

Thanks to all for your thoughts on this matter.

John