A few months ago, I ordered some stuff from Newwave.org . I spent a total of $198.08, and used my check card (with the Mastercard logo on it) to pay. Well, my account got charged when they processed the order, but before they shipped it. When I got it in the mail, hardly any of it was in the box. The shipping paper had been marked on the missing merchendise as backordered (stuff out of stock). Well, I waited and waited and finally was getting impatient after a month so I tried e-mailing them about where the rest of my stuff was (since I already paid for it!) and I never got an answer. I found their telephone number and had to make a long distance call to Georgia (I live in California) only to get an answering machine. I left a few messages, but never got any replies. I must have sent dozens of e-mails about this. Finally, I gave up, and e-mailed them demanding a refund of the merchendise I never received ($178.86 worth). No reply! So today, I contacted the Better Business Bureau posting a complaint; I also submitted a complaint to abc’s 7 on your side (what the heck). This afternoon I am going to go to my bank and discuss the problem. The question I ask my fellow dopers is, is there anything else I can do to try and get my money back? Have I exhausted all the practical options?
Small claims court? I doubt they’d show up, so you’d win by default. IANAL, but I’m led to believe that it’s fairly cheap and easy.
Does your bank have any “purchase protection plan” for their check cards? I don’t know if MasterCard would be the one to contact. Some banks and credit cards safeguard you in case of vendor issues (American Express does for me). They contact and deal with the vendor directly which helps a lot.
Good luck!